If this is Yoko approved (which it would have to be right?), then I think it's fine. If she feels like this is something he'd support, nobody knows better than her.
Mirco
· 11 months ago
The Voiceover ruines the message, because at first you don't know who is talking and in the end you realize the guy's dead and the voiceover is fake.
Would have been better to use the logos and some footage of smiling kids and a Lennon song. "Imagine" always works for this kind of advertising.
Thomas
· 11 months ago
This was bad. Can't belive they actually used this.
David
· 11 months ago
Must admit, I thought it could have been done better, if at all. Pretty dreary and not much impact
Bari
· 11 months ago
I believe in the cause, but I have to agree with the people above me. It would have made a better impact if the kids were singing a Lennon song. But, this is just my humble opinion.
Clancolin
· 11 months ago
Pathetic ad and yet another example of MS Lennon's weird sense of taste and decorum.
Tyler
· 11 months ago
As a Beatle fan, I think this is terrible. As a marketer, I think this is terrible. As a hater of bad impressions, I think this is terrible.
People have used John Lennon's likeness to sell stuff since Beatlemania. However, it seems that there's something different when you're literally putting words into his mouth.
The voiceover/impression are just awful. Great cause. Terrible ad.
Sid Burgess
· 11 months ago
It feels creepy to me.
Jim
· 11 months ago
It's a terrible ad. I don't know about tasteless but it fails on pretty much every level. The voiceover doesn't even sound as good as a bad imitation of Lennon, for Pete's sake!
oz
· 11 months ago
you guys are blogging and commenting about it. mission accomplished
Stefan
· 11 months ago
OZ (10): What we're doing here is building negative attitude against the brand which is equal to no good! Mission far from accomplished.
Michael Russell @planetrussell
· 11 months ago
I have no doubt that Yoko and whoever administers the Lennon estate had the very best of intentions.
That said, the result is more (or less, actually) than just unpersuasive. Creepy and disconcerting are two words that come to mind.
Personally, I like the Liverpudlian voiceover. Would find it charming if it weren't for all the creepiness and disconcerting-ness.
Jack
· 11 months ago
Ugh, shudder. Approved or not, this is in very poor taste. It reminds me of the Lennon scene in Forrest Gump, minus all impact, art & context.
Tom
· 11 months ago
Good message and objective delivered at least poorly, maybe objectionably. Not that I personally object - I kind of like the idea (I liked "Free As A Bird" featuring deceased Lennon, for example). But as others have said, it does not have a positive impact - the realization the VO is faked to evoke Lennon distracts from the message at best, especially with the “Forrest Gumpâ€-like treatment at the end. Even with the buzz here, the buzz is about the Lennon VO, not the content. Still, buzz is buzz, and I would be very curious to learn the net results from OLPC about 3 months from now.
Jackie
· 11 months ago
Agreed. You only get one chance to grab a person's attention with a tactic like this...at least make it engaging and thought-provoking.
I'm not sold. Not very compelling at all.. thumbs down.
Michael Kimsal
· 11 months ago
The voice impression was horrible. No idea who did the voice work, but some Beatle impersonators are better than this. Most people try too hard to put some sort of heavy Scouse accent on when trying to impersonate the Beatles, and inevitably they go way overboard.
Was sort of hoping they'd taken actual John audio conversation and mixed up the various words in to whatever message they wanted to get across.
Ryan
· 11 months ago
Not bad taste but poor execution. My roomate brought one of these computers home and they suck. I dont see the value in it at all. It would not connect to the internet and was so slow It was useless. The design is cool but the os blows.
dmw
· 11 months ago
It's in poor taste and pretty darn bizarre.
kelly
· 11 months ago
perhaps some food and shelter would be more appropriate for many of these children
Ricky
· 11 months ago
I'm not sold on it. Why couldn't they find living inspirational public figure instead?
ajax jones
· 11 months ago
How many gun and munition factories are there in these places.
I think JL would have wanted those stopped first before we offload some crappy linux / windows CE PC on them. Geez, so all these kids can now work in call centers and delete spam from their mail for the rest of their lives.
perhaps the world needs less PC
nicbot
· 11 months ago
Fail 1: Although information access might be important to little girls in Africa, I think food, shelter, medicine, education and security probably ranks a bit higher.
Fail 2: Using a British pop icon who died in 1980 to promote technology in 3rd world nations is just plain ridiculous and irresponsible to boot.
Fail 3: It's a voice over! That's like some crazy Milli Vanilli sh*&
kerrin
· 11 months ago
Yoko could be blamed for everything bad in the world since 1970: including this awful commercial.
Anna
· 11 months ago
Am I the only person who finds this to be one of the most pointless charities in exuistance?
Tyler
· 11 months ago
The charity is actually a good one. It's not really about a laptop; it's about information and education.
Obviously, food and clean water are higher on the list of immediate needs, but education is the key to ending the cycle of poverty.
Still, terrible commercial.
