Zombie ad unwelcome next to funeral home

Clear Channel has been forced to apologize after placing a billboard for The Walking Dead right next to a funeral home in England. As is often the case with these types of stories (particularly ones from the U.K.), the quotes from people on the street are the best part. Susan Jones, a resident of a nearby hospice and thus apparently an expert on death, says: "There must be somewhere else they could put it that would have shown a degree of insight and sensitivity. … Emotions can be pretty raw when people are recently bereaved. Words like 'death' and 'dead' can be very difficult." (Imagine what the word undead does to a person!) Jones goes on: "If you encounter this just as you are going to the funeral service to make arrangements for a loved one, it could be upsetting. People of a certain age group could find it particularly challenging." A local councillor was also asked about it. He replied, stoically: "Some will be amused, others may be offended. It left me unmoved." Meanwhile, a spokesman for the funeral home called the whole thing "disappointing," and Clear Channel said it regrets the "unfortunate juxtaposition" and removed the ad right away.

Filed under Controversy, Death, Europe, Nudd
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Ikea Holland rolling out 365 ads in 365 days

Ikea asks: "How do you prove that the Swedish furniture store has so much to offer, you can tell something different about it every day?" Many's the night I've lain awake with that question burning in my mind. In Holland, the retailer is answering it by creating a brand-new ad every single day for a whole year. The first of the 15-second clips from ad shop Lemz launched last Sept. 1, and after 250 spots, Ikea claims a 6 percent uptick in "top-of-mind" awareness. Bear in mind, however, that the campaign is running exclusively in drug-soaked, left-leaning Holland, where folks have little of real importance to think about. In the vignettes, filmed with handheld cameras in Ikea stores, everyone's speaking Dutch, a brilliant tactical fit for the marketplace and triumph of account planning. Seriously, it's a cute gimmick, and one I'd like to see other advertisers emulate (Victoria's Secret, say). I'm glad they did it now instead of waiting for the leap year in 2012. Making 365 spots, why that's fairly restrained—but 366 would be overkill. Via Adverblog.

Filed under Europe, Furniture, Gianatasio, Ikea, Lemz
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British islands in ad scrap over who's hotter

Who needs the romance and champagne of Paris or the bronze beauties and sweet papayas of Waikiki when you've got the inbred daffodil farmers and bean crock with cabbage bread of British Channel Islands like Scilly and Jersey? I'm booking my getaway today! But ... which isle to visit? For the love of god, which!? The two locales are in the midst of an advertising spat, since Jersey staked its claim as "the warmest place in the British Isles." Scilly is perturbed because it is officially recognized as the warmest spot in the U.K.—which isn't saying much, when you think about it—and it even disses its rival for being a second-rate "British Crown dependency." Kind of like Kate Middleton, I guess. Jersey has made questionable pitches in past ads, promising some years back that "our sandy beaches are always spotless," prompting the Ad Standards Authority to observe that "large quantities of untreated sewage had poured onto bathing beaches." Yo, sounds like New Jersey! All in all, a Scilly squabble. Ha ha! Oh man, I need a vacation.

Filed under Europe, Gianatasio, Tourism
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Anti-ad initiative ambushes Madrid shelters

Some rogues in Madrid recently ambushed the bus stops and other public ad spaces with statements protesting advertising saturation. This is apparently an ongoing initiative called PublicAdCampaign. The contributors, who ranged from artists to lawyers to teachers, used their signs to communicate what they wanted to see in public spaces (here's a larger gallery of their work). I like the idea behind the project a lot (and the "Buy me a Coke" sign made me laugh), but I wonder how well the executions actually speak to people. Advertisers co-opted the aesthetics of guerrilla/anti-advertising some time ago, so a lot of these very worthwhile messages might be just blending in with everything else. That's life in a paradox for you, I guess. Via PSFK.

