Grant me the stubbornness to change what I can, the laziness to accept what I cannot, and enough beer to sit around and endlessly discuss the difference between the two.
Dick Dunn
Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret.
Laurence J. Peter
A man is measured by the size of things that anger him.
Geof Greenleaf
Wednesday, August 31
Anger
Hammurderer
This is McDonald's discontinued advertising mascot, "The Hammurderer," a mischievous, homicidal imp who kills McDonaldland characters and takes their sandwiches.
He has a long rap sheet of burger-related crimes and a signature cry of 'Stabble Stabble Stabble' and that justifies his place in the proud lineage of McDonaldland mischief-makers.
A few weeks ago, the Hammurderer decapitated Mayor McCheese and ate his head in a children's coloring book. Responding to widespread public outrage, McDonald's executives defended it as "not nearly as violent or socially irresponsible as it has been made out to be, given that the Mayor's head is, in fact, a giant and conceivably edible cheeseburger."
Hammurderer toys and promotional items, which include dolls, T-shirts, ski masks, and spiked bats, have been recalled and are expected to become prized collectibles.
There was an uproar over the latest commercial, in which Birdie The Early Bird is garroted by the Hammurderer and her body tossed in a Dumpster, was vociferous enough to prompt the fast-food giant to pull the plug.
Compare Hammurderer to the 1982 mascot, "Shakes McJunkie," an emaciated addict who robbed characters of their possessions, which he then sold to buy McDonald's shakes. He was later reworked as "The Machead," a homeless, wild-eyed Big Mac addict who turned to panhandling and gay prostitution as a means of supporting his severe burger habit.
I'm sure kids 12-years and below can tell the difference. If in doubt, they would ask their parents. Ain't it so, McDonald's?
Just so you know, this story is made up. Yes. Some people have way too much time.
Tuesday, August 23
Thursday, August 18
On the road again
Staying too long in one place stagnates a person. After you grow accustomed to the ways to the place, the people and the culture, you take it for granted. The freshness dies and you don't feel the need to explore anymore. Your place grows too comfortable to move. And your butt grows roots.
Staying within the comfort zone is a deterrent to success. What will you challenge tomorrow? What rules will you break? Heck, why break the rules anyway when you can keep within safe distances and be well-fed at the same time? Where's the spirit of adventure? Gone.
Keep moving. That's the way to go. It's the only path to new ideas.
Monday, August 8
WTF
Thursday, August 4
A true story
This is a true story of a junior creative in a London agency
when I first started, the creative director was fantastic and incredibly talented, but a very hard and brutal creative director. He brought me on board, and in the first year, I worked seven days a week for twelve months, and I didn’t produce a single ad in that time. I was mortified! And at Christmas, I was called into his office for my end of year appraisal, and I was convinced he was going to fire me. He called me in, shut the door, sat me down, and this is what he told me:
“I just wanted to say to you that we’ve failed you. If we could produce the work that you write, this agency would be ten times better. We cannot sell the quality of work that you write, and thus we have let you down. But I want you to know, keep writing what you write, and eventually one day we will sell that quality of work. And as a consequence I want to double your salary.�
The Agency
The first day I was in the agency, I spent a long time sitting in the reception, looking at the inscriptions on the wall. It was a farewell speech by it's founder, talking about his visions for the firm after he died. He requested his name to be taken off the agency's, should it no longer do creative work of the highest quality. He capped it off with a mild threat to return from his grave to undo his name, if we were to pursue big money, and not big ideas.
That was in the 60s. As of today, there are around 80 employees in this agency. I wonder how many knew of this speech he gave.
Mr X, your agency, I'm afraid, has already changed its name a long time ago. Hiding beneath your rusting initials, the mentality of the agency has corrupted, like apples put out to ruin.
The people here do not know it yet. Reality has not catched up with truth. But it will. One day, the engines of this ancient behemoth will cough, spit and breathe its last before lying in the wake of its lifeless mess.
And when the future folks look back at this fallen giant and examine the reasons, they will exclaim," The ghost was here, and we were too blind to see it."