Glasses that look great on all kinds of asses
It's tough to know what to say about these Italian print ads for Glassing Sunglasses, but I'll try. Some might find it objectionable, but it's offensive in a cartoony, memorable way, like naughty Mad magazine illustrations from 20 years ago, so folks might want to lighten up. Some Web commenters have bashed the ads for implying that people who wear the sunglasses are asses, but that's probably too literal of a read (though, based on my experience with those who wear shades as a fashion accessory, quite accurate). Maybe it's spec, but since it advertises specs, that's probably alright, too. Sure, it's easily dismissed as being odd for odd's sake, but there's nothing wrong with that, since catching consumers' attention is half the battle. It'll crack some people up, I'm sure. Beyond that, I'm wiping my hands of it. Via Ads of the World, which credits Y&R for the campaign.
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Published on November 25, 2009 | Permalink
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Mexican toy ad begging for an NC-17 ratingWarning: lots of violence, some nudity and various other NSFW stuff.
With its copious blood, guts, nudity and sex, this fake movie trailer by Y&R Mexico City and director Carl W. Jones is one of the craziest ads you're likely to see. It's certainly one of the craziest toy ads you'll see. It tells the story of a Japanese woman living in Mexico who falls in love with an Alimaña Spore toy (the item being promoted here), which she finds one day in the garbage. Her friends laugh at her choice of diminutive, non-human mate, so she murders them one by one, forcing one of them to eat his own intestines. On his YouTube page, the director says the ad has "some of the most shocking and bizarre death sequences ever filmed, and features truly unforgettable imagery, clinically dazzling direction." Unclear if it will sell toys, however. Via Animal, though Adland wrote it about it, too. UPDATE: This spot was not created by Y&R, nor is Alimaña a Y&R client. Creatives from the agency did it on the side as part of a film competition. |
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Published on October 22, 2009 | Permalink
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Dentyne Ice kills smelly, smoking-gun squid
This unsettling Dentyne Ice ad from Thailand has it all: a cheating husband, a jealous wife and a giant, horrible squid. The sea beast represents the man's sushi-breath from a secret after-work dinner. The wife smells it when he gets home and flies into a rage. So, the man pops a Dentyne Ice and, with more anger than seems appropriate, breathes a big "Ahhhhh" into the woman's face. Weird. By McCann in Bangkok. —Posted by Tim Nudd Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 22, 2009 | Permalink
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New Balance running in the wrong direction
As a runner, I'm regularly amused by advertisers' attempts to tap into the zeitgeist of an activity that can at times border on the masochistic. Now, New Balance is writing another sorry chapter in the history of running-shoe advertising. The brand's new spot has a guy running around with feet coming out of his forehead. You see, it's a crazy metaphor for runners thinking of their achy feet all the time, rather than losing themselves in the simple pleasures of a jog. An ER doc fixes things with a brand-new pair of New Balance shoes. This is pretty disappointing from New Balance and BBDO. Their previous "Love/Hate Anthem" nicely captured the complexity of an activity that's addictive yet features inevitable discomfort and the struggle against the understandable impulse to stay put. It would have been nicer to see New Balance take the production budget for the silly feet-on-forehead spot and pour it into "Chasing Kimbia," a Web documentary series the brand has sponsored that puts the spotlight on the often-anonymous lives of great Kenyan runners. That's stuff that will connect more with runners than obtuse metaphors. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Tabasco sauce makes your pizza really sing
Apparently, I've never tried Tabasco on pizza, because I'm pretty sure I'd remember if small faces had erupted from the pepperoni and started singing like a barbershop quartet. That's what happens in this bizarre spot from TracyLocke in Dallas. The guys call themselves the Pepperonis, and they're heating up just as the weather cools down. Over at the Web site, you can even download MP3s of the group harmonizing on some reworked holiday classics. It's nice to see Tabasco getting quirky and pushing the "So much more than hot" theme, especially since you can find about 100 spicier sauces at the store. But there's something undeniably creepy about the commercial. Maybe it's the subtle mix of flavors, like a hint of Naked Lunch with a dash of Nightmare on Elm Street. Or maybe it's that the Pepperonis look just like the swollen lesion from this Australian cancer PSA. —Posted by David Griner Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on October 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Men with small parts always welcome at BK
