Schick's "Basic Pitches" tell women their stubbly legs are disgusting

I am aware that most women in my society like to keep their legs and underarms clean shaven. (My wife is one of them.) But does that make it OK to vilify women's body hair to this extent?

It's just an ad for shaving stuff. It's also one with a movie tie in, to Perfect Pitch 2.

(Interesting side note about that movie: news.com.au reports that star Anna Kendrick upset Hollywood bosses by refusing to strike a "sexy" pose on the movie poster. Good for her.)

But back to the Schick ad. It's intended to be funny lifestyle humour for the average young woman. But the clear message that, female leg hair is disgusting, is reminiscent of the long history of advertisers telling women their bodies are horrible without the right products.

Via We Hunted The Mammoth

Women should (and do) do whatever they want with their own bodies. But these ads contribute to a media culture of bullying women into conformity. It's time we stopped telling them what they're supposed to look like.

H/T Ads Of The World

Are we still supposed to be shocked by women's body hair?

Via AOTW

These "ads," posted on Ads Of The World, are showing up around the internet. It's not the first time women's body hair has been used as a punchline. (Thanks, Joe La Pompe!) However, I suspect that these are spec ads. The only credits are to the AD (Peder Stryhn) and photographer (Magnus Ekstrøm), who presumably are counting on sex and controversy to get their names mentioned.

But why would this be controversial?

AOTW

Over the past few years, fashion brands such as American Apparel have used the tactic to get headlines, but as grooming fashions continue to change will these types of stunts lose their edge?

Personally, I hope so. 

100 robotic humans vs. 100 humanoid robots

First off, I want to mention how ultimately icky this Flavorstone frying pan ad is. (By  Dentsu, Tokyo, via Ads of The World.)

I mean, the choreography is impressive, but 100 young women in short-skirted maid outfits, all working to satisfy some old guy's weird fetish? Not exactly progressive:

And then, coincidentally, Mashable just recently posted this:

So there you have it: 100 humans vs. 100 robots, battling for your viral attention. The humans have sexual objectification on their side. But then again, the robots do not.

International ad archives accused of ignoring African creative

My friend Ivan Raszl, curator of Ads of The World posted this image on Google+ (as well as AOTW) with the comment, "Now, this is embarrassing."

Indeed. There are many ironies at work here. The submission to AOTW by apesobey.com stated "Even though we know they are always objective and fair, the impression of every single African that has had his work turned down by a prominent advertising curator is: 'They killed it!' Ivan Raszl of Adsoftheworld is represented as a chainsaw killer of ads."

How could Ivan not post it after that? Ivan wasn't the only "ad slayer" so portrayed. Michael Weinzettl of Lürzer's Archive also gets it:

An African-based online ad archive is definitely a great idea, and I'll be following it to see stuff that I may otherwise have missed. But the bigger question is, are the big international ad archives anti-African, as the ads overtly suggest?

Ivan, now a Canadian resident, is Hungarian. What I always found interesting about his blog is that it provides diversity to the online discussion about advertising. For those of us in North America, it's easy to be exposed to mostly English-language advertising mostly from the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia. Following AOTW gives me insights into the very different insights and sensibilities of Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. As well as several nations in Africa.

I've never noticed a particular lack of African creative on the site, but it's quite possible that many submissions from African agencies are being rejected. The thing about a privately-sector, curated ad archive is that it is as subjective as an international awards show. Unlike awards, though, the online archives make an effort to include not only the best creative in the world, but also what is controversial or noteworthy. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I've had a number of my ads appear on AOTW. I've also had a number of them rejected. All ad sites have a particular bias or flavour. In the case of AOTW, its taste prioritizes Art over Copy. When submitting work, you have to keep in mind whether the work will appeal to the audience. In this case, the audience is the ad editors.

But is there any racism involved in their decisions? Nothing overt, that's for sure. We all have our prejudices in deciding what we find appealing and relevant. It's possible that if the editors were African, rather than European, their tastes would be different. Which is why we need lots of different places to learn about lots of different kinds of advertising. More Adlands. More Joe La Pompes. More Inspiration Rooms. And AdFreaks and Adrants and Copyranters. In every language and culture.

In my own blogging, including for European-based social marketing review site Osocio, I make similar decisions. One of an international group of editors, I try to keep my social and linguistic biases fairly transparent when I find work from very different cultures insensitive or confusing. (To Osocio owner Marc van Gurp's credit, he's been actively trying to find more contributors from the developing world for years.)

So, in my opinion, the portrayal of Ivan and Michael as slayers of African ads is not exactly fair. But advertising is full of cynical attention-grabbing tactics. This one worked. Now show me some great African creative, guys!

Housewife, USA, commits brand suicide

Seen on Ads of The World today: Suicide and Isadora Duncan.

There's not much to say about these ads. They claim to be for Etsy scarf seller The Year Of May, but I doubt any money changed hands.

