Swatch And The Slanted Eye Ad

Swatch removed an ad in China that showed an Asian male model pulling the corners of his eyes following backlash online. 

The image was published as part of the Swatch Essentials collection campaign that ran on social media platforms in the country, including Weibo, which has over 580 million users. 

However, many commentators said the pose appeared to mimic the racist “slanted eye” gesture, historically used to mock Asian people. 

On Saturday (16 August), Swatch said it had “taken note of recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model” and confirmed it had removed the images. 

“We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused”, the brand said in a statement. It also posted the same apology on Instagram. 

Despite Swatch’s apology, some consumers are still calling for a boycott of its brands (which includes Omega, Longines, and Tissot). 

One Weibo user with more than 1 million followers accused the company of “racism against Chinese,” suggesting regulators should punish the brand. 

On Instagram, another critic wrote in a comment: “That wasn’t a mistake, it was a deliberate display of supremacy and dominance over others, embedded in your marketing”. 

I agree because it does seem intentional as the ad was targeted at the Chinese market. And it's not the first time either that Western brands are guilty of this type of racist advertising.

In April 2023, French luxury brand Dior faced a similar controversy after pulling the same stunt to promote Dior's new makeup collection. It showed an Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye with the caption "Channel your feline fierceness".

Jaguar's Rebrand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaguar Land Rover managing director Rawdon Glover has had to defend the Jaguar rebrand and was obliged to deny that its ad is meant to send a “woke” message. 

 

The award-winning luxury performance car brand debuted its new logo and slogan, “Copy Nothing”, in a promotional video on November 19, 2024.

 

The ad featured androgynous models in brightly colored, over-the-top outfits, including one man wearing a dress, along with other slogans such as “create exuberant”, “live vivid”, “delete ordinary” and “break moulds”. 

 

Notably, the ad did not feature any cars in its 30-second run. 

 

Predictably, the video blew up on social media, attracting over 163 million views and over 100,000 comments. 

 

Glover (right) praised the attention around the campaign as “very positive” – but added that he was disappointed by the “level of vile hatred and intolerance” shown by social media commentators towards the models in the video. He claimed the ad’s message had been lost “in a blaze of intolerance”. 

 

Glover told the FT: “If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand”. 

 

And he left me completely confused when he said: “This is not a depiction of how we think our future customers are. We don’t want to necessarily leave all of our customers behind. But we do need to attract a new customer base”. 😕😕😕😕

 

I'm thinking he is intentionally targeting the "rich transgender person" demographic. It must be a massive market for JLR!

 

👇And this mirrors my response to Glover:

 

 

Next stage in the transformation of Jaguar will be revealed at Miami Art Week – deemed “The Super Bowl of the Art World – on December 02, 2024, in Miami, USA, including the debut of their Design Vision Concept. Whatever lah.

Apple Ad Crushes Memories

When an ad goes viral, it’s usually for one of two reasons – it resonates so deeply with viewers that they can’t stop talking about it… or it makes people so upset they rush to social media to voice their outrage. 

 

An Apple ad for its new iPad Pro seems to fall into the latter category. Posted on social media Tuesday by Apple CEO Tim Cook, the ad starts off as a sort of time capsule for human creativity. 

 

There’s a metronome. A record player. Then the lights come on in a warehouse-like room, where you see those items and dozens of other creative tools sitting on a metal slab in the center of the shot. There’s also a CRT TV, cans of paint, a globe of the Earth, a piano, an ‘80s arcade video game, a sculptural bust of a human head and a trumpet. 

 

Another giant metal slab hangs ominously above it all. As we hear the opening words of “All I Ever Need Is You”, a 1972 single by Sonny & Cher, the metal slab starts descending. 

 

The items are in a giant hydraulic press, and within about 40 seconds everything will be gone – crushed under tons of force in an often dramatic fashion.

