70 Ads to Save the World: An Illustrated Memoir of Social Change

by Jerry Mander, Carrie Pilto (Editor)

Overview

70 Ads to Save the World: An Illustrated Memoir of Social Change offers a detailed and entertaining account of the groundbreaking work of advertising visionary, Jerry Mander. 

Chronicling his evolution from corporate advertising to non-profit and political advertising work, Mander takes readers on a journey through the origin stories of some of the most memorable anti-establishment campaigns from the second half of the 20th century.  Many of Mander’s ads and campaigns for environmental and social justice issues were not only memorable decades ago, they remain relevant today. 

As Mander explains in this  book, he wrote several ads in the 1980s focused on abortion and reproductive rights for Planned Parenthood, and his team at Public Media Center took aim at the National Rifle Association in support of gun control. In 1966, Mander wrote an ad calling out the absurdity of a then newly-announced Pentagon initiative to drop toys over Vietnam, which resulted in a visit from the FBI. 

A trailblazer in the pre-internet age, Mander’s strategies included bold calls to action. In work for the Sierra Club, for example, Mander helped produce print ads that featured letters to legislators readers could clip out and mail, a tactic at the time more commonly reserved for retail coupons.

Throughout 70 Ads to Save the World, Mander explains how these campaigns came to be and offers advice for fellow low-budget, high-impact do-gooders. A personal accounting of his own work gives readers a primer on innovative thinking, while illuminating his inspiring story of aligning personal vision with collective impact.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780907791812
Publisher:	SYNERGETIC PR
Publication date:	09/27/2022
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 12.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jerry Mander is the founder, former director, and distinguished fellow of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG), a San Francisco-based think tank focused on exposing the negative impacts of economic globalization, and the need for economic transitions toward sustainable local economies. In addition to his role at IFG, Mander is the former program director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and founder and director of the Public Media Center. In the 1960s Mander served as president of a major San Francisco advertising company before turning his talents to environmental campaigns that kept dams out of the Grand Canyon, established Redwood National Park, and stopped production of the Supersonic Transport. He has authored, edited and co-edited many books including The Capitalism Papers; Fatal Flaws of an Obsolete System (2013), Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1977), In the Absence of the Sacred (1991), The Case Against the Global Economy with Edward Goldsmith (1996), Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible (2004), Paradigm Wars, Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization, and  70 Ads to Save the World: An Illustrated Memoir of Social Change (2022).

Carrie Pilto is an independent art historian and curator based in Amsterdam. Before moving to Amsterdam, Pilto served as director of Musée Matisse in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France, project assistant curator at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and managing editor of Point d’ironie editions in Paris. She obtained her masters degree in Art History from the Universityof Paris-IV, La Sorbonne. Her recent exhibition projects and book contributions include: Curator, Values: Investing in the 21st Century, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (forthcoming February 2023); Contributing author, The Museum of Mistakes, Patrick Frey, Zurich (2020); Editor and contributing author, Living with Matisse, Picasso, Christo..., Teto Ahrenberg and His Collections, Thames & Hudson (2018), Arvinius + Orfeus Publishing, Stockholm (2018), Flammarion, Paris (2019); Curator and co-editor, Enrico Baj: Play as Protest, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen (2017.)

Table of Contents

Preamble: Free Speech & The Privatization of Consciousness xi

Chapter 1 From Adman to Anti-Adman 1

The Committee Theatre

First Advertisement (1966)

Enter: Howard Gossage

Promoting Cars: Rover & Land Rover

Scientific American: Paper Airplane Competition

Enter: Marshall McLuhan

Enter: David Brower & the Sierra Club

"Sistine Chapel"

Ads That Saved Grand Canyon & Redwoods National Park

"Earth National Park"

Transformation: Commercial Adman to Anti-Adman

Chapter 2 ((Non-Profit" Ad Agency: Public Interest Communications (PIC) 25

Enter: Alvin Duskin

The "San Francisco Opposition"

Enter: David Brower (2) with Friends of the Earth, International

Enter: Joan McIntyre

Project Jonah

Saving Dolphins; Saving Whales

Anthropocentrism, Good or Bad?

