Global advertisers just can't leave Christ The Redeemer alone

Via Adrants

Last week, it was Rai (Italy) and Sportsbet (Australia). Now it's Ladbrokes, a European online gambling site operating in UK, Ireland, Belgium and Spain.



According to Adrants' Steve Hall, The Archdiocese of Rio demanded the video be removed from YouTube and the advertiser complied. But by then, it had already been copied reposted by others.

The stunt is, of course, fake. But as I mentioned before, the Archdiocese owns the image rights to the statue, putting them in a position to sue advertisers who use it.

Czech Social Democrats present a new, sexy, reason to decrease unemployment

"Everybody who wants to should be able to enjoy something a bit different during the break at work," says the VO. "It is a shame that there are half a million people that don't have jobs."

Aimed at youth voters, the partisan ad appeared only online to minimize spillover to non-target audiences:



The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Bohuslav Sobotka, commented "I don't think one needs to be over necessarily prudish. The spot brings home the reality of unemployment."

But not necessarily the reality of employment. Or do they do things differently over there?

Oh, I could complain that this might contribute to workplace sexual harassment. But I won't. It's silly enough not to offend, even if the message is quite a bit of an overpromise.

F'd Ad Fridays: When in Romania...

Earlier this week, Marc posted an article on Osocio about a Romanian candy company's campaign to rid Google's search engine of prejudicial stereotypes about their country and their people.

In response to suggested searches like this, which result from disparaging Googles done mostly by other Europeans, the advertiser asked people to do positive searches instead.

Nice, eh? I thought so, anyway.

And then, also this week, I catch this Romanian tourism campaign by Lowe&Partners online:

"Visit Romania, get drunk, get laid and meet Dracula". Not really helpful, is it?

Amnesty goes on tour with Swedish death metal band

According to PRWeek, Amnesty International has partnered with Swedish band Arch Enemy (above) to promote the cause of freedom of expression throughout their Khaos Over Europe tour.

Via PRWeek

From the release:

Head of art for Amnesty Jo Metcalf explained that partnerships with acts that have strong relationships with fans are a growing focus for the charity. 

‘Working with bands who have loyal supporters who listen when they say something is far more beneficial than talking to them in a general way,’ said Metcalf. ‘When Arch Enemy say something about freedom of expression it has a resonance with fans. That goes for bands from Arch Enemy to U2.’

That's a fairly wide range, wouldn't you say? But a great outreach for Amnesty.



Thanks to Jenn F. for sharing.

If the shoe fits, **** it.

What is it with all the smut after a holiday weekend? I take one day off, and the ad blogosphere is practically swimming in pheromones.

This video, via Illegal Advertising, is for European Foot Locker stores.



It's part of a big social media outreach that includes all kinds of user-generated content. (I'll bet they get some pretty icky ones, too.)

Plus, everyone knows that women only make this face for Manolo Blahnik

The concept isn't that far off, though, as shoes have long been considered a vaginal symbol. I recall hearing an Italian proverb against women having concurrent sexual partners that translated to something like "you can't put two feet in the same shoe". You get the picture.

Eurobesity

Yesterday, the European Union Agriculture Commissioner launched a healthy eating program for kids throughout the EU.

According to coverage from the CBC, the EU estimates that 22 million European children who are overweight, and five million are obese. (That's one overweight child for every 22.7 people, versus the United States' one in every 12.2.)

Here's the EU's own description of the program (note targetted countries):

The Healthy Eating Campaign will run alongside the EU’s School Fruit Scheme and School Milk Scheme – important initiatives for a more balanced diet and healthier eating habits amongst children.

The Healthy Eating Campaign takes the message: Eat it, Drink it, Move it right into schools. Over the course of eight weeks, the roadshow will travel through Belgium, France, the UK, Ireland, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. Each roadshow will visit two schools a day. In total the healthy eating activities will reach 18 000 kids in 180 schools. The message to deliver is: Eat well, because it’s fun to be fit.

In parallel with the roadshow, an interactive treasure hunt game will be running over the 8 weeks on the EU's Tasty Bunch web site, where all EU schoolchildren aged 8 to 15 could try to win a number of sports items.

A recent Eurobarometer survey showed three quarters of respondents “totally agreeing” that “there seem to be more overweight children these days than five years ago". Indeed, around 22 million kids are overweight in the EU, of which 5 million are obese.

As a social marketer, I applaud this effort to put nutritional information in children's hands. But as a parent, I doubt it will have much impact.

I strongly believe that healthy eating habits start at home, by ensuring your child is exposed to a wide variety of tasty and healthy homemade foods, and teaching them some basic cooking skills. This helps set their appetites in the right direction, and I hope that making my son a foodie from a young age will provide some protection from the endless temptations of junk food once he's "out there" on his own.

I could be overconfident about how well my clever plan will work in the long run, but regardless I think that campaigns for healthier eating at school are doomed if the kids go home to crappy convenience food every night. If all you eat is sugar, salt and fat, everything else is going to taste less appealing.

What do you think?