Is G.E.'s elephant a GOP RATS-stealth statement?

[UTUSN]

Every time the elephant dances to Singing in the Rain, my sense-of-cute is suspended by the GOP-elephant connection (in my mind). Besides that one of our giant corporate boogymen is clearly doing an end-run around environmentalism, is it sticking it to us by blatantly celebrating the GOP-elephant?

I like elephants as elephants, and wince over "chimp" being associated with Shrub. But why an elephant, specifically? In a way, the anti-environment GOP is ALSO being subliminally associated with pro-environmentalism in the commercial.


*******QUOTE*******

GE site: http://www.ge.com/en/company/companyinfo/advertising/eco_ads.htm

http://blogs.salon.com/0003364/2005/05/19.html#a438

Historical ecomagination. I'll reserve judgement, for the time being, on whether the green-technology initiatives recently announced by GE under the (moronically Disneyfied) slogan of "ecomagination" represents an encouraging corporate commitment to environmental progressivism, or is just an unrepetant old (and continuing) polluter's attempt to buy itself a little greenwashing. But I don't need to reserve judgement about the ad campaign that accompanies it, specifically the TV ad that promotes GE's coal-gasification project. ....

I've worked in an ad agency, and I should know better than to be outraged by the depth of privileged ignorance any of them harbors. But I can't help myself: this is disgusting. Smug impertinence doesn't even begin to cover it. Dave Lubars, creative director at BBDO/New York, and his team of yuppie shits who produced this ad—not to mention the GE suits who approved it along the way—ought to be ashamed of themselves. But I doubt they'd have even a clue what I was on about.

Raves over the commercial: http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/ge-ecomagination-launches-001130.php

source? http://www.ge.com/stories/en/20352.html?category=Comm

http://www.geotimes.org/aug05/trends.html#

As the summer started, NBC TV viewers saw an elephant tap-dancing in a verdant forest to the tune of “Singin’ in the Rain,” just as Gene Kelly did in the 1952 movie. As the elephant dances away, a narrator intones catch-phrases about cleaner water and efficient jet engines, “technology that’s right in step with nature.” The incongruous and amusing image was a preview to the “Ecomagination” ad campaign, kicked off by the CEO of General Electric (GE), Jeffrey Immelt, on May 9, who said, “increasingly for business, ‘green’ is green.” ....

GE’s Ecomagination campaign positions the company as a leader in clean technology, using TV ads that include coal miner models (top) and a dancing elephant (bottom). Courtesy of GE. ...

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[acmavm]

1. Thirty seconds of bullshit should convince the ignorant American

public that GE has out best interests at heart.

Americans are stupid that way.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Elephants can't jump

I think that ad is very cute...
and don't associate it with the Pukes at all.
I think Elllies would be horrified to know that they
symbolize such a hateful group of corrupt people
(meaning the republicans... GE is just awful in other respects)

Oh.. and one thing wrong with the ad...
elephants can't jump.. It's still really cute though.

[XanaDUer]

3. Poor 'Phants

Hunted, their land stolen, and used as a symbol by the most evil group of people since the Nazis...
But I still love 'em.

[pretzel4gore]

7. wonderful creatures...

there was a documentary a few years ago about this group who started a refuge for circus elephants and how the elephants who were rescued friom barns etc reacted...it was heart rending and should be shown every day instead of cbs news! the most awful scene was when 2 elephants who had travelled to america together 40 years ago as babies were reunited at the refuge; until staff could see how it went, a barred gate was kept closed to separate them until they saw it was safe. So the new elephant was unloaded from the truck and she noticed immediately the other elephant across the gate-she remembered her and the 2 actually bent the bars as they touched eachh other! it was amazing that after so long they knew each other as if never separated....they spent weeks after in each others company, trunks wrapped around each other. Anyone who isn't an animal rights activist should be forced to watch that doc!
republicans also...

[BrklynLiberal]

8. I saw that documentary...and I remember that reunion scene. I cried

like a baby. It was incredible.
Man's inhumanity to man is outdone only by his inhumanity to the animals on this planet.

