Director Bram Van Riet of Caviar (Venice, Calif., Brussels, Amsterdam) shows us the schoolyard isn’t the only place bullying goes down in a new :60 PSA, “Safer Internet,” for the European Union and Schoolnet out of LDV United, Antwerp, Belgium. The PSA demonstrates how seemingly harmless cyber jabs can be anything but.
The spot opens on a young girl surfing the net in her bedroom. She types “Hello Everybody” on a social networking site, clicks “Post,” and the games begin. An electronic beat ushers in rapid-growing pimples, the apparent physical manifestation of another user’s mean-spirited posting. The girl’s computer chimes and we see that another user has presumably called her a pig, because her nose morphs into an oinking snout.
We cut to another bedroom where a young man posts on his computer, “You fat cow!” Back in her bedroom, the girl’s belly and cheeks balloon, splintering the backside of her chair, then her face distorts as if rubberized; the result of three other girls’ insensitive use of photo-finishing software. Finally, with her face stretching like Play-Doh and the room quaking, the girl stops the madness by clicking “Report Abuse” on her computer. Over the teary-eyed and thoroughly frightened girl, a super appears, “Block bullying online.” The PSA closes on a black screen over which the tag, “Keep it fun, keep control,” and the site www.keepcontrol.eu appears.
The LDV United team included creative director Kristoff Snels, copywriter Melanie Daems, art director Kris Lenaers and producer Petra De Roos.
Kato Maes exec produced for Caviar, Brussels, with Tatiana Pierre serving as producer. The DP was Nicolas Karakatsanis.
Editor was Simone Rau of Caviar, Brussels.
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