The worst road safety shock ad you will see this week

Spoiler: They all die

Redditor JamieDrogheda shared this really dreadful PSA two days ago, for the Department of The Environment in Northern Ireland.

The Belfast Telegraph calls it "more closely resembling something like Sharknado than a traditional road safety ad." The ASA won't let it be shown on TV before 9 pm.

I'll simply call it overwrought, manipulative and misguided:



This kind of shock ad should stay in the 1970s, the golden age of driving school snuff films. Nobody, absolutely nobody, is going to drive more slowly because of this ad. Instead of seeing it as a symbolic slaughter of all the children killed by speeding, they're more likely to see it as almost comical.

Just look at the "special effects":

The teacher doesn't seem too concerned by the flattened children.

This Carl's Jr. spoof(?) is not far from the real thing

The ad features Fernanda Romero posing provocatively for the camera, showing off cleavage, and fellating a sausage. You've been warned.



Someone claiming to be Ms. Romero took to Reddit yesterday, saying:

Howdy Howdy! I am Fernanda Romero, an actress (recent films include Ghost Team One and Mission Park). I just appeared in a Carls Jr ad that sadly didn't air on the Superbowl.

"Sadly"? The video was roundly panned by Redditors, who suspected a Carl's Jr. PR stunt. According to Perez Hilton, however, Carl's Jr. has stated, "They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But, we had nothing to do with this spoof ad."

It's definitely high budget, and is pretty close to what they've already done:



Whether it's gonzo marketing for burgers, or someone else's bid for fame, I'm sure it will play out pretty soon. Not that this is great for women in media either way.

That's quite the product placement, Apple

From President Obama's Reddit AMA.

Is being on Reddit unpresidential?

As I write, the internet is buzzing with news that President Obama has actually, really, provably taken to Reddit to answer "Ask Me Anything" questions.

It's impossible to even try to keep up with the thread, which has over 5,000 comments at its halfway point.

You could say that this is a clever way to distract attention from the Republican National Convention, and connect with young voters. But was Reddit the right place for him to go?

This is a community that represents the best and worst of the internet. At its best, it provides unfiltered and immediate information and opinions on emerging events, trends and ideas.

At its worst, well. It is a haven for creeps who steal people's private pictures and repost them for each other's sick pleasure, for assholes to bully abuse victims, to provide support groups for rapists, make racist rants, and until recently — share child pornography.

Is this the equivalent of Jesus hanging out with sinners, or has the President accidentally given his critics ammunition against him for validating a very controversial forum?

I guess we'll see.

But for now, there's this:

F'd Ad Fridays: Effing Student Work

Redditor Jo3 posted some of his student work:

My advice to you, Jo3: There's enough commoditization of women's sexuality out there already, and it doesn't help to compare their vaginas to hot pockets. You are a clever creative with bold ideas. You can do much better than this.

F'd Ad Fridays: Grounds for divorce

This supercut of old coffee ads puts a spotlight on the onetime acceptance of men being total dicks and women defining themselves through domestic talents:



At least, I hope it's no longer acceptable.

Via  Reddit

May the vaccinations be with you. Always.

When I was a kid, and Star Wars was still shiny and new, Lucasfilm lent out the cheaper characters for TV Public Service Announcements against drunk driving and smoking.

This doctor's office poster, however, just seen on Reddit, is new to me:

It's obviously an old one, but with the anti-vaccination movement and the renaissance of measles, perhaps it's time for a sequel.

Raise your hand if you think schools are underfunded

Here's a cute ad that showed up on Reddit. Looks like someone's spec idea, however the supposed sponsor, A Day Made Better, is a very real teacher-supportive CSR effort by Office Max in the USA.


Here in Canada as well, classrooms are grossly underfunded and teachers (such as my better half) end up spending this much and more out-of-pocket just to make sure their students have what they need to learn in a positive and fun environment. Yet political pressures to reduce school budgets continue to reduce the quality and availability of classroom resources and insult the professionalism of teachers.

So the ad above may well be fake (since it is so tonally different from the "real" campaign) but it certainly expresses a real frustration faced by educators.