 

After the destruction, the hydraulic press starts rising again. The debris is now gone. In its place is a shiny, new iPad Pro. A voiceover says, “The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest”. 

 

Cher closes out the minute-long spot, crooning “All I ever need is you”. 

 

Videos of hydraulic presses demolishing everything from electronics to candy have become very popular in the past few years, in part due to the often mesmerizing nature of the way things collapse under pressure. Apple are seemingly trying to capitalize on this trend while making a point about how their new iPad Pro is so powerful it can replace other means of creative expression. 

 

But for many viewers, the ad doesn’t land the right note. “I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is (sic) this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for”, says one commenter on X. 

 

“I can’t relate to this video at all. It lacks any respect for creative equipment and mocks the creators”, says another. 

 

Others say that even though they understand what the ad is trying to say, it doesn’t resonate with them. 

 

“It’s a creative concept & good execution, but wow the ad made me surprising (sic) sad!” says one X user. “The song choice also seems to especially idolize tech over real life. Now I just want to avoid screens & spend more time enjoying the world offline”. 

 

“It should have been about capturing and honoring the essence of what’s so special about all of those things and experiences to bring them together in a device, not crushing the soul out of them”, says another person on X. 

 

The plug is telling me that technology is hell-bent on destroying our collective memories. And then, to declare that is a good thing before showing off the Apple tablet is obnoxious, objectionable and even offensive!

Potato Chips for Communion Sparks Catholic Outrage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A potato chip commercial that features nuns receiving the crispy snacks for communion is outraging Catholics in Italy.

 

The spot by Amica Chips features doe-eyed young nuns inside a convent delighting that their communion wafer, known as the host, is actually a potato chip. A mother superior figure looks on as the nuns giggle, and it is revealed that it was her that substituted the hosts for potato chips in the box where communion wafers are kept, called a tabernacle. 

 

Catholics believe the communion wafer represents the body and blood of Christ. 

 

Giovanni Baggio, the head of AIART, a Catholic group that monitor Italian radio and television, called the ad a “blasphemy”. In a statement, Baggio said the 30-second commercial was “outrageous” and that it “offends the sensitivity of millions of practicing Catholics by trivializing the comparison between the potato chip and the consecrated object”. 

 

The Catholic newspaper Avvenire also criticized the ad in an editorial: “Christ has been reduced to a potato chip. Debased and vilified like 2,000 years ago”. 

 

Amid the backlash, Italy’s advertising standards authority, the IAP, announced an order for the commercial to be taken off air. Amica Chips have seven days to appeal the decision, during which time broadcasts will continue. The order does not apply to online placements. 

 

Social media users also reacted in horror to the ad. 

 

“This is blasphemy! Respect Our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist!” wrote one Instagram user. 

 

Another said: “You don’t play with God. To my Italian friends, I suggest a total boycott of this company”. 

 

One user said Amica Chips had “offended all the Catholics of the world”, and another accused the company of “a very serious lack of respect”. 

 

Amica Chips did not reply to a request for comment.

H&M Pull School Uniform Advert

H&M, the Swedish clothing company, have drawn ire for their advertisement for school clothing. Social media users branded it as "sickening" and questioned the reasoning behind the ad.

 

The advertising campaign launched in Australia featured two young girls in pinafore dresses with the caption, “Make those heads turn in H&M’s Back to School fashion”.

 

On Monday, an H&M spokesperson said, “We have removed this ad. We are deeply sorry for the offence this has caused and we are looking into how we present campaigns going forward”.

 

The move comes after social media users accused the company of sexualising young girls. 

 

“The little girls’ parents generally prefer heads don’t ‘turn’ when others see their daughters walking to school, on a bus or in class”, Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian writer known for campaigning against pornography, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. 

 

“Why would you want to fuel the idea that little girls should draw attention to their looks, bodies and ‘style’? Perhaps have a word to your marketing team and come up with something that doesn’t draw attention to pre-pubescent girls already struggling to thrive in a culture that values ‘lookism’ as an aspirational goal?”

