Can a political remix video help effect actual change in the world? YES!

Unilever’s personal care brand Dove is the again target, this time being called out by GreenPeace for the corporation’s role as the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world, and thus, a major contributor to the destruction of rainforests because of massive palm oil plantations.

Greenpeace spoofed Dove’s Onslaught ad with great success: thanks to the public support of the campaign and the remix (which received more views on YouTube than the original ad with over a million) Unilever agreed to an “immediate moratorium on deforestation for palm oil plantations”. They also agreed to help clean up the industry by contacting the other major companies calling on them to support the moratorium. Companies like Cargill & General Mills though have still not gotten on board.

The remix did have a budget and does not actually re-edit any of the footage from the Unilever ad but it does re-create it almost shot for shot. The Greenpeace version even re-writes the lyrics for the song LA Breeze by Simian which Dove used as their soundtrack. The new updated song titled “There They Go” (referring to trees) was made specifically for this video by the Czech band Ohm Square.

Thanks to the staggering public support for our international Dove campaign in April 2008, Unilever has now agreed to play their part in saving the Paradise Forests of South East Asia. As the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world, Unilever has a special responsibility to help clean up the industry that’s behind so much forest destruction. – GreenPeace

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: advertising, corporations, ecology, environment, forests, greenpeace, identity correction, television, unilever

Over the past two years the Unilever corporation has been one of the favorite targets for parody videos online. This is primarily do to the fact that the multinational company makes both Dove and Axe, two brands that present diametrically opposing values and views of women.

In 2004, Unilever launched their Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, a marketing strategy wrapped in a feminist package. Their tag line: “challenging today’s stereotypical view of beauty“. The marketing tactic included the online video Onslaught, that warned consumers about the beauty industries negative effect on young girls.

Rye Clifton noticed that Unilever also makes Axe Body Spray, a product whose brand identity is steeped in misogynistic notions of masculinity. Interestingly enough, the spray is accompanied by a sexist advertising campaign featuring exactly the kind of depictions of women that the company is supposedly criticizing with its Dove brand. So Rye re-edited the Onslaught ad replacing all the images of women with footage from Axe tv commercials. The remix exposes the inconsistency and deep hypocrisy of Unilever’s corporate brand identity. Clearly the only value Unilever is really interested in is money – they will say anything to get you to buy their products. Clifton’s remix was even featured on CNN’s the Situation Room a couple years ago.

Below is the original Dove Onslaught ad for those that have not seen it.

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: advertising, corporations, gender, sexism, television

I recently helped the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) re-dub Royal Bank of Canada’s new Olympic Flame Trail commercial. The new and improved voiceover better represents the bank’s dirty investments: since 2007, RBC has given about $17 billion dollars in loans to companies operating in the Alberta tar sands – more than any other bank. Not only is it one of the most environmentally destructive energy projects on the planet but expansion of the tar sands is trampling the rights of Indigenous peoples, destroying North American water systems and significantly increasing Canada’s carbon emissions.

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: advertising, banks, corporations, energy, environment, identity correction, oil

Although this spoof video by MacKenzie Fegan does not actually remix footage or audio from the now infamous Man’s Last Stand: Dodge Charger TV commercial it does remix the ad’s concept, pacing and message. This year’s Superbowl had more than its fair share of sexist and misogynistic commercials so it’s refreshing to see people on youtube directly talking back on the issue. It’s especially exciting to see people using the television ad form and structure to make their commentary.

If anyone is somehow still in denial and doubts that misogyny and sexism are still a problem in society – all you have to do is take a look at the YouTube comments on Woman’s Last Stand to see really stunning levels of hate directed at women.

And just in case you did not already have to suffer through the original Dodge ad during the big game or on YouTube’s AdBlitz competition, here it is…

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: advertising, cars, corporations, gender, sexism, superbowl, television

This remix by freeyourpixels is a short yet eloquent critique of the US Marines “Red Stripe” online ad campaign. The remix uses still images and TV commercial clips for source materials and implements additive text and precise match-on-action editing techniques to unite them. The red stripe transitions the viewer from one clip to next and was created using After Effects. It’s a brilliant, yet simple, visual motif which echos the brutal imperialist history of the US Marines. The Scarlet Stripe, said to commemorate the bloodshed by US Marine officers during the 1846 Battle of Chapultepec in Mexico, is more often referred to as the Blood Stripe.

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: capitalism, corporations, government, iraq, marines, military, terrorism, violence, war

Mary C. Matthews at VideoPancakes remixes the now infamous anti-gay marriage “gathering storm” ad by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). She combines it with footage from the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers to create a promo for a new fictitious reality show called “Gay Marriage Chasers”. Over the past month, the ridiculous homophobic NOM ad has been thoroughly lampooned and parodied by the Colbert Report, Funny or Die and dozens of others online. Matthews’ remix is unique in that it seamlessly splices together two pop-culture phenomena to create a hilarious critique of the fear mongering and over dramatic nature of the original.

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: religion, rights, sexuality, television

This is a commercial bumper running on the Al Jazeera English news channel that remixes footage of Israeli defense minister (and winner of the recent Israeli elections) Tzipi Livni speaking about the attack on Gaza with images of the human catastrophe on the ground.

The remix does not exactly fit our definition for PRVs as the source footage is used with permission of the owners; in this case, the news channel. However it’s notable because it successfully implements juxtaposition in an effort to reveal hypocrisy. Additionally, we give a lot of credit to Al Jazeera for running this because we know  that  not one major western news channel (except perhaps the Daily Show) would  run a PRV like this, despite having access to ample material!

We are also excited to hear that Al Jazeera recently announced they have released select broadcast quality footage under Creative Commons license for creators to re-use and remix. The first clips in this new Creative Commons Repository are direct from the war zone in Gaza. It’s especially poignant considering Israel bared journalists from entering the occupied territory during the worst of the bombardment.

Category: tv commercial
Topic Tags: isreal, palestine, tzipi livni, violence, war