2019-09-02 Bloomberg Businessweek

81

Tl

Thallium

(MOSTLY)

USELESS

▶WHAT’SIT LOOKLIKE?

Dullandblue-gray,thalliumis soquick

totarnishin airthatit mustbepre-

servedin oil,andsosoftit canbecut

witha sharpfingernail.

▶WHY’SIT (MOSTLY)USELESS?

Toxicity.Thalliumwasa popularrat

poisonandinsecticideingredient

until1972,whentheU.S.govern-

mentbanneditscommercialusein

rodenticides; other countries followed

suit. Thallium is so toxic it can work its

way into the body through skin—a prop-

erty that (spoiler alert!) figures into

Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse.

▶ WHAT’S IT USED FOR?

Combinedwithsulfur,it enhances

conductivityin productslikephotore-

activesensors.Combinedwithoxygen,

it enhancesrefractivityin theglassin

digitalcameralensesandfiber-optic

cables.In cardiacstresstests,a small

shotofradioactiveTl-201lightsup

hearttissueundera gammacamera.

(Untilalternativesemerge,thalliumis

perhapsmorefairlydescribedasprob-

lematicallyuseful.)

▶CANI GETSOME?

Probably.Fewerthan8,000kilograms

ofthemetalareproducedeachyear,

butglobalcoalreservesalonecontain

anestimated 630 millionkilograms.

NovaElementssellssmallnuggetsin

anargon-filledcapsulefor€49.90

($55.40).Alas,$5jarsofthallium-

infusedKoremlucrème,whichin the

1930spromisedtoremovesuperflu-

ousbodyhairwithjusta daub,areno

longeravailable.A chiefsymptomof

thalliumpoisoning,notcoincidentally,

is hairloss.

74

THALLIUM:

SPL/SCIENCE

SOURCE.

LEAD:

JACANA/SCIENCE

SOURCE.

BISMUTH:

BIOPHOTO/SCIENCE

SOURCE.

POLONIUM:

ASTRID

&HANNS-FRIEDER

MICHLER/SCIENCE

SOURCE.

ASTATINE, FROM TOP: COURTESY U.S. DOE, DIRK WIERSMA/SCIENCE SOURCE. RADON: SCIENCE SOURCE (2). FRANCIUM: MICHAEL KOSSING/FRPNC COLLABORATION

Whatwouldyouneedto

knowbeforetakingonlead

asa client?

Areyoutryingto educate

people?Oris someleadmag-

natejusttryingto clearouta

warehouseofthestuff?

Let’sstartwitha brand

refreshandletthesales

followfromthere.

In thatcase,wewouldwant

a forward-lookingapproach.

“LeadIs Life.”“LeadWith

Lead.”“Lead:TryNotto Think

AboutIt TooMuch.”

Thesecondonemightbe

toughtounderstand

in print.

Maybeit’sassim-

pleasanaccentmark

overthe“e”or“a”so

wegeta differentpro-

nunciationto makeit

forward-looking.

Walkusthrough

howyou’dpulloff

“LeadIs Life.”

Leadprotectsthehuman

body—itprotectsthegeni-

talsofhumanbeings!If you

lookatit thatway,maybelead

createslife.

Thereis a lotthat’sposi-

tiveaboutlead.It’scheap

andmalleableandtoughto

corrode.Didyouknowthat

theuniverseis alwayscre-

atingmorelead?

I didn’tknowthat.It’s

notgoingaway,somaybewe

shouldn’tignoreit.

It alsohasthehighest

atomicnumberofanysta-

bleelement.That’swhat

makesit sucha great

shieldagainstradiation.

Yeah!It’sgota highscore,

it’sgota highnumber,butit’s

justontheedgeofbeing

superdangerous. A maximum-

strength Tylenol kind of vibe.

There are plenty of exam-

ples of problematic

products in the history

of advertising—such as

cigarettes. What’s the

downside of acknowledg-

ing the dark side of lead

even more overtly?

Bad PR in the ad industry.

But isn’t the ultimate chal-

lenge for an agency to

persuade people to buy

something that’s not good

for them?

To sell the unsellable? It

feels like a slimy, old-fashioned

way to do it, to me. Marlboro

Man and [Joe] Camel are weird

pieces of pop culture that

wouldn’t have existed if people

didn’t put their morals aside.

Are you saying the adver-

tising industry has

changed?

There’s been change on

both ends; public knowledge

has also changed. (Pauses.)

With information being so read-

ily accessible, people are going

to know it’s bad for you. So

why hide it? Maybe we embrace

it. People do have a kind of

doomsday headspace right now.

Maybe embracing something

that laughs in the face of that

could be the way to go? People

are into things that are bad for

them. “Lead: Expose Yourself.”

Or “Lead: Bad to the Bone.” Or

“Lead: Hurts So Good.”

Are we talking about award-

winning advertising here?

Right now the awards

industry is pretty hot on

work that takes things to an

edgy place and makes people

uncomfortable.

Promising.Sowouldyou

takeonleadasaclient?

After reviewing the pros and

cons? Absolutely not.

◼ Thallium $4,000/ kg U.S.market

◼ Lead $2.06 / kg London Metal Exchange cash spot

By Samanth Subramanian

Element 82 has been blamed for the fall of the Roman Empire

and for driving Renaissance artists mad. It’s the stuff of bul-

lets and leaded gasoline. And it’s sparked public health crises

in Flint,Mich.,andNewark,N.J.,in recentyears,contaminating

watersuppliesandraisingbloodleadlevelsin childrenwhowere

disproportionately from poor and minority communities.

When lead binds with proteins or displaces essential metals in

the body, the effects can be catastrophic. “The beauty of lead, for

the chemist, is the fact that it can bond in a number of ways,” says

Mark Wilson, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University

ofToronto.“Thedangeroflead,forthebiologist,is thatit can

bondin a numberofways.”

Butasthechemistmightpointout,leadisn’tallbad.Lead-

basedliningsprotectyourorgansduringX-raysandshield

theenvironmentfromsomehazardousmaterials.Leadmakes

yourcrystalwineglassesstrongandsparkly and your car bat-

teryrechargeable.

Itsusefulnessis partlywhyit’sbeenpervasive.WhentheLead

IndustriesAssociationwentbankruptin 2002,citing lack of insur-

ance for litigation, no one was left to speak for the positives.

With that in mind, Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with Matt

Sorrell, creative director of ad agency Wieden+ Kennedy, to dis-

cuss whether lead’s beneficial uses couldin somewayredeem it.

The interview has been edited for length andclarity.

82

Pb

Lead By Danielle Bochove

Lead to Lèad