The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit providing care to those living with paralysis and advancing research into treatments and cures for spinal cord injury, has unveiled “Reverse,” a PSA from BBDO New York designed to spread awareness and bolster support of research to find cures for spinal cord injury.
Directed and shot by Greg Ramsey via Curious Pictures (Ramsey has since joined Nola Pictures), “Reverse” shows falling dominoes in the form of a person, representing the devastating physical, emotional and societal effects of a spinal cord injury on Rob Summers, a former college baseball pitcher who was paralyzed from the chest down in 2006 after being struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident.
However, as a result of his participation in a landmark scientific study of a novel experimental therapy, Summers is today able to stand up and step with assistance on a treadmill and move his legs voluntarily. The PSA thus reflects this turnaround by showing fallen dominoes rising again, producing a domino effect in reverse.
The experimental therapy combines continual direct epidural stimulation of the lower spinal cord with intense locomotor training (assisted stepping on a treadmill). Summers were the first-ever human participant in this groundbreaking research (funded by the National Institute of Health and the Reeve Foundation), which was published in the medical journal The Lancet in May 2011.
John Osborn, president of BBDO New York and chair of the Reeve Foundation’s Communications Committee, stated, “Rob’s story is extraordinarily compelling. His bigger-than-life personality and drive are an inspiration that we felt compelled to share. We want to invite the world to learn more and to feel what we feel — that this is a huge breakthrough and proof positive of progress being made in this field.”
Plans for a full-scale campaign, featuring print advertising, are also being explored by BBDO and the Reeve Foundation. In addition to BBDO, other organizations which have donated their time and efforts to this campaign include production partners Curious Pictures, @radical media (which provided pro bono green screen and crew), The Station, Trivers Myers Music, and media agency OMD.
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