Barbie vs Body Shop - Truth or Fiction

Over the past few days, this photo and accompanying text has gone viral on Facebook:

‎"This was an ad made by bodyshop. But Barbie INC. found out about it and now it’s banned. Repost if you think this ad deserves to be seen."

The advertisement is a real one, part of the "Ruby" campaign designed in-house by the Body Shop, back in 1996 (read the case study here).  I love the message, and the ad campaign was certainly effective when it was launched, 15 years ago. The fact that it has gone viral, now, indicates that its message still resonates with the general public.

But is the text that goes with it correct? When something like this gets posted and re-posted willy-nilly all over the internet with one click, it makes me wonder.

I did a quick search for references to the supposedly "banned" campaign, and found lots of references to it, most of them word-for-word reprints of the text above, or text worded in similarly vague fashion. Barbie INC isn't a real company (Mattel, however, is) and online sources are rather evasive in saying when, where, and by whom the ad was actually banned.

A 1997 New York Times article gives an overview of the campaign, but doesn't mention a ban. The only websites I could find that do are blogs or personal opinion sites (like the one you are reading now).

This doesn't mean that the ad wasn't banned somewhere. If someone has an actual news source, a printed journal reference, or a court record that shows that a ban was actually in effect, I'd love to see something that references where and when a ban took place. I'm still waiting for the Snopes.com article.

I think there is something ironic in the way the ad has resurfaced, a decade and a half later, with its new text.  The campaign suggests to us that we should think critically about issues like body image, and truth in advertising. Thinking for ourselves, critically, about what is true and what isn't, is probably something we should ALSO do before clicking the "share" button on an internet meme.

But then, maybe, folklorists like me would be out of a job!

Turning the Sod on the 2011 Folklife Festival - Seeds to Supper

HFNL to host Agricultural Heritage Festival Community Meeting
Wednesday June 15th, 2011
7pm
Sobey’s on Merrymeeting Rd.

For the past 3 years the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador has supported a local folklife festival in the province. The goal of the festival is to celebrate these otherwise unspoken traditions that may be taken for granted. This year’s theme has an agricultural focus. When we surveyed a couple of community groups in the greater St. John’s area, there was a large concern about the loss of agricultural knowledge and practices.

This year we hope to coordinate events with a number of the groups in the greater St. John’s area to promote the historical background of agriculture, and the contemporary movements that are active in the area. We wish to highlight the agri-culture that comes from the past but remains contemporary. Participation as a part of the 2011 Folklife Festival, Seeds to Supper, will be of no cost to any groups wishing to hold an event however, all participating groups are responsible for their individual event.

If you are a group, or individual, who would be willing to host an event during our Seeds to Supper festival we would like you to come to our community planning meeting on Wednesday June 15th, 2011 at 7pm at the Community Meeting Room, Sobey’s on Merrymeeting Rd., St. John’s. If you are interested in participating we can help you promote your event and be a part of Seeds to Supper. This meeting is for the initial planning stage of the festival so that we may coordinate the who’s, what’s, and when’s.

Please contact Mel at 1-888-739-1892 ext 3 to register or email : ichprograms@gmail.com for more information.

Young Folklorists Interviews - Britannia Teas

As part of the two-day Young Folklorists program we're running this week, students went out and conducted interviews and took photographs at five shops along Water Street. I'll be putting the photos and audio together, and posting them online so the kids (and you) can see what the other groups did.

Here is the first interview, with Britannia Teas and Gifts owner Kelly Jones.

Old digital cameras wanted for Young Folklorists Program

Next Thursday and Friday, the ICH office will be running our first "Young Folklorists Program." One thing we'll be doing is a folklore walk of Water Street, and I want the students taking pictures as we go along.

We have a couple old digital cameras in the office that we'll be handing out to students, but it would be great to have a few more. So, if you have an old camera (and cord if you still have it) that you want to get out of your junk drawer and donate to a good home, I'd love to have it.  You can drop it off at either the ICH office at 1 Springdale Street before Wednesday, or at Britannia Teas and Gifts at 199 Water Street (they are open over the weekend, where the ICH office isn't).

Thanks!

Folklore, Farriers, Nurses and Nunatsiavut: this month in ICH

In this edition of the ICH Update for May 2011, reflections on the Nunatsiavut Heritage Forum held in Hopedale, Labrador; the Young Folklorists Program; a digitization project to share the voices of nurses; and an article on Kevin Dillon, farrier with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Download the pdf

Old Time Community Concert series starts tonight, Heart's Content 8pm

The Mizzen Heritage Society invites you to the Community Concert, tonight, with the some skits that are sure to get you to laugh out loud. Features include: A Banana Boa, Between Two People, The Flasher, Gonna Get Me Moose Licence, The Sunday Afternoon Drive with Clem, Bubba Jay from the Hill, Dis and Dat Local News, Uncle Dicky's Annual Appearance, and Airport Check.

