Japanese advertising turns to the fembots

The old-fashioned notion still circulating in U.S. advertising agencies is that commercial actors should be, if not likable, at least human. In Japan, they feel differently. There, the job of making viewers feel relaxed, trusting and happy sometimes falls to creepy, fake-smiling fembots—as demonstrated in the above commercial from healthcare company Kincho. In the spot, a humanoid robot named Actroid DER-2, who is already something of a celebrity among simulated-life nerds, sprays on some Kincho sunscreen—and wow, it doesn’t cause her latex skin to bubble, or her stiff, lifeless body to short-circuit at all! Android testimonials are still rare in the U.S., although Bishop from Aliens may still have a shot at scoring that “Got milk?” commercial. Via Spare Room.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Freaky, Nudd, Robots

Welcome to my brand-new search engine

Everybody's doing Cuil better than Cuil. Some Yahoo! nerd built Yuil, which I'm too lazy to try, but TechCrunch says the parody site returns better search results than Cuil, and that’s good enough for me. So, now it’s my turn. I’m launching Fuil! Pronounce it “fool.” You know why. Look, I’m fed up that everyone else is in line for big bucks with their sucky search applications. Give me some money. What? How does my search engine perform? Well, it’s actually the first offline search engine, so you can’t test it from where you are. Which makes it about as useful as Cuil. Can I have some money now? As an extra incentive, I’ll throw in my oops-not-work-friendly site Tuil. It’s pretty wild stuff, trust me. So, where’s my money?!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Costa Rica beer kicks Bud while it's down

Y&R Irvine has no designs on Anheuser-Busch business, judging by the dismissive opinion of the St. Louis brewer offered in Y&R’s new ads for Costa Rica’s Imperial beer. Even now that it’s a Belgian beer, Budweiser gets no respect. Via Adland.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Listerine and advertising's other lying liars

If you thought Enzyte's promise to make your penis bigger was club-footed false advertising, wait until you see Mental Floss’s list of shameless false-advertising schemes. The biggest offender is Listerine, which claimed its product treated basically every ailment under the sun in 1921, and was still saying it was better than dental floss in 2005. (It also invented halitosis so it could then cure it, but that isn’t mentioned.) Really, the whole list could have been about Listerine. Aside from Amoco’s ridiculous claim that its gasoline is “crystal clear,” everything else on the list is either an old-time medical bamboozle (Lydia Pickham’s Vegetable Compound, Dr. Koch’s Cure All), homeopathic crap that never works (Airborne), or a non-sequitur (a trick wedding). We’re surprised they left out the “Animal Care Certified” bruhaha, actually.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Girlicious ain't fit for a catchphrase, Blayne

Project Runway has started up again, and in the very first episode, the very orange Blayne stole the show by trying to create his own catch phrase: “girlicious.” Blayne, we all know you want to be as fierce as Christian, but it’s so not working. Trying to come up with a successful catch phrase is hard enough for advertising professionals. If you get one famous tagline in a lifetime, Blayne, you’re lucky. You can’t just go on and say any old crap over and over again until it sticks. It’s not even original, girl, so just get out! Copywriting is waaaay more complicated that that. You have to know how to write like people talk and exactly how to spell your portmanteau. It’s a carefully honed skill where you know that strappleberry is inherently better than applestraw or strawple or apstrable or strizzapple. You don’t see us copywriters up there on Project Runway, making dresses out of jump-rope with what looks like a diaper attached to the front, do you? I don’t think so!

