Australian soda handing out hairy man-bibs

Any adults who are in the market for a creepy new bib (for themselves, not their offspring) should look no further than Cadbury Schweppes' Man Bib, which somehow promotes the company's Solo brand of soft drinks down in Australia. It claims to work as an actual bib, but the model is wearing it under his shirt, which defeats the purpose entirely. But hey, it could have been a codpiece.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on April 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Australia, Cadbury, Kiefaber

Nestea likes them young and exotic-looking

Nestea makes iced tea, but it gets all hot and bothered when it comes to those sexy foreign-exchange students. That's the take-away from new ads for Nestea Red Tea that are apparently running on bus shelters in the Baltimore and D.C. areas. The campaign is drawing some predictable criticisms (that the ads objectify, that they're xenophobic, that they're racist), but that seems like an overreaction. While the foreign students in the campaign might be "tasty," it's the slacker American student over at the "Liquid Awesomeness" site who's the real doofus. His main preoccupation down in his "subterranean lair of cool"? Trying to get hamsters to play the electric guitar. Photo by poza1 on Flickr.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 17, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Nestea, Nudd

Dave & Buster's loads of fun for little people

Some might take offense at Merkley's first work for Dave & Buster's, which shows patrons interacting with miniature versions of themselves who are supposed to represent the "fun" trapped inside them. Personifying fun is fine, but why go the Mini-Me route? At the restaurant, you could trip over one of them and break an arm or a leg. And they're all but guaranteed to come up a little short on the bill. All un-P.C. kidding aside, and even overlooking the height issue, this first spot in the campaign has problems. The actors' deliveries seem stilted and rushed. And does the mini-chick really need extra time to prepare for a night out at some high-tech sports bar? If that's Romeo's favorite place to take his dates, maybe the woman should play the field. I'm only 5-foot-4 in heels, and if I really wanted to "Feed my fun," Dave & Buster's wouldn't be on the dance card. OK, I'm 5-foot-3 in heels. Not that I wear heels. Much.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on April 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7)
Filed under Dave & Buster's, Gianatasio, Merkley, Restaurants

Dole ad from Japan really very unappetizing

I always thought bananas were pretty straightforward, but this Dole commercial from Japan suggests otherwise. I also assumed people shied away from eating fruit that just shot out of someone's nose, but it turns out I was wrong about that, too. One thing I'm sure of, though, is this commercial did not make me want to eat any Dole banana products. Or look at a banana ever again. And this isn't the first time Japan has made me re-evaluate my opinions about something, either.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on April 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dole, Freaky, Japan, Kiefaber

Hogging the Ovaltine has its consequences

This spec tale of a kid who comes home to an empty house and finds a note that his parents have left because he hogged the Ovaltine sets my nerves on edge. Yes, it's over the top and not meant to be taken too seriously. Yet, it stirs up the universal fear of abandonment, and positions Ovaltine 180 degrees away from its traditional "comfort" zone. Instead of providing chocolaty reassurance, it associates the brand with discomfort and anxiety. What marketer wants consumers reacting to one its commercials by phoning their therapists? If Nesquik cared, they could rapid-respond with a spot where the bunny promises to stick with kids no matter what. Quik tastes better anyway. Maybe if Ovaltine reduced its sugar content, those parents in the spot wouldn't have been so hyper and run off.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on April 8, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Gianatasio, Ovaltine

Burger King sexes up square butts for kids

Seriously, guys, I have no idea what's going on here. The Burger King is measuring women's butts while Sir Mix-a-Lot raps about wanting to "get with" SpongeBob SquarePants. That much I get. That's just Crispin being Crispin. But this is an ad for kids' meals? I'm usually not one to side with the parental-outcry types, yet it's hard to get past the inherent creepiness pouring forth from this unholy union. UPDATE: Below is the full-length music video, wherein parental-outcry types can gain more ammunition. UPDATE 2: Like clockwork, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood weighs in: "It's bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it's utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women." Our sister blog BrandFreak has more.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on April 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (32)
Filed under Burger King, Crispin Porter, Griner, Restaurants

Food that sings for you isn't that appetizing

This "Singing Burger" spot from the Chicken Licken joint in South Africa reminds us of something Wendy's did a while back. At least the Chicken Licken people have better taste in music. We're still wondering why anyone would eat something that was in the middle of serenading them (for some reason, Michigan J. Frog dancing onto a French guy's plate springs to mind), or why a chicken place sells burgers at all, really.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on April 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Africa, Kiefaber, Restaurants