Chapter 3 Public Media Center (PMC) 41

Enter: Herb Chao Gunther, Public Media Center & Planned Parenthood

Enter: David Brower (3) at Earth Island Institute

Globalization of Corporate Powers (1991-2001)

Chapter 4 Doug Tompkins & The Turning Point Project 67

Friendly Neighbors

Deep Ecology

Turning Point Project: Philosophical Legacy

Chapter 5 Indigenous Peoples' Issues 81

Part 1 History

Indigenous Nationhood

Forced Removal

New Political Values, Religions, Cultures

Part 2 Current Events

Part 3 Cross-Culture Campaigns, Successes & Failures

Winning Campaign: Gwich'in People of Alaska

Another Win: Innu People, Labrador

Partial Victory: Cree People, James Bay, Quebec

Failed Campaigns: Mayans of Guatemala; Navajo & Hopis, United

Major Success: Native Hawaiian Pele Defense Fund

Chapter 6 Miscellaneous One-Shot Campaigns 97

Getting Personal Issues Noticed

Trying for the "Hole-In-One"

Desperation Efforts

Little Noted Issues

Against Guns

Rolling the Dice

Chapter 7 Secrets of Success: Style is Content 111

Media "of Record"

Complexity Over Simplicity: Multiple Entry Points

Pathways to Engagement & Clip-Out Coupons

Credits 119

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This remarkable book reminds us, among other things, that wit can play a remarkably important role in social change. Jerry Mander is a wizard, and we need lots more like him!” — Bill McKibben, Author of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened

 

“It is hard to explain to people who grew up in the digital age just how powerful Jerry Mander's full page ads were - and what an impact they had on the organizations and issues we know and love today. Jerry's brilliant and attention-grabbing ad text reached people at a scale unimaginable for most activists in a pre-internet world. And thousands and thousands of those people were inspired to take action by supporting the groups behind the campaigns and by cutting out and mailing coupons to elected and business leaders. Jerry was a pioneer of people power, and in our polarized and message-saturated world of today, we would all gain by learning the stories behind these ads and why they were so uniquely effective. Thank you Jerry for the ads that helped grow our movement, and for the book that captures the stories and lessons to share.” — Annie Leonard, Co-Executive Director, Greenpeace US

“Communication is the central challenge for activists of all stripes to rally support, pressure corporations, and influence politicians. In this fascinating history of a life spent in advertising, Jerry Mander shows how he connected people and groups championing various progressive issues with print media and funders. Today, when social media gives life to corporate greenwashing, whacko conspiracists, and people out to make a quick buck, 70 Ads to Save the World is filled with inspiring stories of ad campaigns in which failures are as important as the successes to show what works and what doesn’t.” — David Suzuki, Author of The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision for Our Sustainable Future

“With profound wisdom and deep experience, Jerry Mander speaks truth to power and the powers of advertising, ultimately responsible for pollution, waste, consumerism, climate catastrophe, and human discontent. 70 Ads empowers readers to transform the way they look at the world, shifting our focus from glamor to grace and from greed to gratitude.” — Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence & Ecologist and Founder, Schumacher College

“Jerry Mander has been on the leading edge of every major environmental and justice issue of our time. Thankfully for us all, he used his creative genius to teach the world about these urgent issues through these magnificent ads. A wonderful book, full of rich history and gorgeous visuals. Highly recommended!” — Maude Barlow, Activist and Author of Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism

“Imagine combining advertising genius with deep ecology with radical transformation of our economic institutions with bold global organizing. Impossible. You can’t find these in a single individual... until Jerry Mander got behind a typewriter and changed the game.” — John Cavanagh, Former Director of Institute for Policy Studies

“Anyone wanting to sway public opinion, influence policymakers and reverse legislation needs to read this book. I’m talking about anyone interested in what has worked and not worked when educating the public about the issues that define our times. I’m talking about professors of environmental studies, Indigenous rights, reproductive rights, animal rights, the impact of computers on social structures, military impacts on nature, globalization of corporate power, and restoring local economies. I’m talking about our thinking. This is your textbook. This is Jerry Mander’s brilliant, generous offering to save the world.” — Katie Singer, author of An Electronic Silent Spring and Our Web of Inconvenient Truths

