Man's squirrel hands cheat him out of candy

This candy commercial from Adventa Lowe in the Ukraine is another example of Eastern Europe's squirrel obsession. It follows that Russian anti-alcoholism PSA with the drunken squirrel. Maybe it's some kind of secret code for something? I don't know. I'm also not sure about this guy's genetics, because in order for his story to check out, his father would have been a squirrel with squirrels for hands. Which is possible, what with all that atomic testing the Soviets did, but still kind of a stretch. And that's not even going into what all this says about his mom. Via Ads of the World.

Filed under Candy, Europe, Kiefaber, Lowe
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Those without DVR, grab your Bic pens now

BorghiErh/Lowe in Brazil makes a point for Bic pens (sorry) via a trio of amusing low-budget TV commercials that we're told will "only be shown once." We're given the directions to the Holy Grail, the secret formula for the most famous soft drink in the world and every last scrap of personal contact information for a super-sexy model. The model is shown fondling one of her breasts, making me lose my train of thought entirely. What's being advertised here ... Pepsi? Oh yeah—pens. It is impossible to memorize the ads' info if viewed just once. "See how important it is to have a Bic handy?" the ads ask at the end. Hyper-literal folks out there will point out that we live in the age of DVRs and can rewind, but they such should get a life. Now, excuse me while I replay that model spot in slow-mo: I think I caught a glimpse of nipple!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Bic, Brazil, Gianatasio, Lowe
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Wear fur, and you have blood on your hands

Lowe Bull in South Africa put together this gory spot for the International Anti-Fur Coalition. The idea is to emphasize that fur products were once animals who were killed for their pelts. This fact will hopefully make more of an impression on you than it does on the women in the ad. Of course, the women's obliviousness is part of the point, as they could care less about the provenance of their luxury. Yes, these are shock tactics, but they're a far cry from PETA's shallower, chauvinistic take on this issue.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Africa, Animals, Kiefaber, Lowe
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French add to ghastly road-safety hit parade

Lowe Strateus has delivered another gory instant classic in the world of road-safety advertising: the five-minute spot below, titled "Unbearable," for France's Sécurité Routière. Last we checked in with this agency and client, they were using fancy reverse chronology to save a guy—and his amputated leg—from a drunk-driving accident. This new spot also plays around with time, juxtaposing a gruesome car accident on a Saturday night with a police officer's visit to a mother's home the next morning. It's all in French, but you don't need any translation. It's nicely shot, and suitably off-putting, but the question remains: Do shock tactics like these do anything to change teenagers' behavior? Via Adrants.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Europe, Lowe, Nudd, Road safety
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Electrolux spot not lacking in crazy imagery

Swedish shop Lowe Brindfors crams lots of activity and imagery into this 60-second spot for Electrolux appliances. We've got, among other things, animated rainstorms and tidal waves, a locomotive traversing a family dinner table, a roasted chicken that comes back to life, a Jell-O mold (which seems primed to morph into something cool, but doesn't) and a ball of clay that does morph into a goofy-looking T-Rex. Ultimately, the proceedings are a bit unfocused and exhausting. And I'm not sure the visuals, more cutesy and contrived than truly engaging, support the tagline: "Appliances that help you create more than just wonderful food." Chaotic family dinners aren't that much fun. Especially when dinosaurs show up. They have bad table manners and tend to eat the guests.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Appliances, Electrolux, Europe, Gianatasio, Lowe
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Death on the hunt for doggies in Italian PSA

This Italian spot for the country's National Animal Protection Institute, via Lowe Pirella Fronzoni, is both creepy and amusing as it exhorts the public to "save the animals from a sad fate." The Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, skulks around luring stray and missing pets to their doom. Why can't he do the world a favor and target cats? The ad would be upsetting if not for some inspired, humorous touches: Death carries a Frisbee, whistles as he walks and even removes one of his own leg bones to lure Fido. The best bit is at the end, when the Reaper's accidental touch sends a jogger—who's shaggy and vaguely resembles a Welsh Terrier—to his eternal reward. As I've previously noted, early-morning runs can be scary.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Animals, Death, Europe, Gianatasio, Lowe, PSAs
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Don't despise nature? Use green packaging

