Wieden’s ad students out to fix America
Say what you will about the students in Wieden + Kennedy’s W+K 12 in-house ad school, but they’ve got some great facial hair. This video shows W+K 12 director Jelly Helm and his protégés at the Portland ad agency working on a project called “America. Love it or fix it” for Good magazine. One of the hairy students, with the great advertising name of Scrappers Morrison, says of the program: “I don’t know if we’re making ads, or if we’re doing art school, or, like, part of some reality show without any cameras hidden anywhere.” What he does know is that he enjoys wearing a stuffed raccoon as a scarf. —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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September 7, 2006 | Permalink |
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Nice try...but no! Let's keep it going! Hate and bitterness make for great blogging. I'm sure we've all got enough bile to keep this one going for another year or two.
Posted by: nice try | Sep 8, 2006 4:29:49 PM
I, for one, totally respect Jelly and what he's trying to do with 12.
Posted by: seriously | Sep 8, 2006 4:36:23 PM
Me too. I think he's awesome. Who is he again?
Posted by: serious | Sep 8, 2006 4:43:01 PM
go to work. do the ads. go home at a decent hour. follow these simple instructions and you won't be bitter or burnt out.
Posted by: pete best | Sep 8, 2006 7:03:25 PM
Don't you all know it's fashionable to say you hate advertising. Especially if you're very successful at it.
It's a win-win phrase. You at once seem modest, you know "I hate this ad thing but people just seem to love the ads that I do, what can I do?" but at the same time you get to dis all your peers "I mean they actually WANT to do good work and yet they can't manage to do work that's as good as mine." You disassociate yourself from all the bad Ginsu-knife advertising. And you admit that 99% of the work that's done is crap.
Except, of course, for the work that you do.
Oy!
Posted by: Benjamin of Toledo | Sep 8, 2006 8:26:09 PM
Who's making ads anymore anyway?
I thought we were all supposed doing 360-degree integrated UPC symbols....
Going for the adfreak comment record here--56, woohoo!
Posted by: goingthedistance | Sep 8, 2006 9:08:54 PM
I know jelly used to ask at the Martin Agency "why does a black guy work in the mail room." He was commenting on social stereotypes and the lack of diversity not just in Richmond, Martin, advertising, but in our culture. I for one am dissapointed that someone so passionate about commenting on social diversity couldn't create some in a school he created. I know he sent out a bunch of books for people to "find". A bunch were put in the hands of influential / semi-famous people. Rumor has it that Jon Stewart was one of them. I wonder how many were minorities? Jelly's worked with Spike Lee, did one find itself into Spike's hands? And if so, did it get sent out to someone of color? Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Maybe minorities didn't respond to this type of "advertising" recruitement. Maybe not enough were "interesting" enough. But I tell you what, if the target audience for 12 were kids from the hood, just like Nike targets some of it's products, Jelly should have known how to market to them to get them interested in this school. I hope he uses his marketing skills to expand 12. Otherwise, he'll just be remembered as a pot calling the kettle white. If I were Dan Wieden, I wouldn't just have said "less white" as a criteria for the next round of applicants. I would have said "More diversity, Jelly. Just Do It."
Posted by: minority report | Sep 8, 2006 9:31:09 PM
Kinda pathetic. They take themselved way too seriously. It's advertising, not art. No matter how they try to package it, ads are ads. If they want to make art, stop making ads.
Posted by: mustache | Sep 8, 2006 10:34:59 PM
What's wrong with a black guy working in the mailroom? It's where many successful people in the business started. My former boss (and now successful screenwriter) and myself used to to push the mail cart at Needham, Harper & Steers, or as we called it in the mailroom, Needless Hardons & Tears.
There are no menial jobs.
That's one of the cliched things that make this country great.
Posted by: rich siegel | Sep 8, 2006 11:01:44 PM
I have read every last one of these comments and what I'm left wondering this:
Why is everyone on this thread so angry? So violently, absurdly, angry?
