This cool video is called Listen. I added the Up! because I wanted to get your attention.
LISTEN UP PEOPLE! We all have to do our part for the environment. If you smoke, you can start by not tossing your cigarette butts like they’re biodegradable. If you drink coffee, buy yourself a travel mug and take it with you. If you have kids, stop buying bottled water! I could go on, but I’m sure you’re shaking your head by now and wondering why I’m preaching. It had to be said.
LISTEN!
This polar bear ice sculpture slowly melts as we stand back and watch and do nothing. It’s a strong environmental statement by animal sculptor, Mark Coreth.
So far Coreth has installed two ice sculptures, one in London’s Trafalgar Square and one in the Nytorv Square in Copenhagen during the Copenhagen Climate Summit. He calls it the Bear in the Square and plans to erect similar sculptures in several cities across the world, including Oslo, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, New York, Toronto, Beijing and Sydney.
It takes about 10 days for the bear to melt and with each drop, we’re reminded of our delicate environment and the rate at which it is changing.
If you want to learn more about the Ice Bear Project or how you can help, visit The Ice Bear Project.
I don’t know about you, but it takes about a week before my mail box is bursting full of direct mail advertising, coupons, promotions and notices. If you’re wondering what else you can do besides dumping them all in the recycle bin, take a page out of designer Nancy Judd’s book. Here she fashioned a dress out of catalogues, solicitations and newspaper ads, covered vintage shoes in old postage stamps and made origami earrings. This collection took 200 hours to make.
Former Levi Strauss and Dockers designer, Gary Harvey, created this dress from cans, bottle tops and cardboard boxes.
How about turning cigarette butts into clothing? Chilean designer Alexandra Guerrero came up with this idea when she was working on her thesis. Guerrero puts the cigarette butts through a purification process before shredding them to be woven into yarn. The residue from the purification process is donated for testing for a biological insecticide.
Aaron Chang designed this line of swimwear out of plastic soda bottles for Urban Outfitters.
The good news is that this kind of fashion is becoming more and more popular and events like the Trash to Fashion Awards, held in New Zealand every year, is giving designers the recognition they deserve. See also: Trash Fashion Design Awards, Haute Trash and Windfall Ecology Centre’s Trash Fashion Show.
William Shatner has jumped on board the hottest new social networking site for artists and creative professionals ~ MYOUTERSPACE.COM.
Following the same principles as its predecessors, Facebook and Twitter, this new creative community allows people to sign up according to the planet of their expertise. For example, writers, directors and playwrights would register with the planet Creatia, musical artists would register with Orpheus, animators would sign up with Anteros, etc. There are six planets in total. Your profile page allows you to showcase your portfolio and connect with like-minded professionals.
Another exciting feature is the starships. Designed by John Eaves from Star Trek fame, each starship is captained by a bona fide producer in charge of finding talent to produce their latest project, whether it be film, stage or animation. As a community member, you’ll be privy to amazing opportunities as they arise and be able to chart each project’s progress through live interviews, and connect with the best and brightest in Sci-FI, Horror and Fantasy. Of course, Shatner is ultimately at the helm and promises to check in every so often.
The buzz is just starting on this new social networking site and a full PR blowout launch is still to come. Here’s your opportunity to beat the rush. — You’re welcome.
Thanks to Bruce in the USA for the scoop.
After staging a grandscale PR stunt off the coast of Estonia, Swedish mobile phone company Tele2 are now under formal police investigation and could face criminal charges for costing the country great and unnecessary expense.
Officials were not amused when military personnel and scientists were called out after Baltic residents reported a flash in the night’s sky. What they discovered was a 20 metre-wide, 10 metre-deep hole with signs of a meteor hit. The PR company admitted to staging the stunt and cooking chemicals in the bottom of the hole to resemble a meteor hit.
