This Harmon Kardon "ad" is just nasty

Sometimes I look at an ad and think, "why did the Art Director even think of this?"

The weird oral-foot-fetishy violence of it aside, there's no game going on and nobody in the stands. So why would anyone be bothered by their cheers?

I'm guessing that this is another example of a vanity ad, not actually appearing in any paid media or necessarily approved by the client, submitted for creative awards shows. Sad.

Two other executions include a dog with its head up its ass and a musician with his head up his sousaphone.

Edmonton radio station asks if rape victims "share any blame"

Wait, what? 630 CHED is an Edmonton talk radio station. Today's online poll asks, "It's very controversial but do you think victims of sexual assaults share any blame for what happens?"

Here are the results, as of 1:00 EDT:

I don't know what's worse, the fact that they asked this loaded question or that a third of their respondents want to blame women for being raped.

The station's previous polls run from the trivial ("Will you be celebrating world dog day?")  to impossibly oversimplified takes on big issues ("How would you resolve the problem in Syria?"). However, I failed to see anything else to suggest that victims of violent crime are partially responsible for being attacked.

Here are some suggestions for upcoming polls:

"Do the victims of a home invasion share any of the blame for living in a nice house?" 

"Does the mugging victim share some of the blame for talking on an iPhone in public?" 

"Did the victim of bullying bring it on himself by not fitting in?" 

"Should that fatal hit-and-run victim known better than to walk on the sidewalk after last call?"

Thanks to @TrinaMLee (via @LadySnarksalot) for the "twip":

.@630CHED Rape was an issue long before nightclubs, back alleys and miniskirts existed. Nobody ever deserves it. Your poll is disgusting.
— Trina M. Lee (@TrinaMLee) April 10, 2014

Sexually humiliating Playboy golf stunt turns violent

Via TMZ, obviously.

Two years ago, a woman named Elizabeth Dickson was paid by Playboy's Morning Show to lie face down in the grass and have a golf tee wedged between her glutes so that co-host Kevin Klein could hit a golf ball off of it. This in itself is many different kinds of humiliating, not just to the model but to women in general.

But it actually gets worse. Mr. Klein has terrible aim, and Ms. Dickson claims he hit her full-force with his club, causing extensive bruising. Now she's suing Playboy and the co-host for $500, 000 plus punitive damages:

According to the complaint, Dickson says she was invited to the Playboy Golf Finals at the Industry Hills Golf Club on March 30, 2012, where she was to help Playboy Playmates host. 

Dickson agreed to have a photo taken of her lying on her stomach “with her buttocks partially exposed” so that Kevin Klein, co-host of the show, could hit a golf ball put atop a tee that was inserted between her butt cheeks, the suit alleges. 

However, Klein missed the tee and “struck plaintiff on the buttocks, causing her injuries and damages,” the suit states. 

Dickson suffered pain, suffering, worrying and anxiety as a result of her injuries, the suit states.

I can't think of a better (worse) example of how much is still wrong with the way our culture portrays and treats women in media.

H/T Paul Couvrette and HuffPo

Strange, violent, shaver adds from Saudi Arabia

These ads by Bold Creative Boutique, in Riyadh, compare precision shaving to precision slaughter of what look like unarmed civilians by Roman soldiers:

I know there are cultural differences in advertising, but considering this one was translated into English and submitted to Ads of The World, an international point of view is warranted. And the view from here is, "WTF?!?"

Delhi Police drop 'chop onions, not heads' campaign

Delhi Police have apologized and withdrawn an ad promoting vocational training for street children, after criticism that it promotes child labour.

The Huffington Post reports that the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights found the ad "in bad taste and diminishing the 'dignity and worth' of children, who are our future citizens.” They added, “This advertisement depicts a vulnerable child as a future criminal... besides, teaching a child how to chop an onion does not really do justice to a child.”

Child labour is a huge problem in India, but some saw even worse things in the ad. Juvenile justice expert Ananth Asthana told Indian Express, "It only shows the trivial thinking of Delhi Police on child rights. The authorities have a very wrong perception about juveniles, and this particular ad associates them with murder."

Another great, gory PSA from Down Under

First came "Dumb Ways to Die", the hilarious transit safety campaign by McCann Melbourne that dominated at Cannes.

Now, here's something new from Director Justin Wight at Monkeystack, for the Australian Red Cross:



Pretty funny stuff. I'll just assume the creatives on this are fans of Don Hertzfeldt (and/or Cyanide & Happiness)...

The most violent condom ads you will see today

The stork is executed in brutal human fashion.

