N°26 | 1 November 2020

Somewhere on a wall, whether physical or digital, I have read: your lockdowns won't block our dreams. A nice line but, from my point of view, a little wrong. 

The protest perspective is wrong, pushing you to invest in the price of a can of spray paint and the energy needed to study the moment, the place and the right phrase, to then express the message of vibrant social denunciation on a wall. Wrong, because in a country of responsible citizens there should be no "yours" and "ours".
The sense of responsibility should put every actions "for everyone".
The Res Publica of our Latin friends.

In fact, limiting social interactions should be a spontaneous gesture, even before a law imposes it. It's a heavy sacrifice, it's true, which is heavy also for economy, culture, psyche and which exacerbates social tensions. But it is a necessary one.

So why mention that phrase on the wall? Because the same is true for beauty: no lockdown nor ugliness can block it. To paraphrase another phrase, a little more famous, on a wall: Who throws seeds of beauty in the wind will make the sky bloom.

May this new Top 5 be a seed and a gust of wind.
 

#5
GET TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR GARBAGE

Milan is a city that has reached 67% of separate waste collection. In the Italian scenario it represents an excellence. Unfortunately.
Because this means that apparently we are still struggling to understand how differentiation is done.

This app, Junker, can help you understand more. Starting from a tool which everything that becomes waste is provided with: a barcode. All you need is a smartphone with a camera. Open the app, scan the barcode, and you're told how to separate and differentiate that object. 

Yes, there are still some bugs. Yes, not all municipalities have joined yet the app and some of them have somewhat different regulations and not all products are perfectly tracked. But it's always better to be part of the solution than part of the problem.
 

#4
THE MOST SHAMELESS PRODUCT PLACEMENTS EVER

The product placement. They say that to do it right the brand must be so integrated into the content to become the content itself. That is, it shouldn't be inside the story, but it should be THE story. 
Have you ever wondered why the Devil wore Prada and not, for example, Gucci? If the thesis is valid, then this is a well done placement.

Not all placements, however, come out well. 

Some are much less subtle and others, indeed, are truly shameless. This newborn Instagram profile wants to collect them all. Brands that, in times when there was perhaps even less legislation on the matter, placed their product a bit like this Durex ad made a Harley-biker enter an upper class club. 

So enjoy this roundup of moments of small and big cinema, combined with moments of small or big advertising.
 

#3
HE DOES NOT BELIEVE IN CONCIDENCES.
OR DOES HE?

Photographer Pau Buscató spends seven hours a day looking for funny moments that only happen when people are crowded together. When they still could be, at least. 

His process is based on his childhood spent playing with his brother and sister in a small country village. "Ordinary objects and simple ideas kept us busy for hours", he said. "What I do now is not that different, except I do it alone and with a camera in my hands. But I still have the same feeling of playing, joking with the ordinary things I find." 

These photos require practice and discipline to try not to be contaminated by the people and places that Buscató has seen a million times. 
"Excessive familiarity with our surroundings can blind us, so trying to keep fresh eyes and an open mind always helps", he said.

It's a lesson that anyone trapped in a place, job, or situation they find boring can learn from. Doing new things, but also looking at old things with new eyes.
 

#2
FROM VS TO +

This spot made by the two Utah governor candidates is very reminiscent of a glorious Mac VS Pc campaign. Two characters in a clear background, each holding only their own arguments. 

Except in the case of Spencer and Cox there is no VS. If anything, there is a plus.

Because for the first time in political communication, especially in the US where the conversation tends to be very polarized, the two agree to do a commercial... together. At a time when Trump and Biden have offered the media and public opinion perhaps the ugliest level of debating ever, Spenser and Cox instead choose a message so modern to seem revolutionary: win or lose, what can never lose is the common good.

Winners and losers can and must both contribute to the development of public affairs. We can have different points of view, but we can all agree with this. Something that absolutely deserves space in our search for beauty.

It would be nice, if the + signs were always more prominent than the VS.
 

#1
PRIESTS ARE THE NEW ROCK STARS

In this old Rolling Stones campaign it was said that politicians, with their profligate behavior, have stolen the place that belonged to rock stars. But perhaps there is someone who today could even steal the place of a politician: a priest. Well, not just any priest, but the priest par excellence: Pope Francis. 

Just in these past few days, one of his statements has caused much discussion. It is debatable, because from a conceptual point of view a religious cult is based on the acceptance of a dogma. And the nature of a dogma, by its definition, is take it or leave it. His statement, therefore, would be technically contrary to that dogma and should undermine the very foundations of the cult.

But then there is reality. With all its nuances.
Shades that, we hope, will soon include those of the rainbow.
 

Let beauty flourish.

Antonio Di Battista

Creative Director, Head of Storytelling at Imille