The American Dream
CLIENT: BAKERRIPLEY
In 1931 a famed United States historian defined the American Dream as the pursuit of a life “better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” Unfortunately, Americans over the years have redefined the phrase to mean all kinds of things, mostly tied to prototypical suburbia: “A house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids” and such things.
Community development nonprofit BakerRipley, formerly Neighborhood Centers, has been helping immigrants find community, build lives and prosper in a multitude of ways for over 100 years. I wanted them to take back the phrase “The American Dream” and define it based on its original intent.
Controversial at first glance, the American Dream campaign pulls in viewers with curiosity. I wanted it to contain a striking revelation for a very familiar name. Fortunately, I had just purchased two large boxes of vintage clip art at an estate sale… more on that below.
My role:
Concept, creative direction, design, collaborative copywriting, community engagement components
Additional credits:
Copywriting by Sarah Gabbart
Produced while employed by The Black Sheep Agency
Advertising in the middle of the last century was known for its lack of diversity, and it's painfully evident in the hundreds of clip art booklets I purchased. I was inspired to build this campaign on the idea of rebellion against the one-dimensional imagery depicted within.
"It's not about excess. It's about access." I chopped up and painted out the old, predictable imagery of the American middle class in order to redefine it. I wrote the lettering with a giant and ridiculous marker.
The campaign's website includes a pledge to honor the redefined American dream and a photo collection. We asked people to donate a dollar to get their photo not just in this digital gallery, but to become a part of an IRL archival photo project.
American Dreams are as vastly different as the people who invent them, and so are the photos that represent each. In addition to the photo upload opportunity in the website, we also planned to release a coffee table book with details on each image.
A poster alternative — sometimes the spray paint functions as image rather than obscuring imagery.
Striking tote bags make a great conversation starter, and each of them used a different paint treatment and different clip art to produce an entire series.
For video content, we invited individuals to talk about what the American Dream means in their world, providing a different viewpoint and building empathy with our audience.