The guy with the tiny hands is back in a couple of new Burger King ads from Crispin Porter + Bogusky. He first appeared in this 2007 spot, where he was reluctant to eat a BK double cheeseburger because it made his already-small appendages look even smaller (and was taken aback by his friend's offer to "hold it for you"). In the new ads, it's the Whopper Jr. that fuels his feelings of embarrassment and inadequacy. His bitter father (above) and his friends (below) try to convince him that Burger King is the place to go even for those who have tiny parts. See also: |
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Published on August 31, 2009 | Permalink
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St. Louis doctor's ads are awesome and sad
A doctor trained in the art of healing by Yoda, Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Chewbacca? Is he accepting new patients? The ad above, which ran in the St. Louis alt-weekly The Riverfront Times in October 2006, is one of the more awesome ads you'll see for a physician. Unfortunately, the doctor who placed it, Alexander Kalk, wasn't just having fun—he was suffering from psychiatric problems that would eventually doom his practice and drive him out of Missouri earlier this year. The ad was one of a series of bizarre ads Kalk placed in the RFT in 2006. Another included lyrics to a song he composed about his divorce. A third was designed to look like a strip-club promotion ("Come party with one of the smartest doctors on the west side"). Other movie-themed ads included a Matrix spoof and, after Kalk had his car towed, a Dude, Where's My Car? tribute. "You could probably say [my illness started] about the time I started running the ads in the RFT," Kalk tells the paper now. "That was clearly abnormal." The RFT has a whole long story about Kalk, who allegedly dumped hundreds of his patients' medical records in a trash bin and fled Missouri for Texas. |
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Published on August 25, 2009 | Permalink
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Sweden frightened by ghostly cosmetics ad
Swedes see their fair share of weird advertising, mostly the McDonald's stuff from DDB Stockholm. But the spot above, for Apoliva personal-care products, seems to have pushed them over the edge into mass hysteria. The ad shows a Swedish supermodel named Adina Fohlin singing along to a haunting piano tune as a light snow turns to a stormy rain and then to sunshine. Seems innocuous enough, though not to the almost 100,000 people who've joined a Facebook group called "I am scared of the girl in the Apoliva commercial." Fohlin is weird looking, but that's what makes her a supermodel. Apoliva, meanwhile, is surely happy with the extra attention, though a rep tells Swedish newspaper The Local: "We definitely weren't prepared for this reaction. It was never our intention to scare people." |
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Published on August 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Fruit by the Foot combat often catastrophic
Man, do not cross the kid who can turn people's bones and DNA into Fruit by the Foot. That's on the level of Eric Cartman making someone eat his parents. Normally, I dump on commercials like this for their forced randomness, but in this case I can't, because I didn't know Fruit by the Foot still existed until I saw this ad. Touché, Gerry Graf and your team at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York. Touché. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on July 29, 2009 | Permalink
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Skittles linked to premature aging and death
Here's the latest odd Skittles spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York. Forget about Skittles making you feel young and attractive this summer. Instead, they could cause you to lose your hair and your mind, and might actually kill you. There's also the question of why the guy would keep his precious candy hourglass out in the living room if it's so vital to his very existence. What, doesn't he have his own bedroom? —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on July 13, 2009 | Permalink
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Evil children can't wait to get to McDonald's
DDB Stockholm remains king of the weird McDonald's commercials with new spot above, in which the prototypical childhood car-trip question takes on a sinister aspect. "Not there yet? Stop at McDonald's!" a bird screams at the car at the end. In terms of weirdness, it's up there with some of the agency's other creations, including the cliffhanging french-fries eater and, below, the two dudes with the same nose. |
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Published on July 1, 2009 | Permalink
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French Alzheimer's ad not quickly forgotten
It's French PSA day on AdFreak. Here's a powerful Alzheimer's awareness ad from Saatchi & Saatchi Paris. Compare it with the fluffier British Alzheimer's spot below, produced by Red Bee Media. |
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Published on June 22, 2009 | Permalink
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Talking teats teased by child's Oreo cookies
