LinkedIn 🔥
Most thought leadership undergoes some level tweaking from the trade’s editor, a practice that, in my case, results in a softening of language. So I often turn to LinkedIn to get fiery, to call out biased language, and to elicit more urgent calls for change. I’m including LinkedIn posts in my portfolio so that the body of work you’re reviewing accurately reflects me, and my true capacity for thinking / provoking. Seems silly that portfolios would only show work that’s been approved by somebody else.
New York Magazine
New York Magazine’s cover headline was a big step in the wrong direction. With design help from my long-time collaborator, Jessica Wyatt, I crafted a response to mock the dated and harmful notion that clothing has any place in a conversation about sexual assault. I reached out to New York’s editor to issue a correction, as did many of my followers. But no correction was made. (I mean, come on, we had the asset and everything!)
Variety
I was outraged to see that after Tina Turner’s death, a writer at Variety described Ike and Tina’s partnership as “tempestuous.” Not only did a writer choose this word to describe an abusive relationship, but an editor approved it. This is why all of us in communications need to expand our circles of trusted advisors, so we can check our blinds spots and not undermine progress and reinforce systems of harm.
Canadian Club
In early 2023, a contact of mine on LinkedIn posted this 2007 Canadian Club campaign because he admired it. I had a different take.
Canadian Club’s ad copy:
YOUR MOM WASN’T YOUR DAD’S FIRST. He went out. He got two numbers in the same night. He drank cocktails. But they were whisky cocktails. Made with Canadian Club. Served in a rocks glass. They tasted good. They were effortless. DAMN RIGHT YOUR DAD DRANK IT. Canadian Club
MJ Deery re-write:
YOUR DAD WASN’T YOUR MOM’S FIRST. She rode a beach cruiser to the bars in heels, ran the pool table for hours, rolled joints on her bended knee by the light of the Miller sign. She drank whiskey, on the dance floor, never spilled a drop. DAMN RIGHT SHE OWNED IT. Canadian Club
Ogivly Advertising Agency
Ogilvy announced on LinkedIn they would no longer work with influencers who digitally modified their appearance, without taking ownership of the fact that they, ad-world giant, helped establish to this unrealistic standard of beauty in the first place. Naturally, I had a POV. This post saw a high rate of engagement, so much so the editor in chief at Campaign US DM’ed me asking for a full article on the topic which ran the following week.
