Rockland County, NY – Innovative ‘Snowden’ Ad Becomes Point Of Controversy For Charedi Magazine

    24

    The adRockland County, NY – What began as a unique advertisement that combined current events with ceramic tile turned into a controversy of sorts when one Monsey publication refused to run the ad, saying the content made it unsuitable for its readership.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The ad in question is part of a five part series of advertisements for Ceramic Creations, a tile store located on Route 59 in Monsey, that was looking for a creative advertising campaign and features a picture of NSA leaker Edward Snowden behind a tile overlay, with the words “Leaks Are For Snowden.”

    “The idea behind the ad campaign is that everyone has issues with tiles,” Joel Brody owner of Ceramic Creations told VIN News. “Tile buyers suffer with leaks, chips, scratches, cracks and other issues. Each ad is crafted to address one of those issues.”

    One ultra-Orthodox Monsey publication which requested not to be named, refused the ad saying that it was not in keeping with their guidelines.

    “We are geared very much for the heimishe community and are very, very careful with certain issues,” explained an employee at the magazine. “We don’t run news, current events or politics or even a picture of President Obama. We looked at the ad and it made no sense to us and if we didn’t understand it, we felt our readers wouldn’t either.”

    According to the ad’s creator, the ad was never meant to be a source of controversy.

    “Our client wanted an ad with a twist and this concept simply matched so well with the campaign,” explained Sam Schwartz, creative director at Borough Park based GCNY Marketing. “This ad was too good to not to use so we took it to a different publication.”

    The Snowden ad, the first in the series, will be running in this week’s issue of The Front Page, another Monsey magazine.

    “Using a reference to current events in promoting a product or service is nothing new, especially when it is regarding an international story,” said Chaim Saperstein, owner of The Front Page. “Although the ad alludes to a particular political issue, it is not a political ad in that it does not take sides in ‘was he right or wrong for what he did’. It is not offensive to any person or group of persons and does not espouse any political ideology, religious ideology, or any other ideology. It is a play on words.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    24 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    10 years ago

    Well, the premise is quite a gag. If you ask me, they really are creative; in a skeptically indoctrinated willy wonka way. But if you are a Jew and especially if it is a true jewish publication, it would not be consistent with Torah values to demean a suffering issue by a comedy routine in a large periodical of jewish life. You can have fun all you want, but the real issue is whether the dignity of Torah is Truly honored. And in this case, it would not be; political statement or not.

    myownopinion
    myownopinion
    10 years ago

    Intresting!
    This is the same magazine that copies and pastes news and interesting facts form other news sources without checking the contents first. I found in this publication real goiysh ideas, apikorsus, and other things I wouldn’t mention here.

    yaakov doe
    Member
    yaakov doe
    10 years ago

    A brilliant ad. I can’t understand the refusal to run it.

    enlightened-yid
    enlightened-yid
    10 years ago

    Maybe they were afraid the ad was secretly promoting “leakers” from inside community to reveal internal social problems that are kept secret by rabbinical NSA apparatchiks?

    UseYourHead
    UseYourHead
    10 years ago

    It may be clever but honestly it is in poor taste. There’s nothing “wrong” with it, I just don’t see anyone buying tiles based on a picture of Snowden.

    10 years ago

    Whats the chiddush? A newspaper for heimeshe yidden in Monsey that will not c’v publish anything related to the “news” and feels that any story about our President is assur. “Our readership is not-interested about whats happening in the world and it is our journalistic obligation to keep them dumb and in the dark”….
    Hashem yarachem.

    IMHOpinion
    IMHOpinion
    10 years ago

    Good for them! now they get free publicity on VIN!

    Mark Levin
    Mark Levin
    10 years ago

    Cute ad!!!

    Which holier than thou publication refused this ad?

    elysteinfeld
    elysteinfeld
    10 years ago

    Stupid publication. Does not deserve patronage.

    10 years ago

    You all got the story wrong. I am a graphic designer in Monsey, and I often do ads for a customers who place them in multiple publications.

    There is one publication who will not print any photos of models’ faces.

    Nothing to do with Snowden (although their readers probably would not recognize him anyway, which is a waste of advertising $).

    It is just a blanket rule they have so that they do not have to pick and choose which models are OK to print and which are not.

    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    10 years ago

    I am so sick of seeing that idiot’s stupid punim everywhere, we don’t need to gaze upon the shoiteh in a heimishe blatt.

    10 years ago

    This is what you print when everything that is happening with the school board on national news and now internationally and you won’t even mention the attorney calling a parent the worst curse possible?

    from-here_to-there
    from-here_to-there
    10 years ago

    hot off the presses! I just got my copy of the Front Page – First thing to do is check to see if my son’s birthday greeting is in there…

    hold on…

    yes! there it is! Thanks!

    hashomer
    hashomer
    10 years ago

    Snowden’s lawyer is already suing for use of his miserable punim without permission. Stop the leaks!

    myownopinion
    myownopinion
    10 years ago

    #6 and #13 .
    the front pages is running the ad. its the CC that had the issue with it.

    10 years ago

    gcny great ad !!!! keep it up

    Benjey
    Benjey
    10 years ago

    I could understand a plumber using the add but tiles don’t leak ?????????
    makes no sense use the add for a plumber for grout or caulk

    Rabbi_CS
    Rabbi_CS
    10 years ago

    Benjey, when your tiles get old, they get loose, and the walls of your shower stall leak, and the tiles need to be reinstalled – or replaced.
    It so happens that we had to get new tiles for that very reason. Our shower in our hi-ranch was leaking to the downstairs through the cracks between the tiles and the grout.