Oregon Humanities

Happy hour conversation series launches

Former Wieden+Kennedy creative director Jelly Helm kicks off new discussion program on consumer culture by Oregon Council for the Humanities.

16 November 2008 | Permalink

How does advertising create desire and shape identity? Is shopping a patriotic act? Is it better to buy local or buy nothing at all? These are a few of the provocative questions about consumer culture that participants in a new happy hour conversation series, Think & Drink, will tackle.
The series kicks off on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at 6:30 at rontoms, 600 E. Burnside, Portland, with Jelly Helm, former executive creative director of Wieden+Kennedy’s Portland headquarters and founder of 12, Wieden+Kennedy’s experimental in-house advertising school. Helm will discuss advertising’s role in creating desire and shaping identity.
Think & Drink, which invites the public to think and talk together, is sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH). The series reflects OCH’s emphasis on infusing important public conversations with critical thinking and fresh ideas.
OCH Program Director Jennifer Allen says, “People are hungry for meaningful public conversation, not just about the issues of the moment, but also about ideas that fundamentally shift how we think.
“But people are also incredibly busy—so Think & Drink will offer an hour of smart, provocative conversation that we hope will leave people with new questions and ideas to consider. The cocktails are optional.”
The second Think & Drink conversation on February 11, 2009, will focus on the conflicting aims of capitalism and democracy. The final conversation in the series will be held on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, and will take a critical look at local responses to consumer culture. All events will be held at rontoms in Portland.