new coca cola ad featuring Sg migrant workers + cool drone

[Addadude]

I am most definitely the cynical one here when it comes to this kind of crap. The intention of this exercise was to win an award, pure and simple. The remote possibility that foreign workers might gain from this is entirely beside the point as far as the agency is concerned.

This particular agency is well known for being ruthless when it comes to seeking awards. A number of years ago they created the highly awarded "What's On Your Mind" print campaign for Guinness. Except Guinness wasn't their client. When an enterprising journalist discovered this (after talking to the Guinness marketing department) the agency announced that it was in fact a campaign not for Guinness but for Muddy Murphy's. And they had a letter from Muddy Murphy's owner to prove it. The fact that the ads featured only the Guinness logo and not Muddy Murphy's logo was apparently an oversight.

Around the same time, that same agency caused a great deal of controversy when their award winning "God" campaign was revealed to be based upon the work of a completely non-related agency in the US. In fact there was a book in Borders that showcased the US agency's "God" campaign at the time. When questioned about this, the Singapore agency's creative director backtracked and said that his campaign (that won all the awards) was in fact an "extension" of the original campaign. (Despite the fact that the US agency was completely unaware of this 'extension'.)

April and May are typically the 'awards season' for agencies so, if you look around you carefully, you'll see lots of weird ads in IS magazine and isolated bus shelter posters. All paid for by the agency doing the work.

It's bad enough when these masturbatory exercises are done for odd little businesses like tattoo parlours and bicycle shops. It becomes morally repugnant when they are done in the name of charity with no real benefit accruing to the charities themselves.

[Brah]

While some goodwill came of it, I hafta agree more with Addadude's and movingtospore's and others take on it.

WRT IWTTTWTS, this is the unadulterated version, with nary a mention of that horribly unhealthy sugar-water concoction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jr9hPbYmBo

Interesting factoid, "Coca Cola used the song first, it was initially recorded by the New Seekers for the Coca Cola ads before they re-recorded it and it became a hit"

[Brah]

Having said all of that, someone half a century in the future is going to come across stuff like this and ask how we were ever so willingly brainwashed by this stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7l3FxHiqyQ

I mean, this is just sugar water, right?

[JR8]

Having said all of that, someone half a century in the future is going to come across stuff like this and ask how we were ever so willingly brainwashed by this stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7l3FxHiqyQ
I mean, this is just sugar water, right?

The IWTTTWTS link was the one I posted earlier ...

Agreed, if you can't 'sell the sausage, you sell the sizzle', or in the case of pepsi/coke etc*1mm you suggest the lifestyle, look at the seasonal ads for perfumes for meaninglessness taken to impossible heights. Or how about - 'Gillette, the best a man can get!!!', when it's just a razor-blade...

[Brah]

I mean, this is just sugar water, right?

The IWTTTWTS link was the one I posted earlier ..

You're right. Probably says something about my reading of your posts.

[JR8]

I mean, this is just sugar water, right?

The IWTTTWTS link was the one I posted earlier ..

You're right. Probably says something about my reading of your posts.

It's mutual, I can assure you.

[maneo]

I would think that all this brouhaha says more about the cynics than it does about the campaign.

Oh, but of course they are the only ones who know the real intent of all the participants.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most fools do."
Dale Carnegie, 1936
.

This Singapore Kindness Movement idea to show the human side of the construction workers so that maybe people here might give them a little respect is the kind of inclusion consistent with other previous Coke campaigns, like "Teach the World to Sing."

Since Coca-Cola is a public company with responsibilities to their shareholders, they have every right to show their name when they are supporting initiatives like the Singapore Kindness Movement.

I like to know who supports these gestures, even if they are small.
For something like showing respect for these workers, this is a nice start.
(Am sure this sentiment will generate some reflex retorts from the cynics.)

Think I'll go have a Coke as a way of saying thanks for trying.
It's been quite awhile since I last had one.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I haven't had a pure coke in almost 6 years, but I still support 'em, as I drink Coke Zero. I like it and Aspartame be damned. I reckon it wont kill me any sooner the 25 extra kilo I was carrying before I quit ALL sugar. Maneo, I'm with you. It's a start in the right direction and hopefully if one out of every 100 who see it, look at the Foreign Labourers in a bit better light, then that's a start.

[earthfriendly]

I read about this guy who went to contruction site to distribute angbaos during CNY. And the workers were appreciative. Not all is forgotten.

[JR8]

@Maneo.

Yes I agree. We (the often ''''cynical 1st world expats''') should keep in mind that the advert is not pitched at us.

[Addadude]

@Maneo.

Yes I agree. We (the often ''''cynical 1st world expats''') should keep in mind that the advert is not pitched at us.

You're right. It's not pitched at us. Or at the Singapore general public. It's pitched at award show judges.

Outside of the odd online forum, social media site or blog, it won't otherwise get seen at all.

And it won't make the slightest bit of difference to the plight of foreign workers here.

[JR8]

You're right. It's not pitched at us. Or at the Singapore general public. It's pitched at award show judges.

Granted advertising must be the most cynical industry of them all: But do you think the 250k+ hits (to date) have all been by 'Award judges'?

[sundaymorningstaple]

^This.

[Addadude]

You're right. It's not pitched at us. Or at the Singapore general public. It's pitched at award show judges.

Granted advertising must be the most cynical industry of them all: But do you think the 250k+ hits (to date) have all been by 'Award judges'?

Nope. But those views can be bought very easily. Google 'buying youtube views' and you'll get services like this: http://www.views-shop.org

Let me just add, I am not cynical about advertising at all. I've made my living from it for more than 20 years and I have seen first hand the power and reach a great advertising campaign can have. What I am cynical about are these minimalist exercises that purport to address serious social issues or support worthy charities when in fact their real purpose is simply to win another batch of advertising trophies so that the executive creative director can meet his KPI and keep his job.

[Beeroclock]

You're right. It's not pitched at us. Or at the Singapore general public. It's pitched at award show judges.

Granted advertising must be the most cynical industry of them all: But do you think the 250k+ hits (to date) have all been by 'Award judges'?

Nope. But those views can be bought very easily. Google 'buying youtube views' and you'll get services like this: http://www.views-shop.org

Let me just add, I am not cynical about advertising at all. I've made my living from it for more than 20 years and I have seen first hand the power and reach a great advertising campaign can have. What I am cynical about are these minimalist exercises that purport to address serious social issues or support worthy charities when in fact their real purpose is simply to win another batch of advertising trophies so that the executive creative director can meet his KPI and keep his job.

Addadude, I am prevaricating somewhere in the middle on this, halfway skeptical and halfway nice to see .... But I still wonder - 1) surely these ad guys are just doing their job, I wouldn't have thought business is so good they have the luxury to make moral judgements on the product/content of the ad, but rather focus on making an ad that is effective to meet their client's requirements (therefore my partial cynicism was more for Coke, as visible commercial brand underpinning this ad) ; 2) even if a competition is the motivating force, is that necessarily a problem if it delivers a good outcome... e.g. if I decide to run 42km as a personal challenge / charity raiser / whatever reason, is it wrong to enter a marathon competition, or I should just privately pound the ECP footpath and not expect any t shirt/medallion/ finisher's certificate at the same time as concluding my personal achievement ?