Simons Commercial involving assisted death

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

This is not to dis Jenyfer herself. It’s because I think the “marketing” piece is alarming. And it was published on a site about marketing so it’s a valid critique. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a trend.

(The art piece above, done a few years ago, was to alert people to propaganda trends that use artsy vignettes - also make people think about what is actually being marketed - and propaganda for harmful things is done in subtle ways and it is all very white colonial dominated - the ad industry itself, is )

 

[ChemGal]

The only explanations I can come up for this are

Jennyfer really wanted a professionally done video, perhaps knowing who she wanted creating it. She couldn't afford that. She was connected with someone at Simons. This being an ad allows it to be made with company money.

Someone at Simons (Peter?) Is very proMAiD and wants that message across. Or is trying to explain a MAiD decision to someone he knows.

No matter what I can't come up with a good reason for the company to go with this.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

The disturbing thing is, I feel like we’re not supposed to critique this for the subtext because it’s “beautiful”. And it is a tribute to a real person. That just makes it so much more unsettling, if it’s a trend.

 

[Northwind]

It’s too bad it wasn’t a private memorial piece in tribute of her. It’s just so inappropriate to put a consumer “brand” behind this - even if the “brand name” is subtle, and what they’re selling isn’t even their products. That’s why I think it’s propaganda.

I just fail to see how it is appropriate or connected to the brand. I listened to Mr Simon's video and understand what they were hoping to accomplish. There are far better ways to spread the message of connection they say they're doing. I agree, it's propaganda.

 

[Northwind]

The disturbing thing is, I feel like we’re not supposed to critique this for the subtext because it’s “beautiful”. And it is a tribute to a real person. That just makes it so much more unsettling, if it’s a trend.

The comments on the YouTube video are quite supportive. There are several like mine that aren't. I imagine they'll say they invited discussion.

 

[Luce NDs]

What will vast corporations do to extend their brand into chimera? Just about anything that is available when without conscience ... when u against science ... many see nothing of it ... thus the con! It isn't Pro ...

 

[Waterfall]

I imagine they'll say they invited discussion.

This!

 

[Carolla]

So I am wondering - if this one line was NOT included in the film - would your response to it be different? What would you see as its message?

“Even now as I seek help to end my life with all the pain, and in those final moments, there is so much beauty, you just have to be brave enough to see it,” she says.​

​

Or if she had said instead - "Even now, as my life is coming to an end, in those final moments, there is so much beauty ..... "

 

[Mendalla]

So I am wondering - if this one line was NOT included in the film - would your response to it be different? What would you see as its message?

​

“Even now as I seek help to end my life with all the pain, and in those final moments, there is so much beauty, you just have to be brave enough to see it,” she says.​

​

Or if she had said instead - "Even now, as my life is coming to an end, in those final moments, there is so much beauty ..... "

I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is the tying of the MAID to a commercial and essentially using that to promote it. Right now, several of us are taking Kimmio's standpoint that the MAID legislation has gone too far and needs to be reined in, not given a pretty face.

 

[Northwind]

I do understand the message that beauty is all around us. I appreciate she had a nice "send off". I don't like the subtle promotion of MAID.

 

[ChemGal]

So I am wondering - if this one line was NOT included in the film - would your response to it be different? What would you see as its message?

​

“Even now as I seek help to end my life with all the pain, and in those final moments, there is so much beauty, you just have to be brave enough to see it,” she says.​

​

Or if she had said instead - "Even now, as my life is coming to an end, in those final moments, there is so much beauty ..... "

I would just be confused. I don't recall specifically where it was stated but none of the clothes are from Simons.

So it would change my judgment from inappropriate to just confusion.

 

[Carolla]

I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is the tying of the MAID to a commercial and essentially using that to promote it. Right now, several of us are taking Kimmio's standpoint that the MAID legislation has gone too far and needs to be reined in, not given a pretty face.

The thing that links the video to MAID is this line though. Whether or not it is an intentional promotion of MAID I guess depends on how one hears this one particular line. To be honest, I missed it entirely when I first watched it.

 

[Carolla]

I would just be confused. I don't recall specifically where it was stated but none of the clothes are from Simons.

So it would change my judgment from inappropriate to just confusion.

I get that - it's definitely not a 'typical' marketing/advertising approach or campaign designed to sell something. I found it interesting to read this interview with the agency that is working on the All is Beauty Campaign. If nothing else, it's certainly got people talking!

 

[ChemGal]

I get that - it's definitely not a 'typical' marketing/advertising approach or campaign designed to sell something. I found it interesting to read this interview with the agency that is working on the All is Beauty Campaign. If nothing else, it's certainly got people talking!

That is where it mentions no Simons clothing.

I have no problem with an art piece to get people talking. This was used as an ad though, even if a less than conventional ad.
In terms of non-traditional advertising, Dove has done a similar approach and got criticism (as well as praise) too and I would say would they did wasn't as inappropriate as this.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

That is where it mentions no Simons clothing.

I have no problem with an art piece to get people talking. This was used as an ad though, even if a less than conventional ad.
In terms of non-traditional advertising, Dove has done a similar approach and got criticism (as well as praise) too and I would say would they did wasn't as inappropriate as this.