I watched a video of a bunch of people working together. I saw them ask some hard questions and I saw them trying to answer them. I also saw some sometimes-awkward ad folks searching for a new way to engage in the industry in a way they could feel good about. Oh yeah. And there was a guy with a stuffed raccoon over his shoulders.
But besides the stuffed raccoon thing – did they really seem that much different than you?
This thread is not on fire because 12 is poser-ish, exploitive, misguided, racist, exclusive, or any of the other number of crimes you have accused them of committing. It's on fire because 12 is touching a serious nerve. In our industry. And in the world. And holy fuck if that's not what we're supposed to be doing. Maybe 12 isn't getting every last thing right, but at least they’re asking the questions that are getting people talking.
To the people who have commented that the ad industry is not a place for anyone who "hates advertising,” please remember this: Dan Wieden and Phil Knight began working together due to their shared distaste of advertising. And then, suddenly, there was Nike. There is no arguing that Nike changed the way advertising was done. My point is this: the tension that happens in the space between a love of and a hate of advertising can yield some interesting shit. Obviously.
If you have beef with the earnest students of 12 for having some conflicted feelings about the industry that they are about to embark on, I suggest that you write to them and let them have it – and cc Dan Wieden too. I'm sure he would love for you to set him straight on how this idea of dissatisfaction as fuel for revolutionary thinking (one of the core ideas that launched the world's largest independently owned global agency) was (and is) just plain wrong.
And yeah. I'm a part of 12. Not this year. It was a few years back. It made me a better person and it changed my life. What Scientology did for Tom Cruise, I guess. I drank every last drop of the 12 Kool-aid they offered me and I'm better for it. The world – advertising and otherwise – can be a major bummer. It could use a lot more Kool-aid if you ask me.
My mother used to tell me that bullies were just jealous. I still tend to think that's true. She also told me to just ignore them. Clearly that one's not so easy.
Posted by: Lu Chekowsky | Sep 9, 2006 12:48:13 AM
Some people see what they love about the advertising industry in this video, but I think a lot of people see what they dislike. That's why I think it is touching a nerve.
To a lot of people, this video really does seem poser-ish, exploitive, pretentious, and full of itself. You shouldn't dismiss these comments. Maybe there is something there. Maybe these people have a different point of view than your own - don't just dismiss them as "angry idiots".
I love advertising. I love creating commercials and thinking up new ideas. I love the problem solving and the challenges. I love the potential for art in advertising. I love meeting other creative people and artists through advertising. I get a charge out of it.
But sometimes I don't love the advertising industry. Let's face it, it has a strange side. It's a side where large agencies exploit the young. Where long hours are expected for little pay. Or worse, you are not even getting paid and you are told that you're getting paid in "experience". It's a business that wants so badly to be progressive and liberal and yet it still hires few minorities and women in creative positions. It's a small industry that is exclusive and sometimes rewards "connections" over talent. It's a business where creative people often try hard to "act creative" that they often lose their individuality behind a facade of hipster sameness - even sometimes turning themselves into "brands" to gain PR. It's a business where pretentious egos are allowed unchecked, and are sometimes encouraged and celebrated. It's an industry where the most respected creatives at the top often disrespect and demean those in "lesser" positions at "lesser" companies.
When I watch this video, I'm reminded of this strange side of the advertising industry. If 12 wants to change the industry and the future of advertising, it might not be bad if they took a look at themselves first. If you want to change the world, that's always the best place to start.
Posted by: differentviewpoint | Sep 9, 2006 4:11:05 AM
what would America look like without AIDS?
what would the America look like with more Coca-Cola?
who is it better to make money for?
do you really have trophy. for advertising?
how is your community?
do you use your craft/talent to make the place you live better?
what the fuck is good magazine?
is al gore's son really bank rolling that whole thing?
catholic guilt aside, how much do you suffer?
is wanting to make a lot of money what you really want to do?
when did america stop trying to be the best and start trying to be the most powerful?