The concept may be clever, and the illustration divine, but these ads don't exactly put me in the mood for love. Plus, how many young people today even know the old-school stork myth?

Ads by Ogilvy, Honduras. Via Ads of The World.

No, this is not a "real" Russian Tampax ad

This nasty little clip, which is making the viral rounds of HuffPo, LiveLeak, etc., is not a "Russian Tampax Ad". According to its own YouTube "about" section, it's a promotional video for the bizarre mess known as "Movie 43".

Not to say that admen are above using the "shark week" gag for a Tampax ad:

Leo Burnett France, circa 2007 (via AOTW)

Shooting game company literally makes women targets of misogyny

Cross-posted at Sociological Images.

Via zombieindustries.com

So it turns out there's this company that makes "zombie" targets for gun enthusiasts. They have clown zombies, nazi zombies, "terrorist" zombies, dog zombies and even a green zombie named "Rocky" that has Barack Obama's ears.

And one woman.

Here's their explanation:

The Zombie virus does not discriminate and neither does Zombie Industries.  We take preparation for the Zombie Apocalypse seriously, which is why we strive to have all groups of undead monsters represented in our product selection.  In addition to the Ex Girlfriend Zombie, we currently sell 15 male zombies, 5 animal zombies & 2 aliens… to discriminate against Women by not having them represented in our product selection would be just plain sexist.

Each of the zombie targets has a story. Here is the story of "The Ex":

Be warned, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but a man scorned is nothing to mess with! A young gent from Louisiana, we’ll call him Andre` to protect his identity, was deeply committed to his one true love and her to him, or so he thought. While partying with her friends during one particular Mardi Gras, she took several suitors over the course of the festivities. Andre` felt something odd indeed, so he paid a visit to his great aunt, Marie, who helped him see the truth. With a few eggs, candles lit and kiss upon his forehead, her voodoo curse was set in motion. Late each night while lying in bed, a smile would appear across his face, for a slight breeze would travel through a cracked window bringing with it, a faint whiff of decay and a unnatural cry of regret.

That's right. In this narrative, a man kills a woman for cheating on him. Then he has her turned into a zombie. Which you, bro, are now invited to blow to bits.

Despite the game-like zombie theme, it is notable that the single human female representation has been created specifically as a target of violent male anger towards a woman's ownership of her own sexuality.

"The Ex" is also portrayed in a highly sexual way, with what seems to be a bare lower torso and busting out chest.

Policymic writes, "Every day, at least three women are killed by an intimate partner in the US alone.  Let's make sure those numbers go down, not up. Let's make sure companies like Zombies Industries know that we're not buying it."

Some people, however, are buying it. And this is what's most troubling.

From the product reviews:

This Zombie Bitch is awesome, reminds me of a girl I knew in High School, My LMT LM308MWS should put a stop to the undead bring them on !!! Later Party till you drop Corvette forever !!!!! - Ralph Cox ( Big Money Grip) 

I love that this target looks like Britney Spears and it bleeds when I shot it. - Bryan 

And from YouTube:

It may just be me, but I think that people who are willing to pay $100 to shoot a cheap sex doll to bits while fantasizing about killing women who rejected them (and people who think that's totally cool) have some very serious problems.

Oh, and Zombie Industries was selling this shit at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston last weekend. Surprised?

Update: Amazon was selling The Ex. It is no longer doing so.

Update 2: Kelli, a Sociological Images reader, commented on the cross-post that Zombie Industries has changed the name and backstory of "The Ex" to make her more of a traditional villain:

Alexa was from Louisiana and was always drawn to the occult.  She had a wicked mean streak in her and was known for her nasty disposition, especially if she had been drinking.  She also happened to be in love with a young man, but there was a slight problem.. he was married to another women.  When he told her that he loved his wife and could never be unfaithful to her, Alexa became enraged.  She decided to seek the help of a local tarot card & palm reader who also dabbled in Voodoo.  When she told the Voodoo Witch of her plan to break up a loving a marriage.. the witch refused to help her.  That’s when Alexa lost her cool for the last time and crossed the wrong person.  She let out a slew of insults directed at the witch and told her she would get her way one way or another.  That’s when the Voodoo Witch cast a spell of her own.  Alexa never knew what hit her and before she reached her home that evening she joined the ranks of the Undead!

It's more of an admission of guilt than anything else...

Marketing deadly guns to kids? It's no joke.

This ad feels like satire, but it is not:



That's right, rifles for little kids. In a gun-loving culture, I'm sure there are arguments for teaching "gun safety" to children as soon as possible.

