Submit newsAdvertise & rates  22°C Johannesburg Contact us
Bizcommunity.com - Daily Marketing & Media news
Advantage Magazine  
All
NewsDigital editionAbout usContact us

24 connections
51 followers
38 following

Blog post categories

Louise Marsland

Thinking big with Advantage magazine

Louise Marsland is an independent editor, journalist, trainer, speaker and blogger in the media, marketing and advertising industry in South Africa, and a specialist in B2B media. Email her on , read her blog on Bizcommunity and follow her on Twitter at @Louise_Marsland.
All | Articles | Blogs | Profile

[Design Indaba conf] Martha Stewart flamed

By: Louise Marsland
26 Feb 2010 15:05:00

People watching the Martha Stewart twitter backchannel via the Bizcommunity Design Indaba twitterfall #designindaba. Pic by @warrenmoss

The always spectacular Design Indaba will this year be remembered, not only for the fabulous speakers such as Harry Pearce, Bruce Nussbaum, Priyush Pandey, Stefan Bucher, Mokena Makeke, etc, but for the worst presentation it's ever hosted - by famous ‘homemaker' Martha Stewart. Who will also now be credited with launching the first local "twitcom". [view twitterfall]

Delivering a presentation more suited to the Krugersdorp Vrouefederasie or the Belville Housewives Scrapbooking Circle, she managed to inspire a mass walkout in both auditoriums - practically unheard of in the history of Design Indaba, which is the industry's premier conference and expo showcase in the creative industries and an inspiration destination annually.

And so we get another twiord (twitter word): she was ‘twitter slapped' (twitapped?) by the twitterverse. Twerrible.

The complaints centred around that fact that she used her presentation as a sales pitch (given how she is about to launch her ‘Martha Stewart's Cupcakes' in South Africa) and spoke to these highly creative and key delegates with a lack of awareness that was astounding. With the likes of local agency heads and creative directors and world-renowned designers and architects in the audience, you don't talk about doing ‘glitter by numbers' pictures and show 29 pictures of yourself holding various farm life (unless that's part of your creative installation!). The laughter was cringe worthy indeed. The result was a walkout.

And suddenly the twitter stream at #designindaba flowed with incredulous disdain at her presentation, recording every bon mot and updates on how many people were walking out. It wasn't long before the mainstream media services started reporting on ‘mass walkout at Martha Stewart presentation'.

People watching the Martha Stewart twitter backchannel via the Bizcommunity Design Indaba twitterfall #designindaba. Pic by @warrenmoss

People watching the Martha Stewart twitter backchannel via the Bizcommunity Design Indaba twitterfall #designindaba. Pic by @warrenmoss.

Basically she was boring and out of touch and self-promotional. Everything that Design Indaba is not. Design Indaba is about collaboration, sustainability, social entrepreneurship, less conspicuous consumption and looking towards redesigning a new world where product has less impact on the environment. General opinion was summed up by the biting comment of MC Michael Bierut as Stewart left the stage: "Dr Craig Venter is to the human genome as Martha Stewart is to paint chips." Ouch!

The subtle quips continued through subsequent speakers in the afternoon on Friday with references to the ‘millions' to be made out of design (not) and pleas for people not to put gold glitter on their food, or anything else for that matter. Speakers following her were thanked profusely for "showing us what Design Indaba is all about" by Bierut. Groans and laughter greeted each aside.

Delegates who walked out gathered around Bizcommunity.com's live ‘twitterfall' screen outside the main auditorium which live-fed the deluge of tweets to delegates. "It was hysterical," said one executive creative director of a leading SA ad agency. "The tweets were hugely entertaining, much more so than her speech!"

Another creative director pointed out that the real story was how fantastically social media worked in this case. "People didn't like her... so they said so. That's the real story. Brilliant."

Delegates and journalists attending didn't pull any punches, with scathing references to her ‘lack of a glittering performance' and the fact that she could write a book on ‘How to clear a room', rather.

Some of the more memorable tweets:

Lynesse: martha stewart delivering an advertorial (sic) at the design indaba she sure knows how to clear a room
Iconeye: Martha Stewart's on the stage at Design Indaba. One of the freakist talks I've ever scene (sic): the combo of deep banality and ferocious ambition
Marinxs: Martha Stewart is quite oblivious to the fact that she is completely disconnected from her audience.
jadeDsantos: Apparently #Martha Stewart's hashtag went from being Design orientated to the world 1st twitter comedy!
Marklives: Smother me with a Stenciled Hawaiian Flower Cushion
marklives: God people are taking out their cellphones to follow the Twitter buzz #martha #designindaba
terrylevin: martha Stewart inadvertently becomes star of first twitcom #designindaba

Indeed.

