Cam Hoff - Worksonpaper » News

Featured Artist: Word to Mother

Cam Hoff — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:38:14 +0000

Mother’s Day has come and gone but its never a bad time to give Mom a shout out. Word to Mother has recently burst onto the art scene with his mixed media works on found wood and paper. Incorporating stencils and hand-drawn lettering (reminiscent of Margaret Kilgallen RIP) in with his unique characters he has carved a unique style and has gone from graffiti darling to landing solo shows around the globe. Be sure to check out some more WTM on Flickr.

Recession: I’m Lovin’ It!

Cam Hoff — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:36:41 +0000

Who’s cashing in on the recession? McDonald’s, that’s who.

Getting Up, In Smoke

Cam Hoff — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:44:15 +0000

Some great Calgary-based work capitalizing on the recent Michael Phelps weed scandal. Very clever, riding the crest of some free buzz (no pun intended)…total Ad Rodeo fodder from Taxi.

Check them all out at the spectacular Ad Goodness.

The Transition: Bush to Obama

Cam Hoff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:37:37 +0000

Choose Your Poison

Cam Hoff — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:04:37 +0000

For the past week, this article has been popping up on my rss news feed daily. It’s basically an article criticizing American Apparel, the Montreal-based, sweatshop-free clothing retailer, for being a proponent of porn when so much of their brand appeal hinges on an air of social responsibility; paying a little bit more for a responsibly made garment.

For those not familiar, American Apparel ads are often very provocative and typically enlist models who appear to be under 18. The photo here is a tamer ad sample featuring CEO and founder Dov Charney. The linked article even relates an instance where a 13-year-old girl was exposed to a hardcore gay porn mag in an AA store.

I’ve seen their ads before, and was aware of their image, but this article really made me think that they go too far. It’s really become a case of choose your poison when it comes to buying clothes. It’s either buy the major brands which often exploit their workers in sweatshops or you try to do some good and buy a sweatshop-free brand…only to end up inadvertantly supporting a company run by a pig that openly supports the exploitation of both men and women through pornography. The irony is just overwhelming.

Unfortunately it’s harder and harder to buy from anywhere without supporting some kind of unsavory activity. I just hope another company can rise to the top of the sweatshop-free heap and unseat Charney without the need to exploit anyone in any way.

Sorry if this is preachy or off-putting – I’m not out to be the morality police, so feel free to agree or disagree…I just read this article this week, and found myself a bit ashamed to be wearing my AA hoodie, and felt with the popularity of this brand this article really needed to get out there and be a point of more water cooler discussion. American Apparel: Socially responsible or just selectively responsible?