Ad guru attacks outsourcing, seeks to save jobs

• Made in America movement embraced by ad hotshot Alex Bogusky
• He wants folks to buy just 5%25 more things made in America
• This would create about 1 million more American jobs%2C he says

The made-in-America movement has an unlikely new best friend bound to give it buzz.

Alex Bogusky, the ad agency legend who just 10 months ago chastised Coca-Cola with a polar bear mocking video that went viral, is at it again — this time creating a video that urges folks to buy American-made stuff.

On Tuesday, this unusual video for the Made Movement — which asks consumers to buy one additional American-made item in every 20, or so, products they purchase — will be introduced at a press conference in New York City. This simple action, Bogusky says, would result in 1 million new jobs for Americans.

"The pledge is really a pinky-swear, not some legal document," says Bogusky, 50, who, shortly after being named the ad industry's creative director of the decade by Adweek magazine, walked away from the ad business three years ago to become a full-time consumer advocate.

If the made-in-America pledge video goes viral, Bogusky expects it to be viewed by up to 10 million Americans — five times the number that saw his satiric video last year for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, that showed animated polar bears suffering an array of ailments after drinking sugar-laden soft drinks.

The way Bogusky figures it, buying things made in the USA is no longer some sort of right-wing, patriotic cause. Far from it, he says, the act of buying American helps save U.S. jobs, the environment — and foreign workers from exploitation.

"There's hippie value now to Made in America," he says. "Red, white and blue are the new green."

The video prods people to more closely examine products for the "Made in USA" label. "Sometimes, even if you think a brand is American, even if there's an American flag on the package, it might not be made here," Bogusky advises in the video. "You have to pay attention."

In the video, he also asks viewers to share it with two friends.

The 3½-minute video, to be posted on YouTube and on the millionjobsproject.us website, took nearly seven months to make, says Bogusky, primarily because virtually everyone involved donated their time. "I could have made this in five days in my old world," Bogusky says. "But when you rely on the kindness of strangers, it takes longer."

The video cost just $7,000 to make, he says. He saved money by hiring no actors — instead, starring in it himself.

That, says brand guru Peter Madden, is the problem. "The intent of what Alex is trying to do is fantastic," says Madden. "Though revered in the ad community, Alex Bogusky is not a household name. Without a heavy hitter like Bill Clinton," says Madden, "I'm not certain this is going to catch fire."

Bogusky says he knows that. "I'm terrible at this stuff," he says. "I need George Clooney to do the next one."