But that wasn't the case for an unnamed 5-year-old boy in Cumberland County, Kentucky. He accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister while playing with his .22 calibre "My First Rifle" that had been left loaded and accessible in the house:

[Cumberland County Coroner Gary White] said the children's mother was at home when the shooting occurred, and the gun was a gift the boy received last year. 

"It's a Crickett," he said. "It's a little rifle for a kid. ...The little boy's used to shooting the little gun." 

White said the gun was kept in a corner, and the family did not realize a shell had been left in it. 

He said the shooting will be ruled accidental. 

"Just one of those crazy accidents," White said.

As a parent myself, I empathize deeply with the family who lost a little girl. But this was no "crazy accident". This company encourages really young children not just to learn how to use a gun, but also to see it as a fun, destructive, and lethal plaything.

Via Crickett

I understand hunting. I understand the sport of shooting. I just don't think marketing guns to children as if they are toys is right.

Of course the company talks about responsibility. Their kids' guns have safety locks, and they sell books that are supposed to be about responsible gun use.

Here's a description of "Little Jake and the Three Bears":

In that one, one of the bears does not come out of the hunt well, but his skin keeps Little Jake toasty through the next winter, and the little fella feasts on bear sausages while hunkered down under the rug. 

But it's not all chest-beating and swagger. After Little Jake bags the bruin, he spends a contemplative moment thinking of what his warm rug has cost the bear, and thanks the animal for his sacrifice. He does a similar thing after he kills the King of the Forest, Bambi's father. 

"It's all about casting hunting in a positive light," Jacobs said. "Kids today are only hearing one side. Hunting and firearms are part of our American tradition. All it will take is for the hunting tradition to skip one generation, and I'm afraid that will be it. We will lose it."

However, if you head on over to the company's YouTube channel, they have favourited a video featuring an 11-year-old girl who "defends her home from three armed burglars" using one of their products. Somehow, she survived. Giving kids and parents the false hope that arming their children will keep them safe is hardly responsible gun stewardship.

The other problem with the marketing is that, no matter how much companies like this and the NRA talk about responsibility, the American Journal of Public Health reported that unsafe storage of firearms in American homes with children is a serious problem:

Respondents from 35% of the homes with children younger than 18 years (representing more than 22 million children in more than 11 million homes) reported having at least 1 firearm. Among homes with children and firearms, 43% had at least 1 unlocked firearm (i.e., not in a locked place and not locked with a trigger lock or other locking mechanism). Overall, 9% kept firearms unlocked and loaded, and 4% kept them unlocked, unloaded, and stored with ammunition; thus, a total of 13% of the homes with children and firearms--1.4 million homes with 2.6 million children--stored firearms in a manner most accessible to children. 

Fortunately, according to the Centres for Disease Control (via CNN) deaths like the one in Kentucky are statistically rare:

703 children under the age of 15 died in accidental firearms deaths between 2001 and 2010, the latest year for which the agency's statistics on fatalities are available. During the same period, 7,766 children under the age of 14 suffered accidental firearms injuries -- about one injury for every million children.

Of course, that's still 703 dead kids as a result of playing with guns.

As an urban, left wing Canadian, it's hard for me to understand the American obsession with guns. I am also aware that this is a very serious cultural divide. I'm just now reading the book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by fellow Canadian Steven Pinker, and he takes a Hobbesian view of the matter. While Western Europe and many English colonies (like Canada), he observes, had strong law-and-order states before they had democracy, the United States gave (some) citizens the vote when much of the land was still in a state of armed uprising.

In Canada's mild west, the cliché goes, the law arrived before the settlers did. Acceptance of state authority to resolve conflicts among citizens is part of the culture here, as it is in much of Europe, and democracy was eventually granted with relatively little bloodshed. In the States, where democracy was taken by force by the citizens, guns are seen by many as essential to freedom and liberty.

That said, I don't personally want the liberty to arm my 8-year-old son with his very own unlocked, loaded, and unsupervised .22 calibre rifle and fill his head with dreams of vigilante justice.

Victim-blaming on Thai public transit

Via Buzzfeed

The conversation about "victim blaming" in the way North American society treats sexual assault has been heating up the past couple of years. This has resulted in a more critical look at the way sexual assault prevention campaigns are done. 

Some cause marketers, like Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton, have taken this to heart by creating campaigns that put the blame for sexual assault squarely on the perpetrators. Others (in this case through an anti-binge-drinking campaign) still blame victims.

This Thai bus poster, shared by Copyranter, is definitely the latter type of ad. As many others have pointed out, this approach is offensive to both men and women. To men, it communicates the idea that we are all potential rapists constantly tempted by women's bodies. To women who have been victims, it says you could have prevented it.