Filed under Europe, Kiefaber, PublicAdCampaign
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Belgian baby-food brand gets men pregnant

Men are often a bit lacking in the empathy department when it comes to pregnancy. They just don't know what their wives and girlfriends go through. In Belgium, a baby-food brand called Nutricia (with help from ad agency Duval Guillaume) is trying to rectify this—via an intriguing, high-tech fat suit (they're calling it an "empathy suit") that guys can wear to get a feel for what it's like to be prego. The suit features a water pump for sudden weight gain, air compressors to restrict movement, a random kick function to simulate baby kicks and remote-controlled heating for added discomfort. Nutricia has been taking it to shopping malls for demonstrations, and the guys who try it on seem to come away with a new respect for their better half. A cool iPhone app accompanies the effort, and physically embodies the notion of empathy. When running the app side by side, two iPhones literally become one, with their adjacent screens functioning as one larger screen.

Filed under Duval Guillaume, Europe, Nudd
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Vodafone projection-maps history of mobile

It's 3-D projection-mapping day on AdFreak! Here's another cool production on a much smaller scale than the Hyundai building side. It's a clip from Vodafone U.K. by TBG Digital showing the evolution of mobile handset technology from the earliest models to the first text message and color screen to GPS and the Android. See, that giant old Motorola brick was pretty cool—as long as the light was flattering.

Filed under Europe, Nudd, TBG Digital, Telecom, Vodafone
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This is the future of online customer service

As technology improves, it only stands to reason that the customer experience online will begin to mirror the best aspects of in-store interactions—in particular, the simple face-to-face talk with a salesperson who can show you products in real time. Swedish agency B-Reel has taken a big step forward in this area by pioneering an online interface for telecom company 3 that lets customers and sales reps chat via a powerful new teleconferencing system. Check out the video below to see how it works. B-Reel explains: "The salesperson can drag a product onto the screen, show its features such as different colors and monthly cost and then drag it into the shopping cart. All this with just the touch of a finger. The machines are custom built with parts from all over the world like touch screens, mirrors and high-end cameras. The two front ends, for the salesperson and the customer, are both connected to an existing e-commerce back end. The experience is simple and personal and at the same time extremely sophisticated and technologically advanced." The agency adds: "Think Tom Cruise goes phone salesperson in Minority Report!" Via Creativity.

Filed under B-Reel, Europe, Nudd, Technology
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Man with multi-talented penis uses condom

TBWA Paris put together this amusing PSA for AIDES, the French AIDS awareness group, featuring probably the most gifted and accomplished penis depicted on film since John Holmes. The whole thing leads up to the tagline/punch line at the end. Possibly NFSW, I suppose. TBWA Paris has a history of doing fun AIDES spots. Previous efforts have included last year's freaky bathroom-graffiti spot and the truly epic "Baby Baby" cartoon from 2005. Via Osocio.

Filed under AIDES, AIDS, Europe, Nudd, PSAs, TBWA
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Online retail 'speed sale' is stressful as hell

Here's a peculiar sales tactic—stress out your customers by giving them just seconds to decide on discounted items, or they lose the price forever. DDB Stockholm designed just such a "speed sale" for Swedish online retailer Papercut (the same agency-client tandem that brought you the bus-stop ad with the penis). Click through to SpeedSale.se to see it in action. Items fly onto the screen, one after the other. For each one, you have four seconds to decide whether you want to buy it—as insane music pumps up your blood pressure further. If you fail to act, the item is swept away, and the price is gone forever. DDB is under no illusions that anyone will actually enjoy this experience. "Forget about time-limited offers of the golden days. Welcome to the Papercut Speed Shopping STRESS Hell," the creative director says in an email to us. Enjoyable or not, the gaming aspect is pretty cool and will surely be a hit among a certain segment. Imagine if Amazon.com did this. It would be a runaway success, if only for the novelty factor.

Filed under DDB, Europe, Nudd
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Carlsberg tries to 'unbottle' bashful Swedes

Carlsberg beer and ad agency Akestam Holst are going social in Sweden with their "Unbottle Yourself" mobile app, inviting the nation to let its collective blond hair down and loosen up a little. Weird, I'd always considered Sweden a swingin' sexy socialist paradise. Wasn't there a song called "Sweden Swings (Like a Pendulum Do)"? Kidding. I know that was Norway. The Carlsberg contest asserts that Swedes are "the most reserved people on the planet," and since there's no way an alcoholic beverage would ever exaggerate in its advertising, I guess that must be true. To win a grand-prize party trip to Hong Kong, Swedes must accomplish various "missions." These include: skipping down the street for at least one block; wearing a helmet at the gym; washing the windshield of a stranger's car; pretending to be a tour guide on a bus; and placing water bottles on the floor and racing between them like a ski pro. Sounds like a typical day for the AdFreak staff, except we do most of that stuff naked. My favorite Carlsberg mission is speaking with a slight German accent the whole day. It really does stipulate "slight." Vell, that's probably vise. The Swedes may be shy, but those Germans can't take a joke.

