Yoko Ono in discussion with Grey’s Tim Mellors
An iconof popular culture is, once again, the focus of the Annual Grey MusicSeminar at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. YokoOno joined Grey Worldwide CEO Tim Mellors on stage for a discussionexploring the relationship between music, art and advertising.
Speaking to Cannes Lions Daily beforethe seminar, Mellors said he believed Yoko was a pioneer both as anartist and a musician. “I think that the work that Yoko did in theearly years, as an art form, could win prizes here,” Mellors said. “Ifyou take the ‘bed-in’ for example, her and John getting in a bed inToronto and Amsterdam and getting the world’s press around them, that’sexactly like the stuff I saw at the Media Lions.”
Hesaid that the striking images of John and Yoko — in white clothes,under white bed linen, contrasting with her famous thick black hair andsurrounded by posters daubed in black and white with slogans aboutlove, peace and war — are still in our consciousness today, becausethey were simple. “If you think about it, ‘Give Peace A Chance’, or’Peace Now’, or ‘War is Over’, these are all slogans that areincredibly simple, and seem very easy.”