Phantom promo costs Domino's 11,000 pies

Clever viral-marketing hoax or simple accident? On March 30, Domino's franchisees were hit with 11,000 orders overnight as part of a free medium-pie promotion that didn't even exist. Or so they thought. Turns out in December, Crispin Porter + Bogusky devised an online promotion using the password "bailout." It never got the green light from corporate, but no one went back and disabled the code, says Domino's rep Tim McIntyre. Three months later, he says, a consumer, tinkering with Domino's online ordering, "randomly" typed in the word and triggered the free coupon. That happened late this past Monday night. By the time store owners opened Tuesday, their computers were "dinging" with orders. More than half of the 5,000 U.S. stores had at least one redemption. Based on the volume of orders at two particular stores, the company thinks the whole thing started at a college near either Cincinnati or Salt Lake City. Soon, value blogs picked it up, the run on free pizzas spread. The company, which is reimbursing franchisees for the cost of food, disabled the promotion at 11:30 a.m. on March 31, the day before April Fool's Day. "That was just a quirk of timing. This isn't a hoax, scam or hacker. It's an honest-to-goodness mistake," insists McIntyre. But he admits it's "reinforced to us the power of viral marketing and the power of the word 'free' with 'pizza.' " And in these grim times, it proved cathartic for consumers: "When word got around and people found out that it was a mistaken free promotion, they liked it even more," he says. "People liked it because they felt, 'We just stuck it to the man.' "

—Posted by Noreen O'Leary

Published on April 3, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Crispin Porter, Domino's, O'Leary

Twitter alerts you to freshest hot cross buns

Twitter is poised to remake our world. A new area of focus: local bakeries. These bakeries have a problem. They have fresh stuff coming out of the oven all day long, yet people don't know exactly when. Enter Twitter. Courtesy of digital agency Poke, BakerTweet sends out a message whenever fresh goods pop out of the oven. Poke set up a handful of London-area bakeries with receivers to partially automate the process. The idea is, it's a cheap way for them to promote their products, although I wonder just how many Tweets about scones and buns people want to read. Check it out in action at the Twitter feed of Albion's Oven.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on April 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Morrissey, Twitter

Blood-spattered refs always prefer Cheetos

A reader out in Los Angeles alerted us to these bizarre Cheetos billboards posted around town, showing a grim-faced soccer referee brandishing a red card while covered in what looks like chunky blood spatters. Non-Spanish speakers are particularly perturbed and speculating wildly about what the headline says. None other than Rob Huebel (the guy who played Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man in BBDO Atlanta's old Cingular Wireless cinema ads) speculates on his blog that the ads read, "New Cheetos, for people that like to bathe in human blood." The real translation is apparently something like, "Stain yourself with the flavor of the new Red Salsa Cheetos." Either way, be sure to give the homicidal referees a wide berth in the snack aisle for the time being.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 31, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Cheetos, Freaky, Nudd

Are Dunkin' Donuts better for you than TV?

Hill, Holliday calls this Dunkin' Donuts spot "Tractor Beam," but that freaky TV seems to be channeling (ha!) Poltergeist more than Star Trek, as it pulls the kids toward the screen. When Dad opens a box of Dunkin' treats on the kitchen table, the spell, or beam, is broken. The voiceover explains that it's all about "getting the family together with a tasty doughnut." That's an oddly Homer Simpson-esque sentiment that assumes eating sugary fried dough is somehow preferable to viewing televised fare. The proposition may hold true if the kids were watching Bill O'Reilly or that cinematic crap on AMC, but otherwise I'm not so sure. Consider the round-faced, solidly built (wink, wink) father in the spot. He should lay off the chocolate frosteds and serve up some salad. He should at least switch stations to an exercise show or, better yet, take those kids outside so they can work off all the calories he's stuffing down their throats.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 31, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dunkin' Donuts, Gianatasio, Hill Holliday

New CiCi's Pizza campaign is penny foolish

CiCi's Pizza is dropping a million pennies in streets near its restaurants nationwide as part of a promotion launched by ad shop Deutsch. Patrons who find the specially marked 1-cent pieces win free meals. The big negative, of course, is that you have to eat at CiCi's. I guess no one could afford, or was willing to pay, "five bucks and change," the price-point CiCi's extolled in its ads in November, so the chain drastically lowered the bar. Seriously, there's something a bit crass and mean-spirited about asking consumers to fish pennies out of the gutter for a few slices of pepperoni pie. What if a fight erupts over the tokens and someone winds up in the hospital, or worse? That's a PR debacle just waiting to happen. Worst of all is the imagery of schlubby looking patrons mounting pedestals to celebrate their penny-ante finds. Is that how CiCi's sees its customers? Maybe someone should take those pennies to the chain's corporate HQ and tactfully tell the marketing poobahs exactly where they can spend them.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 31, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under CiCi's, Deutsch, Gianatasio, Restaurants