To see most of them (not everyone used the same hashtag or any hashtag at all), go to Bing Twitter:#martha [and view Louise's own tweets at @louise_marsland as these are well-worth reading - acting editor].

Update Monday, 1 March 2010: also see Herman Manson's blog post The Martha Stewart Twitslap (in tweets)

For more:

[26 Feb 2010 15:05]


 
More options
BizLikeAdd to my favouritesSend to a friendPrint
< Back 

Amanda
Grown Ups?-
Having a newborn prevented me from visiting the conference this year so yes, I missed the Martha talk. But I am cringing at the thought of such rudeness and, I'll say it, arrogance displayed by what sounds like the majority of the audience. This all sounds so revoltingly immature to me and the behaviour of the delegates more fitting of school kids than professionals. So it was boring. So it was misguided. So it was even (from the sounds of it) a little condescending. So the hell what. Grow up and treat people with the same basic civility and respect you'd like yourself. And as for the argument that design is not about making 'millions' (aka some dosh). Oh please, what hypocrisy. I don't think Ravi is driving what he drives, living where he lives, charging what he charges for tickets, and enjoying a certain 'lifestyle' because he's doing this purely for the love of design. Are the agency heads choosing to live less materialistic lifestyles and not charging their clients ridiculous amounts because it's purely for the love of creativity? As if! Nor do many of the present and past designers have only the interests of the planet or humanity at the heart of what they do. Almost everyone is in it to make a buck and attain a lifestyle - how many of them represent or design for big companies and corporates - so stop calling the kettle black people. Anyway, bottom line is I just am finding the whole debacle terribly cringeworthy for the lack of civility it has displayed from our so-called cream of the crop of creatives. You should stop patting yourselves on the back for being so ironic and cool and above it and tapped into social media and yadda yadda yadda, and perhaps consider apologising for being so incredibly rude and immature. Posted on 27 Feb 2010 12:00
LikeReplyReport
NotTakingIt
why should we suck it up...-
Let me paint a picture for you from the perspective of someone who actually attended Design Indaba. For 3 days we listened to the most amazing speakers, people who shared their knowledge and adventures in a personal approachable manner. They shared their moments with us, in an honest way, both accomplishments and failures, taking us on a journey of how these came to be. In short they expressed what the DI is all about, sharing of information, teaching and learning, a coming together of different disciplines within the creative environment, and also reflecting on the social implications of these.

I, and many others, would feel exhausted by the end of the day from all of the content we had absorbed, but in a good way - this shows how we were so effected by the previous speakers.

Therefore it was a complete shock when Martha walked on to the stage lacking in warmth and substance. We sat there with our notepads out, pens in hand, ready to take notes and learn from her. Instead our notepads remained blank while Martha took us through slides of what magazines she sells, how many houses she owns etc. It felt like one long infomercial, of how wonderful and rich she is - she was essentially trying to sell herself to us, and we as designers, who are a part of that world, weren't buying, we already know who she is, the details of what kind of media she is involved with etc. I can find that same information she spoke of in a 10 second google search - that's not what thousands of people have payed thousand of rands for. She didn't seem to understand the context in which she was speaking, we're not American housewives hungry for her next cupcake recipe - we are an intelligent, creative crowd begging to be challenged, to be inspired. And glittering a ham doesn't quite cut it. As well as assuming an extreme lack of knowledge of things such as twitter etc.

We as an audience felt insulted by her approach and extreme lack of effort. So in short, you have no right to judge those who decided to remove themselves from the venue. Arrogant, rude, not respectful, no - Her presentation was an insult to us, to our intelligence as well as to the other speakers, who gave so much of themselves within their presentations - and frankly we have that right to walk out of the venue, we felt unsatisfied, frustrated and angry, rightfully so, and expressed this by leaving the venue. We gave up of our time, from work, from studies to attend these lectures, and if she couldn't take the time to prepare a presentation especially targeted towards the DI audience, and instead used one that felt like it fell off a conveyor belt on a production line, then why should we sacrifice our time to her. Where we could instead use our time to view the amazing work by the people putting their sweat into showcasing their work at the expo.