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Duchovny now taking whatever he's given

With the shockingly poor box-office performance of The X-Files: I Want to Believe killing off the last vestige of his '90s superstardom (Californication doesn't count—no one watches that!), David Duchovny needed a fallback position. And he’s found it, appearing in Toth Brand Imaging’s upcoming national print campaign for sportswear company Johnston & Murphy. D.D. joins B-listers Ziggy Marley, BMX rider Mat Hoffman and ex-football player Tiki Barber as J&M pitchmen. The text of the ads reads, “Johnston, Murphy & Duchovny,” just in case people don’t recognize the not-so-gracefully aging former anchor of Fox’s Sunday night lineup. Mass acclaim, global recognition and big endorsements are still out there, but the truth is, it could take a self-deprecating “elder statesman” role on an HBO drama or—sigh—the “Daddy” part on a CW sitcom to jump-start any Shatner-esque comeback. On the plus side, Gillian Anderson’s still hot!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under David Duchovny, Gianatasio

Connecticut wants you to do it in the dark

Mintz & Hoke's new campaign for the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (George Orwell would approve of that name) says I should “Wait until dark” to use major appliances. That way, I’ll reduce harmful emissions and relieve the strain on the state’s power grid. The only problem is—ouch!—I can’t find the light switch, so I keep bumping into things. Guess I’ll just follow the sound of the rinsing, spinning and agitating ... hey wait, I don’t own a washing machine. I don’t even live in Connecticut! Either I’ve wandered into a very dark laundromat or I’m having that recurring nightmare where I wash my clothes at night to conserve energy. And I forgot to study for that big test tomorrow! And I’m only wearing underwear because the rest of my clothes are in the wash!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Ruby Tuesday determined to blow itself up

Unlike some of its casual-dining brethren, Ruby Tuesday figures it's better to burn out than fade away. With that in mind, the chain is planning to destroy one of its restaurants next Tuesday in a glorious, self-defeating explosion that will be broadcast live on its Web site. Technically, the stunt, coordinated by ad agency BooneOakley, is meant to usher in a new beginning for the chain, with an ad campaign tagged “It’s a brand new Tuesday.” But it feels more like a grand statement about the category generally. (Bennigan’s probably regrets closing its locations meekly in the middle of the night instead of sending them sky-high.) Teasers for the Ruby detonation include newspaper ads with copy shaped like a bomb. (With any luck, those ads will not be running anywhere near Boston.) There’s also a countdown clock on the Web site, but it’s only counting in days, hours and seconds—they forgot to include minutes. Our advice: stay away from this detonation site at all costs.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Kelly Preston is not an advertising agency

When Minneapolis ad agency Kerker decided to change its name as part of a rebranding effort, the top brass chose to rename the shop after themselves. One problem: The owner is Chuck Kelly, and the creative chief is Chris Preston. And John Travolta’s wife kind of has a lock on the name Kelly Preston. Undaunted, they moved forward with Preston Kelly. Minneapolis-based blog the daily (ad) biz joked yesterday that Chuck Kelly had to swallow his pride and put his name last for the greater good of the company. “Ego comes second to looking ridiculous,” the blog noted, “at least in this case.” Showing that he’s a man of good humor, Chuck Kelly responded on the agency’s site today by linking to the daily (ad) biz item and saying, “Now you know the real story about how my ego almost caused the agency to be named Kelly Preston.” For the record, the agency execs probably have a better claim to the name than the actress, who was born Kelly Kamalelehua Palzis. Which, come to think of it, would make an awesome name for a new shop.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Tibet ad seeks shining moment at Games

We're accustomed to Olympics-themed ads that urge the athletes on to victory. It's a sign of how unusual things are this year that a full-page ad ran this week in The New York Times urging at least one athlete to “speak up for Tibet.” Placed by a group called Students for a Free Tibet and its allies in the International Tibet Support Network, the ad directed athletes/readers to a Web site, which in turn suggested ways they could display solidarity with Tibet while at the Games. Among the proposed methods: shaving one’s head (in tribute to “the thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns who have been killed or jailed leading nonviolent protests in their homeland”), raising the Tibetan flag or dedicating a medal to Tibet. If nothing else, the possibility of such actions will add suspense to the often-tedious medal ceremonies.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Hot dogs will show your children no mercy

