Bethenny's PETA ad turns heads, stomachs
PETA has gotten Bethenny Frankel, one of Bravo's Real Housewives, to be its latest nude model. Click here to see the full ad. Frankel is an inspired choice. She's old enough (39) that everyone is wondering if the photo was airbrushed, which is giving the ad much more play online. (Frankel says it wasn't, or at least not much, and even sent an untouched version of the pic to Us Weekly to prove it.) Also a bonus: When you get one Real Housewife to pose nude, chances are always good that another Real Housewife will step up and admit that she "threw up a little in my mouth" upon seeing it. —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on December 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Movie posters recast to stress animal rights
Casting humans as the true deadly beasts in animal-rights campaigns is a no-brainer. Doing so with creativity and good humor is another thing altogether. This German campaign uses some great movie-poster send-ups to convey the message that man—and in one case, a 50-foot woman—is the world's most lethal predator. See all three ads here. (The agency is Serviceplan. The clients are the United Nations Environment Programme and the Convention on Migratory Species.) Many campaigns have generated sympathy for apes and sharks. Here, even tarantulas get some love. From their point of view, a fast-approaching human is indeed a "giant terror 6 feet high!" As for the 50-foot chick, well, she clearly poses just as great a threat to human males as mountain gorillas. Still, some guys I know wouldn't mind getting her number. Via Ads of the World. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on December 11, 2009 | Permalink
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Kia hamster show begging for a few nibbles
The six episodes in Kia's "Moochie" branded-content Web series have garnered a combined 100,000-plus YouTube views in about two months. So, there must be some tired click-fingers over at ad agency David&Goliath, which created this sub-sitcom about three goofy twentysomething quasi-losers and their wisecracking, animatronic hamster. (Matt Lenski of Epoch Films directed.) The first spot is posted below. If you think the premise sounds stupid, you're right. It's stoopid with a capital "stoop." That said, even as my precious few brain cells squeaked, rodent-like, in agony, I watched the show all the way to the end, because I had to know if Moochie gets a heart transplant and lives! C'mon, no episode of House has been worth finishing in the past three years! (You know, come to think of it, there could be crossover possibilities, as shaggy, beady-eyed Hugh Laurie looks like a hamster at times.) The opening image of Moochie rising from a sea of cheeseballs gave me nightmares, but at least I finally remembered to clean those old glue-traps out of my kitchen cabinets. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on December 8, 2009 | Permalink
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PETA angel doesn't fly with angry Catholics
Click here to see Joanna Krupa's two angel PETA ads. Yeah, they've gotten the Catholic League riled up. Bill Donohue says: "PETA is a fraud. It also has a long and disgraceful record of exploiting Christian and Jewish themes to hawk its ugly services. Those who support this organization sorely need a reality check. They also need a course in Ethics 101." Krupa replies: "As a practicing Catholic, I am shocked that the Catholic League is speaking out against my PETA ads, which I am very proud of. I'm doing what the Catholic Church should be doing, working to stop senseless suffering of animals, the most defenseless of God's creations. I am a voice for innocent animals who are being neglected and dumped by the millions at shelters. In my heart I know that Jesus would never condone the suffering that results when dogs and cats are allowed to breed." —Posted by Tim Nudd
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Published on December 4, 2009 | Permalink
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PETA Thanksgiving always awkward as hell
Ever wonder what a PETA Thanksgiving would be like? Of course not. But it turns out it's a serious downer, as we find out in this spot from ad agency Matter and director Dave Laden. The little girl asked to say grace ambushes the family: "Dear God. Thank you for the turkey we are about to eat, and for the turkey farms, where they pack them into dark tiny little sheds for their whole lives. Thank you for when they burn their feathers off while they're still alive, and for when the turkey gets killed by people who think it's fun to stomp on their little turkey heads." Will someone send this brat off to bed without her supper? She might be onto something, though. Skipping the turkey gets you to the whipped cream and pumpkin pie faster. And no, the cream was not harmed during the whipping. Lighten up, PETA! —Posted by David Gianatasio