 

Boeing will hold a quality stand down tomorrow at the Seattle-area US location where they make 737 aircraft, pausing production and delivery operations for a day, the company announced yesterday.

 

During the stand down, employees will attend quality workshops and “pause, evaluate what we're doing, how we're doing it and make recommendations for improvement”, said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stan Deal. 

 

The first stand down will occur at the Renton, Washington-area factory where the 737 is built. All other Boeing commercial production facilities and fabrication sites will have stand downs over the next few weeks, Boeing said.

 

It is long overdue! Stop gambling lives and start putting quality over profit!

Zara Pulls Ad Over Gaza Reference Claims

Fashion brand Zara on Tuesday said it was removing an advertising campaign from its website and social media channels after angry criticism online claimed that it resembled images of destruction in Gaza. 

 

The move follows days of boycott calls across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok over the promotion called ‘The Jacket’, which featured a model holding a mannequin seemingly wrapped in white plastic, fragments of plasterboard, a roughly painted crooked wooden box, rubble and statues, as well as other mannequins with missing limbs. 

 

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created”, Zara said in a statement posted on its Instagram account. 

 

The Inditex-owned fashion brand added that the ad campaign, which was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of “unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”.

 

UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said they had received over 100 complaints that the imagery referenced the current conflict in Gaza and was therefore offensive. 

 

In early November, UK clothing chain M&S apologized for an Instagram video showing green, white, and red paper hats burning in a fire. The company explained that the video was part of a campaign recorded in August to “playfully show that some people don’t enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, some social media users argued the hats reflected the colors of the Palestinian flag. And they accused M&S of "promoting the burning of the Palestinian flag". 

 

In the end, the firm deleted the picture and apologised for any "unintentional hurt".

 

It should be noted that the colors of the festive hats are also the same as the flags of Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Oman, Lebanon, Madagascar and Burundi and are ones traditionally associated every Christmas.

Burger King To Answer Whopper Lawsuit

A legal battle over the size of Burger King's Whopper is headed to court.

 

A US judge rejected the burger chain’s bid to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought by customers who say Burger King's in-store menu boards show a much bigger Whopper than what is actually served.

 

District Judge Roy Altman in Miami, Florida said Burger King must defend against the contention that their depiction of the signature sandwich as having ingredients that, quote, “overflow over the bun" – making it appear 35% larger overall and with more than double the meat of an actual Whopper. 

 

Burger King, a unit of Restaurant Brands International, countered that they weren’t required to deliver burgers that look “exactly like the picture”. Really? I would call it deceptive marketing, if that was the case. 

 

Anyway, the judge said it’s up to a jury to decide what “reasonable people” would think – and whether the burger joint’s alleged action amounts to a breach of contract with their customers.

 

(The judge dismissed claims over video ads, though, where you see the burger and all the stuff in it bouncing around deliciously and all that). 

 

Perhaps, Burger King can add a disclaimer: "Picture for illustration purposes only". Then customers won't feel cheated. 

 

But better still, they should make the burger be just like the one on the menu board. 

 

Burger King are not the only ones accused of beefing up their images. McDonald’s and Wendy’s are defending against a similar lawsuit in Brooklyn, New York. And Taco Bell, a unit of Yum Brands, were sued in Brooklyn in July for selling Crunchwraps and Mexican pizzas that allegedly contain only half as much filling as advertised.

Philippines Tourism Advert Uses Footage From Other Countries

Be careful with tourism ads that popularize holiday destinations because they are not always what they depict. 

 

The advertising agency behind the Philippine government's 49 million pesos (nearly $900,000) "Love The Philippines" tourism campaign launched on June 27 had to ask for pardon after their Pilipinas promotional video showed "non-original" stock footage from other countries. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, the DDB Philippines agency released a statement and said they "profusely" apologised to the country's Tourism Secretary and the Department of Tourism, as well as the people of the Philippines. 

