This French spot begins with a young man pressing a doorbell button. Answering the front door is another gent–along with a cast of assorted others who appear stuffed into an apartment entry way. In some respects, it’s reminiscent of the crowded ocean liner stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers’ classic A Night At The Opera. But unlike that film, the people in this spot don’t come tumbling out once the door is open. Instead, they need to be climbed over and represent but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The man who rang the doorbell is there in response to an ad about sharing an apartment, not knowing exactly how many people he’d have as fellow residents. Turns out it looks like a cast of hundreds as the guy who answered the door takes him on a tour of the accommodations.
Both tour guide and guest make their way over a mound of humanity to get to the living room, which is beyond standing room only. Next we are taken to the bathroom where naked men and women are shoehorned into a communal shower, scrubbing and soaping one another. Then we get a look-see at the kitchen where people are perched on one another’s shoulders, some having a meal, others just hanging out. And finally our tour guide proudly points to the laundry room’s washing machine. Never mind the fact that people are stacked up on one another in the room–the stand-out attraction is the washing machine which a super informs us has 7kg capacity and is only 40cm. Indeed there’s no better space saver than a Brandt washing machine.
Titled “La Colocation” (which in English translates to “Apartment Sharing”) this spot was directed by Keith Bearden via Mister Hyde, Paris, for agency DDB, Paris. (Bearden is repped in the U.S. by Good Films, New York)
The DDB creative team consisted of creative directors Alexandre Herve and Sylvain Thirache, copywriter Fabien Teichner, art director Faustin Dlaverie and producer Dominique Porte.
Herve Lopez executive produced for Mister Hyde. The DP was Nathaniel Aron.
Editor was Nicholas Isabey of Editors, Paris.
Supreme Court Seems Likely To Uphold A Law That Could Force TikTok To Shut Down On Jan. 19
The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok's ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. "We might be in a different world again" after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a "political resolution." Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration' in defense of the law a... Read More