Online threats replaced with rainbows and kisses

According to The Drum, this is the work of an ‘anti-trolling browser extension’ developed by V-Hab, a clever campaign site to promote New Zealand's V Energy Drink.



Apparently, some One Direction fans took umbrage to British GQ's pairing of a Harry Styles cover with the cutline "He's up all night to get lucky" and reacted the way only juvenile fanatics seem to be able to anymore: with threats of violence and sexual assault:

A V-Hab spokesperson told the Drum:

“We love British GQ, but boy did those poor souls not know what they were getting themselves into! “Luckily for them, at V-Hab we’re all about countering trolls with a bit of positive energy so we’ve created humour and positivity into what has clearly been a rather large misunderstanding on all sides.

Coincidentally, Jezebel's Lindy West wrote a lengthy rant yesterday about how she felt "don't feed the trolls" was bad advice, especially for women:

I feed trolls. Not always, not every troll, but when I feel like it—when I think it will make me feel better—I talk back. I talk back because the expectation is that when you tell a woman to shut up, she should shut up. I reject that. I talk back because it's fun, sometimes, to rip an abusive dummy to shreds with my friends. I talk back because my mental health is my priority—not some troll's personal satisfaction. I talk back because it emboldens other women to talk back online and in real life, and I talk back because women have told me that my responses give them a script for dealing with monsters in their own lives. 

V-Hab's mockery is not the same as the fight that Ms. West is advocating, but it still feels good to watch aggression mocked so sweetly.

Ads for an energy drink called "Pussy" are shockingly tame

According to Adfreak, the brand was developed by an out-of-work college grad in the UK who was inspired by the success of the massive Virgin brand. He eventually launched an energy drink called "Pussy".

According to the brand site, the drink is made of white grape juice, lime juice, and lightly carbonated water — mixed with grenadilla, lychee, siberian ginseng, guarana, sasparilla, schizandra and milk thistle. (I'll assume the guarana is the real kick. It's packed with caffeine.)

But coming up with a cheeky brand is not that remarkable. What I like is the way that agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay decided to keep the humour on the dry side of puerile:

This approach fits in with a new comfortableness with having genital humour part of public discourse. By being naughty, but not in a locker room way, the ads can make people giggle without putting anyone down.

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

Creepy anthropomorphic animals sell energy drinks #FdAdFriday

At first, I thought I was watching one of those awful Star Wars prequels. But it's an ad for some "liquid water enhancer" (AKA, sugary syrup full of stimulants) produced by Kraft.



The pitch:

"Welcome to the Watering Hole. It's just your typical neighborhood hangout, if your neighborhood is full of crocodiles, giraffes, ostriches, and overly amorous lorises who like to shake things up."

The "male" one is even weirder:



"Dirty Hyena"? What exactly do they mean by that?

Tip via Ads of The World