Yesterday we told you about the World Wildlife Fund’s 9/11 video that accompanied the WWF’s 9/11 print ad. The thought-provoking message of both was: “Hey, a lot more people died in the ‘04 tsunami than 9/11. Wise up and respect the earth gods, humans!” The WWF and DDB Brasil, the ad agency that obviously created both ads, have been scrambling to get their story straight. And they’re doing a really crappy job of it.
When you go to the Youtube video we linked to yesterday, you get this message:
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by DDB BRASIL .
Got that? DDB Brasil had nothing to do with the ad and has no idea who created it, which is why DDB Brasil is now claiming copyright.
Of course, whenever anybody forces Youtube to take something down, it just means 10 copies of it pop right back up. Here’s one, while it lasts. It’s tough to watch, which is why they’re ineptly trying to cover it up:
Now that DDB Brasil has claimed ownership of this ad, maybe now we’ll get a straight answer. Doubtful, but anything’s possible.
Update: Adweek has a good recap of the whole debacle. The print ad actually won an award.
Update: According to Advertising Age:
Despite originally denying it, DDB Brasil created a video version of the Brazilian print ad “Tsunami” that has caused a scandal this week — and entered both ads at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June.
Ad execs being lying crapweasels. Who knew? The cover-up’s always worse than the crime, geniuses. (Hat tip to Ace of Spades)
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I wonder if the DDB stands for “Double Douche Bag”?
Maybe we should all pray for a big-assed storm to strike Rio during Carnivale and see how they like it when a few thousand of THEIR citizens get killed and someone else makes fun of it.
After watching this ad, I will say that I am now, more than ever pissed. I don’t care their reasoning behind it. It is poor taste. The Tsunami happened because there was an earthquake beneath the ocean. 9/11 happened because humans wanted to kill other humans because they hated them. As much as I love Noah Wylie and the cute little pandas, I love my country more.
I changed my mind about what I was gonna write. I’ll keep it to myself.
** it wasn’t very nice **
Well, no shit our planet has the ability to create life shattering natural disasters. It’s just a fact of life. HOWEVER, comparing it to PEOPLE who deliberately killed people is ludicrous. Nature did not sit down and plan out the wake of destruction or the mortality rate that the tsunami would cause. This is comparing apples and oranges, in the most offensive way possible.
Wow . . . .I can’t . . . . it’s like f****** punch to the gut. Makes me want to kill a panda out of spite. “Poor taste” doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
AAW: I see it as a form of natural selection. Pandas will never die out – people will capture them and put them in zoos because they’re “cute and cuddly” – but species die out all the time, mostly WITHOUT human intervention. So I have a hard time accepting that, and seeing how animals like the polar bears drown because of lack of ice.
Still I find the ad in incredibly poor taste, as well as being very offensive. Those people didn’t die because of a natural disaster that could not have been prevented, and even if everyone donated money to the WWF it would not help the animals. It would line the pockets of the CEOs and pay for the advertising – I have said the same thing about PETA – quit with the offensive ad crap and use the money to actually HELP your cause.
Are they suggesting that the planet planned and implemented a tsunami attack? DDB is proud enough to enter this ad in a contest but then when the shit hits the fan they try to deny they had anything to do with it. Scummy cowards.
Elle, if you wanna get back at Brazil, I think instead of killing pandas, you should kill sugarcane farms. It’s a massive part of their economy.
And then there are “rogue waves” to look out for … and gravity waves.
….don’t forget about light waves.
Jesus, I literally can not believe that people can’t grasp why 9/11 effects us differently than the tsunami. I grew up in California, was actually in the stands watching the A’s during the quake of 89′, the one that dropped a good number of overpasses and parking garages right on the heads of plenty of innocent people. It sucked hard, as I’m sure the hurricane did for those who lived in New Orleans and the tsunami did for those in Southeast Asia. But what are you going to do? If we all moved to areas that had absolutely no chance of natural disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires, locusts, avalanches, floods, droughts, blizzards, hippies, ect.) well… we wouldn’t be able to, because no place on .
It’s awful when someone dies in a natural disaster, but the key word is ‘natural’! It’s like dying of old age, it’s something we pretty much expect to happen eventually and we really can’t prevent it, as much as we might wish we were able to.
Going back to my original point, I was only 7 or 8 when the quake of ‘89 happened but I distinctly remember rushing to the hospital to pick up my brother Chris, who was 16 at the time. Our living room chandelier had dropped from the ceiling and intimately acquainted itself with his forehead, necessitating quite a few stitches. I was freaking out, but he calmly explained to me that it was ‘the price we pay living in California’. “We get fantastic weather, beautiful beaches, amazing forests, and in return we get forest fires, mudslides, liberals, and earthquakes. Seems pretty fair to me.”
