Last week we came across this music video/ advertisement for Taco Bell (created by DraftFCB), a riff on Diddy’s 1990s anthem,It’s All About the Benjamins“. The commercial, entitled “It’s All About the Roosevelts”, seems to have drawn inspiration from the popular Lazy Sunday” skit featured on SNL four years ago, a self-parodizing rap video about the banal lives of Chris Parnell and Adam Samberg.
SNL’s characters rap self-seriously (but in actuality, self-deprecatingly) about the boring details of their daily lives, from visiting cupcake bakeries to finding directions on the Internet. The comedic effect is a result of a combined dissonance; it’s [...]

The piece I posted last week in reaction to Levi’s Go Forth ad campaign generated a lot of commentary. Beyond whether people agreed with my thoughts on advertising or not, the post created a heated discussion about race in advertising. Here are some of the comments made:
Christine Huang thanked us for striking up the conversation and said:
As you aptly put it – the campaign just fails to reflect the America – country of “pioneers” and fearless individualists – it’s claiming to represent. It just fails to connect. Perhaps WK was going for timelessness, but all I see is irrelevance. Today’s [...]

We’re looking forward to having Celestine Arnold, creative strategy consultant, join us at our upcoming PSFK Conference NYC 2009. Celestine will be speaking on the changing face of race in gaming, virtual worlds and social networks.
First, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Celestine Arnold and I’m a creative strategy consultant to brands and agencies. I generally work in the gaming, social media and digital spheres, but have worked across all types of industries. I find it is nice to mix it up a bit.
In one paragraph, can you explain what themes and ideas you hope to [...]