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.

Dumbest car ads ever appear in Slovakia

This bizarrely ill-conceived "Ford" campaign was submitted to Ads of The World by JANDL, in Bratislava, Slovakia. The comments immediately questioned whether a venerable old brand like Ford would ever approve such weird and offensive creative.

They didn't. According to JANDL's site, the campaign was signed off by "Bratislava Summit Motors, Ford distributor in Slovakia." I don't imagine the brand mothership will be pleased.

Especially since one of them is blatantly racist:

There is also video:

Are rape jokes funnier when they're about men in prison?

Via Ads of The World

No. They are not.

Waxing desperate over the return of pubic hair

Haven't you heard? Body hair is back in style.

Perhaps it's not great news for the depilatory industry, however, which would explain why these American ads (via Ads of The World) are trying so hard to denigrate — or at least minimize — the signs of puberty.

They might still find a market with hetero men, however, depending on how straight women react to this next one:

The difference, perhaps, is that not many men rock the back fur quite that magnificently.

Hey, I shave my face, so I suppose I'm a hypocrite for being happy that "bush is back." But then again, I came of age in the '80s.

Is American Apparel's most explicit thing yet... feminist art?

American Apparel, apparently concerned that its ability to shock people with its sexualized advertising is starting to wane, has once again engaged the world of earned media with an "outrage":

"The Ardorous X American Apparel Period Power Washed Tee" features an explicit illustration of a woman masturbating while menstruating.

Here's the product description:

The Ardorous is an all-female online art platform curated by Petra Collins, a Toronto-born artist. Petra began her infatuation with photography at age 15 and became an American Apparel retail employee around the same time. She creates portraits exploring female sexuality and teen girl culture. Now 20, Petra has worked with Vice, Vogue Italia, Purple, Rookie, and is a contributing photographer for American Apparel.

Compared to American Apparel's sleazily objectifying ads, however, this one seems to have an authentically feminist purpose — at least to the woman who drew it.

Ms. Collins, who is based in Toronto, told Vice that she was trying to challenge taboos about women's bodies:

Menstruation—and also pubic hair—really freaks people out. There’s pubic hair in the drawing, which I guess is super shocking to people, even though I cannot get over that. I feel like I’m so sheltered in a way. I always forget that people are so close-minded. 

Grown women are taught to repress their postpubescent body or hide it. When you start puberty and you start growing hair you’re taught to shave it, because no one’s supposed to see it. With your period, it’s something that you conceal—no one’s supposed to know. It’s almost pedophilic—and I don’t want to throw that word around. But this feminine ideology we have, of the woman being a prepubescent girl, is how we’re taught to change our bodies. 

That's actually pretty cool. It's not the first time AA has done something constructive in their marketing assault on "decency".  So, while I won't be wearing this unisex V-shirt to work anytime soon, I have to give them points for art. Even if they do stand to make a few bucks from it.

UPDATE: The shirt is no longer available at the AA e-store.

Fiat 500L: Big enough for a whipped cream party with three international beauty pageant contestants

I'm not sure if this is another spec ad or not. But one thing's for sure: It's not subtle.

The campaign, via Ads of The World, is by Leo Burnett, Spain.

Let's have a closer look at the guy with the whipped cream, shall we?

Yeah... no.

You've got to love the way his "cream" is spurting out all over the place.

The campaign has two more iterations. One is actually quite clever, if you're into '80s movies:

The other one takes a weird, retro-racist angle:

They're all, supposedly, about the Fiat 500L's bigger interior capacity. But the concept looks more like something that's been sitting around the creative department for a while, looking for an excuse to be executed.

Questionable subject matter aside, however, the illustration style is pretty neat.

Four posters from the first #EarthDay, 1970

Via Ralph Bentley Artwork

Via Socialphy

Via Ecosys

Via Wired

This vintage ad illustration makes photoshopped ads look realistic by comparison

Retrogasm recently posted this old Jantzen girdle ad from the 1940s. 

Here are a couple more, via allgraphically.com (the second is fromt he '50s):

Portraying unrealistic body types in ads and fashion is nothing new. The difference between fashion illustration and manipulated photos, however, is that it is easy to mistake the latter for reality. 

The impossibly long and slender ladies in the ads above can more easily be dismissed as cartoons.

Ralph Lauren ad, via Photoshop Disasters

Via ynaija.com

Miu Miu ad via The Frisky

And that's the problem with digital image manipulation: It lets impressionable young minds believe they're looking at reality, rather than fantasy.

Jantzen was originally a swimsuit company. It's interesting to note that its ads for swimwear around the same time celebrated the way it exaggerated "curves":

via allgraphically.com

Here, the hourglass shape (itself a challenging, if more biologically useful beauty ideal) is the thing. And once again, it is exaggerated.

And it still is...

Via Joe Crazy

Coffee ad says it's "more black" than jazz performers

I noticed a colleague viewing this campaign on Ads of The World, and my first thought was "what gorgeous art direction!" Then I read the headline.