Posted by: oprah | Sep 9, 2006 5:53:09 AM
My ears are bleeding.
Posted by: Dan | Sep 9, 2006 10:28:13 AM
shut up. please. everyone. please. shut the fuck up. i beg of you. the only sane one among you is the guy with the raccoon.
Posted by: rocky the raccoon | Sep 9, 2006 10:53:29 AM
Why does 12 find this "thread on fire" so threatening as to resort to childish flailing ("these commenters are unhappy people and palpably jealous") and logical non- sequiters (12 is in WK! WK is an independent global agency! Phil Knight's distaste for advertising is why WK makes good Nike ads!) to defend an adschool's mission as an industry changer?
If 12 is secure in the success of it's mission to change the world, why so defensive about the comments in bowels of an ad blog?
Only someone convinced of their position as dead center of the universe would mistake a few people commenting on adfreak.com as any kind of proof that 12 is "touching a nerve in our industry. And the world."
Comments like that require a level of ego rarely seen outside of Pro Wrestling.
WK ain’t the center of the universe.
It’s not even the center of the advertising universe anymore.
And even if it was, paying money to work inside WK’s building for a year is not the same thing as working at WK. Not even close.
Guess what 12? Comments like that should eliminate any doubt as to why people root against you. When you talk about the industry, you talk about us.
You know, the people who read websites that start with "ad."
And where is the "love" for advertising Ms.Chekowsky refers to? You know, the "love" required to create "tension" with 12's palpable hatred of advertising?
The only love I see is self-love.
The only promotion I see is self-promotion.
WK (decidedly NOT WK12) is great because they did WORK that changed the industry.
Good news is, that takes ego. Which 12 has in spades.
So my little 12packers, close your browser, open up Indesign and show us how it's done.
Until then, you can take your hatred of advertising, advertising agencies, and corporate policies of the companies that make your 12 Journey possible, and shove it as far up your flannel-lined colons as your skinny white forearms will allow.
.
Posted by: VoxUnPopuli | Sep 9, 2006 5:53:45 PM
on one hand our industry is represented by wealthy, white windbags like ron berger or donny deutsch. on the other by poor, pretentious windbags like the 12. how sad.
Posted by: pete best | Sep 9, 2006 7:39:16 PM
so what's in the middle? who should be representing us? seriously, respectfully wondering. thanks.
Posted by: dear pete | Sep 9, 2006 7:49:21 PM
There are talented and creative individuals out there who aren't pretentious and conceited. They are people who take their work seriously, but not themselves. Not everyone in this business is completely full of BS. And, in fact, I've met Dan Wieden and he's quite wonderful and gracious in person for someone of his stature in this industry. Lee Clow always seemed quite genuine. And I wouldn't put them "in the middle". But every industry has their assholes. For every arrogant Pytka there's an amiable Spike Jonze. The question is which one you want to be.
Posted by: HALFFULL | Sep 9, 2006 8:40:37 PM
Wow,
I guess I can be happy I didn't get into 12 and kept my design job that only pays 30K. I wouldn't want to graduate into the Ad industry with so many people instantly hating me for being part of 12 even before landing a first job as an AD.
Those "kids" -some closer to 28-30yrs old- are actually really nice people who just want to take a year out of their lives to do something different. It's only a year, and it's only 13K. How is that different that paying a guided service 60k to take a few months out of your life on a trip up the Himalayas? It's an adventure.
To the industry, just don't judge them by a dumb video they didn't even make. I didn't get in, but I don't hate them.
Chill out, and admit advertising and arguing is F.U.N. - I've certainly enjoyed reading all this bashing. Thanks.
Posted by: 24 | Sep 9, 2006 11:13:42 PM
i'm a first year candidate by the way...
12 is a great program, but i'm glad i didn't get in.
after the first year selection was over, i realized advertising was not for me, but i'm still inspired by the experience...i still remember all the great people i met at WK..