We'll sign off this week with this lovely commercial featuring a set of moaning, frustrated udders that are craving Oreo cookies about as badly as you're craving that happy-hour cocktail. Courtesy of Draftfcb, which always has such a way with animals. |
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Published on June 12, 2009 | Permalink
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Talking stomach and wallet pine for Fazoli's
Most folks who eat out at restaurants bring their wallets and stomachs along, but usually not as their dining companions who occupy seats at the table and take part in dinner conversations. The Fazoli's spot above, from Bohan Advertising & Marketing, set at a non-Fazoli's restaurant, doesn't stop there, however. The waiter beats the crap out of the wallet, not so subtly symbolizing other eateries' brutal prices. (These restaurant commercials are getting rough. I thought this kind of violence was confined to D'Angelo's ads!) And of course, the stomach complains that it doesn't like the food. I guess you could say it starts bellyaching (ha ha!). And that, unfortunately, might explain the mighty wind that blows away the competition in the chain's followup spot below. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on June 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Food cannot shut up about Dixie's products
I thought the French's mustard ad would be the trippiest food-related work of the week. Not even close, thanks to this loopy Dixie campaign by Howard, Merrell & Partners. Food speaks! It wants to be served on (or in) Dixie-brands products! That's two exclamation points so far, so you know I'm eating up this campaign! That was a bad pun, I know, but I think the spots are warping my brain. The guy who plays the hamburger looks a bit like Brian Dennehy, but this all-beef fatty's gravel-voiced delivery has a gut-wrenching, punch-drunk resonance heretofore unheard on screens large or small. The ice-cream actress channels Wanda Sykes on steroids ("Nasty!"), and the coffee guy in this third spot doesn't sound Colombian so much as insane. Some might call these performances offensive, but there's a scoop of vanilla and strawberry in that sundae, so let's just all get along. Most bad-on-purpose ads fail miserably, but these dish out enough entertaining stupidity to merit second and third helpings. |
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Published on May 13, 2009 | Permalink
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Tiny poor people don't get McDonald's fries
One last unusual TV spot for the week, and it's from McDonald's, which wants you to know that a large group of miniature, impoverished peasants are crawling around in the bowels of your car, tired and hungry, just waiting for you to drop a single golden-brown McDonald's french fry, which to them is basically a giant shed of potato that could feed the entire horde for a year. But don't worry about letting them go hungry. Why would you want to feed a large group of people with food you'd normally throw away? That's not what McDonald's is all about. Keep that fry for yourself—remember, no one wants it more than you! By DDB Chicago. |
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Published on May 8, 2009 | Permalink
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Giant water-hating duck hawks Oasis drinks
It's turning out to be a Mother London kind of day. Here's the agency's latest work for Oasis drinks. Following up on last autumn's ill-fated Cactus Kid campaign, Mother sets this new ad in a Japanese dorm room, where one female student is somewhat suggestively feeding Oasis to another on the bed. A couple of parental types (university employees?) storm in, furious that the teens aren't drinking water, and accuse them of being under the spell of a giant water-hating duck. But the mere mention of the duck, aka Rubberduckzilla, summons the creature to the scene, where it proceeds to destroy everything around it—except for the adoring girls, who snuggle up on its beak. The tagline remains the equally absurd "Oasis. For people who don't like water." |
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Published on May 8, 2009 | Permalink
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Ewok slaves play magical organ in Coke ad
Here's one of the weirder Coca-Cola commercials you'll see. A homeless-looking hipster dude wheels a box up a hillside, unpacks it to reveal an intricate organ with a bunch of Ewok/Spongemonkey type creatures inside who grunt and sing when given squirts of Coke from a series of jets activated by the organ's keyboard. Four more hairballs play as a little band down below. Soon, the music attracts a whole load of young hippie types, who slog up the hillside and dance in the grass, which starts sprouting bottles of Coke. Make of it what you will. By Mother in London. |
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Published on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
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H&M drops big, surreal sex bomb on Britain
