Mar 26 2012

Advertisement Gone Wrong.

Recently, (As recent as a few minutes ago.) I happened upon a news article about a hair product in Turkey. While I’m not too inclined to care one way or the other about this hair product vs. that hair product or their commercials, this particular commercial gave me pause to think; and so I find myself writing this blog. The Turkish shampoo commercial in question features video of Adolf Hitler declaring the shampoo product to be for “real men”. Understandably, the commercial’s had quite a few complaints from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a few others who feel that the commercial is deeply, deeply offensive.

“We follow with sadness and regret the use of Hitler figure in the Biomen Men Shampoo advertisement, which was brought to the screen in recent days,” says the the Turkish Jewish Community. “It’s totally unacceptable to make use of Hitler, the most striking example of cruelty and savagery. … Using him in an advertisement for whatever reason is an unacceptable situation and could not be accepted by us at all. This is beyond all ethics as well as a huge insult to human rights.”

In the shampoo ad “Biomen,” uses archived stock footage of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He is heard yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands, while a fictional and unrelated text above reads:

“If you are not wearing a woman’s dress, you should not use her shampoo either,” Hitler says in the ad. “Here it is, a real mens’ shampoo, Biomen.” The video is then seen to cut to a picture of the shampoo bottle with the on-screen message, “Real men use Biomen.”

ADL National Director, and Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman called the advertisement “disgusting” in astatement released by the group.

“The use of images of the violently anti-Semitic dictator who was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to sell shampoo is a disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy,” Foxman said. “It is an insult to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, those who survived, and those who fought to defeat the Nazis.”

I’ve seen many posts in response to the commercial and I have to say that some of them left me utterly confused as to how people could be so apathetic and uncaring as far as how this commercial can effect people.
How would you feel if instead of Adolf Hitler in the ad, it was Kony, Torquemada, Idi Amin, Ayatollah Khomeini , Pol Pot, Josef Stalin or some other evil excuse for a human being whose image, likeness, and voice were being used? For the Christians out there.. how would you feel if the worlds largest(well-known)satanist’s image, likeness, and voice was being used to push this product? I’m fairly sure you wouldn’t like it.
All it manages to do is celebrate their atrocities, and act as a very real slap in the face for those who have suffered and or survived the horrors brought about by any of those names I listed.
It may have happened 70+ years ago and what Hitler says may be in the German language, which not everyone understands or speaks, and there may be subtitles which say something completely unrelated and different from what his actual words were, but none of that changes the fact that using such a person and their voice/words, such a physical embodiment of the darkness and evil that mankind is capable of to push your hair care product is wrong and morally reprehensible.

In the event that you haven’t seen the commercial, here it is. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Mar 24 2012

A Different Sort Of Game

It’s recently come to my attention that there are quite a few folk out there who are fans of or have seen the movie ‘Battle Royal’ and have recently come to the conclusion that ‘The Hunger Games’ is a version or adaptation of ‘Battle Royale’. Some individuals have even gone so far as to say such things as, and I quote: “So what’s up with this hunger games craze? I don’t see what it can possibly give me that “battle royale” “the lethal lottery” and “running man haven’t already.” Well, while ‘Battle Royale’ and the ‘Running Man’ are good movies with similarities even to ‘The Hunger Games’, they are in no way the same and as thus in no way offer the exact same things. And believe me, I’m the first to yell out “hasn’t this been done before?”

I’ve decided to take it upon myself to enlighten or rather… impress upon those who think as such, just how wrong they are. So, here’s the…nitty gritty if you will.

The Running Man– The story’s protagonist, Ben Richards, is a citizen of Co-Op City, a suburb of the fictional Harding, which is located somewhere in the Midwest, west of Detroit (not to be confused with the real Co-Op City) in the year 2025. The world’s economy is in a shambles and America has become a totalitarian dystopia. Richards is unable to find work, having been blacklisted from his trade, and needs money to get medicine for his gravely ill daughter Cathy. His wife Sheila has resorted to prostitution to bring in money for the family. In desperation, Richards turns to the Games Network, a government-operated television station that runs violent game-shows. After rigorous physical and mental testing, Richards is selected to appear on The Running Man, the Games Network’s most popular, lucrative, and dangerous program. Richards meets with Network producer Dan Killian and Running Man host Bobby Thompson. The men proceed to discuss Richards’ contract for appearing on the show, as well as the challenges he is expected to face when the game starts.

