<p>Are the British actually more funny than Americans, or do they just spend more time on their advertisements? I asked myself this question while watching the <a title=”British Advertising Awards” href=”http://calendar.walkerart.org/event.wac?id=4070″ target=”_blank”>British Advertising Awards</a> this week at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Some of the ads were emotionally manipulative (as Brendan Mackie <a title=”wrote about on this blog” href=”https://www.utne.com/media/do-you-want-world-peace-with-that.aspx”>wrote about on this blog</a>), some of the ads made no sense, but many of them were little 90-second pieces of art.</p>
<p>The most memorable ads were also the most simple. Guinness won a “Diploma award” for a stop-action animation film of a man’s hand. Unfortunately, they won’t release the footage on YouTube, but <a title=”I can include the link” href=”http://www.guinness.com/Templates/CarteBlancheTemplate.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bD9EB3834-3DB1-4692-8FAA-DAD6DF2EBC65%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fgb_en%2fHands%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&allowAccess=4r7a6h&refUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.guinness.com%2fTemplates%2fCar” target=”_blank”>I can include the link</a>. Greenpeace UK got big laughs off this ad that asks, “What does your car say about you?”</p>
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<p>Greenpeace won’t be able to stop people from buying SUVs with that little ad, it’s true. Brendan Mackie may be right that “proper action must come from more than a 30-second television spot.” But if a few people stop and think, even for a few seconds, about the affect their cars have on the environment, can the advertisement really be that bad?</p>
<p>–<i>Bennett Gordon</i>
</p>
<p>For a great holiday-themed ad, watch this one from the <a title=”British softdrink Irn-Bru” href=”http://www.irn-bru.co.uk/snowman/index.html” target=”_blank”>British soft drink Irn-Bru</a>.</p>
Tagged with: ads, advertising, British, British Advertising Awards, Greenpeace
