Director Paul Gay of bicoastal/international Hungry Man shows us the anguish resulting from the needless separation of a husband and wife when one is institutionalized due to a disability. However, in this case the despair isn’t seen from the perspective of the one who’s been put in a care facility but rather the “healthy” husband who continues to live at home.
Titled “Independent Living,” this European cinema spot opens with a home movie showing a full-of-life, fun loving’ young female cavorting about. It soon becomes clear that this woman has since had her share of problems as her elderly husband tells his story. “I couldn’t save my wife, ” he says. “I couldn’t do anything for her.”
We see the man shopping at the local supermarket, moving a bit slowly. He seems listless.
Next, he is standing on an overpass looking at the traffic below. He continues to reminisce, except the memories aren’t pleasant. “It was like watching her being swept out to sea,” he relates. Clearly that sense of helplessness has stayed with him to this day.
“I carried her in my arms when we were first married,” he recalls, as a home movie flashback shows this young vivacious woman in a wedding gown being swept off her feet by her strapping groom. “These arms were strong back then. Now they might as well be made of string,” bemoans the man.
However, the assumption that his wife is deceased proves to be incorrect. Now seen rattling about in his home, the husband says, “She’s disabled. I couldn’t help her in and out of the bath so they put her in a care home.”
Sadly, even though his wife is alive, the separation makes her seemingly dead to him. She is no longer in his everyday world, and he feels guilty and responsible for the situation.
A voiceover then intervenes: “Many couples are needlessly forced apart because one of them is disabled. But with the right equipment and professional care, they could stay together in their own home.”
The spot’s sponsor is then revealed to be the U.K.’s Disability Rights Commission, accompanied by a Web site address, disabilitydebate.org. On the site is information shedding light on the plight of the disabled and their loved ones, and a social action plan to address related issues.
“Independent Living” is one of two cinema spots in a package helmed by Gay for McCann Erickson, Manchester. The other public service ad, “Nice Day,” shows the harassment and abuse a young mentally challenged man routinely has to endure from uncaring others on a daily basis.
Gay’s support team at Hungry Man included executive producer Matt Buels, head of production/exec producer Tim Nunn and line producer Martin Box. The DP was Joost Van Gelder.
The McCann creative ensemble consisted of creative director/art director/copywriter Richard Irving, art director/copywriter Tim Reid and art director/copywriter Ged Edmondson. The producer on the job was Kim Knowlton who is with the Central Office of Information, the U.K. government’s ad agency for the Disability Rights Commission.
Editor was Adam Spivey of Speade, London. Colorist was Alex Webster of The Mill, London. Audio post mixer was Andy Humphries of 750mph, London. Principal actor was Andrew Neil.
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