 

The clip featured many different shots that showed the Tegallalang Rice Terrace in Ubud in Bali, Indonesia and sand dunes in Cumbuco in northeastern Brazil as well as footage of a man riding a buggy in the desert in the United Arab Emirates. 

 

Explaining the mishap, the agency said: "While the use of stock footage in mood videos is standard practice in the industry, the use of foreign stock footage was an unfortunate oversight on our agency's part. 

 

Proper screening and approval processes should have been strictly followed. The use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines is highly inappropriate, and contradictory to the DOT's objectives". 

 

The DOT released a statement on Monday and said they stand in "solidarity" with "fellow Filipinos" in their outrage over the matter. The department said they remain "fully committed" to developing and promoting the country as a "powerhouse of natural wonders, culture and heritage, and a fount of warmth and hospitality which is a source of great love and pride for all Filipinos". 

 

Blogger Sass Rogando Sasot, who also uncovered the use of other countries in the video, called out the agency and said "at least four scenes" were stock footage – which included shots from Thailand, Indonesia and Dubai. 

 

"When the people in the government and mainstream media didn't realise that the rice terraces and airport in the #LoveThePhilippines aren't in the PH, it means one thing: they themselves do not know our country... and you cannot truly love what you don't know", Rogando Sasot said in a Facebook post.

 

Tourism is a key industry in the Philippines, which boasts pristine dive spots and white sand beaches, but arrivals lag those of its neighbors due to poor infrastructure and high costs. There were 2.7 million inbound tourists to the Philippines last year, down 68 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to United Nations' World Tourism Organisation data.

Elwood's Organic Dog Meat

An advertisement was spotted on UK’s London Underground that appears to be touting tasty, juicy dog meat, "local, free-range and humanely harvested". 

 

Check out the ad here:

The ad on the London Underground

“ELWOOD'S IS AHEAD OF THE PACK 

Set the table with man's best meat. 

Elwood's Organic Dog Meat has been family-owned and operated for over two generations. We're dedicated to offering our friends and neighbors the best, sustainably raised dog meat available. 

Unlike some farms, our pups never receive antibiotics and spend little time cooped up. They have access to green pastures during the summer months and are fed only organic, soy-free feed. 

​ Our dogs are: 

• Free-range 
• Local 
• Organic Fresh, never frozen 
• Free from antibiotics 
• Sustainably raised 
• Humanely slaughtered! 
• Loved 

Pups and dogs are available by the cut, quarter, half, or whole animal. Broth bones are available on a limited basis. Please contact us for breed availability".

Unfortunately for connoisseurs of canines, a close look at the small print reveals that it's a cunning ploy: "If a fake ad for a fake farm bothers you, maybe go vegan?" 

As their website explains: “The truth is, most of the animals you consume are just like dogs in all the ways that matter: 

• Cows are social and complex. 
• Pigs are gentle with surprising intelligence. 
• Chickens are intelligent and sensitive to the welfare of their peers. 
• Sheep are peaceful and can pick up emotional cues in humans. 

Throughout history, we humans had to learn to overlook who an animal is – and their capacity to suffer – in order to survive. But we don't have to eat animals anymore”. 

And then it informs us that “CHANGE IS PAWS-IBLE” and that “you can live without causing intentional harm to animals”. 

“Elwood’s Organic Dog Meat isn’t real, but we hope you’ll think about any anger it caused. Consider what it'd mean to open your heart to the idea that so-called ‘food animals’ are just as worthy of love and kindness – and maybe that there is no such thing as an ‘animal meant for food’. 

At the very least, no animal deserves the cruel, short lives we create for them”.

To get the full version, read it at their website ElwoodDogMeat.com.

 

Burger King Respond to McDonald’s ChatGPT Boast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two competing billboards from McDonald's and Burger King have been placed next to each other in Brazil. The ads both feature answers written by ChatGPT and have a similar layout. 

