Too much animal passion in U.K. liqueur ad
Color me aghast that alcohol is sold with implied promises of sexual conquest in this day and age. Britain's Ad Standards Authority recently banned this Wild Africa Cream liqueur ad after receiving complaints that it "linked drinking to seduction and sexual success." Cited as particularly offensive were the ad's tagline, "Unleash your wild side," and the claw mark next to it. What's offensive to me is how the positioning of the people in the ad was considered in any way passionate. They look like they're dancing at someone's wedding. |
|
Published on July 2, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
Appalachian Trail last refuge of a scoundrel
It's not uncommon for a brand to find itself tied into a scandal in the role of innocent bystander. The Appalachian Trail is a current case in point. Since yesterday, the news has been full of the fact that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was not hiking the trail (as he had claimed he'd be doing) but instead straying from the straight and narrow—all the way to Argentina and his extramarital lover. Under the circumstances, it seems inevitable that "I'm going off to hike the Appalachian Trail" will become a popular euphemism for "I'm having an affair with someone in Buenos Aires." Then again, if this is a misfortune for the image of the trail, it might help promote tourism to Argentina. —Posted by Mark Dolliver |
|
Published on June 25, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Mixed feelings as Billy Dee Williams returns
Ordinarily, the return of Billy Dee Williams in Colt 45 ads would be met with unbridled if largely sarcastic glee. Not so in St. Louis, however, where the new Colt 45 ads on bus shelters are under fire for failing to adhere to city advertising standards. They apparently don't mention the legal drinking age or the many potential hazards of alcohol consumption. That's bad enough, but nor do the ads spell just how many chicks you'll get by slugging back a bunch of Colt 45 tallboys. That's just as egregious. |
|
Published on June 23, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Calvin's orgy ad causes predictable scandal
Calvin Klein doing something risque? I know you're all shocked. But an enormous billboard in New York's SoHo district, which has been up for a month, has people talking again. The controversy concerns a topless young girl lying on top of a bare-chested dude while kissing another dude—total threeway, unless you count the guy lying in the foreground, who obviously passed out before things got really good. I maintain that CK is actually giving SoHo its first relevant PSA: Don't party too hard, or you'll miss out on the group sex. You'd think that after all CK has done in the past people would just go, "That's Calvin for ya, always racy!" and look the other way. But the coverage by CBS's Early Show (with a cameo by our own Barbara Lippert) proves that prepubescent threesomes never get old. But the best part of the clip is the woman who admits that if that's what the jeans do for you, she'll certainly buy a pair. You've come a long way, baby! —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
|
Published on June 16, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (11)
|
Ryanair scraps ad with Spain's Queen Sofia
Low-cost airline Ryanair recently ran afoul of the Queen of Spain, who is no fan of the "cheeky celebrity exploitation ads" that are Ryanair's specialty. After Queen Sofia booked a £13 Ryanair flight to England to see her sick brother, the airline launched an ad campaign in Spain showing Sofia over the slogan, "Fly like a monarch." The implied joke is that she's cheap. A spokesperson for the Queen accused the carrier of "making improper use of the Queen's image," and probably came within a breath of announcing, "We are not amused." Ryanair has also lost face (and occasionally money) over the unauthorized images of the Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. They should really stop this whole nonsense, or at least go after Italy, where no political leaders are in power long enough to get offended. |
|
Published on June 10, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Lite's mafia campaign sleeps with the fishes
Draftfcb's campaign for Miller Lite in which Sopranos star Frank Vincent offers "protection" to bartenders and convenience-store clerks has been yanked off the air because some Italian American groups claim it's offensive. And I suppose it is. I wouldn't want my people associated with Miller Lite. But comparing the ads to minstrel radio show Amos 'n' Andy is a little much. And really, where have these groups been for the past, oh, 20 years or so? Almost every portrayal of Italians I've ever seen casts them as loud, abrasive, ethnic sidekicks or violent mafioso. Not that there's no reason to be upset, but it's hard to see what made these particular ads so offensive. It's no worse than the Denny's ads with Paulie Walnuts, or the Goodfellas-esque Braun commercial, or the Godfather homage from Pepsi, or this Hardees ad for an "authentically Italian" chicken parm sandwich. The offended parties should go back and watch those, and Miller should go back to using hot girls and bad jokes. Deal? —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on June 4, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
Oven Pride ad not sexist so much as idiotic
This Oven Pride spot has caused an uproar in the U.K. Set to nursery-school music, it features a husband learning a lesson in the kitchen as the announcer keeps repeating, "Oven Pride. So easy, even a man can do it!" Hey, sweet, I didn't realize we were bringing the '80s role-reversal thing back! In 1979, Kramer vs. Kramer showed that a father could learn how to make breakfast. Advertisers picked up on the trend big time, for two reasons: 1) They had finally sniffed out this thing called feminism; and 2) Somebody had to look stupid in order to learn a lesson in a commercial, so now it was the man. Hee hee! The trend is still happening, to some degree, as advertisers pander to women, but not with the aesthetic sledgehammer of this particular spot. I guess it's meant to be taken straight—it's too dumb to be ironic. But the bigger takeaway for me is how hard it is to use the product—and how little it helps. This big lug has to place heavy, greasy oven racks in big plastic bags, shake them, then remove them and wash them off. The main problem with washing oven racks is getting the things in and out of the oven. If you're going to have to rinse them off in the sink anyway, how much good does pre-rinsing them in giant bags do? Stupid product, stupid commercial. Now, honey, get me my breakfast, and make it snappy! You think these caribou slippers put themselves on? —Posted by Barbara Lippert |