New Baskin-Robbins ad a bit of a car wreck

Cliff Freeman and Partners scoops up (ha!) a tepid try at humor in this spot for Baskin-Robbins. During Dad's driving lesson, a teenage girl smacks into another car in the driveway. That's OK, Daddy will still take her to Baskin-Robbins. Maybe a few diction classes would cure her of that weird Valley Girl accent. Whatever. The spot's about as bland as a dish of the company's vanilla ice cream. It's a far cry from Cliff Freeman's classic Little Caesars "Pizza Pizza" spots of yore. Yes, it's unfair to judge an agency based on work it produced for a different client more than a decade ago. But given the expansion of my waistline during that same period, at least partly due to Baskin-Robbins and Little Caesars, it's tough to feel sympathetic.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Baskin-Robbins, Cliff Freeman, Gianatasio, Ice cream

Padma's hamburger ad redefines food porn

Well, here it is: the new Padma Lakshmi commercial for Hardee's/Carl's Jr. that we mentioned back in February, when it was being filmed. It certainly doesn't skimp on the sexual imagery, as the Top Chef beauty opens wide (really wide) to take her first bite of the Western-bacon monstrosity. Plopped down on an apartment building's front steps, she hikes up her skimpy dress and licks the burger all over until, in the heat of the moment, it promptly drips its sauce on her lower leg. Outside of the car wash, it doesn't get more food porn-y than this. Paris Hilton, please pack your knives and go. Via The Food Section. UPDATE: We've replaced the 30-second spot with the even-saucier 60-second version above.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (18)
Filed under Carl's Jr., Celebrity endorsements, Hardee's, Nudd, Restaurants

KFC finds random side job: fixing potholes

Cities and states are running out of money. So, don't expect quick action on that pothole. Thankfully, KFC is stepping in to help. The fast-food giant is filling in potholes in five cities. What's more, Col. Sanders himself (well, an underemployed actor playing Col. Sanders) is doing the honors, along with a more professional crew. The idea is that KFC has been clogging arteries, I mean filling stomachs, for 50 years. Of course, the filled potholes come with a price: a big "Re-Freshed by KFC" message on the street. This is just what we need to fix our infrastructure: ad-supported repairs. Some more suggestions: street lamps that beam a sponsors' message on the ground; new bridges that require drivers to watch a two-minute pre-roll ad instead of a toll; and new schools that are roadblocked for a single advertiser, with 100 percent share of voice.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on March 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (10)
Filed under KFC, Morrissey, Restaurants

Quiznos oven craving some foot-long lovin'

Say what you will about the disturbing implications of this Quiznos ad from Nitro, but you'd be hard-pressed to forget the point: that Quiznos has foot-long meat tubes just waiting to be jammed in the hotbox for you. Oh, and they're $4. The talent deserves credit for squeezing a lot of subtle acting into a 30-second space. If you don't believe me, check out the guy's reaction when the oven says, "Put it in me, Scott." If those aren't the eyebrows of a man being propositioned by a horny appliance, I don't know what are. UPDATE: A slightly sanitized, less sexualized version of the ad is airing in earlier timeslots.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on March 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (64)
Filed under Griner, Nitro, Quiznos, Restaurants

Snobby French squirrel loves Emerald Nuts

I miss the days when Emerald Nuts showed Robert Goulet messing with your stuff while you were in a mid-afternoon stupor. Now, judging by this ad from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, all they're good for is inspiring boisterous, culturally stereotypical nut snobs to yell at you. Which isn't nearly as fun. And who still listens to gramophones in this day and age?

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on March 19, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Emerald Nuts, Goodby, Silverstein, Kiefaber

Coke's 'Happiness Factory' cranks up tunes

While Coke's "Open happiness" ad from Spain has been getting lots of blog love, the latest installment of the U.S. campaign has launched with the third "Happiness Factory" commercial, called "Yawnbusters." The spot's been viewable online since January, but just this week it was updated with a new super-pop jingle! (That's the new version, with a snippet from the single, above.) Coke teamed up with Warner Music and combined Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Panic at the Disco's Brendon Urie, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, and Janelle Monae for the song, which is on iTunes. Psyop did the animation with Wieden + Kennedy. Oh, and it also comes with a new site full of reasonably amusing Flash games, but what doesn't these days? For those of us who worried that the "Open happiness" tag meant an end to the Happiness Factory, it turns out Coke plans to churn out even more HF spots. Which is good, since they remodeled the World of Coca-Cola to start with "Happiness Factory Theatre."