12 does not want ad students. if you don't understand why, you will never get it. so keep hating!...
thanks jelly! thanks 12!
thelovecollective@hotmail.com
Posted by: first year candidate | Sep 10, 2006 1:20:13 AM
Isn't it fucking precious that if you speak even the least bit negatively about something you're labeled a hater.
Group hug everyone. No hurt feelings. Please don't yell at me. C'mon clients, love everything I do. I mean, I know you're paying the agency I work for a lot of money, but you have no right to say mean things. Please love everything I do like my mommy did in 2nd grade, when she put up ALL my art on the fridge.
Based on this feel-good criteria then, shit, why ahve award shows then. all the work out there is wonderful. It should all get a gold star, right?
If the people here who perceive some negative comments as hate, how the fuck do you people survive in thh real world where CD's actually have bad days and may hate the shit you put up on the wall, or clients who actually expect results?
Posted by: makethelogobigger | Sep 10, 2006 1:57:21 AM
And if I'm resentful about anything, it ain’t 12. It's the fact Tim got 70+ comments outta this topic. Damn. Guess WK 12 just knocked ‘Tom Cruise,’ ‘Scientology’ and ‘Paris Hilton’ outta 1st place as blogging topic gold.
Posted by: makethelogobigger | Sep 10, 2006 2:08:20 AM
I agree with makethelogobigger. The 12 video is full of criticism. It's full of a group of people who are all sitting around criticizing and questioning advertising, the ad industry, and even America in quite a public way. And yet no-one who is defending them is calling them "haters" or "jaded". Their negative sentiments seem to be viewed by a few as brave and bold. However, when others criticize them - they are labeled as haters and jaded. Do you see the hypocracy?
When you put your opinions out into the world you are inviting other people to disagree with you. If you can't handle that, then keep your opinions to yourself.
As for 12 not making this video - they did agree to be filmed. And they did know that it was a video for the public. They are not victims. They were all aware that they were on camera and that their comments were going to be made public. If they are so delicate and fragile to criticism - then I suggest that they don't invite a news organization into their school to film a PR piece about them.
Posted by: ThinSkin | Sep 10, 2006 2:20:53 AM
Anyone actually think that the 12-ers won't look back at this video in 5 years and cringe in embarassment. (Especially the raccoon guy)
"DifferentViewPoint" has the most intelligent take on all this. I was definitely one of those "hot shop" creatives who looked down on everyone else from my perch high on Ad Mountain. And then I spent 2 years Freelancing For Dollars. Which sometimes meant working at Really Bad and Really Unknown agencies. And much to my surprise, the creatives at those places weren't any worse than my peers at Hot Shop. They just didn't have the right connections or enough chutzpah. But creatively the difference was pretty indiscernable.
Why? Because it's just f-ing advertising. It's not an art. It's not that hard. There's nothing tricky about it.
If you repeat the cliche (and it is such an overused cliche) that you got into advertising because you hate advertising enough times, you're still in the same place as someone who got into it because they love advertising. Or the vast majority of us, who were relatively indifferent and just sort of fell into it.
As for diversity, that's a no-brainer too. Every industry with low starting salaries has a tough time finding talented people from non-middle class backgrounds. Because why on earth would a poor person spend the money to go into debt in a graduate program and then come out making $45K year?
The big agencies need to start training programs again. The rest of us need to go back to hiring high school graduates as studio people, traffic people and mail room clerks and promoting them even if they don't have books from AdCenter or Miami Ad School.
All those grad programs- WK12 included, are a response to the elmination of these policies. And they hurt the industry far more than giving us pretentious losers named "Scrambles" - they limit the pool of juniors to those whose parents are affluent enough to pay for graduate ad school. AdCenter is the worst of the lot because they dangle the idea of a "Masters Degree" in front of the students so as to cloak what is essentially a trade school in an air a respectability that will appeal to the upper middle class parents who are paying for it.
Clever marketing, if nothing else.
Posted by: Rashi | Sep 10, 2006 10:14:04 AM
advertising, love it or fix it.
