In ’89, British Co-lumbia’s timber industry created "Forests Forever," an advertising campaign via now defunct Corporate Strategies Group that claimed that the industry’s logging practices weren’t detrimental to British Co-lumbia’s forests. When Kalle Lasn saw the commercials, he was outraged. Lasn, a documentary filmmaker with a background in marketing, felt the spots misrepresented the forests’ condition. "In fact, the forests were in deep trouble, with only about 20% of the old growth forests left," Lasn recalls. Not one to sit and stew, Lasn decided to strike back on the industry’s own turf. To do so, he and a group of like-minded comrades came up with the idea of creating an "uncommercial" that would take the industry to task for its fallacious contentions. After storyboarding the spot, Lasn and his friends approached TV stations in British Columbia about airing the response. The station representatives bluntly refused, which only raised Lasn’s ire even more.
"This realization that corporations can buy airtime but people like us can’t is what gave birth to everything we’ve done since," says Lasn. In the wake of the refusal, Lasn and his cohorts created The Media Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Vancouver that strives to counter certain messages in contemporary advertising while nurturing a more sustainable and less consumer-oriented society. The Media Foundation is an umbrella organization that encompasses Powershift, an advocacy advertising agency, as well as Adbusters, a bi-monthly publication that critiques advertising. Lasn is president of The Media Foundation and editor and publisher of Adbusters.
The uncommercials are the principal means that The Media Foundation uses to achieve its objectives. Since that first attempt, the organization has produced over 30 uncommercials on a variety of subjects. The uncommercials are conceived by Powershift (assisted anonymously by ad agency creatives) and produced by a team organized by Lasn, who acts as executive producer. "G-8 Ecocide" is one uncommercial that questions whether the group of eight nations is addressing central contemporary problems of pollution, over-consumption and toxic waste. "The global economy is a doomsday machine," a narrator says as images of waste, ecological destruction and the effects of overpopulation flash across the screen. "The Product Is You" is another
uncommercial that encourages viewers to be wary of the constant marketing and advertising messages that bombard us on a daily basis. In a vision a la George Orwell’s 1984, the uncommercial shows a man watching TV. As the camera pans around him, a bar code becomes apparent on the back of the man’s neck. "Your living room is the factory," the spot’s narrator warns. "The product being manufactured is you." Geoff Rogers, a Canadian documentary filmmaker, directed both uncommercials.
Lasn doesn’t think the uncommercials will achieve The Media Foundation’s ultimate goals in one fell swoop. But they can catalyze the debate in the same way that traditional spots work.
"One corporate spot doesn’t necessarily bump up the sails immediately," Lasn explained. "What it does, it creates a kind of an atmosphere where that product is better-known and more talked about and has a certain kind of a ‘cool’ about it. That’s what we’re trying to do as well; we’re trying to create an alternative ‘cool’ to get people to debate these issues."
"We see eventually making a frugal lifestyle based on other values as being more ‘cool’ than the current lifestyle that is just buying stuff," Lasn continued.
In the attempt to further this vision of ‘cool,’ the uncommercials have been broadcast on outlets such as CNN, during its Headline News segment, as well as public access stations around the world. Other than CNN, the major networks have refused to broadcast the uncommercials, though local news stations sometimes do profiles of the effort that include uncommercial snippets.
Lasn said that station managers present two different faces on why they will not accept the group’s messages. On the one hand, they say the uncommercials don’t meet their criteria for advocacy advertising. "Off the record, they always tell me, ‘We’re scared that you’re going to piss off our sponsors,’" Lasn noted. "It’s really strange because those airwaves legally belong to the people and they’re leased out by the FCC to these broadcasters, who are then supposed to act in their own interest but also in the public interest. These public airwaves legally belong to the people but we the people actually can’t access them."
In an attempt to legally challenge the media blackout of the uncommercials, The Media Foundation took a case through Canada’s court system. The case wound its way through Canadian courts for five years and eventually found its way to Canada’s Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. The Media Foundation is now attempting to bring the case to the World Court, arguing that the refusal to grant airtime to the uncommercials violates Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has to do with the free flow of information. The Media Foundation is in the preliminary phases of raising a similar challenge in U.S. courts.
The uncommercial effort is ongoing, and Lasn said that The Media Foundation is now planning a new wave of uncommercials. One of the new uncommercials will suggest that when corporations violate the public trust-by, for instance, promoting smoking to teenagers-there is both a legal basis and a legal precedent for revoking the corporation’s charter to exist.
"We’re trying to popularize a movement, where it isn’t just a corporation selling its products and creating its kind of cool but we the people using advertising for our own purposes as well," Lasn said. "I think that the :30 is the most powerful social communications tool ever invented. I think a lot of people should be using it for all kinds of reasons."
Director Jack Begert Joins Biscuit For His First Commercial Representation In U.S. & U.K.
Biscuit Filmworks has added filmmaker Jack Begert to its roster in the U.S. and U.K. This marks Begert’s first representation in advertising, building upon his acclaimed work in music video and film. He is best known for his striking aesthetic and surreal use of visual effects, displayed in his feature film debut Little Death, which won the NEXT Innovator Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars David Schwimmer, Gaby Hoffman, Dominic Fike, and Talia Ryder, and was produced by Darren Aronofsky.
Miami-born and L.A.-based, the USC Film School graduate began his career in VFX and as an editor. Begert has worked with iconic musical artists including Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Flying Lotus, Childish Gambino, and Olivia Rodrigo, and has independently directed international campaigns for brands such as Apple, Converse, New Era, and Reebok.
Shawn Lacy, founding partner of Biscuit Filmworks, said of Begert, “We are such fans of his work--and of him as a creator, thinker, collaborator, and great guy.”
“My creative approach is often about trying to discover something unexpected in the filmmaking process,” said Begert. “Biscuit is a place where I can bring my own perspective to the work and still feel supported. That philosophy is clear from the talent they represent, and I’m excited to join their roster.”
“Jack’s work blew me away the moment I first saw it,” said Rupert Reynolds-Maclean, managing director at Biscuit Filmworks UK. “He is a modern young director who clearly cares deeply about both craft and the necessity for it in his storytelling. Everything always pushes the narrative forward. We’re looking forward to making great work together.”
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