Frankly I pat myself on the back for lasting 30 mins before walking out. And the only reason I lasted that long is because I sat there desperately hoping for my sake, as well as Martha's, that some form of content would emerge, but it didn't. I actually think it's a wonderful thing that people who felt the need to, actually walked out, instead of sucking it up - you shouldn't have to, we are taught to suck it up when it comes to so many things in this world, especially when it comes to people who are perceived to be in a position of power.

So no, we are not rude. Posted on 27 Feb 2010 22:31
LikeReplyReport
We paid good money for those tickets.-
We had the right to walk out. Should we have sat through the most superficial and boring presentation ever, just to be polite? I think not. Well done delegates on making your feelings known. Posted on 1 Mar 2010 14:39
LikeReplyReport
BvR
Oh Please!-
No! What was rude, was Martha Stewart thinking it was ok to present such rubbish to a room with that kind of intellectual capacity! She had no idea who she was speaking to- ignorance on her part! I was there, sat through the whole self-absorbed speech, those that got up and left were justified in doing so.... Posted on 3 Mar 2010 13:55
LikeReplyReport
After the Martha-
Glitter my genome! Posted on 27 Feb 2010 14:09
LikeReplyReport
Unsurprising-
If you are boring your audience or not meeting their expectations, don't be surprised if they leave. This is not uniquely South African. I've been to conventions in the USA where it is accepted that people will move from one panel discussion to another if they find the first does not meet their expectations. Posted on 27 Feb 2010 16:01
LikeReplyReport
SickOfYou
you don't get it...-
You don't seem to get the fact that she didn't actually talk about creativity uplifting communities or people. She spoke about how many magazines she has launched, how much money they are making her. She spoke about how many houses she has, how popular she is in America. She didn't mention South Africa and how the people can be lifted through this. She didn't speak about how her work in the US was uplifting people. You don't get that fact - that she claimed to speak about that - but in fact, didn't. That is why people are so pissed off, because she said she was going to speak about these things, but didn't touch on them at all. Posted on 28 Feb 2010 14:00
LikeReplyReport
Leanne-
Hey Amanda, at least they didn't boo her off the stage :-) Posted on 1 Mar 2010 16:18
LikeReplyReport
Thank you-
Thank you for removing Keen Observers comments. Posted on 1 Mar 2010 16:34
LikeReplyReport
StingB
Dear Keen Observer-
Thank you for passing judgement on South Africans in general. As you so childlishly "observed" we have the legacy of apartheid in our history. What that means to us is that we have overcome our past and are moving democratically towards the future. We take our democracy seriously. The result is that we vote with our feet when we feel patronised by American billionaires who tell us about her kitsch glitter painting kits and 5 houses.

We like to learn valuable lessons and we have no time to spend slavishly adoring someone who did not have the courtesy to research her audience.

I suspect that had you been at the event, you might have observed delegates of all races leaving Martha's promotional piece in droves.

Please don't visit our country - we don't like prejudiced people. Posted on 2 Mar 2010 16:13
LikeReplyReport
LMAO-
Beeeeuutiful!

I would not have been so polite, or so kind. Posted on 2 Mar 2010 17:44
LikeReplyReport
keen observer
Thinking big...-
"Louise Marsland
Thinking big with Advantage magazine"

Why the deletion of all my posted comments? Is that thinking big...

Note: this comment has been moderated. Posted on 3 Mar 2010 12:25
LikeReplyReport
Simone Puterman: editor-at-large
Offensive and inappropriate comments not tolerated-
"The maintainer does retain the right to remove any message posts for whatever reasons. People that post messages to this forum are not to libel/slander nor in any other way depict a company, entity, individual(s), or service in a false light; should they do so, the legal consequences are theirs alone."

This includes hate speech and racism. Keep it clean.

Simone Puterman
Acting Editor: Bizcommunity.com Posted on 3 Mar 2010 14:02
LikeReplyReport
Klown
Who's paying "Keen Observer"?-
Thanks all for your comments. It's been a blast, none of which would have been possible without KO.

I too was at DI and sat through the Martha show in the optimistic hope that maybe she just needed to warm up. Anyway, I have read loads of comments and forums in the wake of Martha and guess whose name keeps popping up...

