Jewish Agency ad camapign gets MASA-smutty
The Jewish Agency for Israel seems to have finally picked up on what Israel’s tourism ministry discovered a few years back -- sex sells.
Israel previously tried to spur tourism to the Holy Land with a series of racy ads featuring hot Israeli women on the beach, and by pushing forward such classic photo spreads in MAXIM Magazine as the Women of the IDF.
Now the organization that has long been tasked with promoting immigration to Israel is trying to sell its MASA program to recent American graduates through a series of steamy viral videos.
That JAFI, the classically old school quasi governmental Israeli-based organization, commissioned Heeb Magazine to produce the videos probably speaks to a recognition on behalf of JAFI that it has to shake its crusty image. (One can only wonder at how much Heeb charged for the parntership.)
The entire campaign, “Israel: a Better Stimulus Package,” is aimed at convincing recent American college graduates that they can get some career development in Israel while waiting out the bad economy.
We will see whether the ads resonate with the 20-something set.
But the bigger question may be how will donors react. The series of three ads featuring the same girl trying to figure out how she should make money right out of college during the midst of a recession really are kind of risqué.
In the video above, MASA’s heroine has decided that she wants to be a surrogate mother. When a couple comes to check out the merchandise, she ends of disrobing. The footage includes a shot of her panties dropping to the floor.
In this one below she is trying out her standup routine at an old age home. She talks about her college education: “Good thing I had the insight to have a minor in getting high and watching reruns of scrubs. This one likes marijuana. I bet you have a half an O in your bag.”
When she asks the old folks about the recession, one replies: “Your recession is for pussies.”
In this last one, she takes a job for her father and the implication is that he is unwittingly sexually harassing her.
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Thanks Dave—no one is pissing on the ads. Just pointing them out in an attempt to spur a discussion with a readership that may in some corners overlap with Jewlicious readers, but in many cases is very different.
In the office here we all thought they were quite well done and clever. And according to the Jewish Agency they have been quite successful. Despite only 8,000 views Agency officials say that some 3,000 people have filled out the application form for MASA that accompanies the video—more than 10 times the number who signed up for MASA from the same demographic at this time last year.
We’re checking that out now and will have more soon.
Thanks for pissing on this post, though.
Those numbers are more likely a reflection of the applicants’ other options than of the draw of these ads. Witty? Maybe. Misogynist? All three. Offensive to religious mores? Certainly the first one. Unfortunately, the brains behind the ads seem to be more interested in their own wittiness than in their target audience or their product. Just another piece of evidence that the biggest problem is the loss of moral compass in the Zionist movement.
The other group of people that isn’t mentioned in the article is the Masa Partners. I work in a large high school and have been an active supporter of MASA since its conception. These ads are completely inappropriate for my school and puts me in a very difficult position. If this is the reason for going to Israel, for MASA, for connecting with Israel… then we are all in big trouble. When I complained, the only answer I got was “oops you got that e-mail by mistake.”. The Jewish Agency would not have any access or success without the local partners. They should pay more attention to individual sensativities.
Aw sorry Jacob. I didn’t mean to be all pissy. Just trying to promote conversation as well. And, lo and behold - Mission Accomplished! Thanks to your comment I now know more than I did before. Thanks for enlightening me and I am glad and relieved that there exist some metrics that demonstrate that the campaign was in fact quite successful.
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Jewlicious
06/06/09 08:41 PM
Wow. That was sooo steamy! I am verily throbbing here. What a timely post too. Those videos were only uploaded to YouTube what, 3 months ago? The real story, and one that would have benefited your readership, is why these otherwise clever, professionally executed videos only garnered less than 8000 views on YouTube. Those numbers are rather low. That would have been an interesting and productive discussion. Pissing on this campaign because it’s “racy” is rather weak. And before anyone jumps down my throat, we helped promote the video series with a post and a banner ad on Jewlicious. The banners appeared on several other sites and that was the extent of our involvement. MASA did this one by the book apparently and still the results were disappointing. Why? That’s the relevant question and not the moral, puritan, holier than thou non-issues you brought up.