December 17, 2006

Jonathan Glazer's Motorola Red ad faces chop. Jonathan Glazer, famous for creating conceptually and visually [YouTube links] stunning music videos for Radiohead and engendering controversy with his film Birth, has created a hauntingly beautiful TV spot [YouTube] for Motorola Red [embedded wmv] as part a global corporate campaign against AIDS. The response from Motorola? "[It will] never see the light of day."

From main article: "If the ad fails to appear, the initiative will have wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds." Of course, some believe that it's all a part of the campaign, and that the "controversy" is pure fabrication.

posted by sly_polyglot 17 years ago
  • God, that's beautiful.
  • Stinks like viral to me.
  • Interesting (and the Red concept is laudable) but seems too similar to Chris Cunningham's flex.
  • Yeah, I agree with the flex comment (see for yourself here) [YouTube]. Also, any mention of Jonathan Glazer should include a link to my all time favorite music video [YouTube].
  • Private Eye had a short piece on this a few weeks back. Quoting: ... production and post-production costs would run to six figures. If this turns out to be the case, the Red campaign will have wasted hundreds of thousands of charity money ... on what we must presume are creative differences.
  • I guess the question is with this Red campaign - is the money being spent charity money or the usual kind of money that is spent on promoting products anyway?
  • Gomi -- I wonder the same thing about all of those commercials for products tied to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, which has come under some criticism for their methods.
  • Nice linkage meredithea. I haven't come across that situation before. The old saying is "you have to spend money to make money" - I guess it's best to weigh the money spent against the awareness raised for the issue and the money gained from that awareness.
  • Uh... actually, I thought the ad was (a) way too dark to see what was happening (the background could have been much lighter, which would have emphasized the models more), and (b) although artistic I didn't see how it related to AIDS or to cell phones. Not to be a dick about it or anything, but I can see how the company could have decided not to run the ad.
  • although artistic I didn't see how it related to AIDS or to cell phones My take: without the threat of AIDS, sexual intimacy can morph from aggression/violence to something beautiful (as it once was). Cell phones? Well, one could argue that the phone rotating on its vertical axis at the end mirrors the final rotation of the two lovers. Agree that it was a bit dark, but that may also be a statement (i.e., pointing out our hypocrisy/indifference because it's a "Dark Continent" issue), and also may look different when viewed under optimal conditions. Flagpole, TheRoach: Thanks for pointing out Chris Cunningham; I was not aware of his work. Agree that there are definite visual similarities. TheRoach: While I agree that it's a powerful video, somehow it's kind of a one-trick pony to me (the one visual trick of the car being smashed), and I didn't want to clutter the front page with too many links of his other works.
  • Maybe try fiddling with your monitor's gamma settings, frogs? It's dark, yes, but at times it's quite revealling. Monkeyfilter: something beautiful (as it once was) Oh, damn it...
  • The way I see it, it's not just the powerful visual at the end, but the buildup tension and release structure of the whole video that makes it so powerful. Unlike some other music videos that really hit me initially and then fade, I actually find the Rabbit in Your Headlines holds up under repeated viewings quite nicely. But I'm also a big DJ Shadow fan, so....
  • To the cause: w00t! To the spot: meh.