 

According to translated versions of the billboards reported by The Drum, the chatbot calls McDonald's Big Mac the most "iconic burger" and names Burger King's Whopper "the biggest".

 

Burger King's billboard appears to be a response to McDonald's launching a wider campaign based on the chatbot's answer. 

 

The No. 1 fast-food restaurant chain had asked OpenAI's chatbot what the most iconic burger in the world was and it named the Big Mac the "most globally recognized". 

 

When Insider asked ChatGPT which was the most iconic burger in the world, it listed the Big Mac, the Whopper, and the In-N-Out Burger in that order. 

 

However, it is unclear if the ads are always placed next to each other or how many are featured in Brazil.

Shell's "Green" Ads Mislead

Oil and gas giant Shell have had some of their adverts in the UK banned for misleading claims about how clean their overall energy production is.The ban applies to one TV advert, a poster displayed in Bristol and a YouTube ad, all shown in 2022. 

 

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled they all left out information on Shell's more polluting work with fossil fuels. The selection of ads were likely to mislead consumers as they "misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future" compared with the rest of the company's operations. 

 

Shell however "strongly" disagreed with the ASA's findings. 

 

Whatever. The adverts cannot be shown in their current form again, the ASA decreed. 

 

One of the banned advertisements was a poster shown in Bristol, with the text "Bristol is ready for cleaner energy". It included text quoting the number of homes in the South West of England which used renewable electricity. 

 

The ASA maintained the poster was fallacious because it gave the impression that Shell as a whole were providing cleaner energy. 

 

A spokesperson for Shell said the ASA's decision "could slow the UK's drive towards renewable energy". 

 

"No energy transition can be successful if people are not aware of the alternatives available to them. That is what our adverts set out to show, and that is why we're concerned by this short-sighted decision", the spokesperson added. 

 

The ruling comes as ASA are combating companies overstating their environmental friendliness, known as "corporate greenwashing". They included “green” ads in the UK by Spanish oil company Repsol and Malaysia’s Petronas for not providing full information on their activities and carbon reduction strategies. 

 

And not just energy companies. Last year, ASA prohibited a Tesco plant-based burger ad, a Persil advert, and two HSBC adverts over their claims of environmental benefits, which the agency deemed "misleading".

Ingrid Newkirk Asks to Be Dismembered After Death

The founder and head of animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) Ingrid Newkirk, who is now, aged 73, has announced: "When I die, I hope to keep on surprising those who harm animals". 

And so, she updated her will which contains a pretty long list of gruesome instructions. 

One mandate is to send part of her neck to UK’s King Charles III if he fails to cut ties with pigeon-racing. The necks of “losing” birds are often wrung after they return. 

After animal rights activists tried to halt the Grand National in April, the animal rights extremist has asked for one of her legs to be removed from her dead body, broken and sent to Aintree, to draw attention to horses which have been injured while racing. 

And she wants her windpipe sent to dog show Crufts, as she says they promote the breeding of flat-faced dogs such as bulldogs and pugs, which struggle to breathe. 

A portion of her heart is bequeathed to Elon Musk, who she says must not have one due to “cruel” experiments on animals to develop his mind-reading Neuralink brain implant. 

Her skin should be made into purses and other leather products to raise awareness of animals being used this way. Some of that skin will also be sent to the Ministry of Defence, to protest against real bear skin hats being worn by the King's Guards when fake-fur versions are available. 

Her intestines are to be entrusted to chef Nusret Gökçe, who's known as Salt Bae, to use as sausage casings in his restaurants, and an ear to the king of Spain in protest against bullfighting, in which the matador often cuts off the bull's ears as a trophy. 

And her hair will be made into brushes and sent to Truefitt & Hill, the barber shop whose badger hair brushes are sold in Harrods. 

Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, said: “Of course this is a grotesque publicity stunt designed to erode the distinction between humans and animals. 