Keep your kids away from the terrifying hot dogs! That's the message of this PSA from the Cancer Project, a group that wants all processed meats—which apparently increase one’s risk for cancer over the long term—removed from school lunches. Of course, hot dogs aren’t exactly Joker-caliber villains, so the ad tries to act tough in a different way: by having the kids straight-talk about the cancer they will suffer later in life. Which only serves to remind us yet again how annoying the kids-talking-like-adults advertising gimmick has become. These PSAs are airing in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Pepper ads are missing a few good doctors

Far be it from me to question Julius Erving's medical credentials, but we'd love to know the scientific procedure that was used to determine that Dr Pepper needs to be consumed slowly, as the former NBA great suggests in this new ad. Same goes for Dr. Frasier Crane, who dishes out similar advice on his radio show in another ad. Both spots are part of a big new campaign touting the drink’s 23 flavors. How many fake doctors does it take to come up with 23 synonyms for “sugar”? Sadly, two of the field’s brightest stars have burnt out: Dr. Zachary Smith could have made awkward, possibly gay advances toward Dr Pepper to test its potency, and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson could have just blown up cases of the stuff with homemade explosives. No amount of slow-motion three-pointers could match that.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Google bullying new kid on search block?

Lacking any semblance of a life, I decided to compare Google and Cuil. I did the most basic (read: lazy) test possible by typing each search engine’s name into its rival’s window. The top Cuil hit for Google was the Google homepage. In fact, the first half-dozen results yielded parts of Google’s site. When I typed Cuil into Google, however, it spit back a bunch of news stories at the top, before the Cuil homepage link. The top story was an unflattering eWeek item: “Cuil Needs Time, Users to Fight Google,” followed by stories headlined “Cuil Is Cold” and “Google Is Cooler Than Cuil.” Not wanting to give in to conspiracy theories, I tried again 12 hours later. At about 7 this morning, the top Google hit was another news story: “Google Should Take Privacy Lessons From Cuil.” Only one interpretation is possible: Google wants to remind us that it knows all and will share our information whenever it likes with whomever it chooses if we are disloyal and use Cuil, which sucks, according to Google, and Google, knowing all, couldn’t be wrong. So let me close by saying: Forgive me, master, for straying from the path! Big G will probably accept my panicky apology ... unless they research my thoughts on Sergey Brin. I sure hope they don’t Google.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Kim Kardashian loves her some McDonald's

The Big Mac celebrated its 40th birthday in Malibu over the weekend by partying with a couple of twentysomethings: Lauren Conrad and Kim Kardashian, who, as Egotastic points out, forgot the “No shoes, no shirt, no service” policy. Paris Hilton was not around, perhaps due to her preference for In-N-Out Burger. In other McDonald’s news, police in the Philippines are planning to convert their patrol cars to run on a mixture of diesel and used cooking oil from McDonald’s. We're thinking Adrants won’t be as interested in that story.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8)
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Unusually red tomatoes, you'll be missed

Bennigan's filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection today and is closing more than 300 locations, probably because the food is terrible. And yet the chain can look back with pride on this old commercial, which made fun of casual dining’s one-note approach to food advertising. If nothing else, Bennigan’s gave us some great shots of sizzling steaks, succulent shrimp, crisp veggies—and more often than not, “a guy that’s eating food.” UPDATE: Gianatasio adds: I can’t help feeling that the chain’s ill-tempered leprechaun was ultimately to blame. Sure, he was disturbing and offensive, but he was also a rebel who played by his own rules and wasn’t afraid to use violence to make his point. Much like John McCain. Raise a wee dram to the angry green hellion! R.I.P., Fergus!

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Gianatasio, Nudd

Whoa, these jimmies are freaking me out!