You're backing the wrong horse, KO. Are you part of Martha's entourage? Posted on 3 Mar 2010 14:10
LikeReplyReport
keen observer
Speaking truth to power-
It is appalling and deplorable that the media in SA have engaged in a media assault upon Martha with distortions and misrepresentations and deplorably rationalize, condone and support incivility toward an invited guest to the country, which cannot be excused or justified in any shape or form.

An adjective that accurately describes the incivility which is attached to the nationality of the individual engaged in such incivility cannot be "offensive and inappropriate" unless the incivility itself is "offensive and inappropriate." So, through censorship, it is affirmed that the incivility shown to an invited guest to this company was offensive and inappropriate.

SA has a unique history for which it was condemned, sanctioned, and isolated by the world. Is the name of that history "offensive and inappropriate" or "hate speech and racism"? Censoring such historical name is simply an act of repudiation.

During that history unique only to SA, peoples lives were taken, and there is a legal term that describes that taking of life. Is that legal term attached to the history "offensive and inapproriate" or "hate speech and racism"? Censoring such legal term is simply an act of repudiation.

The truth relating to conduct in SA in the past and present is obviously unbearable and intolerable. So censorship is used in denial of the truth.

It is bizarre that my "offensive and inappropriate" posted comments were trashed but the responses were not also trashed.

keen observer is simply speaking truth to power - nothing more, nothing less.

Martha made an excellent presentation relating to her business model, which embodied "a better world through creativity" and directly related to creating jobs and a better standard of living for the poor. The response of incivility has absolutely nothing to do with her excellent presentation. All of the distortions and misrepresentations on her presentation are completely baseless to an intelligent mind.

At Design Indaba, incivility toward an invited guest to the country trashed the reputation of SA and its people. Posted on 3 Mar 2010 16:13
LikeReplyReport
Klown
Delusional-
KO, after reading your second-last paragraph it is clear to me that you are suffering a mild form of PTSD. Martha's presentation was wholly inappropriate.

I do think those who chose to leave mid-glitter were rude and reflects poorly on them but let's not kid ourselves....the woman sucked, and I felt for her because she wasn't taking any hints.

As I read some other comment somewhere, the DI delegates are by and large a sophisticated bunch and frankly, we couldn't give a cr@p about the latest glitter range. Posted on 3 Mar 2010 17:56
LikeReplyReport
Kyle
You are wrong Mate-
You think you are the only one being censored? All my responses to your nonsense have been trashed, because Simone and whoever is moderating can't see the wood for the tree's.

There is a fine line between tolerating fair comment in a polite manner, and trashing commentary that reeks of bias, prejudice and hypocrisy in it's own right.

As someone that was not even at the design indaba, I am feeling a little peeved and vexed with your constant nagging posts that suggest you are actually trying to make some point here? All I am reading between your lines is the same hateful rhetoric you are trying to denounce.

Bizcommunity is a resource to me, that I like to visit, and stay in touch with the news, and not have to put up with all the cheap-shot poisoness sniping coming from your IP address.

let it go, move on, and allow these boards to be used for what they are intended for. Posted on 3 Mar 2010 18:07
LikeReplyReport
keen observer
Design Indaba 2010-
"The darlings of 2009 Design Indaba were back, suggesting we change our relationship with food, focusing on the hunting of abundant urban food sources such as rat, pigeon, cockroach, starlings, snails and weeds - showing cleverly design hunting accoutrements, the funniest of which was the cobble print cape which allows you to be camouflaged in city squares where pigeons hang out."

So that is the vision of the "sophisticated bunch" for "a better world through creativity" for people living in poverty in SA. They should change their "relationship with food" and hunt "rat, pigeon, cockroach, starlings, snails and weeds." The "hunting accoutrements" were cleverly designed for the "sophisticated bunch," who were all bent out of shape over "glitter" and the joking "glittered ham." Yet in "glitter" and the "glittered ham" resides "a better world through creativity" with jobs and a better standard of living for the poor in SA, but only the intelligent mind cares and can comprehend this.

What an absolute joke and "laughing stock" Design Indaba is to the intelligent mind - be "creative," hunt "rat, pigeon, cockroach, starlings, snails and weeds" for a "better world."