The true story of American park ranger Roy Sullivan, who was struck by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977, for some odd reason inspired this spot by South African shop Lowe Bull touting Tetra Pak's low-carbon-footprint milk containers. The point is that Roy has good reason to hold a grudge against Mother Nature, while the rest of us don't, so we should respect and support her—and patronize Tetra Pak in the process. It's a real stretch, but the commercial is extremely well done—especially strike No. 7, with the hapless Roy cringing in a rowboat, looking heavenward, perhaps praying that the jolt will pass him by. He should have bolted over the side. Yes, that pun is a stretch, but don't worry. Lightning doesn't strike twice.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Africa, Gianatasio, Lowe
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Another safe-driving ad turns back the clock

We've got a mini-trend in road-safety advertising: stories told in reverse. This spot, by Lowe Strateus for Securite Routiere in France, opens with a wrenchingly realistic hospital scene (Christ, the guy lost a leg!) and then tracks back to a few hours earlier, when the driver avoids his fate by choosing to spend the night at a friend's house. It's a powerful twist on a theme explored in last year's New Mexico PSA with the drunk driver in jail visited by his dead daughter, setting a flashback in motion. The U.S. spot is more jarring because its message is so bleak and final. The French clip offers a way out, if folks act responsibly in the decisive moment. But then, the French ad has the bloody stump! OK, let's call it even.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Europe, Freaky, Gianatasio, Lowe, PSAs, Road safety
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Lowe ad revisits Bush thrown-shoe incident

Lowe Bull's new campaign for South Africa's Cape Times newspaper carries the tagline, "In-depth news investigated from every angle. Know all about it." Somewhat humorously, one such angle we get is the view from behind the podium during the infamous incident on Dec. 14, 2008, when Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw a shoe at President Bush. See a larger version here. True, the ad doesn't reflect well on the news-gathering profession overall, but that's journalism these days—a problem at every turn. A second ad shows a moon landing, but there hasn't been one of those in 40 years, so that story could use a second-day lead. A third ad, showing a civilian target from inside a tank, is a powerful image that works well with the copy. One time, I threw sneakers at Dan Wieden, and he tossed them back because they weren't Nikes. Trust me, that's true. I'm a journalist. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Africa, Gianatasio, Lowe, Newspapers
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Buy this stereo despite the psycho hamster

The commercial above, by Lowe Brindfors in Sweden for an electronics retailer, picks up where advertising's previous psychotic rodents left off—in particular, the kidney-eating guinea pig from the G4 Midnight Spank spot below, as well as Las Vegas tourism's killer chinchillas. The hamster here is more visceral than the chinchillas, and more guinea-pig-like in its Monty Python-style infliction of carnage. The somewhat flimsy premise of the ad is that the retailer's stereos give songs like Hall & Oates' "Maneater" some added emotional heft. I actually own "Maneater" on cassette and 45-inch vinyl (yes, I'm 118 years old), but tastes change, and given a choice today, I think I'd rather fight a crazed, flesh-eating hamster than listen to Hall & Oats. Unless they're playing "Rich Girl." That song still rocks.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Previously on AdFreak:
Kia Soul awesome if you're a giant hamster

Filed under Animals, Electronics, Europe, Gianatasio, Lowe
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PSA reminder: you're an ass when you drink

Lowe Bull wisely avoids the clichés of the genre in these alcohol-awareness ads for South Africa's Association for Responsible Alcohol Use. I expected a bloody fistfight in the "Rugby" spot (above), tears of humiliation in "21st Birthday" (below) and lots of mangled bodies in "Road Block." We get none of these, although the threat of each provides an undercurrent of unease that propels the message. In some ways, that makes the spots tougher to watch than the more graphic stuff. The work might make some parents think twice about whether one more drink is one too many. But the campaign could resonate most strongly with teens. They're immensely self-conscious, and for them, public humiliation can seem like a fate worse than death. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Africa, Alcohol, Gianatasio, Lowe
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Race relations a whole lot better in a hot tub

It's refreshing, after all this Sotomayor business, to see advertising from countries where mentioning race doesn't automatically beckon wingnuts. Above is a detail from this larger McCann-Lowe ad from Belgium for Luxor hot tubs, featuring a Klansman lounging with, from the looks of him, Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington in one of their deluxe models. The simple tagline is: "Extremely relaxing." There's been a rash of this kind of stuff in the Old World of late. Who knows why. What we do know is that Pat Buchanan should never see this ad. Via Copyranter.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

See also:
Modeling clay soothes the old antagonisms
Klansman ads promote Brazil radio station

Filed under Europe, Kiefaber, Lowe, McCann Erickson, Race
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Do good now, don't come back as a maggot

