The World Wildlife Fund issued a new statement today regarding the video and advertisement linked to their organization that contained messages and images related to September 11th. The organization originally said the ad concept was rejected when brought to them by DDB Brazil, but was it authorized on some level? Their statement reads:
“WWF reiterates our strong condemnation and repudiation of this offensive and tasteless ad and reaffirms that no one in the US organization had any knowledge or any role in the ad’s creation and expresses its regret for any pain it may have caused 9-11 victims and their families.
Earlier this week, WWF-US issued a statement based on information provided by WWF Brazil, a separate and independent organization within the international WWF network, that the ad was created by an outside agency and was not authorized by anyone within their organization. WWF Brazil has subsequently issued statements that have raised doubts about whether the ad concept was approved at some level within the WWF Brazil organization.
We have now re-launched a renewed inquiry into the circumstance surrounding the creation of the ad."
They offer their apologies and condemn the ad once again, and undoubtedly this new statement comes after a disturbing video version of the print ad was discovered.
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help me! i'm just dying to know more about this goddamned airplane ad some more!
i guess i'll just have to wait until later this afternoon, or tomorrow.
it's worse than waiting for Santa.
Mookie Wilson
The planet must be stopped!!!
Dead Himmler
Global warming is the new cult religion. The only solution is for manking to implement the final solution on itself.
winstonsmith
must be an absence of street art stories to report on this week.
Dirk
Looks like it's Cover Your Ass time for all involved.
tingo
I think the PR response is the true disaster here.
Because they responded with lies and miseleading statements, rather than the plain truth, this story has failed to die.
Response probably should have been: It was a ghosted ad the agency created for an award show. May have ran once with low-level client approval, unbeknownst to the main client. Won an award (somehow). Everything pulled. Genuine apologies for the misstep. Done.
But no, instead the media get back-peddling and sad attempts to cover it up.
nicemarmot
Clearly it had to be approved at some level, otherwise they wouldn't have spent the cash to make the tv spot.
At the risk of seeming like a jerk, I kind of liked the print ad. It's bold and controversial and it makes the point clearly and powerfully that one disaster shouldn't cause us to lose sight of other, even greater ones.
But the video...just wow. Using footage (CG?) of the planes hitting the towers? Are you kidding me? Who thought that was a good idea? And it turns out the whole message of the campaign is totally off-base: respect and conserve the planet because otherwise it will kill you? Really? You used September 11th for that?
egg cream
It doesn't make sense in a number of ways -- they choose the one natural disaster not related to our own irresponsible practices or preventable through conservation to demonstrate the Earth's power, so what's the conclusion? That the Earth will kill me no matter what you do, so don't bother protecting it? And then they compared the Earth to a group of terrorists who engineered and executed a mind-bogglingly vicious and deadly attack. Um, okay, so now not only do I not want to protect the Earth, I also kind of want to kill it! Good job, WWF-Brazil!
WesleySnipesAlot
Must... drive... up... page views....
maevemealone
It's news on most every news outlet and other major blogs. Get used to it, it's actual news now. Go read a book if you're so bored of the news.
dimes
I thought the vid would be like the ad, just a ton of planes flying at downtown. I mean, I get it, they are in Brazil, they are removed, kinda insensitive and all, but ok, it didn't actually go into production...
...but, shit, really? They actually show the first two planes hitting??? Who the fsck makes that?
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