Zimmerman Advertising likens its "Ice Cream World" spot for Friendly's to Willy Wonka. But the trippy imagery, vague malevolence and sing-along Friendly-ness remind me more of early-’70s fast-food commercials. Like this spot from McDonald’s, with its world of talking burgers and French-fry patches. It would’ve been cool in a nudge-wink way if Friendly’s had cast Donovan, Grace Slick or some other has-been drug-culture icons to play parents—excuse me, grandparents—in the spot. No such luck. We do get bleachers of gummi bears, peanut-butter Frisbees and banana-split boats. Which isn’t so bad, considering what the view from an actual Friendly’s typically looks like. Usually someplace like Bridgeport, Conn., or Springfield, Mass. Sure, the rivers are chocolate-colored, but that’s where the similarity ends. Fudgie the whale’s back, too. Yeah, he swims the whipped-cream seas for Carvel, but a chocolate ice cream whale would fit in at the Friendly’s freakout.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Radar shows off its favorite party animals

We don't visit Radar Online that much since their 2006 report (and breathless e-mail to us) that Justin Long was being dumped from Apple’s ad campaign. (As of July '08, that remains not the case.) But what do you know, they’re still going strong—and they even have a splashy new ad campaign launching from New York agency Walrus. In addition to the fun-loving DUI Bunny shown here, the campaign’s other mythical beasts are the Plastic Surgery Fairy, who both inflicts and suffers bodily harm, and the Intolerance Bug, a DJ whose colorful outfit includes a Confederate-flag cape, swastika armbands and a Klansman’s pointy hat. All that’s missing is Exclusive Claus, a shadowy figure who is supposed to deliver scoops but who doesn’t really exist. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Freaky, Nudd

BK's 'Dark Knight' ad looks awfully familiar

Burger King's ads are as recycled as its food. This is according to the observant bloggers at Den of Geek, who noticed that BK’s new spot for the Dark Whopper, a sandwich “inspired by The Dark Knight,” is awfully similar to a previous ad for a previous Dark Whopper, back when it was “inspired by Spider-Man 3.” Oh well. Their taste in summer movies has improved—that’s worth something, right? And at least they didn’t bring back “Where’s Herb?”

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Burger King, Kiefaber

Recruiting miners still a tough assignment

Brunner returns with a new recruitment campaign for Consol Energy, less than three months after they last tried to convince us that coal mining was a good career alternative. In our view, it’s the most dangerous job on or below the earth, and should only be attempted by robots. I’m starting to think client and agency agree, on a subconscious level, in light of their advertising. New posters—visually arresting, to give Brunner its due—show cityscapes powered by coal-based energy and illuminated in the helmet lamps of miners. (See the full ad here.) Above ground there’s an industrial plant, an amusement park, office buildings—all safer places to work than coal mines. It’s almost as if the miners are trapped underground, imagining a world they may never see again. Dude, take the job punching tickets at the Ferris wheel! Carnies get lots of chicks, free nachos at the concession stand and always have enough air to breathe.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Brunner, Consol Energy, Gianatasio

Nike's in-your-face Hyperdunk ads rejected

Following up on Gianatasio's post not for the easily offended ... Nike has pulled three ads for Hyperdunk Basketball shoes amid criticism that they are homophobic. The print ads, part of a larger campaign by Wieden + Kennedy, have images of basketball players slam-dunking over other players in a way that brings the dunker’s crotch into the personal space of the other player’s face. In other words, their junk is all up on some dude’s mouth. The headlines of the three axed ads are “That ain’t right,” “Isn’t that cute,” and “Punks jump up.” Nike (of course) says the ads weren’t meant to be offensive. Its press release states that the ads were “based purely upon a common insight from within the game of basketball—the athletic feat of dunking on the opposition, and is not intended to be offensive.” Wieden has already removed the three executions from its blog, but that hasn’t stopped people there from continuing to comment on them. Wanna see the other two pulled ads, huh, punk? I got your executions right here.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Is God lecturing me about breastfeeding?

