Ooops, DDB-Chicago, You Hired The Wrong Actor to Represent State Farm

Update: As of noon PDT, Monday September 22, State Farm has dropped the ad. Go to Rob Schneider and State Farm: Responses for, well, responses.

Phil Supple, State Farm’s director of public affairs, told PRWeek that the company’s advertising is intended to inform and entertain, but Schneider’s ad had the opposite effect.

"[Schneider’s] ad has unintentionally been used as a platform for discussion unrelated to the products and services we provide," he said. "With that, we are working to remove the ad from our rotation at this time."

Click to embiggen. Image source: https://twitter.com/sciencebabe/status/512965458912231425/photo/1

For non-USians, State Farm® is a large insurance company offering various lines of insurance -- automotive, homeowner's, and so on.  They even offer various lines of health insurance. 

Recently, State Farm® launched a new ad, Steve's Kid, featuring the actor Rob Schneider (in his Saturday Night Live character 'Richard Lamer" or "the #Richmeister"), promoting State Farm's "Discount Doublecheck™ " promotion. 

Here is a sampling of Schneider's recent press coverage --other than  his acting prowess -- for his vocal support for anti-vaccine, anti-public-health pseudoscience and propaganda. 

• The Huffington Post plays up Rob Schneider’s anti-vaccine ravings — and it makes everything else on the site look bad.
• Apparently, Rob Schneider thinks ALL CAPS is a substitute for having a clue: A lower-cased, fact-based rebuttal
• Rob Schneider's Anti-Vax Crusade Now Enters Alex Jones Territory

The ad was created by the advertising agency DDBChicago. Evidently the creative team was unaware, or didn't care, about Schneider's anti-public-health actism. 

There's a Facebook page called Chow Babe (created to mock The Food Babe). The moderators  created the following ad to counter Schneider's appearance in  "Steve's Kid -Richmeister" ad, asking people to "Please join us in stemming the modern anti-technology tide!"

Here's the video:

The video has a call for action

• Send your views on Schneider as State Farm's spokesman using Facebook, here https://www.facebook.com/statefarm
• Send your views on Schneider as State Farm's spokesman via twitter: https://twitter.com/statefarm
• Tweet your opinions using the hashtag #statefarm 

I'd add, you can do more:

• You can let the ad agency, DDBChicago know what you think: https://twitter.com/DDBChicago
• You can add your voice to specific State Farm Facebook posts
• #timeto____ re life insurance
• #timeto____ featuring Rob Schneider
• The one about office supplies mentioning the Richmeister
• The one where State Farm makes Schneider the cover picture
• The one promoting the new commercial, using the hashtag #Richmeister
• You can add your voice to specific DDBChicago Facebook posts
• The one promoting the new State Farm ad

Edited to add:
State Farm has local media contacts, listed by state, with email addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers. You can find the list at https://www.statefarm.com/about-us/newsroom/media-contacts. I'd encourage you to contact your state/regional media contact.

DDB Chicago
200 East Randolph
Chicago, IL 60601
Tel. +1.312.552.6000
Fax. +1.312.552.2370
Press contact: christie.giera@ddb.com

The Chief Creative Officer is John Maxham, on twitter and LinkedIn

The tagline, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" has been turned into the hashtage #likeabadneighbor 

Please let DDBChicago and State Farm know how you feel. 

Parkinson's disease experts might want to step up, too, given Schneider's views on medication.

Edited to add:

Click to embiggen. Source: Refutations to Anti-Vaccine Memes, Facebook

Another Facebook page mocking The Food Babe is The Food Hunk. He posted the following image today

Image Source: Food Hunk's Facebook Page

Moving the responses segment to a new post.

Comments

[Vincent Iannelli, MD]

To raise awareness during National Celebrity Science Denial Month, we should take some time to recognize some of the other celebrity science deniers who don't believe in vaccines.

In addition to Rob Schneider, there is:

Jenny McCarthy
Kristin Cavallari
Bill Maher
Alicia Silverstone
Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory)
Donald Trump
Charlie Sheen
Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids)

[Rowdymh]

It's like Pokémon--gotta catch them all! Good job, Vince and Liz.