Here it is already heading into six weeks after the Deepwater Horizon disaster and they still have gotten no closer to ending this disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, with tens of million gallons of oil having gushed out in an underwater oil volcano. I say volcano, because I think the word "spill" is misleading as it connotes a finite amount, while the damage that is occurring now is something along the lines of Biblical Proportions (as in a disaster of)....

The "green" oil company BP has bungled every chance to correct this matter, and it's been obvious that they are winging it with solutions that are targeted more at recovering the well than on stopping the leak. But now, with evidence turning up that is is not just a well geysering anymore, but major cracks and canyons seeping black death up from deep beneath the earth, their image is as ruined as a brand as the Gulf is as a habitat for life. You must keep in mind that one drop of oil can kill a fish, and there are millions of barrels coming into the environment... this is apocalyptic BP.

Greenpeace in the UK has decided to help raise awareness with a contest encouraging people to express their outrage by rebranding the BP logo and show their true nature. Entries are pouring in, with over 300 to date and the contest runs until the end of June. I grabbed just a handful of the more interesting ones for your viewing, you can see the entire collection here. Grab a copy and try your hand at retooling their logo to show this reckless and careless industry's true nature.

ORIGINAL BP LOGO:

About the logo: Our visual identity reflects the revolutionary quality of our business.
Our logo was launched in 2000, and was designed as a dramatic break with tradition. It is unlike any other energy identity, and symbolises a number of things - from the living, organic form of a sunflower to the greatest source of energy... the sun itself.

The colours of the 'Helios' - named after the Greek god of the sun - suggest heat, light and nature. It is also a pattern of interlocking shapes: like BP, a single entity created by many different parts working as one. This was particularly relevant, as the new brand was launched after a series of mergers and acquisitions. It united all the heritage companies and employees that now make up BP and its global brand.


THE LOGO REBRANDED
*Shown in no particular order. Numbered only for reference.

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We have all changed the world forever. For good?

Creatives, advertisers, marketeers, we are on track for world domination (destruction)...

Soon we will have manipulated the whole world into a lifestyle where all are dependant upon material necessity... dependant upon a never-ending consistent reliance upon the natural resources of the planet... China, India, Africa and Asia are infatuated with having the same material lifestyle of those oh so happy Western American and European people.

Never have we been so needed to assist in tempting so many with the fabricated promises of an apparently more desirable world. We know now the planet is buckling, it cannot take it any more... we are winning, a few more crap campaigns to the gullible and victory is ours.

How wonderful it is to be in the creative industry... we make people buy stuff they don't need to impress people who don't care... we make rubbish a worthy commodity out of a seemingly endless supply of natural beauty (what's that?)... and in turn we have all been able to change and conquer the whole world forever. Let's give ourselves a fat big pat on the back.

We are the catalysts for this world destruction... we invaded and initiated people's mindsets, attacked their naturally insecure gullible nature, we have cheated people into a lifestyle they believe is better... we made people what they are today... that war in Iraq is all about finding enough fuel to sustain your lifestyle, while cost-cutting measures and laissez-faire bleed death into the Gulf of Mexico... we have changed the world.

It's time we turned the tables and started changing the world for the better. Shall we say a new bullshit... if it makes you fell better?

We have used our vast creative potential to create... destruction. That's been our job. But we now have a more important job as communicators, as those who have been responsible for the messages polluting mindsets the world over. We need to challenge our vast creative potential, (that wall of awards you won for products that in 90% of cases are useless,) to communicate sense.

A common sense that reverses the decline... to consult our clients correctly, to advise them that the “brand thing” is only worth as much as its concern for the ethics of your environment, to change the way the public behave... to realize money is an abstract concept... planet earth is not... it is the most valuable currency we'll ever know apart from our own flesh (everybody not included).

YES, we have the power to change the world for the better. Us marketeers, creatives, ad people (THE COMMUNICATORS) can actually serve a purpose for good.

Your Clients, the Government, are crying out for campaigns that push consumer's save the environment button. They're just too busy, stuck in meetings, to do anything positive... it's your job to take the initiative... to lead.

I've only got half a page so I'm not going to give you all the answers if I had them (I would have a whole page, but the other half goes to waste and a picture of my ugly mug) but think about what you're doing... the implications of it... don't give up, it's not the end of advertising and marketing.

If you're willing to be part of the solution, you've never been more necessary.

So here's the challenge, create advertisements to help raise people's awareness or to help change harmful behaviours which you have noticed and think needs more attention. Email them to use at think@think.cz and we will post them on this site as they come in. There's no financial rewards, just the chance to put your creative mind to work and help make the change the world needs.

Climate change is nothing new.... as long as there's been a climate, there has been changes in it.

In fact, the gas life depends on, O2, is itself a pollutant, the discarded part of Carbon dioxide from the respiration of the earliest autotrophs. But that was then and this is now...

A lot of credit goes to Al Gore for his An Inconvenient Truth, but did you know that if you rewind to the Age of VCRs, there was a two cassette documentary called After the Warming which added a creative touch to the same exact message Al Gore repeated years later. This documentary reveals itself as a documentary from the future, long after mankind dealt with the destruction caused by poor stewardship of the planet Earth.

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If you go all the way back to 1958, Frank Capra made a well known educational documentary entitled Unchained Goddess for Bell Labs sponsored TV program "The Bell Telephone Hour".

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This excerpt above is from their television program "The Bell Telephone Hour." It was so well made, that it went on to educate generation after generations of bored students in middle school science classrooms across the nation for decades. For decades scientists AND the citizenry have known!

Fifty years before Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," this staple of science class warned about global warming. This just shows that our scientists have known about this danger since WWII, and we have idiots arguing about stolen emails "proving" it's a ll a hoax. And if you watched the opening of today's Climate Summit in Copenhagen (Hopenhagen), you must be shaking your head in disgust at China's and America's (Chimerica) politicians chosing to ignore the dangerous implications until it really will be too late to avoid the preventable consequences.

Perhaps we deserve our fate. 

Sanskrit mantras to open both Oregon State Senate & House of Representatives

Oregon State Senate and House of Representatives in Salem (USA) will reverberate with Sanskrit mantras on January 28 and 29 respectively.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, will read the opening prayers from ancient Sanskrit scriptures before Senators and Representatives on these days. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of all Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, dated from around 1,500 BCE, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end the prayer with "OM", the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents. Moksha (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism. Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say "Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya", which roughly translates as "Lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, and from death to Immortality."

The Oregon State Senate consists of 30 members, each representing about 114,000 citizens; while Oregon State House of Representatives is formed of 60 members, each representing about 57,000 citizens. Known as The Beaver State, Oregon is the home of Nike and more ghost towns than any other State in USA.