|
Published on June 2, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (7)
|
Aussie ad shames guys for problems in bed
It takes a lot to offend Australians, but targeting the premature ejaculators among them has done the trick. The country's Advertising Standards Bureau received several complaints about the Advanced Medical Institute's "bedroom police" ad, above, which shows cops breaking into a couple's bedroom and threatening to issue a speeding ticket to the guy, who is told he will be let off with a warning if he calls AMI for help with his problem. (This is the same advertiser that did those "Bonk longer" billboards.) One viewer complained about the bedroom ad: "Essentially [the ad is saying] you are not a real man unless you can last hours and hours and hours having sexual intercourse, and your relationship is not a real relationship unless you are having hours and hours and hours of sexual intercourse. Do we have to hear about this?" The ad has been ruled offensive to men and roundly denounced for attempting to shame sufferers of a legitimate medical condition. And rightfully so. The Australian medical community should respect social boundaries and return to the quiet dignity of using graphic surgical footage to keep people from smoking. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on May 27, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Yaz is sorry but I'm still not sure what about
When the young, attractive woman looked me candidly in the eye, I just knew she was about to tell me about birth control. There was a huge black banner that said "Yaz" at the bottom, for one thing. But when she said "the FDA wants us to correct a few points," I did a spit take with my meatloaf sandwich. Yaz apparently reached a settlement back in February for two spots, "Balloons" and "Not Gonna Take It," in which Yaz made numerous claims that it treats symptoms commonly caused by PMS when it really treats PMDD. They also said it clears up acne, but it only clears up certain kinds of acne. So, Yaz agreed to spend $20 million on corrective advertising, and instead of spending it all in one big ad blast, they've strung it out, in an apparent effort do the most long-term damage to the brand. I do feel it's admirable for them to be so blunt, but the spot doesn't clear up anything for me. I've never heard of PMDD, and didn't know there was another kind of acne besides the annoying kind. On the other hand, it's the first b-control commercial I've paid attention to in years, and I did Google it seconds later, just to see how badly they were fined. That counts for something, right? |
|
Published on May 21, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Wieden's purified-cow ad deemed not racist
Given all the weird, harmless advertising that's offended the British viewing public over the years, I'm surprised that the supposedly "racist" Cravendale milk ad above, from Wieden & Kennedy London, got cleared. The ad, which shows a black-and-white cow being "purified" by having its black spots removed, was accused of having an offensive racist subtext. But the Ad Standards Authority said viewers were "unlikely to interpret the visual representations of the purification process as being racist." Except for the 10 people who complained, of course. Cravendale's explanation makes a lot more sense. They used cows to represent milk because, after all, cows produce the stuff, and the spot removal symbolizes pasteurization. Now, let's all calm down and enjoy the companion spot below, which is totally offensive to slurping shepherds. |
|
Published on May 14, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
Send this to a wretched, drug-addled friend
There have been plenty of viral e-mail campaigns in recent years designed to frighten, humiliate or generally screw over your friends. (Predictably, they tend to be more popular than the happy-go-lucky, make-your-friend-feel-good stuff.) But now, one such effort in the U.K. has been deemed unacceptable. The campaign, for the movie Shifty, a British urban thriller, allowed people to send realistic-seeming mock police e-mails to their friends suggesting they were "involved in illegal drugs, had been named in a police interview and were at risk of criminal prosecution." Some people just can't take a joke, apparently. What, we can make people think they're being targeted by a serial killer, but we can't falsely accuse them of pushing drugs without them getting all butthurt over it? Metrodome Group, the advertiser, apologized for all the bother, and the Ad Standards Authority took its baby away. Good thing they didn't promote The Fugitive, in retrospect. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Coke's breakup ad is not everyone's fantasy
Coca-Cola is shocked—shocked—that a commercial in which a guy who's breaking up with his girlfriend is suddenly surrounded by pole dancers, prompting the girlfriend to lower herself to his adolescent fantasy standards, would be deemed sexist. Perish the thought! Really, all this Coke Zero ad from Australia needs is a bit of rephrasing. The line at the end, proposing that this is breaking up "as it should be," suggests a full endorsement of the proceedings, cartoonish though they may be, when all you need there is a quick acknowledgment that the guy's actually a delusional moron. Or they could make a companion ad from the women's point of view and apply some unfair, stereotypical expectations to men. An eye for an eye always leaves everyone happy. |
|
Published on May 5, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
This ice-cream ad seems just a tad ungodly
A good rule of thumb when you're trying to figure out if your ice-cream ad is blasphemous: If it could be mistaken for the cover of a fetishistic, nun-themed adult movie, you've crossed a line. The Food Section was kind enough to alert us to this U.K. ice-cream campaign from Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano. The Advertising Standards Authority is investigating a tamer version of the ad, where the nun and priest have more clothes on—though the ad above is featured (along with some others) on the Federici Web site. The ASA's guidelines on blasphemy state that "linking sex or sexualized images with religion" and "portraying nuns in a sexual manner" is inappropriate. They won't debate for long over this one. |
|
Published on May 1, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (10)
|
Pfizer's rat spot escapes censure in the U.K.