What ads like this really are is promotion for the ad agency. In this instance, the  responsible party is Housewife, USA, a Texas-based virtual agency run by Flor Leibaschoff.

These are typical of the "edgy shit" made by creatives, for creatives, with no real purpose other than to get the makers noticed.

Well congratulations. Making fun of suicide and the grotesque death of Isadora Duncan are certainly attention-getting. Not the good kind of attention, but at least we know what you're willing to sink to.

JWT Greece mocks domestic violence victims in mattress ads

Via Ads Of The World

It's a bad year for mattress ads. First there was the appalling Malala Yousafzai one from India. Now it's a Greek campaign that makes light of domestic abuse.

Appearing on Ads Of The World, this campaign by JWT Spot Athens, carries the body copy "Don't let your mattress abuse you. Ask for help at Dimstel."

Considering that the campaign uses stock photography, it may be yet another example of vanity ads that only appear online. But if this is the way Creatives Alexandros Tsoutis, Alexis Alifragis and James Karolos want to get their names known, they clearly lack as much common sense as sensitivity.

According to Greek Reporter, one in three women in Greece is a victim of domestic violence.

This Harmon Kardon "ad" is just nasty

Sometimes I look at an ad and think, "why did the Art Director even think of this?"

The weird oral-foot-fetishy violence of it aside, there's no game going on and nobody in the stands. So why would anyone be bothered by their cheers?

I'm guessing that this is another example of a vanity ad, not actually appearing in any paid media or necessarily approved by the client, submitted for creative awards shows. Sad.

Two other executions include a dog with its head up its ass and a musician with his head up his sousaphone.

DDB Amsterdam thinks 1:11 of slow-motion bouncing boobs will sell tech to runners

That's right — over a minute of blurry (?), slow-mo, mammary movement because someone thought up a bad pun.



According to the TomTom YouTube Page, which claims this ad was "banned," the subject (or rather, "object") is American model Alexandria Morgan. Ads of The World lists an all-male creative team with apparently zero interest in selling any TomTom Runner Cardio watches to women athletes.

Bicycle ads say moms' lives are all about housework

What year is it again? 1954? 1964?

Two thousand fourteen, you say? I'd never know it from looking at this Huffy Bicycles campaign by Brunner, Pittsburgh. (Via Ads Of The World.)

The insight of cycling as a way to break free from life drudgery is a nice one. But what makes up the majority of these moms' lives? Housework, of course! Dishes! Dusting! Laundry!

Sure, there are many women who still stay home to raise their kids. And the hard work and sacrifices they make are important and worthy of respect. But to define those women's lives through housework is like giving one of them a vacuum for Christmas. It says "this is who you are. This is your job. This is what is expected of you." (Gods forbid a husband stay home, or even lift a broom, eh?)

The only hint that this campaign is from this decade, century and millennium is one execution that has the woman using mobile devices; not for any professional purpose, mind you. Just to kill the time.

Sexy advertising gets clever for fashion app

As much as I complain about sex in advertising, it's not because I'm "anti-sex." What I am is anti-contributing-to-women-being-commoditized and anti-lazy-creative.

This ad, for a fashion shopping app, is pretty tasteful in its sexualization of both male and female models, and the insight is pretty clever. Using the pixelization we're used to seeing on the naughty bits, it tells us that it's the clothes that their customers really get off on:



It was actually kind of refreshing for a sexy ad, wasn't it?

Via Ads Of The World

"#Titcoins" is someone's bad spec idea, right?

Titcoins by Pornhub from Javi Iñiguez de Onzoño on Vimeo.

When this video first made the rounds last week, I filed it under "someone's idea of clever spec work" and kind of forgot about it. Not even worth a comment. Or so I first thought.

After all, PornHub is already in-market internationally with the crowdsourced "SFW advertising contest" which is much more clever than this. But since the mostly-male creative class in global advertising wants to do work that is even more sexist than the stuff that's already out there, we keep getting things like this:

I'm not convinced that PornHub had anything to do with this "ad". The post on Ads Of The World gives credit to a Spanish digital agency called La Despensa, which has a number of known brands in its portfolio. But did anyone at PornHub sign a contract, make an approval, or place this on any media?

Not that they're paragons of virtue. I just can't see them thinking this was a worthwhile regional campaign.

Much more interesting, to me however, is the commentary showing up on the AOTW post:

This is not a place in which I am used to seeing a lot of sensitivity. Is #YesAllWomen even reaching the hardened hearts and burned-out souls of advertising enthusiasts?

Please, say it is so.

Domino's pizza targets bad home cooks with "food fails"

Ads Of The World

I doubt there's one popular internet photo meme that doesn't get turned into an ad campaign. In this case, it's "Food Fails" — pictures of really pathetic dishes shared on Tumblr, Instagram or elsewhere (Two of my favourites are Dimly Lit Meals for One, and the stomach-churning Cooking For Bae.)