Matthew Bull was recently named global chief creative officer of Lowe. I wonder if he got the job based on this (intentionally) disgusting campaign his office, Lowe Bull, did for nonprofit employment site CharitySA.co.za? The theme is reincarnation—we're warned in no uncertain terms what could happen in our next lives if we don't do good deeds in our current ones. Divorce attorney Bob comes back as a tick ("Still bleeding 'em dry, 'ey, Bob?"); tobacco exec Duncan returns as a dung-heap fly ("Take a deep breath, Duncan"); and paparazzo Sandra is reborn as a maggot squirming in stomach-churning filth and is really "in on the filthy scoop now." This is visceral stuff, compelling in its way. Still, who's the audience—those who believe in reincarnation? Are the rest of us free to hawk hard-packs or chase after Brangelina, Nikons blazing? Also, the professions are such easy targets. Hey, they left out the one where you get paid obscene amounts of money to promote overpriced client goods to people who can't afford the stuff and don't need it anyway. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Africa, Gianatasio, Gross, Lowe
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The greatest, most heroic shampoo ad ever

This commercial from Lowe Bangkok for Clear shampoo gets to the very heart of the age-old human-vs.-dandruff struggle: It's an epic, poetic, otherworldly battle between ice-arrow-wielding brunette warrior-hairs and freaky white exploding dandruff fairies. This is the kind of stuff that makes Gillette's space-age razor ads look folksy. If it's intentionally campy, it's great. If it's meant to be serious, it's even better. And just try to make sense of the voiceover: "From black into darkness, shadows see follicles bent and broke and slivers of sparks as dark and dandruff collide. Rage, rage against her breath of fear! Now frozen, silence marks the danse macabre. And into the dark, the icy blackness follows."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Lowe, Nudd, Personal care, Thailand
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Don't kick the dog or mop the floor with him

Lowe Bull in South Africa has fashioned a pair of new "Stop the abuse" ads for the Animal Anti-Cruelty League. This one imagines a dog as a soccer ball; another casts a very furry friend as a mop. (See larger images here and here at Ads of the World.) My view is: animals would mop the floor with humans and kick our asses with their unclipped hind claws if they only could. Dogs are the focus of this campaign, which is wise. Dogs, generally speaking, would have the decency to wait until they were hungry to consume us. Cats would kill us for sport.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Animals, Gianatasio, Lowe, PSAs
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ALS Canada's ads just as unsettling in print

Lowe Roche in Toronto and the ALS Society of Canada crafted one of the more emotionally wrenching TV spots of 2008: this one, with the children's song "Head and Shoulders" and the father who is inexorably ravaged over time by the disease. Now, Lowe extends the campaign to print. See three full ads here. They show ALS sufferers with disintegrating chalk maze outlines superimposed on them, stretching from the head down one of their limbs—a simple, arresting and disquieting way to illustrate ALS's slow-motion destruction of the motor neurons that allow the brain to control the body. "One by one," reads the copy, "your muscles become paralyzed, making it impossible to walk, talk, eat, and eventually, breathe. Please, help us find a cure. Visit www.als.ca to donate."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under ALS Society of Canada, Canada, Health, Lowe, Nudd, PSAs
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Stella Artois feels tipsy with holiday cheer

This visually appealing Stella Artois holiday microsite from Lowe and Psyop tells the tale of a master paper-cut craftsman who creates a magical wintry world. I always wanted to be a master paper-cut craftsman, but I flunked folding, and kept poking myself with the scissors. At first, my reaction to the campaign was: too bad such an evocative seasonal effort is just meant to sell beer. But it turns out Stella was originally brewed in the 14th century to celebrate the holidays, so I guess that historical tie-in makes it OK. The site lets visitors send "stars" to friends, though I'd prefer a BlackBerry Storm, in case anyone out there is gifting. There are also paper-ornament templates you can craft into festive decorations. I printed some out. Lemme just grab the scissors and ... ouch!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Gianatasio, Holidays, Lowe, Psyop, Stella Artois
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Canadian ALS spot sets a new bar for grim

This is one emotionally jarring PSA by Lowe Roche for the ALS Society of Canada. The family images and children's song "Head and Shoulders" start out fast-paced and joyous, then somberly slow to a crawl as the spot progresses, mirroring the way the disease ravages the human body. The shot of the dad, so animated in the early scenes, struggling to walk stiffly down the stairs, his face set like a mask, is truly heartbreaking and not quickly forgotten. Sure, we're being manipulated, but whoa! That guy's shambling advance is intense! Make a donation here.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under ALS Society of Canada, Freaky, Health, Lowe, PSAs
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