There are certainly ways to educate women about personal safety without implying that sexual assault is something they are somehow responsible for preventing.

The first horrific media placement of the year

Via Buzzfeed comes Page 5 of The Stamford Advocate, in which a gun show ad appears next to a story about Sandy Hook Elementary School reopening after last year's horrible shooting rampage that killed 20 children and 6 adults.

These mistakes happen, and nobody would dare suggest that anyone in the community would purposely place this ad right there. It's more of an issue of quality control, or rather lack of it, in today's mainstream media.

But accidental or not, I was just served up this ad by the homepage of the online edition:

The ad is actually for an arts exhibition. But once again, a chilling combination of images.

Sales soar for bullet-proof Disney princess backbacks

Via Boing Boing

According to the Daily Mail:

Firms selling bullet-proof children's gear - including Disney Princess and Avengers backpacks lined with Kevlar-type sheeting - are reporting a massive surge in sales in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. 

Salt Lake City-based Amendment II is among several firms being accused of callously cashing-in on the tragedy in which 26 people were gunned down including 23 children.  

The firm is currently promoting a range of $300 bulletproof backpacks, alongside body armour in children's sizes, and say they have sold as many in a week as they usually sell in three months

Last Friday's mass-killing was devastating to parents everywhere. But the idea that you can somehow armour (or even arm) your children against a similar attack is preposterous. And deeply, deeply sad.

Selling this stuff, on the other hand, is appalling.

At the moment, the site of the online retailer, "Amendment II" is unresponsive.

Bushmaster promotes assault rifles with a "man card"

This is most certainly part of the problem. As Salon reports, Bushmaster Firearms (yes, that Bushmaster) has been promoting its  AR15- and M16- type rifles by providing a "man card" to its fans.

Proof of Your Manhood – The Man Card ... Do you have what it takes? 

Inspired by the overwhelming response to Bushmaster’s “Consider Your Man Card Reissued” sweepstakes, today Bushmaster Firearms announces the latest part in the series; the Man Card online promotion. 

To become a card-carrying man, visitors of bushmaster.com will have to prove they’re a man by answering a series of manhood questions. Upon successful completion, they will be issued a temporary Man Card to proudly display to friends and family. The Man Card is valid for one year. 

Visitors can also call into question or even revoke the Man Card of friends they feel have betrayed their manhood. The man in question will then have to defend himself, and their Man Card, by answering a series of questions geared towards proving indeed, they are worthy of retaining their card. 

Bushmaster invites you to visit www.bushmaster.com/mancard to earn your Man Card and have some fun. If you decide to revoke the Man Card of a friend or two along the way, that is entirely up to you.

The man card quiz link is no longer active, but Salon gives a synopsis:

Most of the quiz questions are pretty predictable and harmless, if dumb — Do you eat tofu? Can you change a tire? Have you ever watched figured skating “on purpose”? — but others are more challenging. One question gives you four possible options of how to respond if a car full of the rival team’s fans cuts you off on the way to the championship game. The correct answer, it turns out, is to commit arson: “Skip the game, find the other car in the parking lot, and render it unrecognizable with a conflagration of shoe polish and empty food containers.”

Somewhat ironically, it was not the male Newtown mass murderer who owned the Bushmaster he allegedly used to kill his innocent victims. The gun belonged to his mother.

Nonetheless, I find the easy sexism and dumb machismo of this brand extremely troubling. Equating agression, violence and lack of empathy with masculinity, and positioning a military-grade assault weapon as an essential part of that role, is both a reflection — and a reinforcement — of the American gun culture. And while this culture may not specifically cause killers to kill, it gives them the means to do so very efficiently while also providing a fantasy of violent power to the otherwise powerless.

On a side note, I think the Bushmaster company is in the process of changing its web site:

Hopefully, they'll tone down the bullshit. Who am I kidding? I hope their products, and all like them, are eventually prohibited to civilian ownership.

Amnesty ad compares arms trade to tsunami disasters

(Cross-posted at Osocio)


Oh, dear. Remember this fiasco?

Created by DDB Brazil for WWF Brazil, it ignited a firestorm of protest, which WWF's international office first disavowed, then admitted may have been the approved regionally. On this year's September 11th anniversary, Buzzfeed's Copyranter named it #1 in his list of "The Five Worst 9/11 Exploitation Ads".

You could say that it simply tells an inconvenient truth about inconsistent cultural attitudes towards tragedy and death. But that point would be made at the expense of causing further hurt to the families of the World Trade Centre attack, as well as to those deeply affected by it.

