Don't have any time to write right now, but..

[nerdanel]

...if anyone has any thoughts on this new series of ads brought to us courtesy of Sony, I'd be interested. If you look, two notes:
1. There are four images; look at all four.
2. Any image will become the large image if you click on it. Don't read too much into one image being larger than the others. Leave a comment

Comments

[melonsync]

Yep, seems like this campaign is quite effective as I have seen it from multiple sources including your LJ.

My thoughts? From an ethical POV, it's in very poor taste. From a marketing POV, it's going to be very viral and effective, however, there is a chance that ppl will remember the brand (Sony) the ad, the controversy, but not the product.

You have to wonder, however, that if it the tag - "Black is coming" - what would be the difference. Also, I didn't realize that it was a series of photo. I only saw the photo where the white woman was grabbing the black woman's face. Now having seen the 4th, I see that they are trying to "equal" the power play. Eh. Still classless.

[joesther]

Instinctively, it made me think of a Brian Kinney ad. For good and for bad. For good in that the ad will stick in your mind. For bad in that it's outrageous, rude, in poor taste, and possibly racially insensitive.

What bothers me here, I think, isn't so much that it's a bi-racial lesbian couple in suggestive poses. What bothers me is that it's a bi-racial lesbian couple in suggestive poses that are supposed to be selling something that's hardly in the photos at all. But sex sells - we know this, we've always known this. Also, we know that an ad like this would never be posted in the bible belt or in the more conservative states. But we're in the liberal state of California, city by the bay.

So I guess my problem isn't the ad itself - it's the idea that ads like this are being made. Need to be made. Call me a traditionalist. I've been called worse. *shrug*

[paddies]

I love it.

I'm very eloquent, am I? ;-)

[samaranth]

They remind me of the Benetton ads of a few years ago, where some quite strong images were used that had no relationship to their actual products, or, even tenuously, to any other pro-social activities the company was involved with. Image + Logo only. The controversy included accusations that the company was overexploiting these images to make the brand memorable, but all it ended up doing was exploiting and shocking those who featured in or who saw the ads.

From memory, the Benetton images - when seen in isolation - had some artistic or social merit. It was the conjunction with the logo which somehow degraded them. I'm not sure I'd say the same about these PSP images as they are too stylised and over the top to stand as effective statements of anything.

What do you think of them?

[frelga]

Perhaps looking from Europe (and Asia?) black and white would be just about graphics. Here in the U.S., I'm afraid it's still about race, as Sony's ad agency should well know. If they don't realize that there ARE racial implications, they should be fired.

Divorced from that context, seen simply as images, the first few are striking and effective - IMO. The last one I found appalling, because of it's mixing of sexuality and violence, which I detest in any form. Replace the black woman with a white male in the picture and see how you feel.