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on March 18, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Coca-Cola, Cullers, Psyop, Wieden + Kennedy

Hillshire Farm is inspiring more meat poetry

"Bang bang choo-choo train/Eat lunchmeat on the aeroplane." Such are the lyrics in this loopy Hillshire Farm spot via TBWA\Chiat\Day that debuted a while back but hasn't gotten nearly the buzz it deserves. At first I thought it was set aboard Air Force One because of the politician type flashing the victory sign and his Secret Service detail. But then, what's everyone else doing there? I think way too much about these kinds of things. I need to get a life, or more cable stations. The spot's so earnestly silly, it's addictive. I've got that song wedged in my head, and it's shearing off lean slices of brain matter as I type. It's true what they say: Meat is murder.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Gianatasio, Hillshire Farm, TBWA

Lay's chips and dip falling in love offscreen

The new "Made for each other" campaign for Lay's by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners suggests that Lay's chips and dip were destined to be together. Yet the five beautifully animated spots (see them all here), each done in its own lovely style, don't show either product. Instead, they tell stories of strange and delightful items falling in love. The spots are all engaging and endearing, and have lovely song choices to match. You can also try out the beautiful, intricate, also completely un-chip-related Web site. (There’s a crazy loading time, mind you.) I really wanted to dislike the campaign because of the utter lack of chips and dip, but the art direction is just so winning. What can I say for myself? Only the heartless feel nothing over the plight of a lonely firesprite.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on March 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Cullers, Frito-Lay, Goodby, Silverstein, Lay's

Someone get this surgeon a bourbon, stat!

Yesterday, Carl's Jr. unveiled this ad for the Kentucky Bourbon Burger, a mountainous meatpile that could be renamed the Massive Organ Failure. The spot, made by Mendelsohn Zien, seems aimed at stirring up a bit of controversy, what with a doctor proudly proclaiming his love of pre-surgery bourbon. But I'm not sure I'd be relieved to see my physician burying his face in a burger that, per the chain's Web site, has 730 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,470 milligrams of sodium, either. Hopefully his own cardiologist has knocked back a few Knob Creeks to get his hands nice and steady.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on March 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Alcohol, Carl's Jr., Griner, Mendelsohn Zien, Restaurants

Quaker Oats will have you going and going

I'd like to believe Quaker Oats CMO Annie Young-Scrivner when she tells Brandweek that the company's new campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is designed to communicate that the oat is "not just a grain. It's a super grain that powers your day and helps you do amazing things. It lifts you physically and emotionally and makes you feel good knowing you did something good for someone and yourself, and it's one of the most nutritious grains." Still, given the product in question (and my propensity for reading scatological subtexts into pretty much everything), I can't help but feel that the tagline "Go humans go" is somewhat unfortunate. Of course, I could be completely misreading the brand's intentions. But if some subversive copysmith knowingly slid such a reference in (yuck), I salute you. Well played. Now, pull my finger!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 10, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (8)
Filed under Gianatasio, Goodby, Silverstein, Quaker Oats

Risking life and limb for the Boursin cheese

This ad from London's RKCR/Y&R for Boursin cheese takes the brand's classic, long-dormant "Du pain, du vin, du Boursin" campaign into potentially grisly territory. The lovers' cornfield picnic is nauseating enough to make one almost anticipate the "rather unexpected interruption" at the end of the spot. Boursin shows good sense in letting the ad go black before that pivotal moment, though. No sense associating its product with too much blood and guts.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on March 6, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Boursin, Kiefaber, RKCR, Y&R

Boston Market urges men to ride other men

In its first campaign from Fallon, Boston Market "countrifies" the familiar Klondike Bar ad concept. "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" becomes, basically, "What would you do for a taste of Boston Market's Crispy Country Chicken?" A lot gets lost in translation. In the spot above, an office drone attempts to ride on a copier repairman's back in return for a bite of deep-fried hen. Not the smartest move, given the rampant layoffs in today's economy. The guy on bottom bucks like a bronco, and the voiceover is delivered with a drawl. It's a misguided effort to communicate the whole "country" theme. Rodeos are more Wild West, anyway. Besides, the place is called Boston Market, so how authentically "country" can the food be? I live in Boston, and the closest we get to "country" is watching Jeff Foxworthy on TV, or the occasional weekend antiquing jaunt to Vermont. And that ain't real country, that's just a lot of aging hippies and trees.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on March 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Boston Market, Fallon, Gianatasio, Restaurants

Jack in the Box mascot lives, still a big tool

The Jack in the Box mascot's brush with death (he was run over by a bus during a regionally aired Super Bowl spot and has languished in a coma ever since) apparently hasn't broadened his perspective much. According to a press release today, "The Hang In There Jack campaign ... is coming to an end this week as Jack wakes from his coma and announces several brand re-invention programs, including a new logo and website." Working on a rebranding initiative always helps trauma victims get over a catastrophic accident and a month on life support. Jack in the Box CMO Terri Graham continues the e-mail's awkward attempt to reconcile the campaign's fake almost-death with the restaurant's corporate evolution, saying: "It's great to have Jack back as we continue to invest in a brand-reinvention strategy that provides our guests the best quick-serve dining experience possible." See the new logo here. ("The swooping tail of the 'k' in 'Jack' mimick[s] the large, red smile of the chain's icon.") The new site debuts in a few days.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 4, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Jack in the Box, Nudd, Restaurants