Posted by: done | Sep 10, 2006 1:47:20 PM
Thank you.
I do agree with Rashi.
WK12 was lucrative for me because I view it as the best bang for your buck in this country for someone wanting to make a quick creative career shift.
I could have barely afforded 13K a year but with some loans and freelancing I could have pulled it off.
Other programs in this country however that involve 2 years and 35K+ w/o living expenses makes it quite impossible for young folks who are trying to support themselves and still paying off undergrad loans. So yes, Ad leaders please devise a better system to flow more minds into the industry who want to stir things up through working, not just forcing them to unnessary "finishing" schools.
Posted by: 24 | Sep 10, 2006 2:12:27 PM
>>Going for the adfreak comment record here--56, woohoo!
>> And if I'm resentful about anything, it ain’t 12. It's the fact Tim got 70+ comments outta this topic.
This thread got ugly fast, but at least it’s about advertising. Sad off-topic factoid of the night: the all-time record for comments on an AdFreak post is 520 (and counting) on a story from March 2005 about the Gastineau girls.
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2005/03/those_ghastly_g.html
Pretty fucking sad. By comparison, this W+K 12 thread reads like a panel from the New Yorker Festival.
Posted by: Tim Nudd | Sep 10, 2006 8:34:08 PM
In case anyone's intereseted, when WK 12 started recruiting for their current class, they sent out a book you had to find. Here's a blog from an adcenter alumni site that speaks to it. If you read it all, someone that claims they're Jelly posts a comment. Judge for yourself. He may have posted here already or may not give a crap what anyone here thinks. I'm betting the latter. Why should he? Here's the blog:
http://www.rm116.com/adcenter/2005/11/what_we_learned.html
Posted by: from the horse's, err... raccoons mouth | Sep 10, 2006 9:50:46 PM
Rashi,
Point well taken on how the proliferation of adschools plays a role in the white-ifying of the industry.
I'd say that adcenter is the exception, though. Percentage-wise, it probably has the most minorities and foreigners of any ad-program out there. And since it IS accredited, it's easier for those in lower income brackets to get grants and loans in the first place.
And....
My Adcenter Master's degree, or "cloak of respectablility" is actually working quite hard keeping my fellow graduates who didn't choose the ad-route warm and cozy at night.
Teaching at Universities and working at nonprofits and on the client side.
You know, places that like stuff like postgrad degrees.
Clever, ideed.
Posted by: JellyHelpedBuildAdcenterWell | Sep 11, 2006 2:50:03 AM
Thanks for all the comments -- they've been interesting. Taste of the real world. Led to some good conversation over here. Definitely points out some places we need to grow.
Peace,
Jelly Helm
PS Send us a dollar or a postcard with something nice written on it, and your address, and we'll send you a treat.
Wieden+Kennedy 12
224 NW 13th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Posted by: Jelly Helm | Sep 11, 2006 12:13:42 PM
Rock on Jelly! As one of your former students (at Adcenter), I dig what you're doing.
I think with 80+ posts, you've proved your point.
Posted by: Jam | Sep 11, 2006 3:18:40 PM
If your treat's a shirt with "Awake" on it, I'm not interested.
Posted by: tomlout | Sep 11, 2006 8:31:08 PM
All these intellectually charged debates about the nature of creativity, the future of our industry and the viability of raccoons as fashion accessories is fascinating to be sure.
But here's what I don't get: On the video, we are treated to much earnest pontificating from Jelly, Scrappers, et al about burrowing down deep past obvious answers and pat solutions to arrive at something that is "real" and authentic.
So what, after all their intensive labors, do they come up with? "America: Love it or fix it."
It's an OK line, but it's hardly profound. It's as glib and superficial as a typical ad headline -- albeit a mediocre one. Probably woulnd't make it out of the wastebasket at any halfway decent headline.
Not only that, but when you analyze it, it doesn't even really make sense. Think about it: If you want to "fix" America, doesn't that by definition mean you love it? Why would you try to make this country a better place if you didn't care about it?