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Published on November 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Humane Society won't eat breakfast at IHOP
When the e-mail arrived with the subject line, "Humane Society Ad Campaign Targets IHOP," my first thought was: C'mon, the service isn't that bad. Kidding, of course. It's another save-the-chickens-from-cramped-cages plea. (In this case, it's the chickens that supply IHOP's eggs.) Sure, it's a noble cause, but the approach here seems tired. The faux-newscast bits are sleep inducing, and the cage-farm footage, while tragic, probably isn't horrific enough to generate the requisite levels of guilt in PSA-weary viewers. That butcher sequence in last week's Rammstein clip was more visceral. Plus, the band's music droned in the background: talk about inhumane! Maybe the RSPCA got it right by dressing a guy in a chicken suit and having him annoy folks around town to teach them about personal space. Though come to think of it, that campaign actually makes a far better case for caging its subject and throwing away the key. —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on November 17, 2009 | Permalink
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Simian shoppers love Banana Nut Cheerios
Supermarket + guy in a gorilla suit + Banana Nut Cheerios = blah. This Publicis Modem spot aims to be goofy and outrageous, but it's mostly just dull. The background muzak doesn't help. It sounds like the stuff they played in grocery stores when I was a kid about 1,000 years ago. Today, we're tortured by classic rock and '60s pop. Surely the Monkees theme can't be that costly to use in ads. Look, the ape-costume bar has been set quite high since Cadbury's drumming gorilla. This simian has better manners than most grocery shoppers. How about a rampage in the aisles, with mini-Kong carrying a checkout gal to the pinnacle of a package display, clerks rushing to her aid with pricing guns? Letting the ape go bananas would've heightened his appeal. —Posted by David Gianatasio
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Published on November 9, 2009 | Permalink
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Dogs with Internet-porn habits need daycare
This ad by Jung von Matt for a doggie daycare in Sweden (full ad here) could be a spec piece, award-show fodder created for a local business ... or just a flat-out phony. Life's too short to waste time finding out: It's just a dog-wanking-off ad, after all. The headline is: "What's your dog up to when it's home alone?" Nothing good, it seems. It's easily the most suggestive piece of marketing involving an animal since Ikea Photoshopped a human penis onto a dog in 2007. Though let's be honest. The visual could be worse. And just try watching today's bandwidth-hogging hard-core on a Mac Classic. There's no way! Or so I hear. Via Ads of the World. |
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Published on October 28, 2009 | Permalink
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Buy this stereo despite the psycho hamster
The commercial above, by Lowe Brindfors in Sweden for an electronics retailer, picks up where advertising's previous psychotic rodents left off—in particular, the kidney-eating guinea pig from the G4 Midnight Spank spot below, as well as Las Vegas tourism's killer chinchillas. The hamster here is more visceral than the chinchillas, and more guinea-pig-like in its Monty Python-style infliction of carnage. The somewhat flimsy premise of the ad is that the retailer's stereos give songs like Hall & Oates' "Maneater" some added emotional heft. I actually own "Maneater" on cassette and 45-inch vinyl (yes, I'm 118 years old), but tastes change, and given a choice today, I think I'd rather fight a crazed, flesh-eating hamster than listen to Hall & Oats. Unless they're playing "Rich Girl." That song still rocks. —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 26, 2009 | Permalink
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'Dead pets' climate-change ad feels the heat
This new British climate-change ad is drawing a large number of complaints. It shows a father reading his daughter a bedtime story in which puppies drown and rabbits are left without water to drink because of rising CO2 levels. More than 200 complaints have flooded in, wasting the precious resources of the Ad Standards Authority, whose time could be better spent looking at ice-cream ads featuring oversexed nuns. About half of the complaints about the climate-change ad involve the science presented in it. The rest of the people, according to an ASA rep, think the spot is simply too scary. Because of course, you don't want anyone feeling any sort of discomfort while considering the issue of global warming. —Posted by Tim Nudd Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Fresh Step. For cats who really need to pee.
