Father's Day ad suggests daughters give Dad "a threesome"

A friend received this by e-mail and sent it with the comment, "Thought you might appreciate the insane inappropriateness of this spam email I received. Can't imagine how someone thought this was a good idea.

I love that this offer is for "ethical" coffee.

I haven't seen any "gift" ideas for dads this twisted since Genesis 19:36...

Here it is: The worst ad of the World Cup, via HOOTERS

We call it "soccer" in Canada too, and we have our own version of "football," and yet I've never seen anyone as confused about sports as ESPN NFL Analyst Jon Gruden, competitive eater Joey Chestnut, and pro golfer John Daly:



The writing! The acting! The humour that falls flat! The "dumb blonde" server! If you're looking for something that will make you want to beat yourself senseless with that frosty mug of beer, this ad really has it all.

Plus, the whole gag was already done by KIA.

Via caughtoffside.com

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.

F'd Ad Fridays: "Subtle Butt" fart-absorbing pads... and more!

This awful, awful ad is for 'Subtle Butt' disposable gas neutralizers:



Oh yes, it's real. From their site:

"Problems with smelly gas? This pack of 5 saving graces (also affectionately known as fart pads or fart filters) effectively filters the odor caused by flatulence; simply stick one in the right place and you're ready for a chili cook-off. Giving Subtle Butt as a stocking stuffer is much more useful (to you) than charcoal!

Each 3.25" square filter is made of soft fabric with an antimicrobial treatment on the side touching the skin. The fabric is impregnated with activated carbon, which faces the underwear or the pants and has a vast surface area for bad odors to adhere to and get neutralized. Two adhesive strips are strategically placed so you know which side is which. And at around 1/32" thick, you will never know it's there. Now with improved adhesive!"

Subtle Butt is just one of many embarrassing products designed to reduce embarrassment marketed by Solutions The Stick. You can also order:

Nipplomats: reusable satin concealers

The Perk Up: adhesive breast lifts

Knicker Sticker: disposable adhesive underwear

Kitty Carpet: reusable downstairs toupee

Otherwise known as a "merkin"

Trunk in my Junk: male false advertising

And Skid Out: ...skidmark remover?

No, toothpaste drool.

All I can say is this: Their copywriters must get high at the office, every single day.

Have a great weekend.

Subtle tip from The Stir

Bad boy branding, or just plain bad?

Definitely the latter. Copyranter posted this pathetic attempt by Jones Soda to launch itself as an "un-PC" brand in New Zealand:

Click to embiggen.

They end up coming off as both trying to hard and being incredibly dumb. If you want to make fun of political correctness, this is how it's done:



But Jones' total lack of irony just makes them look like a wannabe internet tough guy. Or at best, a troll.

Lame, DDB NZ. Just plain lame. Even the whole "unnatural ingredients" thing was done to death by Afri-Cola in the late 90s.

Update: Jones Soda head office says they didn't approve the ad, and blamed it on their NZ distributor:

This ad is counterintuitive with Jones Soda's core values of celebrating uniqueness and individuality, and we deeply apologize for any offense it has created.

Unbeknown to us, the ad was created by an advertising agency in New Zealand on behalf of a distribution partner.

Please know this ad was not approved by Jones Soda's corporate, we do not agree with it, and are working on its immediate removal.

When social ads go bad: #35 in a series

Almost as good as "Online BS in Marketing".

Possibly the worst Internet ad I have ever seen (and clicked on)

Caught this ad on Fark.com. I know their rates are pretty cheap, but I can honestly say I have never before seen an ad try less hard than this to get me to click.

I've seen centred default font before. I've even seen red asterisks used for emphasis. And "engrish" copy. But I think it's the hand-drawn arrows and circle around the URL that make this ad epic bad.

So of course I clicked it. Let me spare you the effort. It took me to this page:



And for some reason, I clicked again. Here's what I got:

Hi I am Mukesh, your stress help. What I have is unique tips for how you can be always stress free. It is very important that you are stress free. You are happy and have control of your life.

My friends call me stress free mentor. In last five years I help many people to be stress free. I am a cancer survivor. I fought cancer since 1995. I had three surgeries and my speech is impaired by this. I had tones of stress. I search and spent lot of time and money for stress relief. By experience I found some simple things which are good for managing stress.

You have shown interest and I will send you my paper ‘How do you invite stress’. You simply email me with your name and email and I will send you link to download paper. Read ‘How do you invite stress’ and you will feel better.

And no campaign would be complete without 100% authentic testimonials, such as:

"this is the guide am expecting for a long time i mean to get rid of my stress. thanks. good work. fabulous thinking."

"Good guide for relieving stress to enlighten life which is very stressful. Thanks for writing such a marvelous guide.

"Dear Mr Shah: I applaud your effort in attempting to create a tool for assisting people in relieving one of the most prevalent health problems that plagues society. Unfortunately, the book does not come across as a professional product. Having good conversational command of the English language is one thing, the ability to communicate well in writing is quite another. My advice to you is have someone who is a native English speaker rewrite the book for you."

Yes, that last one is really there.

So here's to you, Mr. Mukesh Shah. You are either the worst marketer of all time, or the best. After all, you certainly sucked me in.