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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Big Al Whittle Date: 01 Feb 08 - 06:41 PM Do you think she had problems with her name.... Did peole say, Hello Miss.... And she said, Piaf! And they thought....typical of foreigners, you try and be friendly.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 01 Feb 08 - 06:34 PM Tastes differ. But if my taste buds shot to pieces, either temporarily or permanently, my judgment about how a meal tastes are not too significant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Rasener Date: 01 Feb 08 - 11:55 AM >>Obvious that some people do miss out on Edith Piaf. Equally obvious that they are missing out on something pretty good. << One persons opinion, not everybody thinks the same. My children don't like her. Somebody doing a great job in promoting Edith Piaf is that wonderful lady called Flossie Malavialle who has played at Faldingworth Memorial Hall on several occasions. My wife and I like Edith Piaff, but we do not expect other people to like what we like. Thank goodness. Wouldn't it be a boring world. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Victor in Mapperton Date: 01 Feb 08 - 10:45 AM Good point. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Jan 08 - 10:11 PM Obvious that some people do miss out on Edith Piaf. Equally obvious that they are missing out on something pretty good. .................... Victor in Mapperton - PM Date: 25 Jan 08 - 07:47 PM ... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:57 PM Yes. Obviously. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Cobble Date: 31 Jan 08 - 08:36 PM Piaf is one of the enduring greats. Only if you like her music, not everyone does. Cobble. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Nickhere Date: 31 Jan 08 - 08:27 PM One ad I find very annoying at the moment is one for a private health company Vivas. It talks of a revoultion in health care and a Fidel-like figure speaking while other Fidel-lookalikes rush about putting the health revolution into place. It talks of choice for people, freedom to access better health care etc, while only whispering in a much lower voice that all this 'freedom' and 'choice' will cost a small fortune (and so, not really freedom or choice for everyone, only those who can afford it) given that it's private health insurance. Of course it also a health model diametrically opposed to the Cuban public health model. The biggest obstacle for private health companies is a well-functioning public health system. As one increases, so the other decreases. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Victor in Mapperton Date: 31 Jan 08 - 08:15 PM I think you will agree that the majority of credit card debt doesn't belong to the old codgers such as myself. "young people make up a smaller percentage of the population". Correct, but High street fashion outlets, mobile phone shops, companies selling Designer reading glasses, Spoiler kits for cars, computers and Hi Fi aren't aimed at the over 40's market. Young people DO spend more. The only ads,I feel that are aimed at me are the ones to bury me! You never know, maybe they could do a run on spare parts for an ageing Rover SD1 Vitesse, a glamour granny drinking Horlicks, a bloody good winter rub (that works)for my aches and pains and ones that leave my favourite songbirds alone. As to the "personal abuse" the best is reserved for the one who started this thread if you care to read from the top down ! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Jan 08 - 07:29 PM "most companies aim their campaigns at youth culture" But possibly not in this case? Focusing (a rather appropriate word in this thread) attention on the youth market may be the prevalent fashion - but in fact young people make up a smaller percentage of the population than has ever been the case in the past. Differing opinion are fine - personal abuse isn't. We're all agreed on that? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Victor in Mapperton Date: 31 Jan 08 - 03:36 PM M.Ted Thank you and I am really grateful to you for saying this. Yes everyone is allowed an opinion and I was just really annoyed to see the ad go out. We have to understand that most companies aim their campaigns at youth culture (yes the wear glasses too) because they are today's spending power. Since I created this post I asked my grandson what he thought of the ad, reply "Yeah the one with the funny looking old woman crowing in French, yeah, it's so funny". So there you have it, the views of a 23 year old. A lady who's music I have loved and enjoyed for 60 years and who's life was such a hard one, reduced to a figure of fun on the flat screen of his students union. Well the little basket will be staying with me over Easter, he's in for a treat or two ! Yes your all allowed opinons, sorry if me having one was a problem. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: PoppaGator Date: 31 Jan 08 - 01:50 PM As I saw it upon first reading, the only reason this ad might might have been considered insensitive or in poor taste is that Piaf suffered temporary blindness as a child, coupled with the fact that the ad was for eyeglasses. We've discovered that very few people have been aware that she had been blind as a child ~ and that most of us who do know about this bit of personal history only learned recently, from the current film La Vie en Rose, which may or may not be strictly accurate, anyway. Insofar as anyone objects to commericialization of their favorite music and/or artists, what else is new? If the admonition to "get a life" is somehow inappropriate, what else can I say? Get over it! (Or, in the words of Peyton Manning, in yet another TV commercial) Rub a little dirt on it and walk it off! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Rasener Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:55 AM Do you think they should do an advert of David Beckham not being selected for England becuase he wasn't wearing a pair of Fabio Capello Specsavers? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Backwoodsman Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:09 AM Some folks need to grow a skin. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: M.Ted Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:04 AM People are quite right about my advice to "Get a Life!"--it was insensitive and dismissive. I take my comment back, with much regret. Victor, I acknowledge the validity of your choice and salute you for your courage in pursuing it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Rasener Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:03 AM LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Victor in Mapperton Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:01 AM A Villain. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Grab Date: 31 Jan 08 - 08:00 AM Eanjay, for sure people might not like it - tastes vary. However the initial comment "How can a company be allowed to..." explicitly says that Victor thought they should have been stopped from doing it. Hence the variations and rhapsody on the theme "get a life"... Graham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 31 Jan 08 - 07:52 AM "Really" what? That it could get her some new fans? Yes, I think possibly - TV exposure is a great communicator. That the advert won't harm her reputation? That a lot of them are as bad or worse? Not sure what it is you're asking - |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 31 Jan 08 - 07:38 AM Bonnie: Really? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 31 Jan 08 - 07:22 AM Did I see the same advert that everyone else did? Archive clip of Piaf singing her famous I-regret-nothing song, subtitles of a couple of the genuine lyrics in English, followed by a dumb plug about missing a bargain on glasses - presumably the thing to be regretted. It's not a very clever commercial, but sick? Stooping? Insulting? I think that's reading a lot more into it than is actually in there. I HATE that advertisers use classics to sell things but it happens all the time. This one is no different and no worse than a million others. Piaf is one of the enduring greats and her art will easily triumph over this petty coat-tail riding. Think back for a minute to the days when she was a poor street-singer and the only wealth she possessed was her voice. What if some business exec had walked up to her and said, "We'll pay you X francs to sing an endorsement of Product Y." Assuming Product Y was not dangerous or morally offensive in some way, do you think she would have hesitated? My feeling is that she'd get a good laugh out of the Specsavers commercial. Nothing they or anyone else can do will hurt her. And maybe - just MAYBE - there's some young 'un out there who has never ventured beyond pop music and the current crop of downloads who will hear this and think, Hey - who's that? She's GOOD. Where can I hear more? TV exposure (unless it's been deliberately distorted to make the performer sound bad) usually does little harm - and it could gain her a wider fanbase. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Mississippi Saxaphone Date: 30 Jan 08 - 05:04 PM Thank goodness they have outlawed the poleax, iron maiden and burning at the stake or a lot of us would be long gone! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: PoppaGator Date: 30 Jan 08 - 05:00 PM "Will the Government ever stop this politically correct brigade, they are ruining this country." Did I miss something? Did any government do anything to censor or suppress anything? Unless I'm mistaken, a television ad was created and broadcast, and some of us were offended. No one with any power to take the ad off the air, much as they may have wished to. So, broadcasting this commercial offended some people, and the possibility that anyone might prevent its broadcast offends others. I suppose I'm glad that we're powerless to do anything about stuff like this... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Rasener Date: 30 Jan 08 - 04:55 PM Couldn't have said it better Q :-) I just feel its a bit sad when people get upset over adverts. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 30 Jan 08 - 03:28 PM Yes, Villan- We need to get out our rails and tar and chicken feathers and ride these politically corrects out to the boondocks, there to expire in the mire or be eaten by alligators and malarial mosquitos. Is there anything other than poor, inoffensive vegetables and organic eyeglasses that these milquetoasts can tolerate? Doesn't look like we have a potential choice for possible relief in the next election either. Anyone who expresses views should be ready for personal attacks- its the human way to deal with opponents! Since they have outlawed the poleax, iron maiden and burning at the stake as too severe, words are about all that we have left as weapons. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Jan 08 - 03:09 PM I'd wholly agree there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Jean(eanjay) Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:59 PM If you are stupid enough to get sucked in by it, then I think you need some help. What is acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another - doesn't mean anybody is stupid or needs to get a life! We should be able to express our views without getting personal. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Rasener Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:41 PM Well I can honestly say that it doesn't offend me in the slightest. Its an advert and thats it. If you are stupid enough to get sucked in by it, then I think you need some help. I think it is a mark of respect to use her for their adverts, and I doubt very much if they ever thought of taking the piss. The legal people must have done their job and got approvals. Will the Government ever stop this politically correct brigade, they are ruining this country. Aaagh I am going to get upset the next time somebody refers to me as a Villain when I am a Villan. NOT. Get a life Victor. Go and help those unfortunate people in Kenya. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 30 Jan 08 - 10:56 AM Q: In answer to your question of "who would listen" to French popular music, why not extend the question to include "who would listen to American jazz, cajun music, Latin-American music etc,etc". I would imagine, that most listeners listen to what is presented to them, and the BBC choose not to present French popular music. Imagine living in France for the past 100 years, and radio stations never playing any British or American popular music. If that were the case, would you agree that French listeners would have be deprived of some great music? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Greycap Date: 30 Jan 08 - 10:41 AM I have contacted Specsavers by e-mail and told them how offensive I found their advertisement and that I will not be using their services again. I have just received a reply informing me that they had approached the executors of Ms. Piaf's estate prior to releasing the commercial, and that the executor's gave them the ok. Go figure...I still won't be going there for my specs again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Monique Date: 30 Jan 08 - 04:06 AM French people do know about US/UK singers but not about all of them. Usually, we also know about some from Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany... but in a lesser amount. No young people know about Sacha Distel now, Nicole and Papa are fictional characters created for UK advertising and totally unknown in France, Plastic Bertrand is Belgian -as was Jacques Brel. Our best known pop singer is Johnny Hallyday (doesn't sound French but it's an alias). Francis Cabrel is a man -from Toulouse with a nice Southern accent- and has been singing for 30 years. If you want to know more maybe you can check the "French pop singers" and "French singer-songwriters" pages on Wikipedia then search Google for their web site or any YouTube video. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 30 Jan 08 - 03:20 AM PoppaGator: I live in the north of England, and Paris is closer to London than I am! London, itself, is only 70 miles or so from France! The BBC are very keen to embrace European classical music, but, all but, ignores European popular music. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 29 Jan 08 - 07:30 PM There might be single instances of award-winning campaigns that failed on a practical level There do seem to have been quite a lot of memorable ads which get acclaim and I imagine awards - but I am sure that very few viewers will connect them with the product. For example the one with the gorilla Phil Collins drummer. Who actually remembers it was advertising Cadbury's chocolate (I had to check just noo in order to write that....) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Big Al Whittle Date: 29 Jan 08 - 07:18 PM Think of the French acts that have made it big in England....Sacha Distel, Nicole and Papa, Plastic Bertrand....and that's about it. Francis Cabrel could be as talented as Des O'Connor, and we would still be none the wiser. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 29 Jan 08 - 05:34 PM French popular music unknown in western Canada, but pretty well known in Quebec. About 5 TV channels in French plus the French CBC on radio, but only listened to by the small French enclaves. I seek out a couple of programs, but I don't know anyone else who does. Why should the BBC give it time? Who would listen? More apt would be music from the Asian continent, or the Caribbean. Face it, English-speaking peoples, like the Japanese, know little of popular cultures outside of their own. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: PoppaGator Date: 29 Jan 08 - 04:38 PM Francis who? In the states, we haven't the slightest notion who he might be. (Or is it she, in whcih case you probably should have spelled her name "Frances.") Little as you folks in the UK may be aware of French popular culture, we're even more ignorant here in the US! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 29 Jan 08 - 04:12 PM PoppaGator: You'd be amazed how little people in the UK know about French popular culture; for example, ask your average British man-in-the-street to name all the French popular singers they know, and you would get a very short list! Who's to blame ? The BBC, for one! French airwaves are filled with US/UK pop/rock but artists, who are giants in France, never get any air-time in the UK. Infact, you're a lot more likely to hear Tibetan folk music on British radio than, for example, that very classy, French superstar, Francis Cabrel. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Cobble Date: 29 Jan 08 - 04:00 PM I'm still getting my specs from specsavers, I think she would find the ad funny. Get a life there's more important things to worry about. Cobble. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: PoppaGator Date: 29 Jan 08 - 02:47 PM per McGrath, re advertising types: "They are probably more motivated a lot of the time by the hope of impressing their peers, and winning awards. " During my long careeer in the now-defunct typography business, I had many dealings with ad agency employees (mostly art directors). The question of whether award-winning ads admired by one's peers in the industry were actually effecive marketing tools was always a topic of discussion. In the end, these arguments/discussions were usually resolved by admitting that no one in the business could remain successful for long if his/her creations did not effectively sell the product. There might be single instances of award-winning campaigns that failed on a practical level, but designers/creators who regularly won recognition for their artistic achievements were also effective marketers. They wouldn't have kept their jobs for so long if they were not. Now, the converse is a different question. We would all agree that some lowbrow advertising ridiculed by the artistic elite could be effective enough as a selling tool, sometimes even highly successful, and of course such work is usually inexpensive to boot. I stand by my opinion that the Paif ad would never fly in the States. Too large a portion of the population is seen as totally ignorant of foreign-language culture at any level. Brits are much more aware of their neighbors across the Channel than are Yanks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Donuel Date: 29 Jan 08 - 09:41 AM Specsavers need a new spokeswoman. They should hire Bea Arthur to yell at the audience, "Just wear the damn things!" btw the spokeswoman for the police department here shot her husband and then herself yesterday. The good news is that there is a spokesperson job opening. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Liz the Squeak Date: 28 Jan 08 - 11:52 AM Not so much an illness as a vitamin deficiency or bacterial fungi infection... Her early life on the streets was probably the cause of her poor eyesight, rather than the other way around. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Victor in Mapperton Date: 28 Jan 08 - 10:37 AM Just got an excellent response from the complaint I sent in on Saturday from Barrie Smillie,Complaints Administrator. It would appear quite a few have contacted him over this. Grab, Go boil your head, thanks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Grab Date: 28 Jan 08 - 09:31 AM Victor, are you just looking for an excuse to feel aggrieved? There's zero connection between the film and her childhood illness - glasses don't affect keratitis. You might as well say that you're offended by an advert for food because you once had a stomach bug. No, your grievance is simply that they've used one of your idols' songs on an advert. So get over it! You don't own it. And at least it's been used in a way which makes it somewhat imaginative - better than trashy woman's mags using "Whatever you want" or "More more more", or Microsoft using "Start me up", or the recent car ad which uses "Dock of the bay" completely out of context. As for me, I'm with Doug - for me, her voice is (to quote Neal Stephenson) "like having a killer bee in each ear". Ah well, other people don't like Chris Isaak and Dire Straits, so hey ho. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 28 Jan 08 - 03:39 AM If you are really annoyed, then complain to the British Broad Casting Standards association, or similar. Regards EWIS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 28 Jan 08 - 03:33 AM I hate the ad! And, I will certainly not be buying any glasses at Specsaver! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Doug Chadwick Date: 28 Jan 08 - 02:41 AM The worst thing about the ad, for me, is that I have to listen repeatedly to Edith Piaf. Can't stand her! DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 27 Jan 08 - 08:23 PM Many years ago (1950s, when I was in university) I remember a little French restaurant in Austin, Texas, which had nothing but Piaf on its record player. Another in Houston. I ate at a similar one in Denver, CO. Maybe we were few, but, along with several friends, Piaf recordings were part of our collections at the time. Probably just at popular at colleges out in the 'sticks' (outside the eastern urban areas) as the Weavers or Tom Lehrer or whomever- I wonder if Hawkins got a fee from Specsavers? I would presume so. Interesting advs, some intelligence shown by that company. The eyeglass outfits here push starlets, sports figures and the international set. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Brendy Date: 27 Jan 08 - 06:40 PM Saw this ad... 'Sacrilege' was the first word that came to mind... .... and the second..., and the third... B. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 27 Jan 08 - 06:16 PM ..."it assumes that the viewer either recognizes the song and knows the meaning of the lyrics, or understands French well enough to translate "Non, je ne regrette rien." Not necessarily. The people who put ads together may sometimes be creeps, but even so they are also competitive and often enough creative. Selling things to the public isn't necessarily the main point. They are probably more motivated a lot of the time by the hope of impressing their peers, and winning awards. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Specsavers ad, insult to Edith Piaf From: Don Firth Date: 27 Jan 08 - 06:00 PM Hmm! I recall some years back, while sitting in a restaurant, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation at the next table over. There sat a man and a woman and their daughter. The daughter was in her early twenties and had recently graduated from college where she had majored in Business. Advertising. And she was home for a brief vacation over Christmas from her new job with a New York ad agency. I wasn't intentionally eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but hear what they were talking about . The young woman was bragging to her parents about some of the ad campaigns she had worked on and written ad copy for. The more she talked, the more appalling she began to sound. Apparently this young woman was perfect for the job because she seemed to have absolutely no ethical sense whatsoever. It sounded as if she would say damned near anything to come up with a catchy phrase or gimmick to sell a product. Several times, when she quoted a sample of her work, her father would say something like, "But, honey, that isn't true!" Or "Is that ethical?" She just ignored it and proudly went on to her next brag. At one point, I saw the mother and father exchange a horror-stricken glance that said eloquently, "What have we spawned!? We should have drowned her at birth!" Don Firth |