Driving around this weekend, I noticed a resurgence of these billboards proclaiming, “Babies were born to be breastfed.” They’re part of an expanded Ad Council campaign that’s been hotly debated since 2004, with government health officials accused of dialing back the shock value of their pro-breastfeeding ads under pressure from formula makers. Still, as a bottle-feeding parent (who heartily supports breastfeeding), I’d be less annoyed by those graphic ads about how I’m probably giving my kid diabetes or asthma. At least they're backed up by science. These white-on-black billboards, blatantly riffing on the “God Speaks” campaign, just come off as preachy—and scientifically debatable. Some humans were born to have dozens of offspring and die in their 40s. That doesn’t make me want to do that. Still, I admit the goal is a commendable one, and I suppose the space could be used for something far more obnoxious. Photo via Hexodus on Flickr.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
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It creeps, it leaps, and it tastes delicious!

It's never too late to parody The Blob, at least not if you're Frijj. For the unfamiliar (which included myself up until about 15 minutes ago), the British milkshake brand has launched a few ads poking fun at the legendary 1958 B-movie, aka Steve McQueen’s secret shame. The Web site, Four Ridges Must Be Destroyed, features a demented little girl who pours Frijj all over the fictional town of Four Ridges, but the drink is so thick and creamy that even the elderly can outrun their slow-churned fate. The larger campaign encourages consumers to upload their own horror movies using Frijj as a prop. An eight-minute montage of the best ones will be shown before films at a London film festival sponsored by Frijj. Entries don’t necessarily have to explain how a creepy pre-teen managed to horde enough Frijj to drown a small English village.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Spam finds its 'Weekly World News' side

Most spam headlines are pretty easy to spot at 100 yards. Usually they involve a grotesque and physically improbable offer about penis extension. But there’s a new trend in spam that might be tougher to catch on first glance. “False headline” spam uses almost-believable subject lines to lure you in, and some are pretty good. A few of those I received recently: “Release denied for dying Manson follower,” “Breaking news: McCain cheats on his wife,” and the incalculably cool, Weekly World News-ish “Ninja attack in New York Times Square.” Security Computing Corp. says this trend was just one of six major spam waves that picked up steam in June. But looking at the rest of the list—replica fashions, free BlackBerries, etc.—it seems false headlines stand the best chance of catching on. Then again, it’s hard to argue with a penile-enhancement zinger like “How Stella got her tube packed.”

—Posted by David Griner

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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McCain already in full Obama-bashing mode

Big headlines this weekend about John McCain’s attack ad based on Barack Obama canceling an appearance with U.S. military personnel in Germany. The voiceover says: “He made time to go to the gym but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras.” First, those abs won’t crunch themselves. Second, if Obama had visited the troops and cameras were rolling, that would’ve been a great photo op, so why is McCain complaining? Third, and most important: Isn’t it a tad early—before either party’s convention—to “go negative”? Maybe I’m just naive. McCain has closed the gap with Obama in terms of Google News mentions. Still, it probably doesn’t bode well that McCain is already choosing to define and promote himself based on the actions of his opponent. McCain’s slogan is “Country first.” If he persists with the negative, whining ad strategy, Obama’s will soon be “Inevitable.”

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Muppets storm YouTube for Disney special

The Muppets have gone viral. Gonzo, Sam, Beaker, The Swedish Chef, and Statler and Waldorf have all created their own YouTube accounts and are uploading videos of classical music as sung by Muppets. Except, of course, Statler and Waldorf, who are just heckling all the Muppet videos. They’re even heckling other YouTube videos (including an illegal upload of The Muppet Show’s “Mahna Mahna” clip). You can also become MySpace buds with all the Muppets listed above. Why the Internet blitz? It’s to promote Studio DC: Almost Live, the upcoming Muppets special on the Disney Channel. The show, which premieres this Sunday, Aug. 3, will be an old-school type variety show with the Muppets and all your favorite teeny-bopper stars, like the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Ashley Tisdale! So basically, it’s The Muppet Show Part 2—how remake-errific! Even if you’re turned off by Miley and her ilk, the YouTube videos are a must see for any Muppets fan.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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