O Canada played on beer empties

It's Canada Day Weekend, hosers. And here's our national anthem performed on beer bottles, cans and kegs:



Have a good one, eh? (And thanks to Ryan for the tip - via HuffPo.)

Polish drink ads feature Mike Tyson, are bizarre #FdAdFriday

Wow. Poland's Black energy drink  hired convicted rapist Mike Tyson to play piano and sing about his lack of self-control in a room full of sultry models, then have a mild freak out.



There are just so many flavours of wrong here, not least of which is the brand's racialized use of phrases like "That's the power of black" — and going so far as to co-opt "Black Power".



Tip via BuzzFeed

Ugly models don't sell burgers

For the past few years, Hardee's/Carl's Jr. has been unabashed in its use of commodified female sexuality to sell fast food. Nowhere was it as cynical as in last year's "Just the way it is" ad:



Well, it worked. According to Burger Business:

Carl’s Jr. same-store sales were up 2.6% for the quarter, compared with +2.1% for the year-earlier quarter. Hardee’s also posted a 2.6% gain in comp sales despite a difficult comparison with last year’s 9.6% increase. Adjusted EBITDA margin for company-operated restaurants rose to 19.3% from 17% a year ago.

Consumers vote for the kinds of brands they want with their hard-earned purchasing dollars. Want more respectful advertising? Stop making purchasing decisions with your gonads.

Why be skinny?

Retronaut has a great collection of Wate-On ads from several decades when thin was definitely not in.

Check them out here.

Mall's "under construction" sign insults everyone #FdAdFriday

Via Jezebel

New Jersey's MarketFair Mall pulled the sign down after people petitioned it at change.org.

I think it's as insulting to the hardhats as it is to the women of the community. I don't see nearly as many of them committing street harassment as I did years ago. But then again, I'm not exactly a target.

Unintentional Christian hilarity of the week #FdAdFriday

Via Facebook (obviously stolen from College Humor)

According to manta.com:

Ram In The Bush Christian Center Inc in Memphis, TN is a private company categorized under Non-Denominational Church. Our records show it was established in 2002 and incorporated in Tennessee.

Who doesn't fancy a godly ram in the bush on a Sunday morning?

Is the "Buy a wife from Vietnam" ad for real?

A friend through FEMEN posted this on Facebook. Part of me really hopes it is fake. But in trying to authenticate it, I ran into this colour screencap of a "banner ad" version:

I then tracked it back to a three-month-old Reddit post.

Real or fake as the ad may be, this kind of thing does happen in the world.

Atari celebrates 40 years with an infographic

Good lord, I'm older than Atari. But I like to think I have considerably less "pong".

Happy Birthday, Atari. If I knew where my old 2600 ended up, I'd open up the Adventure party room and raise a chalice to you.

Sin tax on strip clubs to fund rape kits

Via Google Image Search

Here's one for you to think about: Houston's city council has passed a new tax on strip clubs within the city, adding a fee of $5 per patron to their cover charge.

The author of the ordinance, Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, put the motion forward as a way to subsidize the processing of the city's massive backlog of rape kits for sexual assault victims.

“We have to do something to help the 4,000-plus women, children and men who have been sexually assaulted,” said Councilwoman Cohen. “I think we’ve waited long enough.”

The victims certainly have waited too long for justice that has been delayed due to tight law enforcement budgets. But the tax also makes an official link between the above-ground sex industry and sexual assault, which is troubling for some (especially those who make money from it).

According to the Houston Chron:

A study Cohen relies upon to make the link states: “Are sexually-oriented-businesses, alcohol, and the victimization and perpetration of sexual violence against women connected? An exhaustive review of the literature says yes.” 

Several paragraphs later, though, the same study states: “However, no study has authoritatively linked alcohol, sexually-oriented-businesses, and the perpetration of sexual violence.”

Sin taxes are popular and profitable tools of social engineering when it comes to vices like cigarettes and alcohol. But whether you like them or not, do you think that consumers of legal sexual entertainment should be legally compelled to adjust their karma by paying to help sexual assault victims?


