15267: Trumpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall…

13264: Political Pundits & Pinheads.

Campaign reported DDB Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Amir Kassaei implored Muslims to wage a “holy war” on terrorism via Twitter. Gee, can’t this warmonger limit his wrath towards conspiring judges at Cannes? But seriously, Kassaei crossed a professional line that wouldn’t be tolerated in legitimate business fields. His comments create an arguably hostile workplace for Muslim DDB staffers; plus, the call to arms could fuel the ignorance of other small-minded employees seeking murderous revenge. Then again, Omnicom sister agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners freely forces its anti-Trump political views on staffers and the public—despite the fact that Jeff Goodby has been a registered Republican. Of course, when bleeding heart activists like Kassaei and Goodby are asked to fight for diversity, you’ll barely hear a tweet.

Amir Kassaei calls for Muslims to wage ‘holy war’ against terrorists

Following the attack in France, DDB Worldwide chief creative officer makes a personal, angry plea on Facebook

By Douglas Quenqua

Amir Kassaei, chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide, took to Facebook this morning, hours after a truck loaded with weapons killed at least 83 people in Nice, France, to call upon Muslims to wage war against radical Islam.

After declaring his own atheism, Kassaei says the time has come for Muslims to rise up against the “animals” who commit murder in the name of their god. If that means war, he says, then it would be the only war worthy of the title “holy.”

As a litany of shootings and terrorist attacks have played out around the globe in recent weeks, a number of agencies and brands have performed small acts of protest or advocacy. Last week, Both Wieden+Kennedy and Hill Holliday turned their Web sites into statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Earlier this week, Coca-Cola ran an ad in USA Today and on digital billboards that said, “We live as many. We stand as one.” And following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, several agencies quietly began working on anti-gun campaigns that have yet to debut.

But Kassaei, who has a reputation for being outspoken, is among the few individuals from the industry to make his voice heard. Though he posted the statement to his personal Facebook page, rather than the one he maintains for business, Kassaei, who was born in Iran and raised in Germany, quickly shared it with his 18,000 Twitter followers.

DDB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

12419: Je Suis Ambivalent.

Scene in France

Scene in U.S.

12376: Examining Charlie Hebdo.

The New York Times reported on the Charlie Hebdo terrorist incident. A provocative quote from the story reads:

“The French like their satire,” said Jean-Marie Charon, a sociologist who studies the news media. “The idea is to be irreverent, that irony and criticism are good things. But it is true that this is perhaps not part of everybody’s culture.”

Proud to Offend, Charlie Hebdo Carries Torch of Political Provocation

By Doreen Carvajal and Suzanne Daley

PARIS — In 2012, when Charlie Hebdo editors defied the government’s advice and published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad naked and in sexual poses, the French authorities shut down embassies, cultural centers and schools in about 20 countries.

“Is it really sensible or intelligent to pour oil on the fire?” asked Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister at the time.

But Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, who died in the attack on the paper’s offices Wednesday, was not deterred.

Week after week, the small, struggling paper amused and horrified, taking pride in offending one and all and carrying on a venerable European tradition dating to the days of the French Revolution, when satire was used to pillory Marie Antoinette, and later to challenge politicians, the police, bankers and religions of all kinds.

This week’s issue was no exception. It featured a mock debate about whether Jesus exists and a black-and-white New Year’s greeting card from the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with the caption, “To your health.”

No subject was off limits. The paper offered pages of colorful cartoons depicting France’s top politicians and intellectuals as wine-swilling slackers indulging in sexual acts, or suggesting the pope was stepping aside to be with his girlfriend.

It is a brand of humor the French and other Europeans are attached to, but it has prompted fury among both Muslim extremists and less radical Muslims who see the denigration of their religion as provocation, not food for thought.

“The French like their satire,” said Jean-Marie Charon, a sociologist who studies the news media. “The idea is to be irreverent, that irony and criticism are good things. But it is true that this is perhaps not part of everybody’s culture.”

