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This is part of a massive – and I mean MASSIVE – roadshow by MAC Cosmetics in Singapore for their tie-in with Barbie.
Now I can see why Mattel [Barbie’s owners] would be happy with all this … but why would a cosmetic company actively promote women to look like the famous plastic, mindless bimbo?
Yeah … yeah … so people say Barbie was the original ‘girl-power’ icon – but look at that big photo on the side of the roadshow building, they’re hardly demonstrating oodles of intelligence are they?
I wouldn’t mind, but a few years ago MAC called our strategy [based around the idea of ‘Helps Hide Your Outer Ugliness’] “…ignorant, stupid and unbelievably misguided”.
Germaine Greer must be going stark, raving mad – I know I am, ha!
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I saw the concepts you did for MAC and it was much, much better than this Barbie crap. The problem seems you were ahead of your time because shows like Ugly Betty are massive over here now and MAC could have really capitalised on the trend. How did the pitch I am not allowed to mention go?
Comment by Pete March 18, 2007 @ 9:58 pmstory of our fucking life pete, ahead of our time on mac, huggies, guess. if the “client that cant be named” goes the same way, im going to send us all to a fucking witch doctor and have this curse taken off us. meeting went well, still got ages to go but they fucking loved our stuff even though they said they werent sure they had the balls to do it. i sense the opportunity train will eventually stop at disappointment avenue, but theyre flying us all to meet the european head honchos so i could be wrong. you good?
Comment by andy@cynic March 18, 2007 @ 11:10 pmif the work was good and they don’t go for it I will break some necks.
Comment by Marcus Brown March 18, 2007 @ 11:40 pmThe idea presented was/is bloody great and super interesting … if we get it, you can break as many necks as you like to make sure the finished work is as wonderful as it should be.
Comment by Rob March 18, 2007 @ 11:54 pmYou know what’s disappointing about the whole MAC thing.. they started off on something really interesting when they used RuPaul as the face of MAC… from that to Barbie.. ho hum. Turns out MAC are just like all the others – beige. Sucked in to them.
Comment by lauren March 19, 2007 @ 8:03 amYes Lauren … you’re right … which is why we loved our ‘Helps Hide Your Outer Ugliness’ idea [not that any ads would have been so blatant] because we thought it would really help them in their quest to be the ‘attitude makeup’ brand.
Unfortunately it seems their real attitude is conservatism dressed up as edgy – but then what do you expect from an American Cosmetic Brand?
Comment by Rob March 19, 2007 @ 8:34 amnot to mention the grave concerns i have about marketing to those who are interested in Barbie™: 6-YEAR OLD GIRLS!! (oh, and odd 55-year old men who collect dolls).
Comment by lauren March 19, 2007 @ 8:42 amShudder.
Comment by NP March 19, 2007 @ 7:34 pmAnyone noticed the new Garnier commercials? The only discernable differenec is the abscence of ‘Your worth it’
Diferent to Loreal I meant
Comment by NP March 19, 2007 @ 7:34 pmYup. They never learn, Loreal have been running the same ads since 1976.
Comment by Rob Mortimer March 19, 2007 @ 7:50 pmL’oreal [it’s frog so you need the pretencious ‘] are one of the most backward brands ever – but hey, as their marketing guy once told me, why should they care when they make more money each and every year. Quite a good answer really. The bastard.
Talking of old brands …
I remember as a joke I started a ‘Where’s The Pond’s Institute’ campaign [in the style of Where’s Waldo] because I was sick of their ads falsely going on about how they had all these scientists in really futuristic labs. Not only did I get threatened with legal action from Unilever [Ponds Owner] but also from the Where’s Waldo publisher … fuck, some people can’t take a joke can they.
Comment by Rob March 19, 2007 @ 8:13 pmHaha, nice idea.
Comment by Rob Mortimer March 19, 2007 @ 8:24 pmSeriously though, watch old Loreal ads on YouTube. EXACTLY the same.