The Texas rape kit issue is a government funding issue. Last year, at the State level, Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, introduced a bill that would require a police department to submit a rape kit to a crime lab within at least 10 days, and complete the DNA analysis no later than 90 days after the sexual assault was reported. But it has since been stalled by police departments' inability and/or reluctance to do the inventories that would inform the legislators.

Councilman C.O. Bradford also called the nexus into question. He said that according to Houston Police Department, apartment complexes are the most common location for sexual assaults, and that sexually oriented businesses are 10th.

Still, said Bradford, a former police chief: “Victims have waited too long.”

Indeed they have. But is this what they were waiting for? Or did they want their government to pay to fix the problem?

Via Texas Tribune

Tip via Consumerist
Related: Houston Strip Club Accused Of Racism

Your daily dose of fat-shaming design nerd humour

I've done my fair share of Ariel abuse online. But this one seems like a rather nasty bit of fat bashing.

Next up: Look for "Ariel Italic" with a plate of pasta and Sophia Loren boobs. A waifishly thin "Ariel Narrow". And I don't even want to know how the pasty young imagination of the viral internet will render "Ariel Black" — although I am not optimistic.

Tip via Brands of The World

Update (June 28):

Mario moustache! I shoulda known...

Punderwhelming social marketing of the week

Wiener dog, wiener bun, wiener as penis. This ad for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (found, of all places, on naughty photog Terry Richardson's Tumblr) is a triple threat.

Terry, I hope you posted it as a reminder to yourself. Only you know where that thing has been.

Weather conditions as human stereotypes

From Y&R NZ comes this series of ads for a weather smartphone app that pun away at some really cardboard stereotypes. They are at least not all female ones:

It's pretty funny stuff, as long as you don't think about it too much.

Via Ads of The World

Oreo does its part in the mainstreaming of gay pride

According to AdFreak's David Griner:

Around 8 p.m. Eastern, Oreo posted a gay-pride-themed picture featuring a six-layer cookie colored like a rainbow, with “June 25” and the word “Pride.” The caption said “Proudly support love!” (The significance of the date is unclear, at least to me. San Francisco’s famous Gay Pride Parade was the 24th, as was the one-year anniversary of New York’s Marriage Equality Act.) 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the tipping point for gay acceptance in the United States is well behind us. Marketers know this, which is why you'll see big suburban, soccer-momin', minivan-drivin',  Fifty-Shades-of Grey-hidden-in-the-bedside-table-readin' brands like JC Penney are standing up to the anti-gay lobbies.

Besides which it's not as if Kraft has anything to fear from "One Million Moms". They already pissed off those fundamentalist astroturfers when they used the colloquial euphemism "shut the front door!" in an Oreo ad last winter.

The response, both positive and negative, has however made the Oreo Facebook page blow up real good...

Although when I visited it, I discovered that this wasn't the first rainbow Oreo:

Burger quadrant helps you chart your post-craving shame

This is a pretty amusing chart by Marc Sanders of the Burgatory blog.

His explanation:

I caught a few minutes of Slap Shot on TV the other day including the scene where the Chiefs goalie Denis Lemiuex explains what it is like for a hockey player to spend time in the penalty box (video). His closing words “…and you feel shame” seem applicable to so many things we do in life, including eating burgers. If you’ve spent any time in fast food joints (and I’m guessing if you found your way to this blog you have) you’ve probably ended up in a second or third tier place looking to scratch that burger itch. Depending how far down the chain you have allowed yourself to go, I’m guessing you will at some point end up doing the walk of shame out to your car, or back to the office or worse to your spouse or friends having to explain just how far you’ve fallen. 