Filed under Akestam Holst, Alcohol, Carlsberg, Europe, Gianatasio, Social media
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Irritating ad star is obnoxiously good singer

An exceptionally irritating star of some U.K. ads has found the perfect brand extension for his bombastic talents: opera. The debut album of tenor Wynne Evans, called A Song in My Heart, just hit the top of the classical charts. You'd have to sell, what, six whole copies for that? Says Evans, probably at glass-shattering volume: "I've been on the opera scene for over 15 years, and this is definitely one of the most amazing moments of my career." There are, what, about six people in that scene? He credits Mario Lanza as his inspiration. Well, duh ... you can hear the influence every time he moans and bellows. (Mario who?) Check out Evans bursting from a sarcophagus and walkin' like an Egyptian, while wearing a tux and sporting an outrageously waxed moustache, in the manic Go Compare commercial below. He portrays "Gio Compario," a campy crooner who comes off like a psychotic Nathan Lane. The ads have twice been named the U.K.'s "most irritating." And that's about the best thing you can say about them. Look closely—I think there's a secret profane message hidden among the hieroglyphs on the tomb wall. It reads: "These ads fucking suck."

Filed under Europe, Gianatasio, Music
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French Tropicana ad is powered by oranges

If you've ever been to a high-school science fair, you probably know that citrus fruit can produce electricity. DDB Paris put that knowledge to clever use recently with an electric Tropicana billboard that was completely powered by oranges. Working with London production house Unit9, DDB attached 2,500 oranges to two big slabs of wood fitted with spikes of zinc and copper. The acidic juice of the oranges dissolved the metals, causing their electrons to react with each other and create an electrical current. That current powered a light panel that read, "Energie naturelle," making the point that oranges have natural energy that can spark your own personal human circuits as well. So as not to appear wasteful, the agency said it would recycle the oranges "either by composting or by anaerobic digestion," the latter surely being a curious science-fair project all its own. Check out a video below, and a few more images after the jump. Via Stratégies.

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Filed under DDB, Europe, Food and drink, Nudd, Tropicana
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Foursquare-enabled ad dishes out dog food

Foursquare has finally made itself useful—to non-humans, anyway. As seen in the video below, a pet-food company in Germany has put up a billboard urging you to check in at the location on Foursquare—and in return, it spits out some dog food for your best friend to nosh on. This is a step forward for Foursquare, which is not known for providing much nourishment to really any living thing. In terms of ads that appeal to dogs, there's actually somewhat of a proud history there. Last year, we wrote about dog-food-scented ads on U.K. sidewalks, designed to lure pooches (and their owners) over for a sniff. But our favorite is still the 2001 campaign for Animal Planet, also in the U.K., which featured lamppost ads that smelled like urine. They brought over the dogs, and then the owners were presented with companion ads at human-eye height promoting Animal Planet programming. Via Mashable.

Filed under Animals, Europe, Foursquare, Nudd, Social media
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MTV ads remind you that sex is no accident

You should always use a condom, unless you've got a really good excuse not to—like you were roller-skating down the street, tripped on the curb, fell into the back of a woman who was bent over packing her car, and accidentally had intercourse with her! That's the message of some amusing new pro-condom cartoons from Grey in Germany for MTV in Switzerland. See three full ads here. Such scenarios, of course, are unlikely—thus, the tagline: "Sex is not an accident. Always use a condom." The campaign is pretty airtight, logically speaking. However, in researching the topic, it becomes clear that many people have asked, in public Internet forums, whether a person can, in fact, have sex accidentally. Usually these questions come from a) young couples who have pledged to be celibate before marriage; and b) male friends who regret that their wrestling in the bathroom went a little too far. In both cases, condoms wouldn't be the worst idea. Via Ads of the World.