[pretzel4gore]

10. here are some links from the refuge

http://www.elephants.com/news/globalnews.php?newsSubCategory_id=3

one wonders how the animal rights 'movement' can have such powerful weapons as this elephant stuff yet still remain on the margins: the rightwing reactionary must, through their $ hundred billion budget infiltrate and paralyse the movement somehow....so much depends upon making the people oblivious to the horrors we commit routinely

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Thanks for that link

:hi:

[C_U_L8R]

9. Phant Orchestra

Somewhere on the net is an Elephant Orchestra in Thailand...
it's actually an elephant refuge... where they happen to learn
to "play" instruments. They are quite good :-)

MP3s are here...
http://www.mulatta.org/Thaielephantorch.html

[pretzel4gore]

11. an elephant playing a fiddle....i love to see that!

or doing a ten minute drum solo...lol. Elephants do 'sing' to each other so they know what music is....thanks for the link :wow: :nopity:

[asjr]

4. Of course it is propaganda. The first time I saw

the singing in the rain elephant I thought GOP-elephant. And I know of no elephants in a rain forest, but I pretend the elephant is Gene Kelly. Another "cleaner, greener" ad from GE is the one where two old coal-fired engines are meeting in the old west with billowing black smoke coming through the air and meeting. Then we see a "clean" engine (GE of course) shown. But I have to admit those ads are pure theater as well. I laughed a lot at the engine commercial and love the singing in the rain. But I know it is propaganda. We are a nation of propaganda, from the Bush administration on down to a local advertiser shilling his wares.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Very similar to those ads with sexy women as coal miners...

like THAT would EVER happen, and it sure makes the use of coal as fuel more ecologically feasible and better for the world....
:sarcasm:

Did some research.
Here is an article about that ad..and it turns out it is for ....you guessed it.
GENERAL ELECTRIC!!

Coal Miners Hotter
Sex sells. But can GE use sex to sell coal?
By Seth Stevenson
Posted Tuesday, May 31, 2005, at 6:15 AM ET

The Spot: We're in a coal mine, dank and dark. But wait—what's with these coal miners? They're sexy! Toned bods and tank tops. Dudes with cinder-block pecs. Ladies with come-hither stares. One of these chicks is wielding what looks to be a pneumatic jackhammer. As the models preen with their pickaxes and helmet lamps, an old mining folk song plays: "You load 16 tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt." (Click here and scroll down to watch the ad.)

This spot is part of the new "ecomagination" campaign from General Electric. For the last several weeks, through various channels (including a press conference, an op-ed in the Washington Post, and this suite of television commercials), GE has been getting all enviro on us. The company pledges to ramp up its research into eco-friendly technology, and to curb its own emission of greenhouse gases.

It's hard to complain when a mondo globo-corp takes any steps to lessen its environmental impact, and GE did enlist the World Resources Institute in cooking up this whole shebang. This particular TV spot (titled "Model Miners") touts GE's cleaner-coal technology and suggests we use our ample coal reserves to solve the nation's energy problems. As the announcer intones: "Harnessing the power of coal is looking more beautiful every day."

You may ask: Is burning more coal a good idea? Perhaps. I'm not really qualified to assess this. I read up on "clean coal" for a couple of hours, but all I know for certain is that (surprise) there are arguments on both sides. Here's what I can say with great confidence: This ad blows.

Even if coal processing gets cleaner, that coal will still need to be mined. And unless I'm mistaken, there will be actual coal miners doing that. Now: Guess who still gets black lung? Guess who still gets killed when mines collapse? It isn't sexy supermodels.

You won't be shocked to learn that the models appearing in this ad never actually entered any mines. That would be dirty, unpleasant, and dangerous. Instead, according to the ad agency, a replica coal mine was built on a soundstage. That way the models could strut in comfort.

The ad guy in charge (Executive Creative Director Don Schneider, of BBDO) thinks I'm being way too literal. The models, he says, are a "metaphor." The idea obviously being that with GE's new process, coal starts to look—as an energy alternative—much more attractive.

But it strikes me as disingenuous to call for a massive resurgence in coal mining and then portray the job as a stylish sex party. Richard Avedon managed to find beauty in the faces of actual miners, not supermodel stand-ins.

Several of my readers were even more galled by the ad's use of "Sixteen Tons"—a folk song about the miserable futility of mining and the evils of controlling corporations. Merle Travis wrote the song in 1946, drawing on the experiences of his father, a coal miner from Kentucky. More sample lyrics: "St. Peter don't you call me 'cuz I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store."

more......
http://www.slate.com/id/2119668/nav/ais/

[UTUSN]

6. The ad agency appears to be BBDO, but loads REALLY slowly n/t

[union_maid]

13. We should take back the elephant

Republicans should have something more reflective of their current philosophy to represent them. How about the jackal? My husband thinks they should use the cockroach, but I'm not sure they'd go for that.

[C_U_L8R]

14. A cockroach is a good symbol for the GOP

How about a slug or a jellyfish.. (slimes)
maybe a tick or a leech (blood suckers)