Most people I met there tended to agree with his sentiment. They EXPECTED that some day these things were going to happen. My rather long and rambling (I apologize) point is that we accept these things as the inevitable price for living where we do. When I lived in Colorado Springs and later Minneapolis, I expected blizzards and ice storms. In Baghdad and Fallujah it was sandstorms and drought. Now that I’m back in Indiana it’s floods and tornadoes.
I can say with complete certainty though that I’ve never lived in a place where I EXPECTED a dozen religious extremists to fly fuel-laden 747’s into my office complex. That is something we can at least attempt to prevent, which also makes a world of difference.
Well-said, Scott. A natural disaster, no matter how sudden or awful, is always a million times more expected than evil purposely targeting a city. Maybe not quite as much anymore, but we still expect a hurricane to hit the US every year more than we expect one of our nuclear reactors to be blown up.
It mostly startles me that we, basically, outlaw showing the planes hitting the towers even though people need reminded of that, yet we can put together slop like this? Thanks, Brazil.
I don’t like Pandas. Any animal that needs help breeding and eats only one kind of food was not meant to survive.
Scott:I love that you listed liberals in there.
Liberalism – The new natural disaster.
If we could ask those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attack if they would rather die in a natural disaster or at the hands of terrorists, I’m pretty sure I know what their unanimous answer would be.
As for those who equate a natural disaster with 9/11 (in this case, not equate, but elevate), maybe they’ll be lucky enough to have their throats slit by a terrorist. As for me, I’ll take being crushed by a giant chandelier.
This is just another example of how unhinged some (I repeat, some) environmentalists are. The same with the PETA crowd. Those groups should avoid analogies completely. The irony here is that these groups, with their appalling moral superiority, haven’t a clue about ethics. A natural disaster=cold-blooded, premeditated murder. Now tell me how global warming or meat consumption caused the earthquake? Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. I am so livid I am rambling in print now…
So: If DDB Brasil wins said award, can it be promptly yoinked right back because they “had nothing to do with it”?
This is so good it needs repeating.
This kind of footage is basically banned from US broadcast, yet DDB & WWF felt it was okay to animate it with mood lighting and add some catchy sound effects?
I’m thinking radical muslims are bombing the wrong infidels.
All I can think is how will “respecting” the planet alter the occurrence of natural disasters? Recycling is going to reduce tsunamis? Saving the pandas will also save us from hurricanes? Methinks I’ve missed some connection.
Wow, talk about a messed up message. What did they win an award for? I thought the goal of advertising campaigns was to influence (manipulate) the viewer into buying something, or otherwise cause the viewer to support an issue, or person, etc. Sometimes education/awareness is the goal.
Here we have as the basis for our comtemplation, a comparison of the number of deaths between a man-made terrorist act and natural phenomena; a powerful earthquake creates a powerful tsunami and thousands of people die as a result.Compare THAT to just the silly handful that died in a terrorist attack (or so they seem to impy). After the emotional part, then you get the message part: “respect the earth, (subtext:it can kick some serious ass”.) OK, I don’t want more people to die, so gonna write a check for “respect”? Hmm, where to send? Mother Earth, c/o the Universe? One can only assume that WWF’s goal is for viewers to write THEM a check, however this ad is such a failure, that even the most gullible on the planet surely don’t think an earthquake/tsunami can be prevented with “respect” or even a check? This message is so screwed up it takes my breath away.
If I understand the spot, the Planet is a worst terrorist than Bin Laden?
Okay.
This being said, it doesn’t motivate me to save it. On the contrary, it tells me thats since the planet is out to get us, why should we try to save her?
I will remember this the next time the WWF pass their hats next to me.
Y’know following this malicious Earth force train of thought, people should get out of California (wildfires), Florida (hurricanes), hell the whole Caribbean, and New Orleans (floods) oh wait, Katrina was Bush’s fault because he hates black people.
On a separate note, seeing the planes come in after the second impact gave me the heebie jeebies man.
….um, yeah, let’s not go down the hurricane route. Especially the Katrina route. Because I will rant.
Also, last I checked, no one blamed Bush for Katrina hitting New Orleans.
I get what their thinking that hurricanes deserve more attention and funding to remedy than 9/11 did, but this was a far too shocking way of portraying that message. It’s also a too out there message, not to say that it’s completely wrong or right.
I can’t watch the footage….it hits too close to home. My hubby was on a plane on the runway ready to taxi to take off at the Nashville airport on his way to Chicago at roughly the same time as when the towers got hit. When the second tower got hit and the plane in PA was discovered to be hijacked… someone put 2 and 2 together, all flights were stopped everywhere, from what we found out later. The breaking news came on that all flights were being held and the PA plane was still in the air and not responding and no one would tell which airport, which planes…nothing. Then there was the plane that hit the Pentagon, and I was in a panic. Talk about being scared shitless for several hours. That’s how long it took him and his fellow passengers to be allowed off the plane and back into the terminal. Passengers were not allowed to use cell phones while it was being held on the runway. I was never more worried sick in my entire life.