“Outrageous, provocative, vastly entertaining, 70 Ads follows Jerry Mander’s work as an advertising wizard, depicting the most memorable and effective environmental and political campaigns during his lengthy career. Want to stop the ‘all-but-certain’ government plans to dam the Grand Canyon? Here are the ads that scuttled the whole damned scheme! Well known as a social activist, political thinker, anti-globalist organizer, and friend to the world’s most inspired change agents, Mander shares his vision of how shrewd, often impish craftsmanship can produce a better world.” — Langdon Winner, Professor Emeritus of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Author of Autonomous Technology and The Whale and The Reactor

“The advertisements that Jerry Mander created are, like his mind, both deep and nimble. Forget about advertising as a degraded tool of commerce, and instead view it as a literary genre. Some of these ads spring with condensed power, some beguile the mind with unexpected charm and nuance, and some read like a page from The Onion. What characterizes them all is irreverence, playfulness, and a sense of surprise. While the corporate world has used advertising to sell people unwanted products, Jerry uses it as a lance to poke holes in pieties and to get at the heart of truths.” — Malcolm Margolin, Executive Director of California Institute for Community, Art, and Nature

“Jerry Mander’s illustrated memoir is a phenomenal trove of social history, communications brilliance, and moral clarity. However much media may change, Mander’s genius endures—to inform the public and act for justice; to speak with intelligence, respect, and wit. Take heart! Through these pages you’ll meet a remarkable elder, a great friend of the Earth.” — Stephanie Mills, author of In Service of the Wild and Epicurean Simplicity

“70 Ads is a grand celebration. Follow the trajectory of Jerry Mander’s work as an activist through brilliant visuals, highlighting innovative campaigns that brought progressive political views to a mass audience. The cast of characters alone makes this a fascinating read. This is as much a history of a time as it is of a remarkable life. Viva Jerry Mander!” — Peter Maravelis, City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

“Lots of people can inform you. Few people create paradigm shifts the way Jerry Mander did. Although it may seem counterintuitive, brushing shoulders with this fascinating era provides a road map for the future. And this book is not just for you. Make sure you give it to that person you have in mind who will take the inspiration and run with it!” — Aileen Mioko Smith, Founder and Executive Director of Green Action

“Most of us are used to endless ads asking us to buy something that we know is bad for us and bad for the planet. When was the last time you savored an ad, rather than rushed past it to get to what you paid for? You won’t rush through this. In 70 Ads, you’ll learn how to approach making the most effective ads on many different deep topics such as Indigenous rights, protecting the environment, the perils of technology, industrial agriculture, or avoiding extinction. As Jerry will teach you, if your ad doesn’t stop someone’s eyes and make them say, ‘What the hell is this about?’ then you’re back to the drawing board. Bravo.” — Randall Wallace, Fund Advisor for Wallace Action Fund, Creator & Owner Allaire Studios, Founder of Books for Activists, grandson of Henry A. Wallace

“The moment I heard about Jerry Mander’s 70 Ads to Save the World, ‘Ah-Ha!’ sprung from my lips. I knew it had been an act of brilliance to envision the project—and of even more brilliance to highlight a historical account of progressive advertising. Ad by ad, story by story, the book shows not only a daring approach to bringing radical concerns into mainstream advertising, but also Mander´s very best qualities: humility and creative wonder.” — Chellis Glendinning, Author of In the Company of Rebels, My Name Is Chellis, and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization

“Jerry Mander’s writings inspire a growing circle of people who want to understand why capitalism and its assumptions are at the core of societal dysfunctions. Anyone who still hopes to save the world must read his 70 Ads and encourage others to join your activism based in part on Mander’s wisdom.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, Author of Revolutionary Love and the bestseller The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country From the Religious Right

“70 Ads to Save the World is a riveting account of seminal public interest ads by a ‘Commercial Adman’ who became the finest ‘Anti-Adman’ and reframed the debate on key environmental and social justice issues. Mander’s powerful paper bullets shattered the media’s control of the public’s mind by vested interests—inspiring for all organizers, even today.” — Anuradha Mittal, Founder and Executive Director of the Oakland Institute

“Jerry was ahead of his time. He foresaw the dumbing effects of mass media, the inevitable inequalities of capitalism, and the loss of what is sacred in life. This work counters the corporate monopoly, beating them at their own game! The ads are clever, inspiring, and funny—like Jerry himself.” — Vivienne Verdon-Roe, Academy Award Winning Filmmaker

“Jerry Mander wrote two of the most important books of the late 20th Century, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and In the Absence of the Sacred. Now he’s done it again with 70 Ads to Save the World, a searing indictment of the superficial media society in which we live and a guide to how we can best use the tools of the media to promote life-affirming ends.” — Derrick Jensen, Author of A Language Older Than Words and The Myth of Human Supremacy

Editorial Reviews

An activist surveys socially conscious advertising strategies as he melds an illustrated memoir with advice and critiques of runaway capitalism and environmental damage.

