The Art Institute of Philadelphia will be showing an exhibit through April 3rd that highlights the public service advertisements of the Ad Council. (Photo courtesy of artinstitutes.edu)
The Art Institute of Philadelphia will be showcasing the public service advertisements (PSAs) of the Ad Council from 1942 to the present in an exhibit entitled “Advertising That Changed the Nation.” It will run through April 3rd at the 1622 Chestnut Gallery of the Art Institute of Philadelphia with free admission.
The exhibit highlights the elements of creativity and community that advertising can offer. The Ad Council’s campaigns have created American icons including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey Bear, and Crash Test Dummies.
Christa Pugh has been a managing director of the Ad Council for five years and has spent 15 years working in media relations. She has worked for charity organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but said she found her work with the Ad Council most satisfying.
“At the end of the day, you really get to see how you’re affecting someone,” she said. For more than 65 years, the PSAs of the Ad Council have mobilized volunteer and charity efforts; reduced wildfires, crime, and high school dropout rates; motivated despondent parents; and raised awareness for a barrage of social issues.
“The Ad Council is always keeping a pulse on what can positively be changed” in American society, she said. She cited the Ad Council’s transition from focusing on “drunk driving” (“Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”) in 1990 to “buzzed driving” today.
Pugh said that 70 to 80 percent of the Ad Council’s work is directed at youth and focuses on educating the community in health and safety issues.
Many of the Ad Council’s PSAs are created by advertising agencies who volunteer their efforts. The exhibit is underwritten by one of these agencies, Nieman Group.
“We’re the one agency in Pennsylvania that has been selected to be on the Ad Council’s roster of creative agencies,” said Tim Reeves, CEO of Nieman Group, adding that the group was eager to “help out and make [the exhibit] happen.”
He said it was a “real privilege” that his agency has done all of the anti-tobacco marketing for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the past seven years. Nieman Group’s campaign uses humor to compare quitting smoking to a bad relationship.
“I hate you!” yells Cindy, a character in one Nieman Group’s television commercials. She is addressing her “boyfriend” Vince, a man in a full-sized, smoking cigarette suit as he spills potato chips all over her living room couch and props his feet on her coffee table.
“I hate you!” Vince replies, mocking her in a high-pitched voice. “That isn’t what you were saying this morning – when you had your lips all over me!”
Nieman Group’s Web site notes the campaign’s success allowed the Pennsylvania quit-line to receive 400 calls in its first month, and that most of the callers were female.
Reeves said he worked as a newspaper reporter “all my life,” followed by a stint in government communications. He ultimately found his calling in advertising, and has been with Nieman Group since 2001.
“There’s something special about the advertising business,” he said. “These are people who have a special creative gift and a special passion for communicating in ways that move people.”
The exhibit will run through April 3rd at the 1622 Chestnut Gallery of the Art Institute of Philadelphia with free admission.
