Scion: It's Love or Loathing, No In-Between

In an ad for the xB called Pendulum, Scion quite startlingly demonstrates it does not give a damn what you think.

Given the car's sheer ugliness (that pumpkin shade ain't helping), whoring for mainstream acceptance would have been a depressing uphill fight. Instead of trying to hide its blunt features, Scion made them the draw. And the ad suggests it isn't afraid of strong feelings, whatever they are.

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Got an Opinion? Get a Camera. Now You're in Political Advertising.

Contributing to the idea that anything the zeitgeist has to say must be useful to The World At Large, SaysMe.tv lets would-be propagandists air political ads on the cheap.

For anywhere between $35 to, I don't know, close to $100, you can air your own ad on a network in your area. (Provided you live in Philly, Raleigh, Indianapolis or Charlotte. But hey! More coming soon!)

The results, oddly enough, are really dull attempts to look like the stuff already on TV. Even promising titles like "You Don't Know Bama" left me with going, "Hmmm. NEXT!"

Come on, zeitgeist. Pull out a rabbit.

Oh, What Kids Would Write if They Had the Chance

Trendhunter drew my attention to Tikatok, a social network that enables kids to design their own books. Books can be viewed online and purchased as hardcovers or paperbacks for about $20 apiece. Trendhunter says it "could be a great gift from kids to their parents."

That is, assuming kids only ever produce happy stories. Titles on Tikatok currently include The Food Pyramid that is Alive, The Nervous Basketball Star, A Dark Deep Pipe, and The Ballerina Who Wanted to be Beautiful.

I'm sensing a little melancholy there. (Especially where dark deep pipes get involved.)

It's just a matter of time before books are published bearing not merely titles but retributions waiting to be hashed out when the wee author is college-aged. My bets are on Daddy's Magic Bottle, Why Does Teacher Cry Before Class? and The Little Bully that Could.

Zappos Catches You with Your Shoes Off!

Through SecurityPoint Media, advertisers can buy ad space in airport security bins throughout the nation. Sony, Kyocera, Rolodex and Zappos have leaped at the chance to welcome your shoes, traveling coat and gutted laptop bag onto their witty little messages.

"With shoes in hand, it's the perfect instance to remind them they've been meaning to make time to buy a new pair. Why not Zappos?" said senior marketing manager Andy Kurlander of Zappos, whose bins say peppy things like, "Need a new case for that laptop?" and "Place shoes here. Buy shoes here: Zappos." (Come on. You knew that one was coming.)

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Billboard Bloodied, Monuments Mammary'd, Furniture Assed

- Saatchi & Saatchi did a wicked billboard execution drenching the street and a few cars with blood to promote Kill Bill.

- Apparently in Mexico, it's not looked upon kindly to promote a destination using a naked model painted with historical landmarks.

- OK, whatever. Bed. Old Guy. Furniture. Hot Ass. Watch.

- Whoa! Was that an ass in my face as I sleepily made my way to the subway? Yes, my friend, indeed it was. And it was in Tokyo...where this sort of thing is, well, just normal.

- Sometimes an ad works against itself.

Polaroid Comes to Aid of Pervy, Digitally Illiterate Uncle, Doting Gramma

You've got to hand it to Polaroid for this one. Or, not. Hey, we all have tons of photos on our phones that either get shuffled off to iPhoto, Picasa, some other such photo management software or they just never leave the phone. So what do you do when your digitally illiterate, overweight, receding hairline (think Verizon Dumb Dad) uncle wants a picture of you in your new, snug fitting bikini? Well, you run the other way, screaming "Perv!" at the top of your lungs, of course.

But when your sweet, doting, digitally illiterate grandmother wants a picture of you in your prom dress before you jump into the limo with mini-McDreamy and your friends, you Bluetooth a few shots to your Polaroid PoGo, print out a picture and hand it to Grammy to cherish. After all, there's a lot of you to cherish. Why not share?

Don't Tick Someone Off With Your Click

In advertising, translating a concept from one culture to another is never easy. Often, it results in humorous errors such as the classic Chevy Nova/NoGo. Textappeal hopes to alleviate that with its Cross Cultural Disaster Check and this Duval Guillaume-created commercial does a nice job pointing out potential pitfalls. Though it's not quite clear how likely it'd be to run into a click talker while you're out walking your dog.

And yes, translation is much more than just words but that's a topic for another discussion. And, no doubt, someone out there is offended at being referred to as a click talker. Maybe TextAppeal should have checked out this piece before it was published.

Something Promoted With Microwaved Phone That Turns Into Monster

Oh the nasty things you can do with a microwave oven. From blowing up Gremlins to inflating a balloon to sterilizing a sponge, the microwave has many, many interesting capabilities. You can even place your cell phone in the microwave and turn it into a monster. Seriously. Watch the video.

It's unclear what this is promoting but it's gotta be something. Why go to all that special effects work when you could just watch the thing fry?

Sanjaya is Back! In A Nationwide Insurance Commercial

Following in the footsteps of Fabio, MC Hammer and Kevin Federline might be considered a dubious career path, then again, who thought KFed would come out of the Britney Spears nightmare on top (or at least looking a lot better than Britney)? Next in line for the feature role in a Nationwide Insurance 'Life Comes At You Fast" commercial, filming today in India, is none other than Mr. Pony Hawk himself, Sanjaya Malakar.

Yup, Nationwide wants Sanjaya to help the company reel in some South Asians who, according to Nationwide, have the highest annual income among the U.S. Population.

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Heroes' Hayden Panettiere Saves Whales With eBay Promotion

Hayden Panettiere, star of NBC's Heroes and whale lover, has signed an endorsement deal with social site Zude and Shopit to sell clothes and raise money for Save the Whales Again, a Whaleman Foundation and Animal Welfare Institute campaign to "create awareness about the industrial slaughter of whales and dolphins."

The effort is getting added awareness with promotional placement on the homepage of eBay which points to a branded eBay page for Save the Whales Again.

As part of the promotion, an auction is being held to raise money with the winning bid (bidder plus five friends) getting tickets to a celebrity fundraiser held at Eva Longoria's Beso restaurant and a whale watching tour with Hayden in the Channel Islands.