Putting on makeup in the morning should not be a dangerous game. In a cheeky new ad campaign, Environmental Defence, the environmental organization that led the charge for the ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, alerts Canadians to the many cancer-causing, hormone-disrupting and allergy-inducing substances contained in the personal care products they use every day. The campaign urges the federal government to ban harmful ingredients in cosmetics and to give the Canadian beauty industry a long overdue makeover.
To raise awareness about the toxins in Canadian products, Environmental Defence partnered with creative agency Open to create the :60 “How To Look Pretty Without Poisoning Yourself,” the name of the TV game show depicted in the commercial.
We open on an overbearing game show host and his lovely assistant who are soon joined by an enthusiastic contestant. The latter is confronted with a table full of cosmetic products. She has to pick the one that doesn’t contain toxins or cancer-causing chemicals. She selects a roll of lipstick and applies it to her lips only to hear a disqualifying buzzer. The emcee informs her that the lipstick contains lead.
As it turns out, the game was rigged in that all the cosmetics on the table had toxins. So our contestant, like so many women, had no chance to win when they use cosmetics.
End tags identify the sponsor, Environmental Defence, which is lobbying for safer cosmetics in Canada, and share that organization’s website address (environmentaldefence.ca).
The spot was directed by Aleysa Young of Partners’ Film for Toronto agency Open.
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