I've never fancied cats, and this Fresh Step print campaign by DDB West isn't going to turn me into a feline fan. See the three full ads here. At first glance, I thought the anthropomorphized beasts were playing soccer, perhaps trying out for that all-animal fantasy squad. In fact, they're "holding it." As if any ginger tom worth his whiskers would have such consideration for the humans who pay his room and board. The headline reads: "Cats everywhere are having a hard time smelling their litter boxes." Great, now they'll have an excuse for befouling the newly shampooed furniture. Thanks, Fresh Step! Via Adland. Oh, and don't be fooled by the ad below ("Show us some love. We'll return the favor," by GP Y&R for the Australian RSPCA). Cats don't clean up their own hair. I call Photoshop! —Posted by David Gianatasio
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Published on October 15, 2009 | Permalink
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Anti-cocaine PSAs rough on nose and heart
Pablo the Drug Mule Dog is back as the spokespooch of Britain's anti-cocaine PSA campaign. When we last saw Pablo, he'd been sliced open like a Tauntaun to transport booger sugar. But he recovered, and in the new ads he watches as a cokehead's nostrils argue with each other (I expect a few complaints to the ASA over that "butthole" comment) and a hopped-up heart beats its last. I'm still waiting for the anti-coke campaign that just shows before-and-after photos of Robert Evans. But Pablo is pretty cool. He's a lot more badass than McGruff, and has a better Web site, too. —Posted by David Kiefaber Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 13, 2009 | Permalink
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Grand Shoes are for big feet, not small dogs
A playful pooch does not fare well in this clip from McCann Sweden for Grand Shoes, an online retailer that specializes in large sizes. You can't see it that well, but he gets clobbered by the flying sneaker, which is probably at least a size 18. Considering the way dogs have misbehaved in some recent ads—mauling cell-phone consumers and leaving their waste around for kids to ingest—I'd say Fido had it coming. Still, I'm sure he'll quickly recover, and be treated like royalty back at home, wrapped in the comforting embrace of a canine Snuggie. Via Ads of the World. —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 5, 2009 | Permalink
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RSPCA chicken gets all up in people's grills
Who's really irritating and has no concept of other people's personal space? Kanye West? Joe Wilson? Roman Polanski? Those are all correct answers, of course, but imagine how much more annoying each of them would be in a chicken suit! That brings us to this U.K. video by The Good Agency for the RSPCA, which is working to defeat European Union legislation that would allow more chickens to be crammed into tight quarters prior to processing. The chicken-suit guy just goes around harassing people, which annoys some people more than others. (The woman he bumps into on the bus seems very aggravated, though of course it's possible they have sex later on.) The RSPCA could ask Dokken for help; the '80s metal band dislikes chicken, and could clear some space in those cages, no problem. They'd need to watch out for Moby's homicidal pimp-chicken, however. That beast would peck their eyes out, and make a nest out of their big hair. |
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Published on September 29, 2009 | Permalink
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Playing fantasy sports is a beastly business
Anyone who's lost sleep (and money, so much money) playing fantasy sports knows how the beleaguered coach of the all-animal team feels in this cute clip promoting the new soccer fantasy games at my11.com. There's some good-natured beastly butt-sniffing, the kind most human teams save for the locker room. The coach's performance is spot on, especially when he moans, "You are the winger. The winger is supposed to be lightning fast," at a turtle that's nonchalantly nibbling at some grass. Not the best attitude for a player that can be turned into soup. He's better suited to shell games, but shows more spunk than most of the fantasy picks I've made through the years. I always go for the dogs. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on September 24, 2009 | Permalink