If was an art piece I would hope people would see it as art pointing to propaganda - or satirizing (not in a comical sense) society’s obliviousness to where it comes from.

I have a friend who is an older, real non-co-opted hippy artist who did graphic arts and marketing for awhile when he was younger, now works on art for non-profit community projects when he gets a gig. As he says, “it’s all spin.” This world is full of spin to sell things. It’s responsible to be skeptical and figure out what the spin is, and who/ where it’s coming from, the “when” timeliness of it and why in a broader social/ political context. I mean, some things are just obviously catchy ads to sell things they’re selling - but in an era where “corporations are people” (with outsized power) and corporate social responsibility is a selling point in itself - social responsibility to who? … what is the spin, the subtext, really? …we have to be more careful. In my opinion.

But I can see how the Simon’s ad would appeal to MAiD supporters who haven’t given it enough critical thought and are insulated from the realities of what kind of future is ahead for large numbers of people. It’s not going to be pretty.

 

[ChemGal]

If was an art piece I would hope people would see it as art pointing to propaganda - or satirizing (not in a comical sense) society’s obliviousness to where it comes from.

I have a friend who is an older, real non-co-opted hippy artist who did graphic arts and marketing for awhile when he was younger, now works on art for non-profit community projects when he gets a gig. As he says, “it’s all spin.” It’s responsible to be skeptical and figure out what the spin is, and who/ where it’s coming from, the “when” timeliness of it and why in a broader social/ political context. I mean, some things are just obviously catchy ads to sell things they’re selling - but in an era where “corporations are people” and corporate social responsibility is a selling point in itself - social responsibility to who? … what is the spin, the subtext, really? …we have to be more careful. In my opinion.

I guess it could be. I view Jennyfer's want to do that a bit different. A form of expression, not propaganda.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I do understand the message that beauty is all around us. I appreciate she had a nice "send off". I don't like the subtle promotion of MAID.

I think a nice send off to someone who was dying is a private matter unless maybe it was a public figure. To broadcast it to the public, glorifying it, and using a business to do it - it’s pretty gross.

And it could be said to be glorifying suicide because she was not in the final moments while the video was being made. She was clearly well enough to appreciate the beauty in life but she wanted to check out early. That sends a bad message about those who live like that all the time and want to continue to “enjoy the beauty in life thank you very much” society will start to assume they’re at the end of the road, and that they should be. And opportunities to be able to live and enjoy life on an equal basis with others will erode - public mindset will erode and get more negative toward disability when it should be improving if we want to call it progress. Again, her condition was ambiguous, not told to us in the ad - but we did see a wheelchair.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I guess it could be. I view Jennyfer's want to do that a bit different. A form of expression, not propaganda.

When the company is doing it and putting it on TV, it is.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

There has always been ads that were touching at social issues. This is what I found googling it:

10 brand campaigns that took a stand on social issues

The events of 2020 brought brand purpose to the forefront, with consumers increasingly expecting brands to speak out about important social issues. Here are 10 examples of when brands have taken a stand in campaigns.

econsultancy.com

And this one about negative reactions to adds. I actually really like the Gillette one

7 of the most controversial ads of our time

www.thedrum.com

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Was thinking…wheelchair is a universal symbol for disability what if the ad showed, not a white person with an undefined condition using a wheelchair with a hospital bed being pushed out to sea… but what if it showed a BIPOC person, clearly depressed, standing and not in a wheelchair, but in a run down infested SRO (“welfare hotel”) - or a trans person wearing the trans flag shooting up behind a dumpster, with those environments in a box being sent out to sea - with the same message about it being their final moments? It would probably be seen by more people, at this point, to be offensive - as it should! But the wheelchair is a catch-point - disability is a protected category but it is acceptable now to be suicidal and get assistance to go through with it (even be offered it) on the basis of being disabled and NOT dying if one can’t use parts of their body anymore - or maybe never could. That’s an acceptable reason, now, to be suicidal and supported by the state to end one’s life, not to robustly intervene to prevent it. Because capitalist society demands that we be a certain type of “productive” and included as long as we can be included without having to change the systems and structures of “normalcy” - for our lived lives to continue to have value. That is not a beautiful thing. The truth is ugly.

That said, keep in mind MAiD proponents want it to be available to others in the other aforementioned circumstances too. To not “include” them to be considered for MAiD because they are poor, or they are mentally ill and belong to other marginalized but protected categories, is being argued as discriminatory. Because the Charter was flipped deliberately to make non discrimination about our deaths more important than non discrimination in our lives. The UN repudiated this but it was ignored.

The Truchon case set a precedent to allow people who are disabled but not dying and are poor to choose death over inhumane living environments. The mainstream public shouldn’t be surprised that it’s happening, and if the euthenasia lobby says they don’t want that to be the case - they are lying. The law they argued for was set up for it. And everyone with any disability is at risk.

Also want to point out that non white inner city poor people are less likely to have their “beautiful” end moments on a beautiful beach and made into an artful vignette - ad company/ retailer, or not.