Filed under Condoms, Europe, Grey, MTV, Nudd
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Ad seeks teachers, math skills not required

A British teacher-recruitment ad is being ridiculed for featuring a math question with the wrong answer. And who noticed the mistake? A 15-year-old viewer named Chris Coombs. According to Coombs, (g²)⁷ does not equal "g² x g⁷" (the solution given in the ad) but "g¹⁴." Can you believe that? Yeah, me neither—no one should care about math this much. I'm surprised they didn't call in the Advertising Standards Authority for this, considering the other piddling crap they've been consulted for over the years. Maybe they're as bad at algebra as I was.

Filed under Education, Europe, Kiefaber
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Gay Ikea ad bothers Italy's Silvio Berlusconi

An Ikea ad with two men holding hands next to the headline "We are open to all families" hasn't caused much of a stir in Italy—except, it appears, in the prime minister's office. The horndog honcho Silvio Berlusconi, via his newspaper Il Giornale, is condemning the ad both for its gay-friendly content and its undertones of "Swedish imperialism" (whatever that is). Perhaps Berlusconi shares Zapp Brannigan's fear of neutrality. Thankfully, the staunchly Catholic isle of Sicily, where a new Ikea recently opened, has been more accepting of the Swedish retailer. The new store has created some 300 jobs and attracted more than 20,000 customers so far. Full ad after the jump.

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Filed under Controversy, Europe, Gay pride, Ikea, Kiefaber
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Swedish retailer drawing penises on its ads

When putting up outdoor ads, it's customary to install clean versions— and cede to the masses the furtive enjoyment of doodling penises all over them. DDB Stockholm alters the process somewhat in its latest long-copy work for pop-culture retailer Papercut. The ads feature tiny graffiti penises even before the unwashed citizenry can sharpen their Sharpies. The whole reason for the penis's appearance is explained in the copy—which you can read in full here. (Basically, the angsty-existential piece suggests shopping at Papercut is more exciting than standing around wondering why someone drew a penis on an ad.) The ad is part of a series from DDB copywriter Magnus Jakobsson. The previous installment, titled "This is not your life," you can read here.

Filed under DDB, Europe, Magazines, Nudd
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Timely ad: What to do in a nuclear accident

Here's a disturbingly topical new ad campaign from the Belgian government, explaining what to do (and not to do) in case of a nuclear accident. Apparently wrapping your family in aluminum foil is optional, though the recommended course of action is to stay in your home, leave the kids at school and stay off the cell phone. The campaign website gives only slightly more specific guidance on issues like evacuation and taking iodine tablets. Such an ad would have seemed farcically out of date just a month ago, but now the spot's biggest fault is seeming overly humorous on an issue that has become very real for the people of Japan. For a full transcript and more details on the campaign, be sure to visit Osocio.  

Filed under Belgium, Europe, Griner, PSAs
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Action-starved? Don't join Swedish marines

If you're Swedish and looking for a white-knuckled thrill ride to the bleeding edge of advanced combat, then you'll probably want to look somewhere other than the marines. In two recruitment ads bundled into the clip below, the Swedish armed forces contrast the excitement of Hollywood action flicks (and, one would guess, U.S. military ads) with the reality of daily soldiering life. The captions, which can be a bit hard to read, promise new troops "an education that leads to a job where you can make a difference. For real." These ads might not have young men sprinting to the recruitment office, but you have to appreciate their ability to keep expectations nice and low.

Filed under Europe, Griner, Military
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Hot grannies getting sexed up for equal pay

In honor of International Women's Day today, let's look at another spot about equal pay for women. This one, from Equal PayDay, a Belgian non-profit, is an audacious spoof of Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction" video (the hot version of the video with jiggling jugs and the power tools, not the creepy one). And in contrast to Dame Judy Dench's sonorous lecture about equality (delivered over Daniel Craig in drag), this spot is highly amusing. There's just something about watching old ladies operate power tools in slow-motion as their false teeth slide from their mouths. The spectacle is brought to you by Mortierbrigade Belgium. Aside from it being International Women's Day, these equal-pay spots are all coming out in March because the typical woman has to work for a year and three months to make the same amount as a man makes in a year.