However, there is a dark side to a stunt that treats human body parts as if they are disposable garbage – its aim is to animalise humans and humanise animals”.

Just in case, you've only just emerged from a wormhole, PETA are notorious for their signature cocktail of graphic imagery, celebrity firepower and sniff of controversy designed to grab attention by any means necessary to draw attention to the plight suffered by animals.

 

Miller Lite Scrubs "Woke" Feminist Ad

Miller Lite, one of America’s top-selling beers, has pulled down a controversial advert it published in March in honor of Women’s History Month, after the video sparked a backlash, with users accusing the brand of going “woke”. 

 

The video, titled “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T”, was originally posted on March 07 but had only latterly gone viral. The ad vowed to clean up the brand’s sexist past, which included ads featuring women dressed in bikinis, and promised to donate fertilizer to female brewers so that they can “grow quality hops”. 

 

The host of the video, actress Ilana Glazer, started off by stating that women were the first to ever brew beer and accused the industry of not paying women their proper due. 

 

“Centuries later, how did the industry pay homage to the founding mothers of beer? They put us in bikinis. Wow”, Glazer narrates, walking through a room full of old Miller Lite ads. 

 

“Today, Miller Lite is on a mission to clean up not just their sh*t, but the whole beer industry’s sh*t”, she continues, explaining that the company would be buying fertilizer and giving it to female brewers. 

 

“Here’s to women”, she toasts, raising a can of Miller Lite and proclaiming that “Without us, there would be no beer”. 

 

All I can say is “holy shit”! 

 

Although the clip was posted over two months ago, the video has drawn a lot of negative attention in recent days, with many accusing Miller Lite of, as one user put it, “joining the woke cult” and of failing to understand its core customer base. 

 

In an apparent response to the backlash, Miller Lite deleted the video from all its social media platforms. 

 

However, in a statement to New York Post on Monday, a spokesperson for Molson Coors, which own the brand, attempted to defend the campaign. 

 

“This video was about two things: worm poop and saying women shouldn’t be forced to mud wrestle in order to sell beer. Neither of these things should be remotely controversial and we hope beer drinkers can appreciate the humor (and ridiculousness) of this video from back in March”, the spokesperson said. 

 

Really? Methinks, you’re spewing shit. 

 

Next time, before you open your mouth, kindly bring along your brain! Only then, will you talk sense!

Coke Brings World-renowned Art to Life

Coca-Cola’s new global campaign, “Masterpiece” uses classic and contemporary art to highlight diverse creators and elevate its core Coke beverage as a source of upliftment. 

 

Key to the artsy promotional blitz is a two-minute video that sees Coke immersed in a series of paintings from both world-renowned artists and emerging talents before being given to a museum-goer seeking inspiration. 

 

It relies on Andy Warhol’s 1962 pop-art painting of a Coca-Cola bottle as a kick-off point, with one painting’s subject, “Divine Idyll” (2022), extending an arm outside of the frame to grab the Coke, before launching it into the scenes of other iconic works, including famous names like Edvard Munch’s 1895 painting “Scream” and JMW Turner’s 1805 painting “The Shipwreck”. More recently created art, like “The Blow Dryer” (2021) and “Medea” (2022), also make cameos in a nod to promising artists from Africa, India, the Middle East and Latin America, before the recognizable Coke bottle ultimately lands in the hands of J Vermeer’s 1665 “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, with the subject of the painting opening the bottle for a student to get refreshed and find inspiration. 

 

“‘Masterpiece’ is not a story in which Coke appears… Coke is the story”, declared Pratik Thakar, global head of creative strategy and integrated content for Coca‑Cola. 

 

The campaign also includes digital collectibles, 3D billboards and an online gallery highlighting the up-and-comers. This effort is made under its Real Magic initiative, launched in 2021 to highlight connection and shared moments. 

 

It is pertinent to mention that Coca-Cola has often used its marketing to target niche audiences.