What makes me laugh about this stunt is the workings on the inside, the strategy meetings. Imagine the look on the PR intern’s face — because you know this is a job for an intern — when the Big Cheese calls them into their office and says, I have a little job for you. Take this shovel and this chemistry set and this map and…
This is just the first phase of Tele2’s campaign. Next, they plan to hijack a spaceship. No, that’s not true, I just made that up. Can’t wait for phase two though — hey, maybe this stunt worked. I’m invested, but I’m not buying.
This next PR stunt speaks volumes about branding and the infiltration of iconic pop culture. A Colonel Saunders look-a-like managed to sneak past NYC UN security and pose for a photo with the new (perhaps soon-to-be old) president of the UN General Assembly, Ali Treki, before he was detected and ejected.
Let’s think about this for a moment…if someone had shown up in an unknown costume, would they have been so readily accepted into the crowd? How scary is that? I hope the bad guys aren’t watching. Better yet, I hope the good guys are.
Usually, I’m not one to advocate cheap PR stunts, but the Yes Men impressed me with their fake news conference and what has become a public kick up the backside for the US Chamber of Commerce who support clean coal as the only viable energy solution.
The Yes Men step way outside the boundaries of conventional PR. They consider themselves activists who practice identity correction by posing as spokespeople for target organizations. Setting up fake websites to resemble their targets as part of their strategy, they lure interested parties in and receive invitations to speak at conferences, symposia and on TV. This most recent PR stunt drove the point home that climate change policy lays hostage to corporate greed.
Rightly or wrongly, these strategists target the bad guys by employing the same dirty tactics that they use. It’s like karma or justice.
As a side note, if coal was so good, why would Santa give it to naughty children at Christmastime?
September has been a month of bloopers. While I shudder to think that Kanye’s mishap at the MVA Awards was nothing but a publicity stunt, topped off with an appearance on the debut Jay Leno Show and the all-too-familiar celebrity outcry ~ I gotta get away for a while ~ something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
While it’s fun to see the US President candidly talking about something so mainstream and mundane as the MVA Awards ~ pop culture meets politics ~ I have to question the integrity of the communications department behind this blooper ~ was it really accidentally leaked? The cynic in me wants to know.
While the Kanye and Obama bloopers both prove the theory behind the adage, there’s no such thing as negative publicity, this wasn’t the case for the WWF. The release of their September 11/Tsunami campaign before sign-off prompted an apology posted on their website and left them a little red in the face.
Every once and a while you come across a talented artist and you think to yourself, why haven’t I heard this before? Then you forget the “why” and get lost in the music. Rose Reiter is one such talented artist.
Rose writes from a place of true emotion, fuelled by such influences as jazz, rock, pop and R&B. Her music is rich and full of texture like a good sherry trifle — layer upon layer of delicious decadence. She is a singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist and co-producer, and spends her time between her hometown of Vancouver and New York.
You can tell she’s a generous person, because if you visit her website [and I strongly suggest you do] she will serenade you with song after beautiful song. If that isn’t enough, when you download her songs from iTunes, you will be supporting a select charity like Raising Malawi for the track Can’t Hold Me Back.
One of my favourite tracks is Let Go.
The story is the same, but the picture has changed. Instead of swashbuckling adverturers scouring the seas for countries to rape and pillage, we have Mr. Affluent White-Guy killing the planet with his excessive globe-trotting and expensive taste in cars.
This video is one of three winners of the Germanwatch screenplay competition about Climate Justice. Since 1991, Germanwatch has been actively promoting North-South equity, focusing on the politics and economics of the North and its worldwide consequences. It lobbies for fair trade relations, responsible financial markets, compliance with human rights, and the prevention of dangerous climate change.
What this video does is makes you stop and think. Our actions affect everyone on this planet and right now the scales of justice are imbalanced. If we don’t all start making changes to the way we live today, it may be too late. In twenty years’ time, it’s going to be a very different landscape.
Inspired by: Earth Hour’s Video of the Week
