{"id":10994,"date":"2024-03-14T03:49:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T03:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/?p=10994"},"modified":"2024-03-14T03:49:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T03:49:37","slug":"len-sirowitz-whose-bold-offbeat-ads-captured-an-era-dies-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/2024\/03\/14\/len-sirowitz-whose-bold-offbeat-ads-captured-an-era-dies-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Len Sirowitz, Whose Bold, Offbeat Ads Captured an Era, Dies at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Len Sirowitz, an award-winning advertising art director whose creative work in the 1960s included memorable print ads for the Volkswagen Beetle \u2014 like one declaring, \u201cUgly is only skin-deep\u201d \u2014 and a campaign for Mobil in which a car was dropped off a 10-story building to make a point about the perils of speeding, died on March 4 at his home in Manhattan. He was 91.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His daughter, Laura Sirowitz, confirmed the death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sirowitz joined the influential Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency, known as DDB, in 1959, at 27, and spent the next 11 years at the firm conceiving the look of ads for numerous accounts with wit and passion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">\u201c<\/em>It was quite early in my career that I began to realize that my message needed to not only be bold and daring, but it must stem from the truth \u2026 and touch people\u2019s emotions,\u201d he told Dave Dye, who runs the advertising blog <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/davedye.com\/2015\/03\/10\/dear-lenny\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">From the Loft<\/a>, in 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Volkswagen was perhaps Mr. Sirowitz\u2019s most important account, and the homely Beetle, nicknamed the \u201cBug,\u201d was his and copywriter Robert Levenson\u2019s automotive muse. Their collaborations for the German car maker included the ad \u201cWill We Ever Kill the Bug?\u201d in which they positioned a Beetle turned on its roof, like a dead bug. The answer to the question: \u201cNever.\u201d (Though, after a few shots of the car, its roof collapsed.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The pair also devised an ad that showed a motley Beetle constructed of green and beige fenders, a blue hood and a turquoise door, which were cobbled together from models between 1958 and 1964. The ad stressed the ease with which owners could find parts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Sara Lee, Mr. Sirowitz and Mr. Levenson created a TV commercial in which people dealt with annoyances like haircuts and traffic jams, then consoled themselves with a piece of the company\u2019s cake, introducing a soon-to-be enduring jingle: \u201cEverybody doesn\u2019t like something \/ But nobody doesn\u2019t like Sara Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Mobil\u2019s public service newspaper and TV ads about highway safety, Mr. Sirowitz illustrated how crashing at 60 miles per hour would have the same impact as a car dropping from 10 stories. \u201cAnd it will get you to exactly the same place \u2014 the morgue,\u201d the narrator said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another TV ad for Mobil showed a couple canoodling in a car as the man drives against the blinding lights of oncoming traffic, eventually leading to a crash. A narrator says: \u201cWe at Mobil sell gasoline and oil. We\u2019re in favor of driving and love, but not at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And for the Better Vision Institute, an association of lens and frame manufacturers, Mr. Sirowitz produced dozens of promotions that ran in Life magazine persuading people to have their eyes examined more often. One particularly dramatic ad ran in all-black with copy by Leon Meadows reading, \u201cThis is how yellow daisies in a green pasture against a blue sky look to many Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1189og3 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-1ybnr6m ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Another of Mr. Sirowitz\u2019s ads for the Better Vision Institute, many of which ran in Life magazine. He was heralded for his creativity and innovation in such campaigns.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Doyle Dane Bernbach for Better Vision Institute<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bob Isherwood, a former worldwide creative director of Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, called Mr. Sirowitz a \u201chero art director\u201d for his flow of fresh ideas and different approaches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was just an idea that he put on the page,\u201d he said in a phone interview. \u201cWhen you see ads like that you think, \u2018Oh, God, I wish I had done that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Leonard Sirowitz was born on June 25, 1932, in Brooklyn. His father, Abraham Sirowitz, immigrated from Ukraine in 1905 and held various jobs, including taxi driver and jewelry polisher. His mother, Sadie (Schoenwetter) Sirowitz, ran the home.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1189og3 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-1ybnr6m ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Len Sirowitz in 1985. He was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame the same year, with his work described as \u201cintelligent and human.