The chart above is my attempt to plot out my fast food burger experiences. There are places where I have gone, found the food to be amazing and then felt the urge to stand on the mountaintop and proclaim to the world that my taste buds have been sated and my soul has been strengthened by the manna from the g-ds. And then there have been places where I have almost instantly been filled with regret, embarrassed to mention how low I have dipped and yes – felt shame. I am taking a wild guess here by saying that I bet you have had those moments, too. For every story about hitting In-N-Out within 15 minutes of the plane landing in Las Vegas there is a tale that will never be told about a shameful trip to West Philly for a Baconzilla at Checkers.

I'm kind of surprised to see Canada's pride, Harvey's, on there. Even if they ended up as moderately shameful.

Like this headline, your life could change in an instant

I'm not sure these copy-only ads for Swiss Life, in which life changes mid-sentence, are really doing it for me. But it's a neat idea in theory. And apparently they won Gold at the Epica Awards and Silver Press Lions at Cannes International Advertising Festival.

I wonder if they were better in French, German or Italian?

Campaign by Spillman/Felser/Leo Burnett . See two more at The Inspiration Room.

Train etiquette campaign parodies are "super simple stuff"

Last week, Eric shared an image that was my first exposure to the Queensland Rail Meme:

Here's the backstory: Australia's Queensland Rail, a regional interurban rail network, launched a train etiquette campaign way back in 2011. It used the style of children's first readers to show how elementary basic courtesy really is.

You get the idea. Everyone does. Which makes the campaign ripe for parody.


Buzzfeed has collected some of the "best" of the fake posters:

Despite the silliness, this is actually good news for the client. Their brand is out there, and the courtesy conversation is viral. Good on you, Queensland Rail.

Guess who's building nuclear power plants? #FdAdFriday

"You don't have to go as far as Iran for an endorsement of nuclear power."

Via Retronaut

Femfresh's euphemisms are... not so fresh #FdAdFriday

Jezebel posted this creative from Femfresh, yesterday, with the headline ‘Intimate Hygiene’ Product Ad is Scared of the Word ‘Vagina’.


As I pointed out earlier this week, the proper anatomical term for women's internal sexuality has become something of a shibboleth for feminists in 2012. And what do progressive women hate more than ads telling them they need to deodorize their most intimate parts? Republican legislators, maybe. Human traffickers, definitely. But not much else.

The Wall has documented the social media fallout for the brand, which managed to offend on two fronts:

Women’s hygiene brand Femfresh has suffered a backlash on its Facebook page as “fans” took umbrage with its euphemistic terms for the word vagina. 

Femfresh refers to it in several different ways on Facebook calling it “your kitty, nooni, lala…and froo froo”. 

In a post about the Isle of Wight festival, with two women pictured, Femfresh asked “WOOHOO…Isle of Wight festival kicks off tomorrow. What do we think wellies or flip flops or both?” The comments in response are all entirely negative. 

One response with 22 likes said: ” I can’t go to any festivals! I’ll be too busy sitting at home crying about the embarrassing smell of my shame-shame.” 

While another with 34 likes wrote: ” I dunno, which do you think would go best with the bacterial vaginosis I would get from washing my vulva with anything other than water?”

As of this moment, the Femfresh Facebook Page appears to be deleted. But here are some caps:

Mammoth Erection in Toronto #FdAdFriday

My teenage niece, Tess, spotted this rather obtuse branding on a walk with her mom in Toronto:

For those of you on mobile:

Yes, that's right. Mammoth Erection is a real scaffolding company, with a URL that must attract lots of disappointed web traffic.

They even have a (surprisingly modest) cartoon mascot:

Well, okay then...

Today is "#NoPantyDay" (good luck with that!)

This meme has been going around social media this week. Looks like wishful thinking to me, even if we are in the middle of a heatwave.

McDonald's goes mod for London 2012

One of my favourite industry blogs, Burger Business, has a feature on McDonald's new uniforms for its restaurants at the London Olympic Games.

Created by British designer Wayne Hemingway, co-founder of the Red or Dead label, the uniforms’ color palette that includes “gherkin green” polo shirts for women and “mustard yellow” shirts for men. 