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Karina Smirnoff dancing exotically for PETAPETA has gotten Karina Smirnoff of Dancing With the Stars fame to strip down for its latest naked-celebrity ad. See the full ad here. The 31-year-old Russian beauty, who is a reformed fur wearer, follows in the naked footsteps of another DWTS alum, Steve-O, who struck this exuberant PETA pose back in 2007. (Hopefully Tom DeLay won't get any ideas.) Smirnoff says: "You have a choice as an individual ... whether to make a statement that you do support killing animals or make a statement when you don't. And you can still be as chic as you can possibly want to be." —Posted by Tim Nudd See also: |
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Published on September 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Pure Blonde's lonesome dove has rough life
Clemenger BBDO pulls off a satisfying twist in this fun Australian spot for Pure Blonde beer. It's no spoiler to say there's a twist, because you can feel one coming all the way. I thought maybe the Bonnie Prince Billy-ish guy would nurse the pigeon back to health and fatten it up, only to wash it down with a cold Pure Blonde, or that the bird would repay his kindness by pecking his eyes out. This commercial wisely takes an entirely different route, coming around in a full circle at the end. Sans eye pecking. Maybe next time. Via Ads of the World. |
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Published on September 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Mutant animal freaks always wear Converse
It's been a while—probably going back to Kodak's dual-cyclops dog—since we've seen a good mutated animal in advertising. Converse gives us a whole host of them—a lion-gerbil, a dog-boy, a sheep-cat and others—in a new Web and wild-postings campaign by (fittingly enough) ad agency Anomaly. The ads send you to ConverseOne.com, where you can customize your shoes (though not any animals) by mixing and matching parts. The Skittles sheep-boys should try to get in on this action. Customized sneakers are getting to be a big deal, with help from Melanie Oudin, who famously made her own pink-and-yellow Adidas sneakers for the U.S. Open. —Posted by Tim Nudd
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Published on September 17, 2009 | Permalink
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Spay the cats before they ruin your Web site
South Carolina ad agency Erwin-Penland really wants to spay cats, and they've launched a campaign for the Greenville Humane Society to prove it. Over on the Web site, a bunch of kittens traipse across the page, causing mayhem with the copy and knocking over headlines just like they break priceless antiques in real life. I know lots of folks think cats are great, and I might consider getting one as a pet, if all dogs, hamsters, parakeets, rabbist, guinea pigs and goldfish suddenly ceased to exist. I'm all for spaying, if it means fewer cats. Exempt from this feline tirade, however, is Lucky, the three-legged cheetah and star of that Volkswagen Golf spot by Ogilvy. That's one cool cat—and his keeper's no dog, either. Woof! See also: |
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Published on September 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Naomi Campbell falls off the anti-fur wagon
Fifteen years after starring with four other supermodels in a high-profile anti-fur ad for PETA (posted below), Naomi Campbell apparently can resist the stuff no longer. The 39-year-old is the star of a new campaign for designer Dennis Basso, in which she is seen lounging around in a series of coats made from Russian sable. Heather Mills is among the hordes calling Campbell a hypocrite, but Campbell, true to form, doesn't seem to care much what other people think. "As for that Heather whatshername saying she'd written to me to complain about me wearing fur and I'd never replied, I never received a letter, nothing," she says.
