Moms Demand Action has launched a new ad campaign to drive support for new and stronger gun laws in America in the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The video, "How many more rounds?," is an emotive depiction of the damage caused by gun violence. An AR-15 assault weapon is fired in slow motion with each discharged shell casing representing a major shooting in America. The video ends with the message, "How many more rounds are we going to let this go on for?" along with a phone number to the Congress switchboard.
Story via: SUSAN KRASHINSKY | The Globe and Mail — Shell casings from a black AR-15 rifle spin in slow-motion flight. Each one is labelled with the name of a school or a city where a mass shooting has taken place: Columbine; Carson City; Virginia Tech; Aurora and Minneapolis and Brookfield and Newtown.
This new television ad wades into the debate over gun legislation in the United States at a crucial time, as the Senate prepares to vote Thursday on President Barack Obama’s proposals to stem gun violence. But the agency behind it is located in Canada.

Grey Canada has been working with a newly formed group seeking to brand itself as the Mothers Against Drunk Driving of the gun debate: Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The partnership came about after chief creative officer Patrick Scissons, on vacation south of the border over Christmas, saw a news segment with Shannon Watts, the founder of the group that at the time was called One Million Moms for Gun Control.
Mr. Scissons was moved to reach out to Ms. Watts and ask whether she needed help with the cause. From that conversation, Grey landed on the pitch list for agencies and then secured the account to do pro bono advertising work – something nearly every agency does for a select portfolio of causes.
The group’s first television campaign will launch on networks such as CNN and MSNBC and in smaller markets as the group’s members lobby for time on local stations.
Ms. Watts says she was inspired by the MADD brand.
“It really changed the culture and the perceptions around driving while intoxicated,” she said. “There’s an important role moms play in touching the emotions of America.”
As the group gained traction, Grey did a number of smaller promotions, including one involving a typically Canadian perspective. Noting that the popular candy Kinder Surprise Eggs are banned in the U.S. – because of the alleged choking hazard – the Canadian advertising team worked up an Easter campaign sending eggs to Anderson Cooper and other news personalities. The point was that there are more limits on Kinder eggs in the U.S. than there are on the purchase of assault rifles.
The group’s influence has been growing, which Ms. Watts attributes to the power of social media. Since it was launched in December, it now has roughly 90,000 members in 90 chapters across the U.S. On March 28, some members were invited to the White House to stand on stage while the President spoke about gun legislation.
The new ad is darker than the Easter campaign – the images of shell casings are accompanied by audio of 9-1-1 calls, news reports and solemn presidential addresses about shooting incidents, and the voices of parents whose children have been killed.
The organization’s goals include background checks for gun purchases, a ban on assault weapons, and the tracking and regulation of ammunition sales in large quantities. It is funded by the members and by online donations.
The gun debate is not only a focus for the Canadian office of Grey Group, which is a multinational firm; in a meeting last fall, Mr. Scissons and Tor Myhren, chief creative officer and president of Grey New York, discussed it as an issue deserving consideration.
For agencies, these types of free public service announcements are a creative opportunity as well.
“You talk about agencies really wanting to do breakthrough work, work that strikes a chord emotionally and really motivates public opinion, the public service space is obviously the greatest area for that,” Mr. Scissons said. “Any profile it brings the agency based on the success of that work is great. But on a personal standpoint, feeling a connection and being passionate about the cause, it’s infectious within a shop.”

We all know where our favorite bottle of the bubbly comes from right? Champagne, France of course, and for those of you who didn't know that, the Champagne Bureau in the USA hopes to reclaim it's name and remind consumers of it's true and only origins with a new ad campaign. The first print ad “Maine lobster from Kansas” is a gentle reminder and to the point, created by ad agency Creature.

Full press release below, visit www.champagne.us for more.

Champagne Only Comes From Champagne, Reaffirms New Ad Campaign

Campaign Highlights Importance of Knowing Products’ True Geographic Origins
WASHINGTON – The Champagne Bureau, USA, representing the growers and houses of Champagne, today launched a new national advertising campaign as part of a large-scale effort to reclaim its name in the U.S. marketplace. Champagne, the sparkling wine of legends, can only come from the unique region of Champagne, France, where centuries of experience with specific soils and climate have enabled the people to develop a tradition and expertise that makes all the difference. The ad campaign is designed to remind consumers of the unique role location plays in creating their wines and to tap into growing American consumer interest in geographic origin. Posing questions like “Maine Lobster from Kansas?” the ad reminds consumers of the importance of authenticity and of knowing products’ true origins.

The ad, which will appear in print, outdoor and digital formats and can be seen at www.champagne.us,
highlights the gap between American consumers’ growing desire to know the true origins of their purchases
and persistent legal loopholes that create confusion about where certain products actually originate. The
campaign reminds consumers that Champagne only comes from Champagne, France, just as Napa Valley wines come from Napa Valley and Maine Lobster from Maine.

“More than ever before, U.S. consumers are seeking information about how and where their wine and other
goods are produced,” said Sam Heitner, director of the Champagne Bureau, USA. “This campaign uses humor and well understood U.S. location based products to encourage consumers to take a moment and consider the authenticity of what they are buying. U.S. consumers are savvy and this reminds them to say ’of course not‘ when faced with products that lack authenticity and to seek out products that come from unique places like Champagne from Champagne, France, Maine lobsters from Maine and Napa Valley wines from Napa Valley, California.”

