13813: Heroic Bullshit.

Adweek reported on a campaign from the Ad Council featuring real diversity advocates as superheroes. It’s hardly the first time that superheroes have been utilized to promote diversity. Not sure if a White advertising agency led the patronizing adventure. Hell, when it comes to diversity in adland, there are more super villains than heroes.

The Ad Council Turned Real-World Diversity Advocates Into Superheroes for a Geolocation Game

PAX West attendees can collect virtual ‘Love Has No Labels’ cards

By T.L. Stanley

The Ad Council has been spreading the gospel of its inclusive Love Has No Labels campaign to the gaming community for more than a year.

At this weekend’s PAX West in Seattle, one of the largest gaming conventions in the country, the nonprofit PSA group leans in further, speaking to gamers in their own language with the launch of a mobile geolocation game called The League of Extraordinary Humans.

The game takes a diverse group of activists, LGBT pioneers, disabled gamers and other groundbreakers who “fight for love and inclusion” and turns them into virtual superheroes, complete with bold costumes and dramatic poses.

It’s part of the Ad Council’s ongoing Game for Good effort meant to promote a safe gaming environment for players, regardless of race, disability or sexual orientation. It’s an attempt to help counter much of the negativity and hostility found in some aspects of the gaming community, especially around topics like gender representation in games and the abusive language used in multiplayer chats.

“Since 65 percent of U.S. households have someone who plays games, and millennials have grown up playing, reaching out to gamers is really reaching out to the masses,” said Anastasia Goodstein, the Ad Council’s svp of digital innovation. “And we want to continue to show up in unexpected places.”

The League features a dozen “everyday heroes,” whose images were rendered by comic book artists onto virtual cards. Players at the conference will visit beacons and answer questions to unlock and collect the cards. (There’s a Love Has No Labels Pinny Arcade Pin for winners).

The real-life heroes include competitive gamer Mike Begum, aka BrolyLegs; transgender advocate Jazz Jennings; long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad; and Marley Diaz, 12-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks. They were chosen because of their work “to further inclusion of people regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, ability and age,” per a summary by the Ad Council.

Love Has No Labels, part of the trade show/fan fest’s diversity lounge at the Washington State Convention Center, partnered with Artifact Technologies to create a “deeper experience and deeper engagement” with the crowds, Goodstein said. On-site beacons have been placed at Square Enix, Twitch, Xbox and other booths, where players can unlock the hero images and backstories.

Questions along the way are intended to “have people rethink their biases and things like the diversity of their friend group,” Goodstein said. “We hope people will take a beat and think about the issues.”

The Ad Council also hosts a pair of panels on implicit bias and the role of diversity in gaming during the gathering, formerly known as the Penny Arcade Expo and expected to draw more than 70,000 fans over its four-day run.

13805: Marveling At Strippers.

The Admiral Theatre in Chicago is exploiting the annual Wizard World Comic Con with Comic Strip! It’s fun for the whole comic book community!

13402: U.N. WTF.

Advertising Age reported U.N. staffers took offense to Wonder Woman serving as an ambassador to women, drafting a protest petition that included:

Although the original creators may have intended Wonder Woman to represent a strong and independent ‘warrior’ woman with a feminist message, the reality is that the character’s current iteration is that of a large breasted, white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee high boots—the epitome of a ‘pin-up’ girl.

Yes, how could U.N. officials have selected Wonder Woman over The Pine-Sol® Lady?

U.N. Staffers Petition to Recall Wonder Woman as Ambassador to Women

By Kate Kaye

Actors Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter on Friday made appearances at the Hall of Justice to commemorate the naming of the DC Comics character they’ve both portrayed as the ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls worldwide.

Er … sorry … did I say Hall of Justice? Silly me. I meant the United Nations in Manhattan. You know, the headquarters of the actual real-life institution upholding human rights, international peace and security, economic development and, if choosing a comic book character as an ambassador is any indication, the ultimate destruction of Mr. Mxyzptlk.

Announced last week, the appointment has been received with “Yay Women!” cheers from some, and dumbfounded shock followed by sheer indignation from others. Members of the shock-and-indignation crowd protested at today’s UN ceremony.

It’s possible that the U.N.’s decision wouldn’t have rubbed so many people the wrong way had Aquaman ever been tapped to represent the U.N. Division for Oceans and the Law of the Sea.

Instead there is now a lot of dissent even among U.N. staff. An online petition from “Concerned United Nations Staff Members” calls for the U.N. to reconsider its choice. Despite an embrace of the character as feminist icon at times (heck, she was on the first Ms. magazine cover in ‘72), she is often perceived more as a sex object than a formidable female. As the petition notes:

Although the original creators may have intended Wonder Woman to represent a strong and independent ‘warrior’ woman with a feminist message, the reality is that the character’s current iteration is that of a large breasted, white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee high boots—the epitome of a ‘pin-up’ girl.

Put the sex object stuff aside, and one of the world’s most respected bodies designating a fantastical character with superpowers as a role model for women and girls says to many people, female or male, “Sorry, we just couldn’t find a real woman we thought was worth looking up to.”

The petition’s authors say as much, offering to supply a “list of incredible extraordinary women that would formidably carry out this role” if the Secretary-General were interested.

One has to wonder, why Wonder Woman? If the U.N. really had to go with a fictitious character, why not Barbie? At least she’s had real professions—surgeon (1973), firefighter (1995), even UNICEF Summit diplomat (1990). Well, let’s just hope the U.N. has enough magic lassos to distribute to women and girls in its next aid convoy.

13292: Holy Super Strippers!

Admiral Theatre in Chicago is celebrating the upcoming Wizard World Comic Con with Comic Strip. Although you’re likely to see more scantily clad heroines at the convention versus the gentlemen’s club.

11676: Comic Book Crime.

Looks like The Los Angeles Times turned the Christopher Dorner story into a graphic novel.

11324: Comic Con Comic Strip.

Chicago Comic Con visitors are invited to check out the Admiral Theatre for super entertainment.

10146: Honoring Memorial Day—Part 6.

This Memorial Weekend Sale flyer should have featured Captain America, no?

8636: Wonder Woman for Wonderbra…?

Somebody should organize a tie-in with the babe and bra brand now.

8485: BHM 2011—Black Comic Book Day.

Holy Moley! A fresh BHM idea!

5489: SuperBlog.

One Diverse Comic Book Nation is a blog dedicated to exploring the diversity or lack of diversity in comics. ‘Nuff said. Check it out.