Letters

Remembering David McCall When I read your obituary of David McCall [Adweek, April 26], I recalled the time in 1971 when I was associated with him, his partner Jim McCaffrey and other agency leaders in a project we called "Committee to Help Unsell the War." How ironic he should come to a sad end in Albania while trying to reduce the pain and suffering of another war. Maxwell (Mac) Dane New York Fashion Statement Barbara Lippert's critique of the Ralph Lauren Surplus Collection [April 19] was interesting. However, I missed understanding whether she felt it was good advertising, or even whether it was advertising. Seems like pretty typical fashion stuff to me: Get a photographer, find a pretty model, put him in pretty clothes (excuse me, he didn't have any clothes on) and take a pretty picture. And, oh, make do without a creative concept. I guess a trace of "conceptual creativity" could be credited to using a cot for our naked lad to lay upon. Surplus Collection, Army get it? How clever! How compelling! Actually what struck me most about the photograph was the incredibly painful and unnatural position that the model had to achieve to hold his head up, with chin barely touching the pillow. Did you ever try that? Ouch! Readers of the ad may debate just how long the model was required to strike that difficult pose. That debate may increase ad awareness and word of mouth, which, in turn, may sell Surplus Collection undergarments. Or will it? Some of us wonder whether it would have been slightly more effective to start with a strong conceptual idea. This might have required the model to actually wear the product being advertised--instead of relying on bare-ass nakedness to attract attention. Fred S. Goldberg Chairman, CEO Goldberg Moser O'Neill, San Francisco For the Record Adweek would like to make the following clarifications to its Report Cards issue [April 19]: Gotham, New York, is handling creative projects for Mentadent, but Ammirati Puris Lintas remains the lead agency In the report card for Grey Advertising, Jeff Alperin's name was misspelled. (He is CEO of Grey's Western division) In the report card for Cole & Weber, Seattle, executive creative director Ron Klein's name was misspelled In the national agency benchmarks, the 1998 billings/staff and revenue/billings columns were calculated with inaccurate figures Arthur Kesteloot Sr., formerly head of the General Motors account at N.W. Ayer, Detroit, left the agency to become vice president, database management with SPAR Marketing Force, Rochester Hills, Mich., a database marketing company [Adweek, April 19] Others involved in BBDO's Pepsi campaign [Critique, April 26] are chief creative officer Ted Sann and executive creative director/ copywriter Michael Patti. Also, Don Schneider and Ted Shaine are both senior creative directors. Adweek welcomes letters. Send them to: Letters to the Editor, Adweek, 1515 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036. Or fax them to: (212) 536-1416. Readers may also send comments to mlang adweek.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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