[This campaign was pulled immediately, after running once in a German lifestyle magazine. -Ed.]
From: Douglas Faneuil
Subject: Re: pepsi print campaign
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:56:10 -0500
To: Justin Chen
honestly, my guess is that the person who conceived them is a little depressed.
i know that sounds condescending, but to go from a can of soda to these images — it’s quite a journey.
i try not to take these things too seriously, because believe me i can, but what i find most troubling about these ads isn’t the imagery; it’s the conflation of loneliness with suicide.
when you think about it carefully, what does one really have to do with the other? i actually like the idea of “one lonely calorie.” but suicide? it’s a bit out of left field. i mean, i get the connection. but it’s an unhealthy connection. i think a healthy person would be more skeptical, and ask, “i like the loneliness concept — even a personified, despairing calorie — but suicide? where is that coming from? where is it going? is it saying anything substantive about this calorie’s loneliness? is it even, actually, portraying an aspect of loneliness?”
these ads suggest — pretty deeply, i think — that suicide is a logical answer to loneliness. that’s not a healthy idea, for the individual and society. (and of course it’s not true.)
i’m not coming at this from a moral angle; i’m more of a pragmatist about all this. we get out what we put in.
one can makes jokes about suicide — i make plenty of ‘em in the editing room — but at what expense? i just wish these ads’ creators would acknowledge a cost. and i think if they did, they’d change their campaign.
anyway, thanks a lot for passing them on. i’m starting a blog pretty soon. i’ll post these.
d
On Dec 3, 2008, at 1:25 PM, Justin Chen wrote:
Hey Doug.
What do you think of this print campaign by pepsi?
Douglas Faneuil is the founder of Living Proof Productions, a not-for-profit devoted to suicide prevention based in New York City. He also designs database solutions for companies throughout the Northeast.