Well, here's a pretty damn gross ad. This Pfizer advisory from the U.K., which we won't spoil for you, warns consumers against buying unregulated medicine on the Internet. It got 64 complaints from viewers, most of whom found it unduly distressing and offensive. Pfizer responded by saying the ad was inspired by a woman who died in 2006 from taking medicine contaminated with rat poison. That was good enough for the U.K.'s Ad Standards Authority, which dismissed the complaints. Frankly, the only thing that troubles me about the ad is the mixed message therein. Without taking those pills, who knows how long that thing would have been stuck in the poor guy's esophagus? |
|
Published on April 23, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Domino's videographer also a sex offender
Domino's really can't catch a break with that "snot in the sandwiches" video incident. First came the initial outcry over the vile video clip, then the hand-wringing about whether the company should respond, then the public apology, then the equally public arrest of the employees. Now, it turns out the woman behind the camera is, according to The Smoking Gun, "a registered sex offender who last year pleaded guilty to engaging in an illicit act with a 14-year-old girl." So, when Domino's president Patrick Doyle says, "We are re-examining all of our hiring practices to make sure people like this don't make into our stores," let's all breathe a sigh of relief that the application process will now thoroughly weed out disgusting, exhibitionistic sex offenders with no common sense whatsoever. —Posted by David Griner |
|
Published on April 17, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
U.S.-Mexico relations strained over BK spot
This European ad from Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Burger King's Texican Whopper is honestly pretty harmless, but it has Mexico up in arms about its people being portrayed as tiny luchadors who wear their flag like a cape. It's the first cross-border advertising dispute since that infamous Absolut ad from Mexico City. We've seen worse stereotyping of Mexicans, though. And Consumerist is right to ask what kind of cowboy can't open his own jars. But it's worth pointing out that chaps are buttless by design, so that's not insulting, either. At least he wore them over pants. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on April 15, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
Domino's set to take a social-media beating
These are wonderful times for social-media outrages. Some come like a bolt out of the blue, like the Motrin Moms fiasco. (For the life of me, I can't see what the hysteria was about. Sorry, mommy-blogging elite.) Others, like the Amazon glitch/conspiracy to remove the sales ranks of gay-themed books, are ripe for the fury of social-media channels like Twitter. And now we have Domino's. Let's face it, everyone worries what goes on behind the scenes at fast-food places. Some Domino's employees posted a video yesterday that apparently shows one of them putting snot on a sandwich and generally acting gross around food. (My favorite move, if only for its unconventional approach, the farting on the salami.) The video includes the narration, "That's how we roll at Domino's." (Maybe that's an homage to the Agency.com Subway pitch video.) The original was removed, but a copy is still on YouTube. This is not Abu Ghraib, but it's sure to strike a chord. How long before this bounces around Twitter and blogs before The New York Times weighs in with a chin-scratching 1,500-word article a week later? What's Crispin Porter + Bogusky's response? Some more "taste stimulus" ads may not counteract the cheese-up-the-nose scene. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
|
Published on April 14, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (15)
|
Anti-gay testimonials were faked. Shocking!