Managers get black pants and white shirts; customer care assistants wear checked shirts with dark green pants or skirt. Skinny ties for male managers are “just a little bit of ‘Mad Men,’” Hemingway told The Telegraph. “We wanted classic design. A narrow tie will always be fashionable. There is a very subtle hint to the mod look, which has never gone out of fashion. Fred Perry has never gone out of fashion,” Hemingway said. “That’s why we’ve gone for a polo shirt with a bit of a trim.”

...

The look includes painters caps in place of baseball caps. Hemingway explained it to The Telegraph this way: “We wanted to break away from baseball caps. These are more bakers caps or something you’d find in a pizzeria in Italy. I have a thing about baseball caps: they are a little bit too American, and they are about sport and petrol pump attendants.” 

Mad Men. Mods. Bakers.  Would you like fries chips with that?

"Update" on classic Coke ad actually a sad commentary on the social age

Are you over 30? Then you remember this ad. It's one of the most iconic jingles ever written, and perfectly summarizes the end of the hippie era, when the shrinking world just looked like it needed a hug.

Now, let's bring it into the now:



From I Believe in Advertising:

In Project Re: Brief, we’ve re-imagined Coca-Cola’s classic ‘Hilltop’ commercial for a modern audience, in the digital age. Fulfilling the promise of the original ad, it allows users to connect with strangers by sending a Coke around the globe to an unsuspecting recipient, making the world feel just a little bit smaller. The ad can be experienced on mobile phone apps in Google’s AdMob network, across iOS and Android devices. Made possible through AdMob rich media ads, coupled with custom-designed vending machines, viewers can truly ‘buy the world a Coke’, with a few taps on their mobile phones. A viewer can decide where to send a Coke by selecting one of many machines located around the world, from New York City, to Cape Town, to Buenos Aires. They can then add a custom text message to personalise their Coke delivery. Google Translate converts these messages on the fly, breaking down the language barrier across countries. A dynamic video with Google Maps, Street View, and composite motion graphics shows the Coke’s journey from the viewer’s current location to the vending machine across the globe. Users can wait for confirmation of their Coke’s delivery, or enter an email address to be notified later. Once the Coke is delivered, recipients are not only treated to the generosity of a stranger thousands of miles away, but they can also say ‘thanks’ by sending a message of their own back to the user. That message is delivered to the user’s inbox where they can read the note and view a video clip of the recipient’s surprised reaction upon getting a free Coke. A gallery showcases some of our favourite shareable exchanges between people around the world connecting over a can of Coke. Today’s technology allows us to make good on a promise Coca-Cola made over 40 years ago, and lets users ‘Buy the World a Coke’ from the palm of their hand.

I want to hang with these cats.

Let's think about this. From a group of people on a hilltop, holding hands and singing together about harmony and togetherness, to anonymous interactions with people around the world conducted through smartphones.

This dude, not so much.

Yeah, we connect with more people now, more instantly and with cool graphics and instant translation. But the word "connect" doesn't mean what it used to, does it?


Advertising Agencies: Grow Interactive, Norfolk, and Johannes Leonardo, New York

Metro should win an award for Worst Contextual Front Page Layout Ever

As seen on Copyranter.

It's still there, as of 12:20 EDT. If you missed it, Magnotta is the Canadian (assumed) psychopath who is accused of killing and dismembering Lin Jun, a Chinese international student, and sending his left foot to the Prime Minister's Office. He was caught in Germany (reading about himself in an internet café) and has been extradited home.

Nice one, Metro. Very sensitive.

Tip via Twitter

Wendy's dabbles in the fine art of "Insulinwashing"

Making corporate social responsibility partnership decisions can't really be that hard:

1) Does this partnership enhance my brand?
2) Is this issue of interest to my customers?
3) Am I sure this won't backfire, by drawing attention to a negative aspect of one of our products?

Somebody at Wendy's never got past #2 when they greenlit this gem (via The Consumerist)

Don't feel bad. You're in famous company:

Read about it here.

Read about it here.