Morning Update: Daily Beast pulls Olympics sex apps story; ‘more than 50% of woman harassed in adland’; the F word in campaigns
Today, The Daily Beast took an unprecedented but necessary step: We are removing an article from our site, “The Other Olympic Sport In Rio: Swiping.”
The Daily Beast does not do this lightly. As shared in our editor’s note earlier today, we initially thought swift removal of any identifying characteristics and better clarification of our intent was the adequate way to address this. Our initial reaction was that the entire removal of the piece was not necessary. We were wrong. We’re sorry. And we apologize to the athletes who may have been inadvertently compromised by our story.
Slate: This Daily Beast Grindr Stunt Is Sleazy, Dangerous, and Wildly Unethical
On Thursday morning, the Daily Beast published an exceedingly gross and bizarre article by a straight, married male writer who lured in gay Olympians through hookup apps for no particular purpose. The entire piece is an astoundingly creepy exercise in Grindr-baiting, which involves a journalist accessing Grindr in an unlikely setting and … seeing what happens.
But the Daily Beast piece, penned by Nico Hines, is a uniquely disgusting and irresponsible entry into the tired genre. Hines entices his (often closeted) subjects under false pretenses; effectively outs several closeted athletes who live in repressive countries; then writes about the whole thing in a tone of mocking yet lurid condescension.
As the controversies pile up, the President and CEO of the 4As reveals the findings of a yearlong effort to learn more about the plight of women in adland
Last week, we were once again reminded that, despite strong momentum and frequent discussions about gender equality in advertising, there is much more work to be done. Work that someday soon, hopefully, would mean a senior executive in a position of power wouldn’t think of publicly refuting, and frankly ridiculing, what many of us hold to be true: The ad industry is not an equal workplace for men and women.
Lost in the very justified uproar over the comments made late last month by Saatchi & Saatchi’s Kevin Roberts about gender in the advertising industry was his choice of words – or, more specifically, his choice of one word. The agency chairman didn’t just say the debate about gender was over, he said “the fucking debate is all over.” Obviously, the debate wasn’t over, though the outcry has most certainly advanced a more level career playing field for women in the advertising industry.
But I wonder about the four-letter word. Any debate about that? Even any notice? Was the F-word necessary to make the point?
Campaign Live: How Asahi found favour among women with a ‘healthy’ highball mocktail
While the traditional food of Japan is renowned worldwide for its health benefits, the Japanese diet is surprisingly westernized. This has fueled concerns among the nation’s consumers, particularly women, about the negative consequences of overindulging in highly processed foods laden with fat and sugar.
It was against this backdrop that the Japanese government brought out the Food with Functional Claims (FFC) labeling system in April 2015. This voluntary setup covers a wide range of foods, including fresh items, and beverages, allowing producers to present specific health benefits on packaging.
Mumbrella Asia: Grey Southeast Asia creative chief Ali Shabaz pulls out of Spikes Asia judging
Ali Shabaz, the Grey Southeast Asia chief creative officer behind the controversial ‘I Sea’ app that was exposed as a non-functional prototype, has pulled out of the judging for upcoming Spikes Asia awards.
He is to be replaced by Danny Searle, the regional creative head at BBDO, who will take on the captaincy of the outdoor and radio panel. Sandipan Bhattacharyya of Grey India is also to feature on the panel.
TechCrunch: Facebook rolls out code to nullify Adblock Plus’ workaround again
Adblock Plus launched a workaround to Facebook’s ad block bypass today that ham-handedly removes posts from friends and Pages, not just ads, according to a statement provided by Facebook to TechCrunch.
“We’re disappointed that ad blocking companies are punishing people on Facebook as these new attempts don’t just block ads but also posts from friends and Pages. This isn’t a good experience for people and we plan to address the issue. Ad blockers are a blunt instrument, which is why we’ve instead focused on building tools like ad preferences to put control in people’s hands.”
The New York Times, as part of an ongoing effort to offer more creative and marketing services to agencies and clients, has acquired the design agency Fake Love, the company announced Friday.
Fake Love, which this year was named Ad Age’s small agency of the year for the Northeast region, is based in Brooklyn, and describes itself as “a design driven experiential agency that creates unconventional immersive and artistic projects.”
