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Obama Girl, Giuliani Girls, Leah Kaufman Pay Respects to U.S. Troops

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Barely Political, the organization that created the Obama Girl and Giuliani Girls videos have gone in a different direction with their latest release, I Like A Boy. Rather than focus on a presidential candidate, the video, which stars Obama Girl Amber Lee Ettinger, Giuliani Girl Rebeca Dipietro and rapper Mims, salutes U.S. troops.

Partnering with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, the video features U.S. soldiers, their wives, girlfriends, friends and family singing along to the Leah Kaufman-penned and performed song, "I Like A Boy." Creator Ben Relles tells us, "It's sort of a a rockin' non-partisan salute to the US Troops - men and women - serving our county." Proceeds from the sale of the song, available on iTunes, will go to the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association.

more »

by Steve Hall    Sep-18-07    
Topic: Cause, Good, Video



We Are As Dumb As We Were Thirty Years Ago

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We just thought it was interesting to note this video clip from the movie Network is even more relevant than it was thirty years ago when the movie debuted. This is the movie that gave us the famed line, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" In the clip, Peter Finch rails against the public which has been dumbed down by television and don't read books or newspapers any longer. Sound familiar?

Television is not the truth Finch tells us. "It's a goddamn amusement park." TV will tells us anything we want to hear and it will lie to deliver. Combine that with the rest of the media business's insanity and the our fixation with celebutards and the world depicted in the recent movie Idiocracy seems completely plausible.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-18-07    
Topic: Opinion, Television, Trends and Culture



London Fire Brigade Enlists Rappers to Spread Safety Message

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Remember how in the late '80s or early '90s you had all those educational shows for kids where a rapper would come up and make a flow out of recycling or reading a book?

Imagine that, and plug in the London Fire Brigade. To get people to take advantage of its free smoke alarm service, it's put together a full-length track called "Got Mine Got Yours." It also (aptly) puts your local fireman on the same glamorous level as the local park gangster.

Cute.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-18-07    
Topic: Cause, Good



Gamekillers Returns, to Raucous Applause

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Axe and MTV are joining forces to bring back the sad event that was The Gamekillers, an ad campaign-cum-one-hour-special that first aired in 2006.

It's not everyday that an ad campaign turns into a reality TV show, so kudos to Axe. As expected, game-killing caricatures will be launched forth to screw up unsuspecting dates. The guys on dates must utilize special tips to defeat the Gamekillers and keep the girl's heart - or at least her snatch - safely secure.

Guys who win the girl get their names engraved on the ancient AXE Gamekillers Chalice. And if you can think of something douchier than that, we'll carve your name into the ice of an ancient Adrants martini.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty, in tangent with @radical.media, put the series together. The show airs on September 21 at 7 pm ET/PT.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-18-07    




National Pork Board: 'McRib ... I am Your Father'

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The cats over at the US Food Policy blog have shot us some compelling information about the McRib.

To start with, they introduced us to the McRib's ingredients, which are fairly unsavory (blame the bun and the sauce). Then, they dropped the microsite on our heads.

We really hate seeing chicks that appear to be affiliated with a subculture (pop rock much?) introduce a product, then stand around pouting while waiting for us to make a move with our mouse. It is indescribably tacky.

But that's a digression. The real reason why US Food Policy sent us over to McRibland was because the National Pork Board, backed by the federal government, claims to have created the McRib (per its '06 annual report).

Anybody who's seen Thank You for Smoking may not find this odd. We certainly don't. And we continue to maintain that parents need to educate their children about the dangers awaiting them in this big deceptive world - including tricky marketing. At the very least, it would be nice to think that the government doesn't collude in our market intrigues.

Maybe that's wishful thinking. So while we're on this moving train, way to take one for Team Obesity, guys.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-18-07    
Topic: Cause, Trends and Culture, Worst



Mazda Still Makes Cars? Well, It Sure as Hell Can't Make Ads

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Imagine the music you'd hear at a gay strip club. Is your pelvis gyrating yet? Good. Add graphics from Japanese ninja porn. Toss in a green car for good measure.

You know what you get?

This ad for Mazda - which, to be frank, has given us (arguably) worse ads in the past. We can't think of a slogan that beats "Fitness comes as standard," though. If you can, congratulations.

JWT Dusseldorf, why have you forsaken us?

by Angela Natividad    Sep-17-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



AtomFilms Gives us Chance to Murder Our Own Creativity

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Remember Animator vs. Animation? Of course you do. Well, now there's a game.

You're the animator, a task that sounds more savory than it actually is. It's surprisingly hard to kill the little bastard. But maybe because that's less because he's clever and more because the "paint" functionalities just don't lend themselves well to ensuring a speedy and certain death.

We suffered from Game Over twice before running out of the room and screaming. The neighbors are not pleased.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-17-07    
Topic: Games



ACS Turns Everyday Struggle into Public Plea for Aid

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This ad is for the American Cancer Society. It tells the story of Kathy, a woman who's come across some hard knocks, not least because she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Yup.

The voice over adds, "This is what a health care crisis looks like to the American Cancer Society. People with cancer, but without insurance. Countless others with insurance, just not enough to cover something as devastating as cancer."

Sounds like an economics problem that, well, isn't uncommon. Good to know the ACS is looking out.

Yup.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-17-07    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Television



Effie Awards Opens 40th Annual Call For Entries

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The Effie Awards, that fine upstanding institution that hands out awards to creators of ads that actually perform as opposed to just look good, has open the call for entries for its 40th annual show. So find your work that actually accomplished something and head over the The Effies site and enter.

by Steve Hall    Sep-17-07    
Topic: Industry Events



High School Food Fight Promotes Eating Better

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Oh the lameness that passes as advertising because, well, we all love a good fart joke or a high school cafeteria food fight. It's the latter General Mills, with help from mono, has gone for in launching The Good Food Fight. On the site there are recipes which you can forward to your friends who can view them but as they view them, they are visited by character who throw food at them. So, send one to that shit head boss of yours just for laughs.

by Steve Hall    Sep-17-07    
Topic: Online, Strange, Viral



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