A silly joke calls our attention to a serious health issue in this PSA directed by Tim Abshire of Backyard, Venice, Calif.
We open on two dorky guys, both a bit overweight, standing in a residential driveway. One is holding a large oddly shaped hunk of concrete. He asks his cohort, “Do you know what this is?”
“No” is the response.
The first guy then proceeds to clunk the other man in the head with the concrete.
The impact elicits a relatively quiet “Ow” from the bewildered victim, who rubs his head.
A supered message relates the simple truth, “What you don’t know can hurt you.”
This is followed by a serious super, which reads, “Learn more about the link between obesity and heart disease.”
An end tag logo for the American Obesity Task Force (AOTF) then appears on screen, accompanied by a Web site address, obesityrisk.org. The Web site takes visitors to links about diet, scientific research and other info that can help reduce weight and cholesterol.
The PSA’s creative silliness is heightened by a live-action approach akin to cartoon-like violence. Getting clocked by a hunk of concrete that hard and big should normally have resulted in considerable pain, if not an outright concussion and/or the victim being knocked unconscious. Instead the guy lets out a rather subdued, matter-of-fact “Ow,” and tends to the “injury” by merely rubbing the side of his head.
Freelancer Lisa Leone served as creative director on “Ow.”
Director Abshire was backed by a Backyard support team that included executive producer Kris Mathur and producer Kyra Shelgren. The DP was Peter Selesnick.
Editor was John Dingfield of Cutters, Chicago. Colorist was Craig Leffel of Optimus, Chicago. Audio post mixer was Ben Keller of Another Country, Chicago.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More