When Censoring is Good

You may have heard the reports that ABC recently refused to air a television commercial from the Al Gore-led WE Campaign. It's strong stuff-- pointing fingers directly at the oil companies. And oil companies are steady advertisers on ABC and others. (Full disclosure: BP is our client, in case you didn't already know.)



Decide for yourself. If you want to enter the conversation, go visit wecansolveit.org

But a lesson learned from another Ogilvy client -- Dove -- comes to mind. Last year, after the successful "Campaign for Real Beauty," Dove launched a campaign that asked why "anti-aging" was used as a selling point for beauty products. What the heck is wrong with "age"? Real woman of all ages were celebrated in the "Pro Age" television ad. And it was banned by network TV for being inappropriate:



Horrified by censorship? Well, sure. But the networks helped make the point that no :30 TV spot every could-- that there is a cultural age bias that is unjust to women and unacceptable to support. And, it allowed us to tempt people to come see "the ad the networks wouldn't air." Game, set, match. The insight was made, Dove's genuine championing of real beauty re-enforced.

My guess, WE is smiling at ABC's unintentional boost to their PR efforts. Now it's a news story. Now people are outraged. Now bloggers everywhere are writing about it and sharing the commercial and their website. Now, oh, right....

Darn! Those clever folks got me.

Green Olympic Games

Last week, the 2008 Summer Olympics kicked off with a bang. It's a rare opportunity for people from all walks of life to turn their televisions on and enjoy true world class competition. And some of the largest global corporations have spent over a billion dollars to grab the attention of these 30 million prime time viewers each night.

The focus of their ads? Sustainability. Needless to say, we're happy to see this.

Over the next thirteen days, we will be posting some of these ads, sharing our thoughts and hoping you will share yours.

First up, The Alliance for Climate Protection's WE campaign. Their latest ad encourages us to move to "clean" electricity. Of course, we applaud all of Gore's efforts in the fight against global warming, but wonder if the campaign gives people the chance to take action?

Yes, the ad sends the viewers to wecansolveit.org, where individuals are encouraged to write their local and state politicians and ask for change. But we wonder...

Did it miss an opportunity to inspire individuals to make changes to their daily lives?

What do you think? Chime in.