The New York Times is hoping to win new subscribers by broadcasting a chilling ad highlighting its sexual harassment coverage during Sunday night's Golden Globes ceremony.
While visually striking, the ad takes a risk by focusing on the "he said/she said" conceit, a framing that has long troubled survivors whose accusations are met with doubt and skepticism.
The 30-second spot features just black text on a white screen. It begins in silence as the words "He said. She said." appear one after the other. As a haunting sound gets louder in the background, the phrase "She said." begins appearing in rapid succession.
Then a new white screen reveals three sentences in quick order: The truth has power. The truth will not be threatened. The truth has a voice.
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The ad is meant to tout the Times' role in finally making public what was long known in corners of Hollywood: numerous women had been allegedly harassed and assaulted by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for years. That threw open the gates, both in journalism and in pop culture, for the #MeToo movement to take new form.
The ad was created by the firm Droga5 and is part of the Times' broader "The Truth is Hard" campaign, which launched last year.
Some might read the new ad as telling victims their accusations count only when there are enough people to share the same story.
But Julie Matheny, associate creative director at Droga5, told Ad Age, that the spot is meant to upend conventional wisdom.
"We thought that using language that has been used to silence women in the past and turning it on its head was a simple way to show the clear distinction between the way the world was merely a year ago and the way it is now," Matheny said.
Since the blockbuster story on Weinstein, the Times has shone a light on sexual harassment and misconduct in other industries, including auto manufacturing and hospitality. It had also previously covered sexual harassment in Silicon Valley and at Fox News.
Airing during one of Hollywood's biggest annual bashes, the new spot is a fitting reminder of how the Times can transform culture with its investigative reporting. Many female celebrities are planning to wear black to the ceremony to protest sexual misconduct in Hollywood.
David Rubin, senior VP and head of brand at the Times, told Ad Age that its campaign is targeting potential subscribers who believe journalism is important but don't yet pay for it along with other subscriptions to music and entertainment. Rubin also downplayed any concerns about the ad's message.
"If you're supporting the Times, you're helping the stories to happen," he said. "That's what we want the advertising to be about. It's not meant to be an ad about a cultural topic, it's about the role our journalism has played in it."
Of course, once an ad reaches an audience of millions there's no way to control its narrative, but the Times will probably earn some new customers and make its existing ones feel pretty good about spending money to support its work.
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