Posted on 04/05/2003 6:27:43 AM PST by sonofatpatcher2
GRUESOME FRENCH ADS DEPICT DEAD JOURNALISTS
Campaign Champions Press Freedom; May Run in U.S.
March 31, 2003
QwikFIND ID: AAO55P
By Laurel Wentz <mailto:lwentz@crain.com>
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A shocking French ad campaign that portrays famous French journalists as murder victims to drive home the dangers journalists face and the importance of defending press freedom may be adapted to run in the U.S. and around the world.
'Make it travel'
"As soon as I saw it, I thought 'We've got to make it travel,' " said Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director at Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi.
Saatchi's Paris office created three graphic print and poster ads, one featuring leading TV journalist Christine Ockrent with a bullet hole in her forehead. The other two ads show male TV journalists -- Emmanuel Chain, who is in charge of a Sunday evening news magazine program, and Guillaume Durand, who hosts Campus, a popular literary talk show -- one apparently with a slashed throat and the other shot to death in a parking lot.
'Reporters without Borders'
The ads, for French journalists' group "Reporters without Borders," say: "Start fighting for press freedom before you lose it."
Mr. Isherwood said the ads, which started running in January, had a huge impact in France. He said he is putting the campaign on the agenda to be discussed at Saatchi's worldwide creative board meeting, to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, om April 28-30.
May use U.S. journalists
"I'm going to see if we can't run it globally," he said. "It's a very powerful idea. There's no reason we shouldn't be able to run it in the U.S., with U.S. journalists, and I'm sure people would do it."
He said the campaign could be re-shot in the U.S. and other countries, using local journalists.
"I'm sure people would do it," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at adage.com ...
We have this here in the US already, they are called CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, MCNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc...
Interesting pics in story, will post later.
Possible star in future US ad is TV journalist Peter Arnett.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.