Drug courts PSA is full of stoned-looking celebrities

This spot, produced for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, is bizarre. The celebs, some of whom have been known for their drug problems, look like they're the forlorn coming-down portraits you see on mugshots in The Smoking Gun:

The Reddit submitter I stole this from put it best: "Very odd anti-drug/drug court ad featuring Matthew Perry, Steven Tyler, a very beleaguered looking John C. McGinley, and a bunch of other stars who look like they're doing it as part of their community service."

This is too bad, since specialized Drug Courts are a really great idea to help addicts get appropriate treatment rather than throwing them in jail.  

The ad, though, just makes me depressed.

F'd Ad Fridays: Japan is really hardcore on video pirates

10 years hard labour? 10 Million Yen fine? That's way more disturbing than this goofy ad.

Via Reddit

More LEGO retro awesomeness

It turns out that the LEGO campaign I fell in love with last winter has an online video version:



I love the realistic silent home movie, the bad cuts, and the awkward posing. Why won't anyone let me do a campaign like this? *sigh*

Via Reddit

Awkward post-Rapture followup

Some dude on Reddit actually posted a billboard to stick it to Family Radio for their non-Rapture:

Don't steal computers belonging to people who know how to use computers

This seems too awesome to be real.

The Consumerist shared the story of Reddit user markbao, who had his laptop stolen recently. But thanks to technology:

The alleged victim was able to get the video remotely by accessing the storage cloud the laptop automatically backed itself up to. The video now has over a million hits on YouTube.

In addition, he says he was able to piece together enough information from the browsing history to identify the guy through Facebook.

It gets even better. According to the victim,

"Yep, the guy turned the laptop to the police this morning, and he sent me a heartfelt message asking me to remove the video.

Which I'm not going to do. He's not in a position to bargain."

Someone even posted the alleged thief's pitiful plea:

"

hey Mark.

I am sorry for all that I have done. I would ask for forgiveness in person but I am not allow to go back on campus for what I did. I was being a dumbass for thinking I could get away with something like this. I hope I didn't cause you so much trouble over it either. I went to your school at 2 am so i can try to fix things. I left the laptop there with campus police. I left a statement and I am waiting on the detective to look over the police report to see what will happen to me. Like I have said. I am truely sorry for what I have done and I promise you and myself that it would not happen again. I am not this kind of person. I am a respectful person and I don't know why I did something like this. I am sorrry for that.

I know I am in no position for asking you for favors but Can you please put down the videos that you have put up of me. I know what I did was wrong and if i was a different person line leave it up but I do have two Professional Jobs that iif something like that gets leak I can get in morre trouble and be more embarress as well. So I will Ask for that huge favor.

lf you want we can meet up so I can say sorry in person. I feel like that would be a good idea. It would not change much but at least I can say I said it in person."

Like I said, almost too awesome to be true. If it isn't the start of a brilliant viral campaign, I'm sure some marketing genius will rip off the idea within days...

Superbranding

Here's the cutest thing you will see today. But it's also a great case study.

Adland reports that PBS HQ received this letter from a 5-year-old viewer:

Note the dollar, to cover production costs.

Adorable, isn't it? And it's also a golden opportunity.

I once wrote to Kenner toys, with diagrams for new Star Wars toys inspired by my recent viewing of The Empire Strikes Back. I actually got back a typed letter, on letterhead and everything, thanking me and assuring me my designs would be forwarded to the people who made the toys.

I never forgot that. I still have the letter somewhere, and that bit of goodwill pleased my parents and impressed my friends. But that was it.

Times have changed. Now, when an organization gets a heartfelt fan letter, they can respond in public, like on their web site:

"Dear Noah: Thank you for your dollar. We are glad you love PBS KIDS so much! The good news is we have two super hero to the rescue shows that we think you will enjoy, Super Why! and WordGirl. Love, PBS KIDS"

Not only have they made Noah's freaking YEAR, but they got great earned social media by both letting people know about it, and by making this wish fulfillment a collaborative process, online.

(The fact the PBS guy calls himself "AdmiralBallsack" is also awesome!)

So what was once a random act of kind outreach becomes an epic feat of brand loyalty building. (Plus a good plug for the shows!)

Now that's a superpower any marketer would love to have.