In recent years, the editors and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo had weathered a firebombing, computer hacking and death threats. Mr. Charbonnier was included on a list published by Al Qaeda’s magazine, Inspire, of those “most wanted” for crimes against Islam. But Charlie Hebdo’s staff continued to take on Islam with the same irreverence as it did other religions, a stand that gave it stature among French journalists.

In 2006, for instance, the paper republished the controversial cartoon caricatures of a weeping Prophet Muhammad that had appeared first in a Danish newspaper.

“Charlie Hebdo has always kept its insolence, and since the caricatures crisis, it has become a symbol of press independence,” said Bruno Patino, director of the journalism school at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, known as Sciences Po. “The debate about caricatures overlapped others in France about freedom of speech and religion. It became the most visible.”

The newspaper was born in controversy in 1970, after a publication called Hara-Kiri was banned for mocking the death of former President Charles de Gaulle. That prompted its journalists to set up a new paper, Charlie Hebdo, named for its reprint of Charlie Brown cartoons from the United States and a French shorthand for weekly publication.

According to some reports in the French news media, the attackers knew the names of their victims. Among the dead were Mr. Charbonnier, editor since 2009, and the veteran artists Jean Cabut, 76, and Georges Wolinski, 80, who had been involved with the publication since its inception.

While the paper first drew the anger of Muslims by reprinting the Danish cartoons from the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, it went further in 2011, when it temporarily renamed its weekly “Charia Hebdo,” a play on Shariah, Islamic law, and appointed the Prophet Muhammad as its “editor in chief.”

In 2012, the French authorities increased the police presence outside the Charlie Hebdo office out of concern about another attack. At the time, one of its journalists, Laurent Léger, said that “in France, we always have the right to write and draw.”

He continued: “And if some people are not happy with this, they can sue us, and we can defend ourselves. That’s democracy. You don’t throw bombs, you discuss, you debate. But you don’t act violently. We have to stand and resist pressure from extremism.”

Mr. Charon said the paper was often sued, including 14 times in recent years by the Roman Catholic Church. The New York Times has chosen not to reprint examples of the magazine’s most controversial work because of its intentionally offensive content.

Mr. Charbonnier, like the other Charlie Hebdo journalists, published under his pen name, Charb. His last published cartoon appeared in Wednesday’s issue, a haunting image of an armed and cross-eyed militant with the words, “Still no attacks in France,” and the retort: “Wait! We have until the end of January to offer our wishes.”

Since 2012, Mr. Charbonnier had a police bodyguard, who also died in the attack. “The threats were constant,” the publication’s lawyer, Richard Malka, said. “It’s frightening.”

But Charlie Hebdo thrived on breaking taboos. In the past, Mr. Charbonnier vowed that his cartoonists would keep poking fun “until Islam is just as banal as Catholicism,” but in the process it struggled not only with death threats, but also with its own financial survival.

Its circulation is about 30,000, and like other frail journals in the French newspaper industry, it has turned to its own form of crowdfunding, publishing a coupon on Wednesday for readers to fill out and mail in with checks.

Its chief rival is Le Canard Enchaîné, founded in 1915, which specializes in scoops and leaked secrets, whereas Charlie Hebdo is known for its cruder and more vicious wit. On Wednesday, an editor at Le Canard Enchaîné declined to speak about the shooting. Journalists there were instructed during an emotional afternoon meeting not to discuss the attack.

“It’s too early and too difficult to talk about this right now,” said a journalist there who knew some of the victims at Charlie Hebdo.

Radio France, Le Monde and France Télévisions issued statements late in the day saying they intended to offer staffing and other support to help Charlie Hebdo “live on.”

Doreen Carvajal reported from Paris, and Suzanne Daley from New York.

10938: Radio Ad Bombs.

A message designed to hype the creativity of radio ultimately demonstrates the creative team should not be working on print ads. Oh, and the racist stereotype is a nice touch too.

From Ads of the World.