I realize it's not fair to judge the merits of W+K 12 on the basis of a single assignment -- or, for that matter, on a "Real World"-esque video that makes the students out to be a bunch of pretentious, raccoon-clad tools.
But still. . . was that really the best they could do?
Posted by: A Dog Named Snuckles | Sep 12, 2006 9:28:54 AM
to a dog named snuckles:
I appreciate that you probably had only a few moments to come up with an interesting, smart screen name that would sum up your point of view in one, quick read.
and it's not really fair to judge your ad skills on the basis of this single post, or for that matter, on your holier than thou, snobbish posturing that makes you seem like a pretty bitter, angry, judgemental asshole.
But still...was A Dog Named Snuckles really the best you could do?
Posted by: check out good | Sep 12, 2006 10:09:48 AM
So, check out good, I'm a "bitter, angry, judgemental asshole" simply because I had the temerity to think "America: Love it or fix it" was a bit lame?
What can I say? Guilty as charged. I freely admit to being bitter, angry, etc. But at least, unlike you, I don't take advertising -- or myself -- too seriously.
Interestingly, you seem unable to offer a coherent rebuttal to my criticisms. Or, for that matter, to come up with "an interesting, smart screen name" yourself.
Is everyone who attends W+K 12 so hypersensitive and unable to respond intelligently to criticism?
Posted by: A Dog Named Snuckles | Sep 12, 2006 10:44:55 AM
you called the students "a bunch of pretentious, raccoon-clad tools." don't they deserve a rebuttal?
Posted by: snuckles eats poopie | Sep 12, 2006 11:06:52 AM
shouldn't you all be working? really? do you all have so much time on your hands? i want to work where you all work. i'm sure you're clients and cd's would love to know you spend all fucking day arguing like a bunch of douches on a blog called adfreak. what's that billing code? i'm gonna try it here. get lives. pleeeeeeeeeeeze.
Posted by: everyone sucks | Sep 12, 2006 11:15:25 AM
The most interesting stuff is always created by the bitter, the angry, the judgemental assholes.
Posted by: jammy hamm | Sep 12, 2006 12:03:54 PM
Yes, snuckles eats poopie, they do indeed deserve a rebuttal. They are as free to express their opinions on here as you or I am. I never said otherwise.
I simply thought it was kind of sad that the best the previous poster could do was slag on my choice of a screen name.
It's hard to respect someone when they resort to cheap shots rather than debating the issue in an intelligent, mature -- or at least entertaining-- fashion.
Not that my opinion means dick, but I actually happen to think the idea behind W+K 12 is inspired -- in theory, at least. It sounds like a refreshing alternative to the portfolio mills out there spawning a new generation of award whores.
But after all the grand prouncements and lofty rhetoric, "America: Love it or fix it" is something of a letdown. It's a shallow, lazy sentiment that doesn't even hold up under scrutiny. If you or checkout good feel differently, I'd love you to show me where I'm wrong. Who knows? Maybe you'll sway me over to your side.
And while I realize that the students did not make the accompanying video, the thoughts they are expressing are presumably their own.
The irony is that, through their disdain for anyone who is not like them, they are the ones who, in check out good's immortal words, come off as "holier than thou, snobbish" poseurs. And judging from a number of the previous comments, I'm not the only one who thinks so.
(Plus, any guy named Scrapples and walks around wearing nothing but a raccoon is asking for it.)
Anyway, everyone sucks is right. We've all wasted too much time on this thread.
As Casey Kasem would say, fuckin' ponderous, man.
Posted by: A Dog Named Snuckles | Sep 12, 2006 2:13:50 PM
It's Scrappers. Not Scrapples. Just saying.
Posted by: coongirl33 | Sep 12, 2006 2:55:24 PM
How about "Sprinkles"?
Posted by: asgoodasitgets | Sep 12, 2006 3:39:20 PM
ooooooo! Or Skippers!
