In Amy Corr's weekly roundup of new ad campaigns this week, we have a midget, oh...excuse me...I mean leprechaun dragging around the dnl cart in a 7Up commercial, a crab promotion from Red Lobster, a multi-charactered spot for Ameritrade Holding Company, Paper Mate attempting to make us believe we are emotionally attached to their pens with a new multi-media campaign, the Williams sisters try to redefine the idea of femininity in a WTA campaign, car engines take a pilgrimage to Penzoil begging to be lubed, and Bailey's promotes their new four-pack of Irish Cream.
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Just as nudity is beginning to appear in advertising, major brewers have decided to tone down the Twins/CatFight approach to beer advertising. Red Stripe, Heineken, Labatt's, and Ranier have all recently launched toned-down ad campaigns for their products.
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Karin Robertson has taken branding to the extreme. The PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) employee has legally changed her name to GoVeg.com, one of PETA's web site addresses. Robertson claims she didn't do it necessarily to promote PETA but to trigger people into discussing animal rights and vegitarianism when showing people her liscense, credit card, and other personal identidy cards.
Say what you will about PETA's cause but this is a wonderful, if not a bit freaky, expression of branding and one's belief in the brand.
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Placemat advertising has been around a long time but a company called Mat Media is taking that concept further and expanding it into a national network targeted to mall food courts.
The company has deals with seven mall owners who operate 34 malls in 16 states and has plans to expand to 70 malls by year's end.
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After years of ridiculous political correctness and idiotic uptightness about sex, advertisers are finally saying "screw it" and using more nudity in advertising. From the naked kid who gets electrocuted in a TeenAIDS ad to Gillette's nude lemon woman, to Nike's streaker, ads are wearing fewer clothes.
It's about time. This anti-nudity stance that America has had for so long is just a twisted sense of logic. It's OK so show the most gruesome violence in movies and on TV but showing nudity and sex are taboo. Why is that? What are we afraid of? People having sex? My god, that would be awful if people actually had sex rather than picking up a gun an blowing someone's head off.
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