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Published on September 2, 2009 | Permalink
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American Airlines has always dug squirrels!Squirrels are hot again, thanks to the now-famous photo above, taken with an automatic timer, of Melissa Brandts and her husband—and a sudden rodent interloper—posing by a lake in Canada's Banff National Park. Now, American Airlines is citing the photo as a reason to re-air the spot below, which first ran in the spring, featuring an annoying director making an ad about Parisian squirrels who ride bikes. And they're not just bringing the ad back. The airline has also sent out a goofy press release that says it's launching an "investigation" into the identity of the Banff squirrel. "With the 'scene-stealing squirrel' phenomenon sweeping the digital world, American Airlines is determining whether the rodent is, in fact, the same squirrel that appeared in its recent TV commercial," the memo says. Evp of marketing Dan Garton is then made to say embarrassing things like, "There were signs that he might be a bit of a publicity hound—well, rodent." Bill Oakley, ecd at TM Advertising, is forced to add: "We're not sure of the actual nationality of said squirrel—not sure whether he’s French at all. ... Since he popped up in Banff, maybe he's Canadian." Seems a bit much. In any case, American aren't the only ones trying to capitalize. Banff and Lake Louise Tourism has already set up squirrel accounts on Facebook and Twitter. |
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Published on August 26, 2009 | Permalink
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PETA loves animals, isn't so fond of women
PETA may love animals, but they don't have much respect for women. It's always been surprising to me how PETA seems to get a pass on caging women, forcing them to fellate vegetables and veggie dogs, and attaching them to billboards in their underwear—stuff that would be decried by feminists if it were organized by a brand like Axe. Well, they might have finally crossed the line. A new billboard in Florida that shows an obese woman with the phrase, "Save the whales. Lose the blubber: Go vegetarian," has been drawing a lot of fire. (While most people are cool with the objectification of hot naked chicks, they apparently draw the line at making fun of fat people.) PETA defends the ad, saying in a press release, "Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach," and pointing out that vegetarians are, on average, lighter than meat eaters. I find it interesting that in light of the new billboard, a lot of people seem to be waking up to how sizeist and sexist PETA has been toward women in the past. Check out The Onion's amusing take and the public shaming happening on Twitter. Will this end their divisive, shockvertising ways? I doubt it. I hear that vegetarians are also, on average, more shameless than meat eaters. |
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Published on August 18, 2009 | Permalink
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Marine mammals always up for a little game
Mullen's "Let's play" campaign for the New England Aquarium succeeds by subtly fusing the human world—in the form of ad copy morphed into hoops, balls and fish—with the naturally playful activities of marine mammals. By contrast, we had that somewhat similarly themed WongDoody effort for a Seattle zoo showing penguins tricked out beyond recognition, more like festive tea-cozies than birds. Now, some animals-rights types might claim that captive seals don't especially enjoy being trained to perform for humans, but I disagree. If they object, they're bright enough let us know. The one that beat me in this game of Seal Pong seemed awfully shrewd: He claimed he'd never played before, then exploited my backhand like a pro and barked to psych me out on match point. Damn his blubbery hide! |
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Published on July 17, 2009 | Permalink
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WebVet, for when your animal is pissing fire
The folks at WebVet know a thing or two about pets, even ones whose insides are so ravaged that they become living flamethrowers when they urinate. (Cesar Millan would probably just kick the dog into shape.) WebVet is pleased with the YouTube views so far. "That puppy's going global," they write on the WebVet blog. It's unclear who would win in a fight between this dog and Air Action Vigorsol's famous ice-farting squirrel. Via Adrants. UPDATE: The spot was done by McCann Erickson in New York and was largely the work of a young creative team: copywriter Jason Schmall, art director Mat Bisher and producer Eric Tao. |
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Published on July 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Lobsters resigned to their fate in Uno spots
No one's going to think of Uno's when they're in the mood for seafood. Hell, I don't even think of it when I want pizza. (Their pies are so dense, it's like they baked a chef inside each one.) Having turned bad pizza into an art form, the chain ventures into uncharted waters (nice metaphor!) with a summer menu that, according to publicity materials, features lobster-inspired dishes. Lobster-inspired? What are we talking here, shredded haddock and expired mayonnaise? I don't know, and I don't want to know. TV commercials from Full Contact Advertising in Boston feature talking lobsters. The ads would be better if the clawed freaks were shown eating their own, like Boost Mobile's cannibal hogs. Still, one short vignette stands out: A panicked crustacean shrieks at the top of its brine-filled lungs: "Uno has lobster! Run for your lives!" I couldn't have said it better myself. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on July 16, 2009 | Permalink
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