\u201d<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">via Sirowitz Family<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sirowitz\u2019s passion for drawing led to studies at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan at age 12 and, two years later, his acceptance to the High School of Music and Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music &amp; Art and Performing Arts). There, he met his future wife, Myrna Florman, a music student known as Mickey, when he was 17 and she was 14.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sirowitz graduated in 1953 from the Pratt Institute, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in advertising. He spent the next two years in the Army, mostly at Fort Dix in New Jersey, and he married Miss Florman during his service in January 1955. She survives him, along with his daughter; a son, Michael; and one grandson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After his Army discharge, Mr. Sirowitz worked at the L.W. Frohlich pharmaceutical ad agency as well as Grey Advertising, CBS and Channel 13, the public TV station in New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to working for DDB\u2019s commercial clients like Sony, where Mr. Sirowitz created a whimsical campaign based on the portability of its four-inch-wide TV, he also took on political causes as a volunteer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A full-page newspaper ad in 1965 for the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy showed a cockroach against a white background with the headline: \u201cThe Winner of World War III.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another ad in 1968, for the Coalition for a Democratic Alternative, carried, in giant letters, the headline \u201cFor what?\u201d Below it, text by Dave Reider, a copywriter, described the hopelessness of the Vietnam War, demanded that President Lyndon B. Johnson step down and argued for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/12\/11\/us\/eugene-j-mccarthy-senate-dove-who-jolted-68-race-dies-at-89.html\" title=\"\">Senator Eugene McCarthy<\/a> of Minnesota to be the Democratic nominee for president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sirowitz was DDB\u2019s senior vice president and associate creative director when he left in 1970 to form his own agency, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1970\/01\/30\/archives\/advertising-agency-tries-new-approach.html\" title=\"\">Harper Rosenfeld Sirowitz<\/a> as co-chairman and co-creative director. (It was renamed numerous times over the years.) By then he had been voted art director of the year for 1968 and 1970 in national polls by Ad Weekly. He was inducted into the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oneclub.org\/adc-hall-of-fame\/-bio\/len-sirowitz\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1985<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His agency\u2019s clients included Swissair, McDonald\u2019s, Smith Corona and Royal Caribbean Cruises. Still, in 1995, the firm closed after losing several accounts, and Mr. Sirowitz <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1995\/02\/28\/business\/media-business-advertising-young-shop-finds-another-voice-experience-hiring.html\" title=\"\">joined the agency Ryan Drossman &amp; Partners<\/a> as vice chairman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He soon retired and returned to the Art Students League, where he drew large-format, charcoal nude portraits four days a week until the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI strive for bold, dramatic interpretations of the model\u2019s pose, drawn with spontaneous sweeping lines, and most importantly it should be part of a strong, well-designed composition,\u201d he told the institution\u2019s magazine, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/theartstudentsleague.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/8_2012_Winter_Lines1.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lines from the League<\/a>, in its 2012-13 issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His composition style came through clearly in his ad campaigns, including one in 1991 for America West Airlines, in which he cast the improvisational comedian <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/13\/arts\/television\/jonathan-winters-comedian-dies-at-87.html\" title=\"\">Jonathan Winters<\/a> \u2014 looking tough and wearing camouflage \u2014 in a parody of Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who had recently commanded U.S. troops in the Gulf War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/05\/09\/business\/the-media-business-stormin-jonathan-s-mission-is-to-rescue-america-west.html\" title=\"\">ad declared<\/a>, \u201cAnnouncing Air Superiority for Civilians,\u201d and offered airfares discounted by up to 40 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The campaign, however, was rebuked by the organization Veterans of Foreign Wars for being in poor taste, and America West soon after filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo me, great advertising should make your palms sweat,\u201d Mr. Sirowitz told The Associated Press. \u201cAmerica West is the smallest of the major airlines. We wanted to do to the kind of advertising that would put them on the map in one fell swoop.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Len Sirowitz, an award-winning advertising art director whose creative work in the 1960s included memorable print ads for the Volkswagen Beetle \u2014 like one declaring, \u201cUgly is only skin-deep\u201d \u2014 and a campaign for Mobil in which a car was dropped off a 10-story building to make a point about the perils of speeding, died<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10996,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10994\/revisions\/10996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptosphere.one\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}