Rate the Ad: 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno': Movie Poster

Last week, we took a look at a campaign that's up in arms at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul this week. With the help of liberal news site The Huffington Post, Goodby cofounder Rich Silverstein created posters that highlight the names, slogans and events that characterize President Bush's two terms and then put them in Twin Cities bus shelters during the convention. We want to know if you think the ambush tactic is effective. And, who's actually getting a glimpse of the posters? As always, Rate the Ad ran the gamut of brilliant to useless and powerful to preaching to the choir. To set the scene, a hometown voice explains that these ads will be seen by Minnesotans off the convention floor. Commenter " j.cohen" says, "As a Twin Cities resident I can tell you that these ads will be seen - not so much by delegates, politicians or the media (they have police protected buses to transport them to and fro and this ad isn't for them anyway), but by those of us who are going to witness what is happening outside of the Xcel Energy Center. And the only way to get there without being stuck in traffic, surrounded by barricades, or gouged for a $15 parking spot, is to walk, bike, or take the bus. The poster is effective in that it reminds people (in a nutshell) of the atrocities we've endured these last eight years under the Bush administration. For those who are undecided, these loaded words have meaning and SHOULD hopefully spur other thoughts." Cohen represents the optimistic perspective in Rate the Adland, a few degrees from "sowinskijohn" who likes the posters, but thinks that Republicans will be immune to the message: "I love the idea of these posters by Rich. It's a great, simple set-up that builds and builds with other peoples' input and involvement. Brilliant! I only wish they could change how Republicans feel about the last 8 years. Sadly I am always amazed at how all of the horrors mentioned herein can be rationalized away by Republican Americans. I'm afraid the people who need to be impacted by these will discount them as mean-spirited and propagandistic." To be fair to Rich and Arianna though, it might be hard for delegates, or even residents, to absorb anything with all that booing and chanting coming from the convention center. For yet another reason why we should all move to Canada, let's take a closer look at some ban drama surrounding Kevin Smith's film premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. After '90s classics like "Clerks" and "Mallrats," Silent Bob's latest, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" starring comic-of-the-minute Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, has been met with some resistance from the Motion Picture Association of America. First, Smith had to petition to bring the film's rating down from NC-17 to R. Now, the MPAA is banning the film's poster from the U.S.--the poster features fully-clothed Rogen and Banks with surprised looks and the tops of what look like each others' heads in front of their woohoos. While I'm sure all of you can guess what Smith and his team are implying by those conspicuously placed heads, we want to know if you think those under-17ers will be scarred by such a sight. Is the MPAA making Smith pay for putting "porno" in the film's title? Is implication without skin enough to get something banned for sex? Tell us what you think of Smith's stunt below.

Rate the Ad: 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno': Movie Poster

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