I wonder... what could Martha, coming from the west, have presented about "rat, pigeon, cockroach, starlings, snails and weeds"? "Creative" cooking of "rat, pigeon, cockroach, starlings, snails and weeds" for a "better world"? Posted on 4 Mar 2010 08:09
LikeReplyReport
Patrick
A far cry from Mount Nelson 1995-
After attending the first Design Indaba in the mid 90s
at the Mount Nelson. Which was a intimate affair with
mainly local speakers form the graphic design and advertising industry.

At the time we all realised how much every one in
South Africa had suffered during the apartheid laager.
Being isolated from the rest of the world inside the apartheid
state prevented the kind of Indaba now possible.

But it seems that the Indaba may now have lost some of its original purpose. Because now it appears to be more about just money and crowd pulling. And soon they will just be vending toffee apples and candy floss. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 11:15
LikeReplyReport
It is unfortunate.. for both parties-
That is why I think that people "voting with their feet" when it came to Martha's talk was actually an important step in showing the organizers of the Indaba that people are not there to buy into the idea of celebrity. Hopefully they will learn from this experience, and rather concentrate on the merit and talent of the speakers in their ability to teach and inspire delegates, in the right way. The Martha incident was unfortunate. Unfortunate that she wasn't prepared, for what ever reasons, to talk about appropriate matters to the crowd before her. And unfortunate that people felt the need to walk out of the venue, because I'm sure that no one actually wanted to have to walk out - I know that I didn't. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 15:49
LikeReplyReport
Very Sad-
The saddest and most disappointing part of a forum is when those asking for comment are the ones doing the censoring. Debate is supposed to have two sides.

No matter how bad she was or wasn't, it was rude of people to walk out. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 11:27
LikeReplyReport
In this case it was necessary-
I think that the censoring on this forum of KO comments was necessary as he was essentially spewing hate speech towards South Africans in general - which is totally unacceptable. Rubbing something as painful as the apartheid in our faces is disgusting behaviour. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 15:51
LikeReplyReport
keen observer
End Design Indaba-
"Hopefully they will learn from this experience"
The time has come for Design Indaba to come to an end. It has no relevance to the real world and accomplishes nothing. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 18:26
LikeReplyReport
keen observer
Spewing...Rubbing...-
"spewing hate speech towards South Africans in general - which is totally unacceptable. Rubbing something as painful as the apartheid in our faces is disgusting behaviour."

Absolute distortion and misrepresentation; just like with Martha. "Spewing hate speech" on her presentation and "disgusting behaviour" describe the appalling incivility shown to an invited guest to the country who came in friendship to make a contribution to a "better world through creativity."

Censorship is one of democracy's worse enemies. Posted on 4 Mar 2010 18:43
LikeReplyReport
hklm
checking-
alert("HKLM") Posted on 17 Aug 2010 15:11
LikeReplyReport
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This Message Board accepts no liability of legal consequences that arise from the Message Boards (e.g. defamation, slander, or other such crimes). All posted messages are the sole property of their respective authors. The maintainer does retain the right to remove any message posts for whatever reasons. People that post messages to this forum are not to libel/slander nor in any other way depict a company, entity, individual(s), or service in a false light; should they do so, the legal consequences are theirs alone. Bizcommunity.com will disclose authors' IP addresses to authorities if compelled to do so by a court of law.

Recent posts

More

Tags

2010 Design Indaba Adrian Gore Advantage Advantage magazine Affinity Publishing attributes of success BB4B Bizcommunuty.com buzz words Cannes Lions collaboration community building Design Indaba Design Indaba 2010 Design Indaba conference digital integration Discovery Discovery Invest Discovery Invest Leadership Summit green innovation integration Louise Marsland Lucky Malcolm Gladwell Martha Stewart Mathews Phosa mission-based marketing Shaun Tomson
Advertise with us
Advertise & RatesMy Account
Company press officeList company
Recruitment packagesSubmit job ad
Download ratecard

Subscribe

Receive free email newsletter

Make us your homepageAdd us to your favoritesRSS feedGet biz on your phoneFollow us

Invite

Tell a friend about us

Advertise
Join us

ADSL & Web hosting proudly provided by Afrihost. All rights reserved. © 2013. Bizcommunity.com, its sponsors, contributors and advertisers disclaim all liability for any loss, damage, injury or expense that might arise from the use of, or reliance upon, the services contained herein. Privacy policy, Terms of Use, PAIA.