We open on a young man athletically blocking a shot in a pick up basketball game. We cut to the man facing the camera and declaring with gusto, “Welcome to my ‘block’ party. Glad you could make it!” Our next b-ball prodigy is a young woman in a gym, smoothly sinking two points over her opponent before looking back into the camera to declare, “The only triple-double you get– comes with fries.” Yet another states, “Last time you blocked someone, you were online,” followed by a young man rhyming, “I can do this all day. Your moves are just gay.”
Each of the other previously seen bragging players, plus NBA stars Grant Hill and Jared Dudley, instantly make buzzer sounds, followed by Hill stating, “Using ‘gay’ to mean dumb or stupid is not cool.” Others echo, “Not cool.” Dudley agrees, “Not in my house, not anywhere.” Hill notes, “It’s not creative.” Dudley says, “It’s offensive to gay people. And Hill concludes, “you’re better than that.” We cut to black with the super, “ThinkB4YouSpeak.com,” and the Ad Council, NBA and GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) logos closing out the PSA.
Tilted “Wordplay,” this :30 was directed by Evan Bernard of Friedman 360, NY, and edited by Merritt Duff of Cutting Room, NY, for Arnold NYC. Joe DeSalvo was the DP. The Arnold creative ensemble included chief creative officer John Staffen, group creative directors Gary Rozanski and Thom Baginski, associate creative director Archie Bell, copywriter Michael Santoro and producer Brian Schierman.
NO MONEY BUSINESS AT BBDO BBDO has agreed to take PETA’s “The Great Ape Pledge” and will no longer use monkeys, apes, baboons or chimps in films. To further the effort, BBDO New York conceived an additional initiative to help educate advertisers and agencies about the harm done to monkeys, apes, baboons and chimps when used in films. The agency has installed an auto correct program on all its computers. Whenever words such as “monkey” or “ape” or “chimpanzee” are typed, the rest of a sentence appears automatically: “–who was taken from his mother when only weeks old to act in front of the camera. During his training, the ape will be kicked, punched, and beaten to perform what you are just about to write.”
To learn more, watch the following video: http://www.NoMonkeyBusinessOn.Tv
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS….
Elliott Seaborn has joined Arnold Worldwide as executive VP/executive director. Seaborn will play a leadership role in the account management group, providing digital-business counsel to Arnold’s clients and helping shape the evolution of the account management practice. He is based in the network’s Boston office and reports to Pam Hamlin, managing partner and president of Arnold Boston. Most recently, Seaborn held a sr. VP role at Digitas, where he worked for over 10 years. Under his watch, he grew the biggest piece of the General Motors business by nearly 300%. He was also instrumental in winning several pieces of significant new business, including Aflac….Branding and advertising agency NYCA in Solana Beach, Calif., has hired Josh Forstot as associate creative director and digital creative technologist. He reports to VP/associate creative director Dave Huerta. Forstot will work across all clients as NYCA’s digital creative lead. Previously, Forstot was founder/creative director of Hermosa Beach, Calif. agency HYFN. Earlier he was director of digital marketing at Skechers USA…