To me, this sort of thing is beyond the pale. HOW in the HELL can anyone or any organization compare a natural disaster to something coldbloodedly planned and executed? Nature doesn’t decide one day to kill many people…well, some natural selection does…but not on the scale of 9/11.
I used to have some respect for WWF……….they can kiss my ass now.
Besides Kanye, you mean? And, well, everybody else?
Kanye’s a moron. And blaming Bush for the way it was handled isn’t the same as blaming Bush for the storm happening.
It was not BUSH’s FAULT! Try looking at the local and state government first before casting stones at him. The “chocolate city” melted. Enough already.
I remember watching that footage live of the second plane hitting and then calling my then fiance to tell him we are at war. I knew then that it was no innocent mistake. I honor those killed by murderers on 9/11 and I do not celebrate their deaths. This ad is horrible, disgusting and mocks what happened to us on 9/11/01. Next I expect to see an ad with them attacking Pearl HArbor.
Not saying it was Bush’s fault, AAW. Politics in Failisiana really suck. I mean, we have a governor who spends state funds to take police helicopters to church on Sundays while cutting funding to economic development related non profits.
And not to mention at the time, a mayor who refused to use school buses to evacuate people out of the city while he went on ahead to Houston. Or a Governor who refused Federal help until it was too late, then blamed others.
It was a horrible, tragic event that was caused by run down levis and because of a hurricane. People who live there know that hurricanes are a possibility. 9/11 came with no warning and killed people just because they were different than the hijackers. Something like citizens from dozens of countries.
Tough to tell…
Is he cutting the funding, or just not increasing it by as much as some people would like? (I genuinely don’t know in this case, but people tend to get the two mixed up.)
This will go down in the Anals Of Douchebaggery as an especially stinky load.
“Is he cutting the funding, or just not increasing it by as much as some people would like?” – Simon this is one of my biggest pet peeves with out government and the fact that the media buys into just drives me nuts
“This will go down in the Anals Of Douchebaggery as an especially stinky load.”
~Emerson
I think you mean “Annals” but the typo makes it so much better!
Simon, in this case, he actually cut the funding. Which meant said nonprofit had to kinda get rid of some consultants.
And yes. The school buses to evacuate…very bad, the way that was handled. Contraflow was even worse, from what I hear. It was just an all-around badly-handled situation, partly because the city had so many near-miss hurricanes in the years before, which everyone decided meant “Psh, hurricanes don’t come here. They act all tough, and then they go take out Pensacola.” I am not kidding; there are many who decided this was a completely reasonable conclusion.
BUT that is the reason why when I evacuate, I always evacuate to inland Florida. I grew up there, and they have hurricane response down pat.
Elle:
Oh no, I meant “Anal” all the way. I’m a bad pun man from way back. That was the set-up for the stinky load finish.
Hopefully this message doesn’t repeat because I just hit submt…
Elle:
I’m a bad punner by profession so I meant “Anals” in all its glory. It set up the last part of the sentence.
Man, if mother nature throws mankind into the ring to deliver a baker’s dozen of spin kicks to the groin for everything we’re “doing”, the people in Pompeii must have REALLY pissed her off…
I wonder why she hasn’t b**** slapped major volcanic eruptions, since they spew more pollutants than mankind ever could into the environment… with each eruption. Imagine it like this: it’s like a really huge Paris Hilton – only better looking – delivering violent projectile vomiting after a four day bender while (still) on her back. But not as toxic.
@Emerson
Well that’s just doubly awesome then. I love the art of the multiple entendre.
EWW, Quigonkick–never thought of the Pompeii angle before. Interesting that there’s now presumed to be a MORAL cause to natural disasters. Not that that’s such a new thing.
I recently read that DDB made this ad and put WWF’s logo on it before it was approved. WWF didn’t approve of it, but they still used it for an award without removing their logo. Generally, as animal groups go, WWF (and the SPCA) are considered 2 of the good ones (unlike PETA). Of course this was in bad taste & it was all for shock value, not any real issues covered here. I “respect” nature and I respect everyone who was affected by 9/11. What does that do for the world and how is that going to stop natural disasters? This ad is absolutely pointless because they offer no information about what you can do to help (as if it were possible to stop a tsunami in the first place). They are basically trying to make Americans ASHAMED of 9/11 and ASHAMED that we grieved over these people. How DARE we respect 3000 people who died when more people died in the tsunami?