On Sept. 25, the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) held its fourth annual "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" awards. The show recognizes advertisers and clients who portray and address women in both positive (the Good) and negative (the Bad and the Ugly) ways.
Fallon Minneapolis took home several prizes, including the Grand Good for Nordstromshoes.com’s "Moving Van," directed by Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan. In the spot, a woman tosses furniture out of the back of a truck onto the highway, heedless of damage she’s causing in order to accommodate her shoes. She returns to the van’s cab and, when her boyfriend looks at her, demands, ‘What?’ Two more spots in the Nordstromshoes.com’s "Make Room for Shoes" campaign were given Goods: "Crush" and "Doorstep" (both also helmed by Traktor) featured women demolishing sports cars and abandoning husbands in order to claim more storage space.
The Grand Ugly went to Clairol Herbal Essence’s "Courtroom" via The Kaplan Thaler Group, New York, in which a woman is moved to ecstasy over the thought of a shampoo. The spot was directed by Graham Rose of Striper Films, New York.
Other Good winners were "Pick Up" and "Feng Shui," out of Fallon Minneapolis and directed by Paul Gay of bicoastal Omaha Pictures; Oxygen’s "I Am Baby" via Mullen, Wenham, Mass., directed by Baker Smith of Tate & Partners, Santa Monica; Ikea’s "Work Lights," via Deutsch, New York, directed by Noam Murro, then of bicoastal HKM Productions, now of Stiefel+Company, Santa Monica (as of Nov. 1, Murro will be directing via a new shop, Biscuit Filmworks, Hollywood); BMW’s "Spring Skiing" via Fallon Minneapolis, directed by Laurence Dunmore out of bicoastal RSA USA; Nike’s "Beautiful," out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., directed by Frank Budgen
of Gorgeous Enterprises, London; PBS’ "Light" and "Fishbowl," directed by Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical.media; Charles Schwab’s "Picabo Street" and Visa’s "Pole Vault," both via BBDO New York and directed by David Cornell of bicoastal Headquarters; and Visa’s "Paint Chips," also via BBDO New York, directed by Erich Joiner of bicoastal Tool of North America.
Some of the losing spots came from clients not known for controversial fare. However, the judges objected to what they saw as stereotypes reinforced by the ads. For example, Jell-O Pudding’s "The Boy Next Door" via Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York, had a voiceover by Bill Cosby. It profiled a little girl determined to win the boy next door with Jell-O. However, she’s dismayed to discover that other little girls have the same idea.
Other Bads were Nomad Telephone’s "23rd Bride" via Jean & Montmarin, Paris; Always’ "Accident Risk" and "Pick Up Lines" via Amazon Advertising, San Francisco, both directed by Chris Strother of bicoastal The End; Audi’s "Paparazzi" via McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C.—which is owned by marchFIRST, Chicago —directed by Marcus Nispel, then of bicoastal RSA USA and now of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ); Pepsi’s "Pepsi Man, Pool" via Asastsu, Japan; Palmolive’s "Spring Sensations" via Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York; and Brut’s "Commercial" via the former Ammirati Puris Lintas, New York, directed by Christopher Guest of bicoastal Moxie Pictures.
However, Joni Madison, chief of operations at McKinney & Silver, objected to the Audi ad’s designation as a loser, citing the fact that "Paparazzi" ran briefly several years ago. "We thought it was ill representative to have the public perceive that that was current work."
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly organizing committee (which did not vote on the ads) consisted of more than a dozen of AWNY’s 1,200 members, and was co-chaired by Cindy Gallop, president, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York; Alison Burns, president, Fallon New York; and Catherine St. Jean, partner/chief operating officer of executive recruitment firm Judy Wald Partners, New York.
The independent panel of judges consisted of John Hegarty, chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York; Jamie Barrett, executive creative director of Fallon New York; Jane Talcott, group creative director, Young & Rubicam; Mary Warlick, executive director, The One Club; Jackie End, group creative director, TBWA/Chiat Day, New York; Karen Magee, VP consumer marketing, Time Magazine; Laurel Cutler, futurist; Betty Powell, professor of English/Women’s Studies at Mars Hill College; and Lauren Kellner, a high school student.
A call for submissions went out in early July, and had to be in by the third week of the month. Out of the 1,000 total entries (submissions for the Bad and Ugly categories were free; Good submissions cost $100 per entry), 130 television ads were submitted. The only stipulation was that the ads had to have run. Judges watched videotapes of the television ads and rated the spots on a scale from one to five, five being a good high score. St. Jean pointed out, "It was funny; some commercials that were submitted as Goods got bad marks!" though she declined to elaborate. No creative voted on the merits of his/her own agency’s work, and judges were encouraged to comment on what they saw. St. Jean tabulated the results.
DEPARTURE
This year’s show departed from the previous years’ in several ways, as part of the strategy to publicize and broaden its appeal. According to the awards’ co-chair Gallop, "We decided we had to raise the profile of the awards quite significantly in order to effect actual change. So this is, in fact, the first year that we put a creative screen on the advertising; because in previous years, awards had been given without necessarily due consideration as to whether the ad itself was good or bad." Formerly, criteria for the awards focused on the message the ad sent, and the manner in which women were portrayed or addressed.
Furthermore, she explained, "We switched the event to an evening event, because we wanted it to be much more aspirational, and acquire the status of the big creative awards schemes like The One Show." AWNY’s gamble was successful: The 500 tickets, which cost $150 per person, sold out two weeks prior to the event.
Gallop continued, "We also acknowledged that if you want things to change about the way that women are advertised to, then you have to talk to men. Most of the creative departments in this country—unlike other advertising agency departments—are dominated by men. So we wanted to make this an awards scheme that would make men sit up and take notice, and actually want to have the endorsement of winning a Good."
While some spots portrayed women as sex objects, judges also objected to certain ads for different reasons. Gallop pointed out, "There is a segment of the Bads which are inevitably about ludicrous sex object types, but equally there’s a stereotype of ads that suggest that women get overexcited about a new washing machine, which in some way is equally condescending and patronizing." Sadly, "There’s quite a spectrum in disappointing ways in which advertisers talk to women."
Jackie End, group creative director at TBWA/Chiat Day, New York, and a member of the judging committee, said, "I would like to see it not be an issue. I’d like to see men and women interchangeable in commercials, unless there’s a real specific target issue, so that you don’t even notice."
Gallop noted, "We publicize the list of Good, Bad and Ugly winners in the press. It can be quite difficult to always find out who the actual agencies are for the Bads, because they’re not very willing to own up to it!" So the name-and-shame approach doesn’t always work.
Furthermore, Gallop admitted, "I think it’s actually more difficult than we’d like, to find sufficient examples of good. It’s actually extremely easy to judge the ugly, because they usually leap out at you. … We really demand that the good ads must be great pieces of creative, as much as that they depict or talk to women in an appropriate way."
She added, "Equally, the bad ads should be not just bad portrayals of women, but also not good ads. So what we’re looking for is advertising that not only innovates, but also talks to women cleverly, wittily, without stereotyping them."