What happens when you bring techno lyrics to life through fashion models? Apparently, you get a surreal smorgasbord of sex, meteorites, creepy dolls and pink ponies. This British ad for clothing chain H&M was created to launch a new collection by designer Matthew Williamson, who I assume is the Howard Hughes-looking playboy at the end. The spot was directed by Johan Renck, who has done so many big-name videos, he can probably afford his own pink pony. Heck, make it a unicorn. Via UTalkMarketing. —Posted by David Griner |
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Published on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
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Kid grows up fast in car dealer's advertising
It's been a while since we've seen a local car-dealer commercial that's as bad as this one. (The last one was probably the travesty from South Oak Dodge in Matteson, Ill., with the shouting Sumo wrestler who represents the Asian car makers.) This one, from Florence & White Ford of Smithville, Tenn., is narrated by a kid who has an adult's mouth digitally (and poorly) grafted onto his face. He talks about the great deals and inventory, and then adds that his mom even drives a truck, which is why he calls her his "mothertrucker." "Reminds me of the Conan sketches using Syncro-Vox," says the reader who sent this in. Or a poor man's Baby Bob. |
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Published on May 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Furniture for black people and white people!
The people at Red House Furniture in High Point, N.C., care very deeply about race relations in this country, as their curious "Black and White Furniture" ad above illustrates. It comes across like they wanted to say something about race and only remembered halfway into it that they sell furniture. And the YouTube description of their video suggests they don't know what lit this particular fire under their feet, either. ("We thought something with a comical racial reconciliation theme would be fun, as well as a conversation starter.") But they're right—it clearly isn't a racist ad, and it does focus on inclusion. It just, you know, doesn't make any sense. UPDATE: Posted below is a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on April 29, 2009 | Permalink
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Will the mouse survive this pest-control ad?
DeVito/Verdi produced this Ehrlich Pest Control spot, which, according to press materials, began its life as a regular old unbranded personal YouTube video. Of course, that would only be novel if this were 2006. What's notable here is how effectively the clip creates palpable tension and makes its point using just a cute (to some) yet menacing (to others, like me) creature, a familiar tune and a payoff that doesn't suck—if only because many of us have played out this same frustrating scene in real life. The tagline, "Let us do it," refers to the extermination of rodents. I gladly will. Just make sure every one of those furry cheese-addicts is dead! As for the pro-vermin crowd that talks up useless catch-and-release traps and sonic deterrents that only give headaches to humans, I wonder if they'd find AdFreak's other recent rodent-related clip more ... palatable. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on April 28, 2009 | Permalink
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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? |
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Published on April 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Credit scores pee on the rug, hump your leg
The folks at The Martin Agency, who created the inanimate wad-of-bills Kash character for Geico, are now portraying credit scores as shaggy, growling canines in a new campaign for FreeCreditReport.com. Kash never blinks a googly-eye, but these credit scores are darn feisty. Only FreeCreditReport can housebreak these puppies! Though silly in the extreme, the approach fairly accurately captures how it feels to be dogged (ha!) by numbers that can be tricky to manage or even understand. Does this mean the client has retired its signature struggling-band spots? "No way," says vp of advertising Mark Hriciga. "You'll definitely see more of them. Think of it like they're in the studio working on their next album and the tour dates will be announced soon." It's good to see the wanna-be rockers finally getting some credit. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on April 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Ads take a closer look at sneezing, laughing
These two new spots were made a long way from each other, but still seem separated at birth. The ad above, created by Jamshop for the South Australian Department of Health, promotes flu shots—by showing super-slow-motion footage of people sneezing. The ad below, created by Modernista! for the Dutch version of Comedy Central, hypes the channel's laugh-out-loud humor—by showing super-slow-motion footage of people laughing, with many of them spewing water all over the place. In a head-to-head battle, the Australian ad would probably win due to its sheer disgustingness. Modernista!'s only hope would be to reshoot and try to get people to laugh even harder until they shot milk out of their nose. |
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Published on April 21, 2009 | Permalink
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