Posted by: asgoodasitgets2 | Sep 12, 2006 3:43:45 PM
He could sprinkle glitter on his pale, bare chest and go by "Sparkles".
Nobody wears glitter anymore.
Posted by: asgoodasitgets | Sep 12, 2006 5:20:57 PM
Scrappers and Jelly with a side of Coon Sausage, now only a buck ninety-nine!
Posted by: ItsWhatsForBreakfast | Sep 12, 2006 9:46:30 PM
what would fenske do?
Posted by: i wonder | Sep 12, 2006 10:13:19 PM
I think we should have a contest to come up with a new name for Raccoon Boy.
How about Scabies? Or, better yet, Scrappy Doo? P-p-p-puppy power!
Posted by: Shaggy | Sep 13, 2006 9:10:16 AM
fucking ridiculous.
Posted by: blaggy | Sep 13, 2006 3:50:31 PM
misconceptions exist.
and yet-- there are truths to some of the angry, bitter comments on this page.
I cannot deny that, but not all ring true.
And as for "love it or fix it"
the client loved it. it worked for them. it was only one idea within 100's that we came up with.
sometimes, work gets picked that not everyone will think is the best.
You know how it is.
right?
we're students. we are still learning.
there is still so much to learn.
and we are having a fuck of a good time learning. too bad the video does not show that. I apologize for that. it's hard to sum up what 12 is exactly in a 6 minute video. that's the last time I will agree to even be part of having a short film made about 12 that was edited by somebody that does not know about 12 either. even though I did not talk and was barely in it.
I have never claimed to know it all.
And I don't believe anyone in 12 feels that way....However, I can only speak for myself.
Thanks for all of the publicity.
I'm really glad that there are people out there talking about 12, even though they may or may not know what the hell they are talking about.
Posted by: blaggy | Sep 13, 2006 4:02:37 PM
Feeling a trifle defensive, are we, blaggy?
Of course, I supose it helps to write off legitmate criticisms as "angry, bitter comments." That's a very convenient way of looking at the world. It means you don't have to question your beliefs or rethink your assumptions.
Wait until you dive headfirst into the real world of advertising and have to deal with "angry, bitter comment" on a daily basis.
Still, I'm sure you guys are not as pretentious as the video made you out to be. And you seem sincere in your desire to do good.
So best of luck to you and your peers. Seriously.
Posted by: mike w | Sep 13, 2006 4:57:17 PM
dear mike w (and everyone):
i've got nothing to do with 12. never met the kids. never even heard of them until this blog. still, i've got a small bone to pick with this idea that "legit" criticism is the criticism that's been thrown 12's way these past few days.
where i come from, legit criticism come from knowledge. and not from assumptions.
to me, the biggest lesson of this neverending blog thread: it's way more fun and natural to develop points of view based on not much, than to learn about it, sit with it, and come to a thoughtful conclusion.
look, i'm not saying this in a judgemental way. i mean, i think Lindsay Lohan is a nasty old coke whore. do i know her? have i ever met her? nope. i've established this from a bunch of gossipy gossip blogs and a few too many "accidental" naked cooch pictures.
the truth is, it's much more fun to just pretend I've got her pretty much figured out based on a few tiny pieces of quick blog fodder than to hold judgement until I actual meet her. not that it's likely this will ever happen.
i guess the same goes for 12. yup. one guy with a dead raccoon equals 12 people who are a bunch of self-important hacks. 1=12 (or 13 counting jelly.) i don't know about you, but i've never been in a group of 13 people who were exactly the same -- well, not counting the one time i was in a 24 hour wal-mart at 3 am in alabama -- but that's another sotry. people are different. each one of them. at least that's what my bible study teacher told me.
to me, that's the takeaway from the hour spent reading all these comments. this snap judgement thing was branded by whathishead malcom gladwell, but it's is an insight that can surely be used to market something. right?
Posted by: legit | Sep 13, 2006 5:40:03 PM
