The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Truth Comes From Pressure …
October 31, 2011, 6:11 am
Filed under: Comment

Many years ago I did some work for a fashion brand that wanted to target pregnant ladies.

OK, so on first glance, I wasn’t exactly the most appropriate person to work on that business … but apart from the fact I had a fantastic planner working on the project with me [Hello, Abby] I was able to offer some objectivity to the proceedings, ensuring we covered both bases of relevance and provocation.

One of the first things I did was put 8 heavily pregnant women in front of a television and get them to watch ‘Runway Mom’s.

Runway Mom’s was a program that followed catwalk models who had become pregnant.

In short, despite having some little parasite living inside them, they were all gorgeous, stick thin [except for a perfectly round bump] and as glam as can be.

No hot flushes.
No arses like a Boeing 747
No dresses that double as Circus tents.

As you would expect, the commentary from the women watching the show – even though I had purposefully introduced the ladies on the program as ‘freaks of genes’ to see if that would help them rationalise how they looked versus how the models looked – were rather eye-opening.

At first it was all good natured … with the odd muttering of phrases like “Lucky cow” ” but what was interesting was after a time, the commentary became more personal, more critical – especially when the women on the show started talking about their health and fitness regimes and routines.

Before long, the women watching the show started questioning whether the Runway Mom’s were giving their unborn children the right nutrition … whether walking up and down runways in heels [even though most of them weren’t] was good – or even safe – for them … some even started saying that because the women on the show were so thin, they were going to experience incredible hard births.

But what I loved the most was that after their verbal attacks, they said stuff like “oh, but they look so radiant” … as if that nullified all the comments they’d said previously.

I’d love to say this all led to something brilliant that we did for the client, but it didn’t – not really, though it did result in us doing some stuff where we targeted the husbands of the pregnant women as well as the women themselves – however what it did do was highlight how inside everyone is a dark side, a side that can be quite easily provoked – and if you can encourage that to come out, you could learn a whole host of things about people … things that not only reflect the counter side of the Disney-esque life that marketing departments seem so keen to present to the World, but it can give you platform to develop an idea that has real infectiousness to it … because as I used to say to my planning colleagues at cynic, anger is energy.


32 Comments so far
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campbell. just admit you did it because bursting peoples bubbles is your favourite waste of fucking time.

Comment by andy@cynic

not that there is anything fucking wrong with that.

Comment by andy@cynic

You saved yourself there from a major ‘pot, kettle, black’ moment.

Comment by Rob

but im not doing it to my radiant amd blossoming wife. shed stick a fucking knife if my forehead in bruce lee fucking speed.

Comment by andy@cynic

Wise. Remember what happened when I called Petra the Swedish bubble mere days before she was to give birth. She was OK, but the old lady on the table next to us went absolutely bezerk!

Comment by Rob

Is this advice for Andy masquerading as a half decent post?

Comment by Northern

campbell giving me advice is like oprah giving diet tips.

Comment by andy@cynic

Unless you wanted to know how to be a pain in the ass. He’d be very informative then.

Comment by Billy Whizz

and we all know shell be one of the runway model types anyway. i wouldnt of married her if she was the swollen fucking ankles type.

Comment by andy@cynic

These are lessons all men should know. Please pass on your wisdom to us oh guru of the babes.

Comment by Billy Whizz

not a fucking chance. what if i need #4 and all the babes are gone because i passed on the secrets to you bunch of fucking bastards.

Comment by andy@cynic

where is abby? do you stay in touch with her campbell? cant imagine shed stay in touch with you and not me. unless youre paying for fucking friends again.

Comment by andy@cynic

Last time I saw her she was at IDEO. You could tell she’d worked with Rob because she told me she was trying to convince people to develop a car.

Comment by Pete

what a fucking waste of a talented babe. i mean being inspired by campbell, ideo are ok even if they can be a bit too fucking happy for my fucking liking.

Comment by andy@cynic

Yes I am in touch with Abby Andy, but I swore to her I’d keep her location secret to avoid having to deal with you. It’s like the witness protection program, except the stakes are higher.

Comment by Rob

I’d give Miranda Kerr one. In fact I did. That’s my baby Orlando but you can keep it if you let me give your missus another one.

Comment by Billy Whizz

Orlando Bloom = international film star.
Orlando Campbell = planning bore.

Proof naming strategies mean nothing.

Comment by Billy Whizz

agree campbells not like that bloom twat but he is a bit like orlando florida. pretends to be modern but living on past fucking glories, overpriced and leaves you feeling ripped off and in need of a fucking shower.

on the bright side campbell, id rather spend time in florida than with that pretend acting twat. see, every cloud….

Comment by andy@cynic

Thanks. I think …

Comment by Rob

I think the energy companies should leave the oil fields and focus on anger because you have the energy of a duracell bunny and as far as I have been able to work out, it’s because you walk around being pissed off 90% of the time.

Comment by DH

what youre trying to say is he was an annoying bastard. and still is. its part of his brand fucking personality.

Comment by andy@cynic

I know I’ll be accused of being boring but there is a lot of important points in this post, none more than the need to explore the whole spectrum of people’s attitudes, beliefs and behavior. Too often, as you state, brands only want to focus on positive views and claims because they fear anything “dark” will translate to their brands communication and how the public perceive them however, if anything, it’s quite the opposite.

As P.I.L. said, anger is an energy and by not denying it, you can end up with stronger and more meaningful and more infectious ideas, communication and brands.

Comment by Pete

You’re not being accused of being boring Pete, you are boring.

Comment by Billy Whizz

Sorry Pete but he’s got a point.

Comment by DH

you need to spend less time with auntie fucking george. a lot less fucking time.

Comment by andy@cynic

Ignore them Pete, they’re just neanderthals. I agree with you and that is all that counts.

Comment by George

Apologies for sounding like Andy. That was not my intention .

Comment by George

most interesting fucking thing youve ever said. and you doubt i have had any fucking influence on you. now you know and you fucking owe me for it.

Comment by andy@cynic

That is very scary George. Please don’t slip up like that again.

Comment by Rob

Thank you Pete. And you’re not boring. A creep perhaps, but never boring. Ha. See you soon …

Comment by Rob

very interesting

Comment by toto

You could be wrong, you could be right.

Comment by Rob Mortimer




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