As a follow-up to last week’s column about the Peace Council, we have a couple of stories in this edition of SHOOT that similarly underscore the importance of public service advertising.
In our page 7 feature, we report on MTV’s Fight For Your Rights/Take A Stand Against Discrimination campaign featuring PSAs directed by Mike Franzini of Public Interest Productions, which is based out of @radical.media’s Santa Monica office. Some of the spots are tagged with the logo for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a.k.a. GLSEN, which is billed as being the largest national organization fighting the harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in schools.
The spots all provide food for thought, perhaps most notably "Jason and Justin"—which some might construe, ironically, as placing a stigma on being gay. The PSA notes that the classroom jock who’s quick to blurt out the "fag" epithet has "something to hide"—namely his "crush" on another guy.
"That was a controversial idea," related Franzini, who acknowledged that some financial backers of the campaign "almost pulled out" because they thought "Jason and Justin" suggested "there was something wrong with being gay."
Franzini explained, "I think what everyone saw in the end was that the spot wasn’t going to make anyone feel bad about being gay. But it sure would raise questions in the minds of the bashers about whether people might think they, too, are gay. And they’re exactly the ones who have a problem with people thinking that—so it’s sort of using their own homophobia against them."
The debate over the concept, though, most importantly raises sensitivities as to what constitutes a slur and prejudice based on sexual preference. Clearly, it’s a matter that isn’t always so clear-cut—which in and of itself is an essential message worth imparting.
The other alluded-to story in this week’s SHOOT reports on director Carolyn Chen joining bicoastal/international Believe Media. Among her credits is the poignant "Rick Stoddard" anti-smoking campaign for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health via Boston agency Arnold Worldwide. The seven serialized spots, which debuted in Massachusetts last year, focus on how one family was affected and one life ultimately claimed by smoking. Rick Stoddard talks about his wife, Marie, who died from cancer. We see her being rushed to the emergency room, where doctors discover 20 lesions on her brain, the cancer having spread from her lungs. Another spot in the series has the husband describing how his wife’s head had to be put in an apparatus that was bolted to a table, in order to receive radiation treatment.
In yet another ad, Rick Stoddard simply observes, "I never thought of 23 as middle-aged"—a reference to the fact that Marie died at the age of 46. That spot—which was later picked up by the American Legacy Foundation and ran nationally during this year’s Super Bowl telecast—shows snippets of Marie enjoying life, juxtaposed with her husband’s remembrances.
When SHOOT initially covered "Rick Stoddard" in the summer of 2000, as part of "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery, Stuart Cooperrider, one of Arnold’s creative directors on the campaign, observed why public service work is so necessary to help create awareness. He remarked, "The tobacco industry is currently running TV ads telling us about the good things they give to the community. The ‘Rick Stoddard’ campaign is a reminder of everything the tobacco industry takes away."