Now, strangely, the 2005 tsunami tragedy that is being exploited to make a point about war and the arms trade:

The ad is by TBWA, Paris, for Amnesty International.


This brings the saga of over-produced, tragedy-exploiting ads full circle: "an epic and tragic natural disaster killed more people than an infamous terrorist act, but the arms trade is even worse."

(Admittedly, it could also be a reference to the more recent Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.)

Once again, creatives go for maximum impact to make one message of human loss at the cost of trivializing another. This kind of trade-off is a devil's bargain, in my opinion. It's all bad. You don't need to get into a comparison of which is worse. From my perspective this looks like lazy strategy and the elaborate (yet derivative) execution is blatant award-bait.

And I say this as a member of Amnesty. You can do better than this. You often do.


Tip via Ads of the World

Yeah, it's a spunky campaign. But who does it serve?

I started this blog to explore best practices in social marketing, as well as to critique what I saw as lazy, obnoxious, unethical and "masturbatory" creative in mainstream advertising.

I am trying really, really hard to find great campaigns to feature. But every time I do the rounds of my usual sources for fresh ad news, I'm confronted by crap like this:

The Ads of The World post says "yogurt"; but the filename says "mayo"...

This is the kind of ad that some creative people, especially Art Directors, think is awesome. It has a great illustration style and it tells a dirty joke about how mayonnaise/yogurt kind of looks like semen. (Even if it doesn't, really.)

But will it really sell car cleaning services? It will get attention for the brand, sure. But it says nothing unique about the actual service except to say that they let an ad agency have fun with their business.

There's a good reason why these ads are usually done as "loss leaders" at creative agencies. (That is to say that the agency usually spends more time and money on the ad than the client puts up.)

You see, this is not an ad for Restaura Car Cleaning. It is really an ad for a Brazilian agency called Hermandad, as well as for the creative team of Paulo Lima, Pedro Teixeira, Hélio Maffia and Douglas Reis, which borrows the obscure brand as an excuse to make the dirty joke. And get covered by ad industry blogs around the world. And probably win an award from other creatives who wish they had clients who would let them do such a spunky ad.

Which is all well and good, for the agency and creatives. But it is not good for the ad industry.

You see, my friends, we have created the ultimate circle-jerk here — making ads simply to impress other ad people. Not to help our clients achieve their business objectives. Not to help make people's lives better. Not even to make money. Just to get awards, recognition and envy from our own colleagues. And I think that's kind of lame.

Oh, and there's another ad in this "bodily fluid" series:

Ha ha ha. Now, can we get back to work?

Cool guerrilla stunt launches TNT in Belgium

Vincent sent me this:



It's an awesome guerrilla stunt to launch the TNT network in Belgium. Awesome work by Duval Guillaume. Let's just hope it's not as staged as that Red Light District dance number.

Absurdly violent condom ads #FdAdFriday

These have to be some of the most absurdly macho condom ads I have seen. By a sausage party of a creative team at TBWA Buenos Aires, Argentina, they seem to imply that men thing they have a mighty warrior in their pants. But it doesn't seem sexy at all to me, and can't possibly be an attractive image for women.

It's about technique, guys, not brute strength. Mine's a lover, not a fighter.

Via Ads of The World

The saddest GIS image theft ever #FdAdFriday

In the age of Google, it's not uncommon to find personal or news photos stolen and used for ads in other countries. But what those unethical adpeople don't realize is that the same internet that gives them access to "free" visuals can also make their thefts very public.

Copyranter shared this billboard from India, for overseas study and job placement firm Jubeerich Consultancy.

"The trusted name since 1999"

Whoever designed the ad was obviously looking for a pretty, smiling, fair-complexioned face to represent the West. But they didn't check the story behind the image.

Eve Carson, the woman pictured, was a student at the University of North Carolina who was brutally murdered by Demario James Atwater (and possibly his teen accomplice) on March 5, 2008. In what was apparently a random act of violence, she was killed by repeated shotgun blasts and her car and ATM card stolen.

This act of image theft was not only unforgivably cruel to Ms. Carson's family and friends. There is also a painful irony in using the picture of a murdered American student in an ad for study abroad.

Shame on them.

And the most ignorant Facebook comment of the week goes to...

Those poor children.

In response to this image, shared by The Why Movement.

For those unfamiliar with the case, Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old who was pursued and shot dead this week by a self-appointed neighbourhood watch vigilante named George Zimmerman, for the crime of "just walking around, looking about." Zimmerman has yet to be charged with a crime, because in Florida it is totally legal to carry a concealed weapon and murder people who frighten you by their very appearance.