With hundreds of millions of dollars spent daily on razzle-dazzle advertising, “corporate or commercial interests dominate mass-media, ‘free-speech’ ad expressions in the US,” notes career adman Mander (The Capitalism Papers, 2012, etc.).

Despite titans like the Jolly Green Giant and the Geico Gecko, this book argues, noncorporate campaigners operating on “exquisitely small budgets” have produced ads that have had “startling success” in public engagement. Many were one-offs with short newspaper runs that maximized their efficacy through a careful blending of jarring headlines and images with informational text.

As the co-founder of the United States’ first nonprofit ad agency, Public Interest Communications, and a lifelong environmentalist and critic of capitalism, Mander is perhaps the nation’s most experienced activist advertiser. He devotes significant attention to his own years in the profession, which included antisemitic experiences such as being told by a Park Avenue ad agency in 1959: “Your hair is too kinky; try Seventh Avenue.” That initial brush with the discrimination in the industry began the yearslong transformation of an Ivy League business school graduate “from Adman to Anti-Adman,” which led to his co-founding of PIC.

A skilled writer, Mander gives engaging behind-the-scenes looks into the opposite worlds of advertising and nonprofits, describing the backstories of effective ads for groups such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, and Friends of the Earth. Yet the undisputed stars of this book are the socially conscious advertisements themselves, which are reprinted in full-page, high-quality images and deal with topics from animal rights and the environment to gun control. Indigenous voices and perspectives, also heard in Mander’s previous books, are highlighted in critiques of environmental degradation and unfettered capitalism. The book ends with tips (“Secrets of Success”) for activists and nonprofits on how to create high-impact advertisements on a limited budget, though it leaves you wondering how the book’s print-centric approach applies to social media.

A beautifully designed history of iconic nonprofit advertisements.

— Starred Kirkus Review

From the Publisher

★ 2022-09-20
An activist surveys socially conscious advertising strategies as he melds an illustrated memoir with advice and critiques of runaway capitalism and environmental damage.

With hundreds of millions of dollars spent daily on razzle-dazzle advertising, “corporate or commercial interests dominate mass-media, ‘free-speech’ ad expressions in the US,” notes career adman Mander (The Capitalism Papers, 2012, etc.). Despite titans like the Jolly Green Giant and the Geiko Gecko, this book argues, noncorporate campaigners operating on “exquisitely small budgets” have produced ads that have had “startling success” in public engagement. Many were one-offs with short newspaper runs that maximized their efficacy through a careful blending of jarring headlines and images with informational text. As the co-founder of the United States’ first nonprofit ad agency, Public Interest Communications, and a lifelong environmentalist and critic of capitalism, Mander is perhaps the nation’s most experienced activist advertiser. He devotes significant attention to his own years in the profession, which included antisemitic experiences such as being told by a Park Avenue ad agency in 1959: “Your hair is too kinky; try Seventh Avenue.” That initial brush with the discrimination in the industry began the yearslong transformation of an Ivy League business school graduate “from Adman to Anti-Adman,” which led to his co-founding of PIC. A skilled writer, Mander gives engaging behind-the-scenes looks into the opposite worlds of advertising and nonprofits, describing the backstories of effective ads for groups such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, and Friends of the Earth. Yet the undisputed stars of this book are the socially conscious advertisements themselves, which are reprinted in full-page, high-quality images and deal with topics from animal rights and the environment to gun control. Indigenous voices and perspectives, also heard in Mander’s previous books, are highlighted in critiques of environmental degradation and unfettered capitalism. The book ends with tips (“Secrets of Success”) for activists and nonprofits on how to create high-impact advertisements on a limited budget, though it leaves you wondering how the book’s print-centric approach applies to social media.

A beautifully designed history of iconic nonprofit advertisements.

Kirkus Reviews