Music will be played in between skits by members of the Mizzen Heritage Society.


Mizzen Heritage Society Old Time Concert

Cost: $7.00
Location: 8:00p.m. at The SUF Hall

Dates: April 28th, 29th, and 30th

All proceeds in aid of the Mizzen Heritage Society.

For info on other community concerts visit www.oldtimeconcerts.ca

Old Time Community Concerts on the Baccalieu Trail

HFNL and communities on the Baccaileu Trail team up to produce the Old Time Concert Series



Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) presents Old Time Community Concerts along the Baccalieu Trail. Hosted by the communities of Heart’s Content (April 28, 29, 30) , Cupids (May 6) , and Bay Roberts (May 25). Come join in the fun of a traditional concert, hear some music, and laugh the evening away!

Since last fall, HFNL has been working with community groups along the Baccalieu Trial to document local tradition bearers, and collect memories about concerts, traditional music, skits, recitations, drills and times. The foundation then looked around to set up a folklore project they could use to promote living traditions in their communities.

“When we held a public meeting in Cupids to talk about traditions in the region, old time concerts went right to the top of the list,” says provincial folklorist Dale Jarvis. “We wanted to help communities create something that would revitalize this tradition. So the idea of coordinating a festival of Old Time Community Concerts was born.”

The concert series will take place through April and May month in three towns: Heart’s Content, Cupids, and Bay Roberts. The local events are organized by the Mizzen Heritage Society, Cupids Legacy Centre, and Bay Roberts Cultural Foundation. The concerts cost $7.00 per person.

“The funds raised will stay in the communities, and help support future heritage projects,” says Jarvis. “It is a great way of using local tradition to support the future of heritage organizations.”

The first concert of the series takes place in Heart’s Content on April 28.

If you would like more information please visit www.oldtimeconcerts.ca or call Mel at 1-888-739-1892 ext. 3.

Changes to the ICH newsletter delivery

Hi all.

I know some of you have been getting the ICH newsletter twice, or to a couple different accounts (or maybe you don't want to get it at all). I'm trying to fix all that by switching over to a system that will help me better manage emails, and make it easier for you to subscribe and unsubscribe.

So, if you want to get ICH updates from me in your email from time to time, you can sign up here:

http://eepurl.com/dych9

Your friendly neighbourhood folklorist,

Dale Jarvis

Place Names, History and the Labrador Innu: A Lecture by Peter Armitage

The Newfoundland Historical Society will be holding its monthly free public lecture and Annual General Meeting on
Thursday, April 28th 2011
at 8 pm
at Hampton Hall Lecture Theatre, located at the Marine Institute on Ridge Road

This month’s lecturer will be Peter Armitage, and his talk is titled:

“From Uapamekushtu to Tshakashkue matshiteuieau: Place Names, History and the Labrador Innu”

On the Island of Newfoundland, we are surrounded by place names in daily life and would have a great deal of trouble living without them, yet we take them for granted. Moreover, few of us have any understanding of the origins of the names we use even though many of them have very important historical associations and are anchors for a great deal of memory about our experiences on the land.

The same thing applies to Innu place names in Labrador. They anchor Innu people to the land and help them remember events that took place there. Many Innu place names are already known to us because anglicized versions of them appear on the maps of Labrador, for example, Minipi Lake (from Minai-nipi, meaning 'Burbot Lake') and Snegamook Lake (from Ashtunekamiku meaning 'Canoe Building Shelter').

Armitage's talk will start with a mysterious Innu place name called Tshakashue matshiteuieau. It means 'Tshakashue's Point' which is located on the south shore of Lake Melville. Tshakashue is the name of two people, one Innu the other Settler. But who is the point named after - the Innu or the Settler person? Tshakashue matshiteuieau will lead us into a labyrinth of meaning and historical association that extends east-west from the coast of Labrador to James Bay, and north-south from Ungava Bay to the Quebec North Shore. By the end of lecture, we will understand better the uniqueness of Innu culture, the connectedness of the Innu people across the Labrador-Quebec peninsula, and the role that place names play in facilitating talk and memory about the land.

Peter Armitage is a consulting anthropologist based in St. John's, Newfoundland. He works with Algonquian-speaking First Nations in Labrador, Quebec and Ontario, and has been working with the Innu since 1982. He curated the Innu place names website called "Pepamuteiati Nitassinat: As We Walk Across Our Land" (www.innuplaces.ca).

Here's how to pronounce Tshakashue matshiteuieau:

1. Uapamekushtu

wop-mek-goo-stoo

2. Tshakashue

chuck-ash-way

3. matshiteuieau

much-a-teo-wee-ow (that' ow as in ouch)

the 'a' between much and teo is a schwa as in the 'u' in u