Ajax Jones
· 11 months ago
Can't someone like TED put a definitive ordered list together so that there is a real priority list. Like water wells at the top and PC's to play games and surf porn at the bottom or something :)
Then at least do-gooders would know where best to expend their effort.
Barbara
· 11 months ago
I'm a 1949 baby boomer, and I think this ad is creepy. I've considered buying/ donating the OLPC several times but haven't done it yet and now probably never will.
Jake
· 11 months ago
Who's John Lennon?
paul
· 11 months ago
Hopefully the kids who get these things will find better uses for technology than this train wreck of an ad.
Ned
· 11 months ago
To those who criticize the OLPC cause: I'm an American journalist living in a developing country (which is also a major OLPC recipient) and getting computers into the hands of regular people is very important.
Yes, obviously water and medication are very important. But so are computers and the ability it gives them to find jobs in the future. The average person here who is given a computer does not use it for games and porn - sometimes they use it for information, and other times it's to learn important skills that WILL put the food and medication on the table. I know of programs here that teach kids everything from basic emailing, to computer coding, to stop motion animation.
Let's face it: for a country to really advance in the world today its citizens need to be computer literate, and this charity is doing more than any to build those skills.
KNIGHT RIDER
· 11 months ago
THE FOUNDATION FOR LAW AND GOVERNMENT A FREE-LANCE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY CALLED
THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES WERE HELPLESS THESE WERE THE KIND OF CRIMINALS WHO OPERATE ABOVE THE LAW NOBODY COULD TOUCH THEM. KNIGHT INDSTRIES FIVE THOUSAND KITT A WAY TO FIGHT IN THE WORLD OF CRIMINALS WHO OPERATE ABOVE THE LAW, TO CHAMPION THE CAUSE OF THE INNOCENT, THE HELPLESS, THE POWERLESS. FLAG
All Comments
Would have been better to use the logos and some footage of smiling kids and a Lennon song. "Imagine" always works for this kind of advertising.
Pretty dreary and not much impact
As a marketer, I think this is terrible.
As a hater of bad impressions, I think this is terrible.
People have used John Lennon's likeness to sell stuff since Beatlemania.
However, it seems that there's something different when you're literally putting words into his mouth.
The voiceover/impression are just awful. Great cause. Terrible ad.
which is equal to no good! Mission far from accomplished.
That said, the result is more (or less, actually) than just unpersuasive. Creepy and disconcerting are two words that come to mind.
Personally, I like the Liverpudlian voiceover. Would find it charming if it weren't for all the creepiness and disconcerting-ness.
At least the repurposed Coors Lite NFL ads make me laugh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqJu4rEKsEw&...)...
Beatle impersonators are better than this. Most people try too hard to
put some sort of heavy Scouse accent on when trying to impersonate the Beatles,
and inevitably they go way overboard.
Was sort of hoping they'd taken actual John audio conversation and mixed up the
various words in to whatever message they wanted to get across.
My roomate brought one of these computers home and they suck.
I dont see the value in it at all.
It would not connect to the internet and was so slow It was useless.
The design is cool but the os blows.
many of these children
I think JL would have wanted those stopped first before we
offload some crappy linux / windows CE PC on them.
Geez, so all these kids can now work in call centers and delete spam
from their mail for the rest of their lives.
perhaps the world needs less PC
think food, shelter, medicine, education and security probably ranks a bit higher.
Fail 2: Using a British pop icon who died in 1980 to promote technology in
3rd world nations is just plain ridiculous and irresponsible to boot.
Fail 3: It's a voice over! That's like some crazy Milli Vanilli sh*&
Obviously, food and clean water are higher on the list of immediate needs, but education is the key to ending the cycle of poverty.
Still, terrible commercial.
together so that there is a real priority list. Like water wells at the top
and PC's to play games and surf porn at the bottom or something :)
Then at least do-gooders would know where best to expend their effort.
donating the OLPC several times but haven't done it yet and now probably
never will.
technology than this train wreck of an ad.
Yes, obviously water and medication are very important. But so are computers and the ability it gives them to find jobs in the future. The average person here who is given a computer does not use it for games and porn - sometimes they use it for information, and other times it's to learn important skills that WILL put the food and medication on the table. I know of programs here that teach kids everything from basic emailing, to computer coding, to stop motion animation.
Let's face it: for a country to really advance in the world today its citizens need to be computer literate, and this charity is doing more than any to build those skills.
A FREE-LANCE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY CALLED
THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES WERE HELPLESS
THESE WERE THE KIND OF CRIMINALS WHO OPERATE
ABOVE THE LAW NOBODY COULD TOUCH THEM.
KNIGHT INDSTRIES FIVE THOUSAND KITT
A WAY TO FIGHT IN THE WORLD OF CRIMINALS WHO
OPERATE ABOVE THE LAW, TO CHAMPION THE CAUSE OF
THE INNOCENT, THE HELPLESS, THE POWERLESS. FLAG