Those ads showing a boy putting on lipstick (and mommy’s pumps) with an invitation to enroll him in karate lessons to butch him up? The ones that have the entire Internet upset? It’s not like the karate school had anything to do with their creation.
Created by Zubi Ad Agency, the ads were never intended for circulation, the company says, and were never approved by their client, the Academy Of Martial Arts RDCA in Key Biscayne, Florida. “The ads in question were posted by an individual that works at our agency on a site that creatives use to share ideas and get comments from others in their line of work,” says COO Joe Zubizarreta, who’s likely referring to sites like Ads Of The World, to BP. “The art director who developed them told me that he had posted this campaign as well as three others to get feedback from other creatives as to their opinions of the work.”
But creativity aside, the company isn’t standing by them: “We want you to know that we don’t condone this action and we are taking steps to make sure something like this never happens again. I apologize to you and anyone else that may have thought we knowingly allowed these ads to leave the agency. These ads were never produced nor would they have seen the light of day had they come across my desk. The creator of these ads is very apologetic and never intended to offend anyone however, we as the owners, understand that they can be considered offensive and would not under any circumstances have ever let them ever be produced.”
(For the record, the creator and the others credited with the spots are: VP Creative Director: Andres Ordoñez; Creative Director: Ivan Calle; Associate Creative Director: Mauricio Candela; Art Director: Francisco Losada; Copywriter: Vicent Llopis; Photographer: The Blur Office; Retoucher: Iancarlo Reyes.)
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It’s as if Mad Men hasn’t taught anyone that copywriters are senseless jerks, while the executives at ad agencies are heartwarming people persons.
How stupid of any agency, however, to think works their staffers submit to a website that is open to the public will somehow remain private. And for an agency that’s committed to “Erasing Stereotypes” (their words), here’s another spot submitted for review.
AlfonzoChavez
As someone with a last name ending in -ez, I’m pretty embarassed by this. On the other hand, I smell a closet case.
Carina
I’m more offended by the house’s poor taste decoration than the fabulous toddler. Those red pumps and lipstick must belong to his dad.
Clint
I used to dress up as a girl AND did karate when I was little… So I fail to see how this makes sense.
RomanHans
Um, quick question: are these so-called “ad men” really 30-year-old unemployed poetry majors who still depend on Mom and Dad to pay their rent? Because these ads show a spectacular lack of brain power. As for “We don’t judge; we frame,” they’ve hit stupid on a few different levels. Obviously they ARE judging, because its entire raison d’etre is that the photo is either embarrassing or laughable (and, once again, clearly homophobic).
Jack
What does this have to do with being gay? Gay people don’t dress up as girls. Pansies dress up as girls.
Michael
I agree some of it seems a bit fishy – but we’ll probably never really know true intentions about situations like this because how an organization runs usually isn’t transparent.
But I must say unlike many others we’ve seen from people who make a derogatory or offensive oops, this was one hell of a clear and specific apology! Nice work. No neutrality or beating around the bush. Straight, to the point honest apology meant for someone to read it and get the point in about 15 seconds.
swarm
Like I said this morning on the other thread, the blogger that Queerty took this from is an obvious moron and the entire post was kludgey. I also predicted some type of “pro gay statement” from the agency. HRMPH.
What I didn’t predict was that the parties would be all Hispanic (no surprise since it’s Miami), so GET A CLUE. Stop worrying about OTHER demographics and their issues, they largely don’t give a rat’s ass about yours’ and worse, will NEVER support LGBT causes. (no offense, Hispanic/Latino gays but you know it’s true).
OH WAIT. I just googled the agency, it’s entirely Hispanic and “activist”. I’m not surprised in the least but…SEE? DON’T BE SO FREAKING “NICE” TO EVERYBODY DAMMIT.
sam
@Jack: numbnuts
a) lots of gay guys dress up as girls, particularly when they’re young
b) ever wonder what the T in GLBT stands for?