The wordplay on black things and "black" people is common in advertising. I even saw it used in a local campaign in Barbados, where Afro-Caribbean people are in the vast majority. Brazil is also a multicultural country, with many people of African origin. So I ask you, is my discomfort with this campaign simply a matter of white Canadian guilt?

For me, the ads are puzzling. It could be that there was something lost in translation. Are they saying that their coffee is "more black" than the jazz musicians they portray? Than the music they're playing? 

Blackness in coffee isn't just about not having cream or milk. It also refers to roast and brew strength. So their coffee is more intense?

I don't know. Some other cultures seem to be far more comfortable using a broad term for dark skin colour, culture and/or ancestral origin (whether code for "FUBU" or "other") as a throwaway ad gag. But for me it's bad enough labelling people, based on assumptions about "race," in casual conversation. I don't need brands reinforcing a bad habit.

Via Uproxx

Will we ever get over this shit?

Advertising is not art, and this art is not advertising

Via Ads of The World

The concept for this Brazilian lingerie ad is simple enough: Even famously-topless mermaids can't resist a Nonsanta bra. But the execution? The illustration is dark, desperate and utterly unpersuasive.

I am always baffled when art directors take the first part of the titles too seriously. The "art" of advertising is about clear and memorable visual communication, not forcing the viewer to work to develop their own interpretation of its deeper meaning.

Art is a wonderful thing. Advertising is not. But it has an important job to do.

What examples of ads overshadowed by their art have you seen recently?

Are men's minds this dirty and corrupt?

Via Ads of The World

That appears to be the message of Giovanni+DraftFCB's ads for a men's bath sponge. The Hieronymus Bosch-like illustration by Estúdio Ícone is awesome. And it's true that sex is on most men's minds most of the time.

But to the point where their lust is constantly threatening marriage? I guess I have a better opinion than that of my fellow man.

Via Ads of The World

The one showing corruption is also troubling if you believe that "nice guys" exist. But hey— they're just ads, right?  Brazilian ads at that. I think my male ego can take a little gender-slander now and then.

Seems like an awful lot of work to sell a sponge, though.

"Bush is back in fashion" - Crude pun, beautiful illustration

Marc posted this interesting Romanian campaign on Osocio today. It's for Mai Mult Verde ("More Green"), and environmental group holding a fashion show to raise funds for tree planting.

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I'll have to assume that comparing female pubic hair to shrubbery works in Romanian, too. It's a rather crude and childish pun, but I still find the illustration by Annabella Orosz enchanting.

The work is by G2. 

Beautifully illustrated Lithuanian music festival posters

According to agency New!:

Being totally different and positioning itself as an alternative, Satta Outside has grown to be one of the biggest music festivals in Lithuania. Actually, it's one of the premier beats music festivals in-the-world! It's becoming to big to be a cool alternative. We need to get back to it's original roots - irreverent humour and great atmosphere which is not for everyone. 

Therefore this year we decided to talk people out of going to Satta Outside. The campaign "Do Not Go To Satta" contains posters, print ads, web flyers, virals, radio spots all pleading to not go to the festival in unison. Of course, the reasons are probably the ones, who can make you go there even more, if you are the real Satta fan.

Illustrations are by Denmark's Mads Berg, and are an interesting combination of retro style and the blunter sexuality of modern advertising.

Russia's pin-up cell phone ads are awful even by Russian standards

The Cold War may be over, but mobile network MegaFon and its unknown (but presumably all-male) agency never left 007's original world of casual racism and sexism.

(Russian translations via Copyranter. Creative team interpretations are mine.)

Literal translation: "I will tell everything you want to know about roaming…"
What they were thinking: "The women we pay 130 rubles a minute to talk to look nothing like this."

Literal translation: "Bothered by uncertainty? Consultant will help you!"
What they were thinking: "Watch young Leda get bukkaked by those swans!"

 Literal translation:"Time is money!"
What they were thinking: "In post-Soviet Russia, prostitute pay YOU!"

Literal translation: "Roaming is not a myth. Find out your price rate!"
What they were thinking: "Our first version had him hung like a stallion, but it made our CD jealous."

Literal translation: "Tourist, be aware that roaming can be ruining!"
What they were thinking: "It's a hump, get it?"

Literal translation: "A High-quality network is vital on your business trips..."
What they were thinking: "Let's do one with Dominique Strauss-Kahn! Edgy!"

Literal translation: "Calling your relatives from Paris,  don’t forget to get information on your price rate."
What they were thinking: "The dog costs extra..."

Literal translation: "Don’t forget that each hotel has WiFi zones for you!"
What they were thinking: "Even her laptop has crabs."

Literal translation: "Stay connected no matter where you are!"
What they were thinking: "Anal probe costs extra."

Literal translation: "I prefer protected roaming!"
What they were thinking: "Stopped at a green light? That's a pegging!"

Literal translation: "The danger is in lack of mobile education!"
WWhat they were thinking: "Didn't KIA already do this one?"

Literal translation: "Let’s make international relations stronger."
What they were thinking: "We have never set foot outside of Russia, and foreigners frighten us."