Ads Of The World

This campaign by Artplan, Brazil, is sort-of funny. But personally, I find the execution lacks finesse. Why not just show the resulting dish, the Domino's logo, and a phone number to order?

Ads Of The World

That said, I can't help but point out that poor cooking skills are a major contributor to poor diet.  And the decades-long push for cheap, tasty and convenient fast food continues to erode these basic life skills.

Via Attic Paper

Via Country Chic Mom

Do we really need fast food brands telling us that we shouldn't bother making our own food?

Malala's inspirational story is now being used to sell mattresses

Advertising people have no goddamned shame.

Exhibit A: Ogilvy India's exploitation of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai, and the brave outspokenness that almost got her killed by terrorists, to sell mattresses.

Mattresses. Fucking mattresses.

The campaign also taps Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs. But neither has the WTF factor of an ad featuring a 14-year-old getting shot in the face.

As seen on Ads of The World

Update: The Malala ad is no longer on AOTW. The Ghandi and Jobs ads are still there.
Update 2: Now they're all gone. Spec work? Angry client?
Update 3: It was real, and Ogilvy has apologized.

Comedy Central is really into animals, objects, raping people

What?

WHAT?!?

WTF?!?!?

Apparently, anal rape is funny "in the right place."

This campaign is by Grey, Argentina, and features on Ads Of The World.

Apparently, fat people are also funny:

Or maybe it's rape again. I have no idea.

Black is evil, white is good in Malaysian whiteout ads

"Black and White Dualism" is well-established in the West, as well, but you would be unlikely to see these ads in the more multicultural parts. 

If we lived in a world without racism (or rather, ignorant of it) we could look at this as simply the product whiting out mistakes made in black ink. But since we don't live in that world, these portrayals by TBWA, Kuala Lumpur, are an irresponsible reinforcement of the myth of human colour and "goodness".

Source: Ads Of The World

Most unsexy condom ad ever?

We're seen some great condom ads lately. This is not one of them.

Created by Ogilvy & Mather, Japan, for e-tailer Condomania, this campaign features shrink-wrapped naked couples in very awkward-looking embraces:

Perhaps the humour is just foreign to me. But they look like dead, packaged meat. Ewww.

Via Ads Of The World

Coke celebrates bikini weather, internet responds predictably

The image above turned up today on Ads Of The World. Created by agency Phibious, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, it's a sexed-up — but mostly harmless — transformation of the brand into bikinis.

Within an hour of posting, AOTW's Ivan Raszl pointed out that there was already a parody version going around:

Posted on Facebook by Carlos Ríos, the caption reads "a real Coca-Cola's summer model, shall be like."

This is a common reaction to "junk food" advertising, familiar to readers of Adbusters:

Do you see the problem? Yes, soft drinks and fast food are fattening. But do we need to make fun of people's bodies to make this point?

PETA apparently thinks so, too:

Pic via Buzzfeed

It's another example how conflicting priorities and sensitivities make social media complicated. People who are against the corporate food industry want to make a statement about promoting unhealthy consumption, but in doing so they cross a line into "body shaming" that's hurtful to people other than their intended targets of derision.

DDB puts more "ass" in "classical music"

The Belgian B Classic music festival let DDB do a number on a classic, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 Allegro con fuoco, by having some young Japanese (correction: Korean) women dance provocatively throughout three minutes of it:



The YouTube description explains, "B-Classic presents The Classical Comeback: a new music video format that gives classical music the same recognition as pop and rock music by combining the timeless emotion of classical music with the visual talent of a contemporary director."

Talent... right, because viewers were as taken by the cinematography as they were with the music.

While using the sexualized aesthetic of a cheesy rap video to trick people into listening to a different genre of music is amusing in theory, the execution is just another chapter in our ongoing exploitation of women's sexuality to sell anything and everything.

Ironically, in this case, it probably won't sell any tickets unless the concerts feature exotic dancers beside the conductor.

Via Ads of The World

Does this Audi campaign actually encourage distracted driving?

At first sight, I thought this was a CSR campaign against distracted driving. But after reading the fine print ("Detects danger when you don't. Audi Pre Sense") it feels like the exact opposite.

In my work with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), one of the many things I've learned is that safety features can actually make people drive more carelessly. We did a whole campaign about it, called "Brain On Board," for the Toyota Foundation, because Toyota Canada feels the need to remind drivers not to let their advanced safety features make them less careful drivers.

This German Audi campaign, however, especially the "emails" one above, take the dangerous position that distracted driving is going to happen anyway, and that this new feature can save you from your own stupidity.

I have a message for the agency, "thjnk", in Hamburg, Germany: THINK!

Tip via Ads of The World

Argentinian Jeep ads look a lot like blackface

I get the concept of mud mask treatments and going off road. But the execution is both weird and unsettling:

I'm sure the agency didn't intend to invoke the spectre of "blackface," but there it is. Nonetheless, they're pretty masturbatory ads, from a creative perspective. Whatever happened to making the product the hero?

Via Ads of The World