Battle Royale– Shuya Nanahara is a Japanese middle school student trying to cope with life after his father’s suicide by hanging. Meanwhile, Noriko Nakagawa, finds her class, 3-B, empty with only her teacher Kitano present in the classroom. Kitano leaves but is attacked by student Yoshitoki Kuninobu with a knife. Kitano later resigns after recovering from his wound. One year later, class 3-B makes a field trip after completing their compulsory studies; however, the class is gassed and summoned to a “briefing room” on a remote island after being gassed, wearing electronic collars. Kitano explains that the class has been chosen to participate in this year’s Battle Royale as a result of the BR Act, which passed after 800,000 students walked out of school. The orientation video has the class forced to kill each other for three days until only one student remains.

The Hunger Games– The Hunger Games takes place after the destruction of North America by some unknown apocalyptic event, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly Appalachia. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol in which a 13th district was destroyed, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants (or “tributes”) must fight in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one remains.

There you can see that all three films, while having a vaguely similar theme of people set in a game of life and death, they are in no way the same movie. Each film offers up something completely different. In ‘The Running Man’, the main character places himself in that situation rather than face jail time. In ‘Battle Royale’ none of the combatants has a choice in fighting. And in ‘The Hunger Games’, everyone who’s not a citizen of the capital has to enter their names in a lottery of sorts in order to receive rations for their families. Of course the more times your name’s entered, the more likely you are to be chosen as “tribute” of your district.

If you’ve managed to see past vague similarities and other folks opinions of the film or book, then by all means, do check out the film. Give it a chance. If nothing else, the story (the theatrical version) was quite well done. The acting was superb, and the effects were quite nice. Not over the top and not underwhelming, just nice.

Mar 15 2012

A Few Films To Look Forward To…

Those who know me know that I tend to go to the movies a lot. One of my favorite things about going to the theatre; other than seeing the film I’d planned on seeing, is the previews. If not for the previews, there are a great many films I might have possibly missed out on. So, I have decided to take this time to provide you good folk out there who may have possibly missed out on some things coming soon and or not soo soon with a heads up if you will. Here are a few tidbits of news about what’s to be expected on the big screen.

Enjoy the trailers:

The Cabin In The Woods – April 13th

Just upon hearing the name, I’m sure your imagination starts to conjure up the image of your typical slasher flick. Take a few nubile youths, put them in a cabin in the middle of the woods, add a wrong turn here, stupid thing said there, and mistake here, and throw in one slash-happy psycho with a larger than life knife, chainsaw, ax or what have you and there you have it. Right? That would be the usual recipe for a movie with a title like ‘The Cabin In The Woods’, but with a tagline like “You think you know the story”… one can’t help but be somewhat dissuaded from thinking they know enough to brand this as just another cabin-slasher flick.

The Avengers – May 4th

Now, I’m sure just about anyone who’s seen a movie preview in the last while knows that there’s an Avengers movie coming out in the next few months, but in the event that you were unaware of this.. now you know. For anyone unfamiliar with Marvel Comics or The Avengers, this film has Thor, Cpt. America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and of course Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury as they are pitted against Loki (Thor’s adopted brother) and an enemy that I’m not all too sure about. It could be anyone from A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) to Zodiac, though let’s face it.. it’s not likely to be Zodiac. It’d be more likely to be Hydra or even Ultron. Anyway, you may or may not have seen one of the latest previews for the coming film, but in case you haven’t seen the awesomeness that is this particular trailer, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Spider-Man – July 3rd

I’m far from the biggest fan of Spidey, be it in comic book form, cartoon form, action figure form, or video game form, but I can’t help but have some interest in the character. Nerdy geek ends up being imbued with super-human abilities like agility, super strength, the ability to know danger’s near, and of course the web slinging and clinging to any surface he wants to (All which comes along with an upgrade from dweeb to pretty cute guy, it seems.), but they’ve gone and changed ol’ Spidey up it seems. He’s got a new face and a new suit. He even comes with a new villain. I won’t get my hopes up for this one, but I could be wrong and this film could blow every other Spider Man film clear out of the water.

In place of writing more and more about this movie, that movie, and the other, I’ve decided to show you good people the Super Bowl movie commercials. (Alright, I know it’s a cop-out and I’m fine with that.) If you’ve seen them, here they are again. If you’ve missed them.. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. (Excluding the Avengers trailer; as it’s already on here.)

The Hunger Games