The National Organization for Marriage is apparently spending $1.5 million to air this anti-gay-marriage ad, but some of that money was probably used to hire actors. Yes, a testimonial from "real people" on the TV box turned out to be fake. We know, we're shocked and appalled, too! Are viewers really so gullible—do they have such faith in televised testimonials—that they really believe people who oppose gay marriage are somehow more "real" than those who support it? These same viewers are probably Slimsuiting themselves thin as we speak! |
|
Published on April 10, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (13)
|
Deathbed chainsaw ad irks New Zealanders
This comical spot from DDB Auckland for Stihl chainsaws is harshing some people's buzz down in New Zealand. In the ad, which is pretty tame, a son misrepresents his father's final whispered dying wish in a plot to snag the prized Stihl machine. To some, that's simply no laughing matter. "I was really horrified," says Adrian Cooper of Media Matters in NZ, a group devoted to protecting kids from the horrors of television. "I thought, this is not good enough. It's simply not good enough, and it's not the New Zealand I know. ... I think that any mature, responsible, thinking adults looking at that would find it offensive." DDB creative director Toby Talbot shrugs off the controversy. "It's a shame, it's a pity some people feel that way," he says. "I think, generally speaking, a lot of people see it for what it is—it is actually quite a light-hearted ad." |
|
Published on March 31, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Foreign ads with Obama continue to offend
Somehow we missed this Russian ice-cream ad when it hit the Web a few weeks ago. But we'll post it now anyway, in honor of foreign companies' continuing clumsiness and stupidity in their efforts to capitalize on Barack Obama's election. The company behind this ad claims to be "celebrating the fact there is a black president in the White House." Which is basically the same thing that the German company which made "Obama-Fingers" fried chicken said. See the full Russian ad over at Ads of the World. A cartoon Obama in front of the White House under the words "Flavor of the Month" is a bit coarse for us. And really, it's not like Russia is above suspicion in this regard. Via Ads of the World. |
|
Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
ShamWow guy's ad future not looking good
There probably aren't many swifter ways to torpedo one's burgeoning career in infomercial superstardom than by getting into a punching match with a prostitute. That's allegedly what happened to Vince Shlomi, the fast-talking star of late-night commercials for ShamWow and (in retrospect, the unfortunately named) Slap Chop. The Smoking Gun has the details on Shlomi's arrest last month on a felony battery charge. (The charges have since been dropped.) ShamWow still has the Vince video up on its Web site; its unclear if the spots will remain on TV. |
|
Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (7)
|
U.K. approves ad implying video games kill
|
|
Published on March 19, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Obama on Indiana casino ad: No, you can't
Everyone still wants a piece of Barack Obama, but a casino in Indiana is among the first advertisers to be pressured to pull an Obama-themed ad. The spot, shown above, features a pretty good Obama sound-alike (it's not actually him) talking up the grand opening of the Indiana Live! Casino. "Our time for change has come," the voiceover says. "Months ago we began the work of making sure that the Indiana! Live Casino is superior to anything that existed in Indiana. Years from now, you will say this was the place where Indiana remembered what it means to have fun." At the request of the Obama administration, the whole campaign's being pulled. The man behind the ads, Dennis Gomes, cynically admits he was hoping all along to get a request from the White House to pull them. "Sure enough, everything I thought would happen, happened," he says. |
|
Published on March 13, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
PTC loathes, helps promote AshleyMadison
It's not just GoDaddy that's feeling some heat for its moral oblivion following the Super Bowl. Apparently, more than 90,000 members of the Parents Television Council have lashed out at Houston's NBC affiliate for airing an ad for AshleyMadison.com during the game. As we know, Canada pre-empted the pro-adultery Web site's spot with more wholesome fare. Yeah, this PTC action gives AshleyMadison some press. But I must say, it's nice to see the PTC take a break from its usual irrelevant posturing to rally against something that actually is morally objectionable. Still, I'm sure they'll be back to warning parents about explicit YouTube videos soon enough. At least, I hope they are. Between this and Obama winning, I'm wondering if I've been in a coma since early November and everything since has just been a pleasant dream. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on February 6, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Shepard Fairey's WWF poster not ripped off
Talk about great timing! The World Wildlife Fund unveiled this new Earth Hour 2009 poster yesterday. See a larger version here. Created by "Obama Hope" artist Shepard Fairey, the ad would have gotten about zero publicity under normal circumstances. Except, of course, Fairey's in hot water with the Associated Press, which claims the artist infringed its copyright by using one of its photographs as the basis of the famous Obama image. So, Shep's Google hits are through the roof, and the WWF goes along for the ride. You can't blame the AP for wanting compensation—the dying newspaper industry's not exactly a reliable source of revenue these days. You can, however, blame Fairey for this somewhat ugly Earth Hour poster. No one else would likely want to claim it as their own. On March 28, you're supposed to turn your off your lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. to express concern about climate change. I'm hitting the light right now so I don't have to see that poster anymore. |
|
Published on February 6, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
