Winning awards is nice. Changing the world is better.
We enter the American Advertising Federation Awards each year to support our local AAF chapter. We believe a strong, local professional association, where peers gather to work to advance our field is critical. Unfortunately, the local Dayton AAF Chapter banned us a few years ago, without more than a 2 line unsigned note. Since we’ve always participated with the Cincinnati chapter too, we’re a member there and entered our work in their show.
Typically, Cincinnati is a much tougher competition, with much larger agencies and larger clients (like P&G)- and larger budgets. They also tend to choose higher caliber judges. This year, we were awarded 2 Gold’s and a Silver. Gold’s automatically advance to the Regionals, and Silvers may be advanced for an additional entry fee. We paid to advance our silver, and we got word that our Gold’s won Silver at the regional level. 51 awards were given at the regionals- including 15 to Cincinnati chapter, the most of any of the seven cities in our district. We paid to advance our Silvers to see how they do on the National Level and came up goose-eggs.
The two campaigns were in the political advertising category: Surgeon Generals Warning #BLM, and BLM- Police Rebrand. We’re very proud of the work, and the recognition it’s getting, but would prefer if our country would make this type of messaging unnecessary. We would love to work with National Police Organizations on a national stand down/retraining effort. We say this, on the 4th day of the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd.
Here are the winning entries:
Surgeon General’s Warning
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- SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Running causes BLACK MEN a higher chance of death in encounters with police. You are more likely to be arrested, beaten or shot than a white man (2) Being black impairs your ability to live free in America, and may cause equality issues, including being shot in the back. Quitting running now greatly reduces serious risks to your life, unless it’s part of being a pro athlete.
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- GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, BLACK MEN should avoid all interactions with police. You are more likely to be arrested, beaten or shot. (2) Being black impairs your ability to live free in America, and may cause equality issues, including being shot in the back.
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- GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, BLACK MEN should not drink alcoholic beverages because it’s now a legal excuse for police to kill you. (2) Being black impairs your ability to live free in America, and may cause police problems, including being shot in the back.
BLM Police Rebrand:
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- Are police making a fashion statement? Photo by Jonathan Bachman for Reuters
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- Fear is a horrible motivator. Photo by Roscoe Myrick | Flickr/CC BY 2.0
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- If this is how far the balance of power has shifted, police have failed. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty photos https://www.patricksmithphotos.com
We’re not done with these ads, and will continue to help communities come together to address serious issues of civil rights, voting rights, environmental protection, workers rights and health care for all. We’ve founded 2 non-profits to reform politics as we know them, on both a local and national level. Reconstructing Dayton exists to improve our own community, and to test the policys and ideas of The Modern Policy Institute. This is not what most ad agencies do as part of their business mission. It’s why we consider ourselves an Activist Agency.
