Evil geniuses create a stupid nonprofit ad

In a wicked critique of an ad for the World Food Programme, Cause-Related Marketing envisions a BS-laden speech by an "artsy creative director" ...

We'll put actresses like Rachel Weisz Drew Barrymore in PSAs, in print ads and on Oprah. Imagine stark, beautifully-shot images of Drew feeding darling doe-eyed kids in Kenya in haunting black and white. The images will underscore that issue of hunger in the Developing World is black and white...

See: Keep Artsy Creative Directors Away from Your Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns.

As a creative director, I want to be offended. But I can't. It's too sadly accurate: Creative directors are basically a race of evil beings. (For the record, a few of us have vowed to use our dark powers for good, and must battle our own wicked hearts; this would make a great movie.)

Creative directors become very adept and persuading others to trade aesthetics for effectiveness. That's no doubt why this ad has a stark and beautiful black-and-white photos, rather than a "real" looking color photo.

And the photo isn't the only problem with this ad:

• It has an almost totally abstract, noncommunicative headline. The creative director no doubt loved the "impressionistic" quality of this headline.
  
• The headline's type is so tightly kerned, it looks like a printing error of some kind. CD might have said, "It signals a kind of embrace within the headline." Putting the headline above the photo is a design no-no that CDs love and practice constantly for aesthetic reasons.
  
• The entire ad is in reverse type, which is significantly harder for people to read than regular type. But it sure looks gorgeous, doesn't it?
  
• No clear call to action. There's a seed of an offer, but they just couldn't quite make the leap to actually including a sentence that directly challenged the reader to participate. (Concreteness is like kryptonite to creative directors; if they get anywhere near it, their pretension starts to shrivel.)
  

What can I say? That's what creative directors do. But you can say no to them. Then watch the hissy-fit.

Many more Stupid nonprofit ads here.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, creative directors, advertising

Comments

[John Lepp]

I totally "get" why so many fundraisers have a bit of a hate on for art directors and designers... I certainly design with the donor in mind - design that communicates, simply, clearly, effectively. But I weighed in on this issue nonetheless... http://www.ideadesign.ca/the-naked-idea/in-the-defence-of-creative-fundraising/

[Alanna]

The other side of the coin is competent creative directors who somehow lose all their aesthetic judgment when doing public service ads, and make hideous crap using lime green and four font sizes. It's like they go into public service mode and lose all their skills.