Monday, June 29, 2009

ANAD "Contemporary Beauty Ideal"

ANAD is a pro bono organisation. Its aim is to educate the public about the dangers of eating disorders. The problem is: the public knows about anorexia, but does not regard it as a serious, potentially fatal disease. Because the fashion industry still employs abnormally thin models. So no wonder that the beauty ideal of the 21st Century seems to be: the thinner, the better. That’s why some 500,000 young girls are currently starving themselves to death. They reach out to an audience that expects to see depictions of beauty. They show them that beauty ideals have changed. Drastically. So they painted three classic masterpieces for a second time, just slightly altered. And displayed the new paintings in renowned museums. Right between other masterpieces. Right where visitors would expect to find beauty. The surprise encounter with the altered paintings left a lasting impression on most visitors: some of them were truly shocked. Several local and national newspapers even ran articles about the campaign. Subsequently, the traffic on ANAD’s website increased by 16 %. And ANAD received some remarkably high donations. Bronze Cannes Lions Media Winner.

Agency: Ogilvy Frankfurt, Germany.