The ad highlights a legal loophole in federal law that allows a few U.S. sparkling wine producers to mislead
consumers by labeling their products “Champagne” even though they do not originate from Champagne,
France. In December 2006, Congress passed legislation banning the future misuse of 16 wine place names, including Champagne. While that seemed a step in the right direction, the legislation did not address the
grandfathering of labels currently misusing Champagne’s name and those of 15 other wine regions.

Unfortunately, almost half of the bottles in stores and restaurants still misuse the Champagne name, which
makes the grandfathering particularly problematic for consumers who want authentic Champagne.
The United States is one of the last industrialized countries in the world to fail to adequately protect the
Champagne name. In fact, the majority of the world’s countries, including the European Union, China, and a
growing number of other wine-producing countries from Australia to Chile reserve the Champagne name for
sparkling wines from Champagne, France. A bottle with the term “California Champagne” or “American
Champagne” cannot be sold in Mexico and, come Jan 1, 2014, will not be able to be sold in Canada. In this
area, the United States is out of step with the majority of truth-in-labeling laws.

The campaign uses light-hearted examples such as “Maine lobster from Kansas,” but the practice of
misappropriating the names of other places is a trend that faces many regions, and it has the potential of
misleading the consumer. “Truth-in-labeling is a very important issue for U.S. consumers and for the Maine Lobster community,” said Marianne LaCroix, acting executive director at the Maine Lobster Council. “We continue to see restaurants and retailers advertising Maine lobster, yet serving lobsters that are from other places. We are proud to stand with Champagne to remind U.S. consumers to know where their products come from and not stand for those who mislead.”

“Napa Valley wines come from Napa Valley and Champagne comes from Champagne, France. These are
important facts that consumers need to be able to believe in when they see these names on wine labels,” said
Linda Reiff, executive director of the Napa Valley Vintners. “Unfortunately we all have to fight to protect our
names as some seek to profit off them by deceiving consumers. We are honored to be a part of Champagne's advertising campaign and hope it encourages consumers to demand more truthful and accurate wine labeling.”

The ads will appear in a wide range of print and digital formats including placements in The New Yorker, Food & Wine, and Travel + Leisure as well as on billboards in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC and online on a wide variety of sites including New York Times.com, Vanity Fair, GQ and the Wall Street Journal.

The US Nation's Health

The US president Barack Obama has acted on Wednesday, on September, 9th, with the reference to the Congress in which has stated the basic points of the program of reforming of system of public health services, informs Associated Press.

According to Obama, at the heart of the plan of reforms three purposes lay. The first of them is improvement of conditions of medical insurance for those citizens who have already got the policy. In particular, it is a question of restriction of insurance payments and an interdiction for insurers to limit limits of cost of programs of treatment.

The second purpose of the program is creation of a stock exchange for insurers which will allow to get the insurance for reasonable money to those Americans at whom the insurance while is not present. Thus Obama has noticed, that for legal and physical persons who have no sufficient means, credits and reduced prices will be provided.

The third point of the plan provides introduction of obligatory medical insurance which will allow to cut down not planned budgetary expenses on payment of treatment of not insured persons. The given innovation will concern only those citizens and establishments who are able pay corresponding payments.

According to Obama, the total cost of the program calculated for ten years, will make 900 billion dollars. The president has assured legislators, that these expenses will not lead to the further growth of budgetary deficiency, and has underlined, that reform will manage to the country more cheaply wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or reductions of the taxes undertaken by administration of George Bush.

According to the plan of administration, means for reform will be received for the account of reduction of other articles of budgetary expenses, and also more rational distribution of incomes in the sector of medical insurance. In the long term, has noted Obama if it will be possible to limit rates of growth of expenses on insurance, the budget will win at least four billion dollars.

Besides, Obama has assured, that expenses on reform do not threaten interests of elderly Americans, having explained, that efficiency of program Medicare serving them will be on the contrary increased. Thus the president has answered statements of critics that reform will be defective for elderly citizens.

Reforming of system of public health services is one of key points of program Obama. Earlier it was informed, what exactly this project became the reason of decrease in popularity of the president. The organisations of conservative sense in different states organise protest actions on which blame the Washington authorities for criminal wastefulness.

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The exhibition which opened on July 2 at the Musee d’histoire de Nantes, was organized in partnership with the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, and offers a chance to discover the exceptional objects from the Refugee Treasures exhibition presented in 2009 in Athens, and a selection of items conserved in France that will be presented for the first time.

The treaty imposed the exchange of civil populations and defined the terms of forced migration on both sides of the Aegean Sea. 1.3 million Greeks and 400,000 Muslims were forced to leave their homes, leaving their belongings behind.

Today, some icons in France act as a testament of a migration extending far beyond Greece’s borders.

Exhibition curator: Kiriaki Tsesmeloglou, member of the Icon Network association, restorer and conservator of painted works.

The exhibition will run through November 13, 2016.

Source: Musee d’histoire de Nantes [July 08, 2016]