Filed under Cullers, Europe, Parody, Women's rights
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Daniel Craig does a pro-women PSA in drag

Daniel Craig dresses as Danielle Craig in this new PSA for International Women's Day on behalf of WeAreEquals.org. Actually, he's playing James Bond in the clip—with Judi Dench (who plays M in the recent Bond films) asking him in the narration if he really believes that men and women are equal. The spot was directed by Sam Taylor-Wood and penned by Kick-Ass screenwriter Jane Goldman. While Craig, 43, is doing his part for gender equality, he's been stymied in his efforts to advance gay rights. The actor, who is straight, has been lobbying for some time—so far without success—to have his James Bond appear in a gay scene.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Europe, James Bond, Nudd, PSAs
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Stick anything inside you, say lubricant ads

If you've taken a special liking to a bowling pin, a telescope or a giant dog bone, then Try is the lubricating gel for you! This ambient campaign, credited to JWT Paris, consists of "Try me!" stickers that are meant to be surreptitiously slapped on large phallic objects in stores and elsewhere, implying that this is a product that over-delivers in a big way. (Perhaps to prevent lawsuits filed from emergency rooms, an asterisk leads to smaller copy recommending that you not, in fact, try any such thing.) Sure, these are probably scam ads—but hyperbole like this is a recurring theme in lubricant ads. Sometimes it's even more painful looking. See the three full ads after the jump.

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Filed under Europe, JWT, Lubricant, Nudd
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British boobs develop breast-milk ice cream

Ever wake up in the night with an insatiable craving for breast-milk ice cream? I do all the time, and I've been working on it in therapy. But maybe I'm not so crazy after all. Ice cream made from human breast milk has been selling for more than $20 a dish at the Icecreamists restaurant in London. They're calling it "Baby Gaga." According to the Daily Mail, "The recipe blends breast milk with Madagascan vanilla ponds and lemon zest." Sounds tasty. Plus: "A costumed Baby Gaga waitress serves the ice cream in a martini glass." I wouldn't have it any other way! Unfortunately, some milquetoasts (note the lactic wordplay) objected to this—and managed to get the stuff banned due to health concerns. Boo! The whole episode may seem distasteful, but it could be viewed as a wholesome step up by Icecreamists, last spotted promoting its supposedly libido-boosting Sex Pistol cocktail with ads featuring "Queens of Cream" squirted with chocolate and vanilla. Classy!

Filed under Controversy, Europe, Gianatasio, Ice cream, New products
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Cats with thumbs will fight you for that milk

This ad for Cravendale milk, from Wieden + Kennedy London, imagines a hellish alternate reality in which cats have opposable thumbs and military organization. The moment where they're snapping their new fingers like the opening of West Side Story was hilarious, and I wish they'd done more with that idea instead of rushing into confrontation, but you can only fit so much into 56 seconds. Besides, their leader, Bertrum, has a Twitter, so I can always offer advice that way. Call it sucking up all you want, but it could be my ticket into a government job with the League of Incredible Thumbcats while the rest of you hapless bipeds are slaving away in the catnip mines.

Filed under Cravendale, Europe, Food and drink, Kiefaber, Wieden + Kennedy
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Sex toys for the design-conscious customer

If Apple made sex toys, they'd probably look something like this. Lelo, a Swedish company, just released the new ad below for its sexual aids, which it calls "the world's best pleasure objects." Seems these products are so attractive, you can leave them lying around the house—their aesthetic appeal more than outweighs any potential embarrassment. Lelo was founded in 2003 by engineer Filip Sedic and industrial designers Eric Kalén and Carl Magnuson, after they "went looking for a fortieth birthday present for a married woman who had everything." All they could find were shoddy and vulgar products. So, they founded Lelo, whose design-centric approach represents "a rejection of the cheap plastic buzzers and substitute phalluses that made up the market of traditional sex toys." Lelo products, meanwhile, "followed contours inspired by the female form, and were manufactured with the highest quality materials and engineering." The founders say they've had great success, as "a discerning, design-conscious, and dedicated clientèle responded with incredible enthusiasm to the Lelo approach."

Filed under Europe, Lelo, Nudd, Sexual aids
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