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Real French Fries Shame Fake Breasts

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Riffing on the increasingly fake aspects of culture from implants to injections to extensions, Toronto agency Zig created a print campaign for New York Fries which draws a dichotomy between fakeness and the all natural goodness of New York Fries.

Witty campaign but what's really sad is the fact an actual ad campaign is needed to sell something that is supposed to be fried potatoes and nothing else. Food - and everything else in this world - has become so processed, hardly anything is real anymore.

For example, breasts. Big breasts are great. Every woman seems to want them and every man seems to want to ogle and fondle them. Fine. Nothing wrong with obsessing over big breasts (well, OK, maybe it is a bit degrading to reduce a woman to a body part) but fake big breasts are exactly that. Fake. Not real. They don't look real. They don't feel real. They aren't attractive to look at. They aren't real. And fake isn't fun.

Neither are fake French Fries. Two other fake-focused ads are here and here.

by Steve Hall    Jul-30-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Magazine



Work with Google. Then Let Google Work You, You Sexy Sexy Manhunk.

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Under "From" name "Work with Google," Cassabananawide.com is pushing the following spam-tastic email pitch: "Have you heard? People are using their computers to make $1,000's every week with Google!" The headline is flanked by the glowing image of a blonde giving an ecstatic male laptop-junkie a shoulder massage.

I love how it says "No product required" right next to an image of the software container, which features a prominent Google logo and that same picture of the girl giving a massage. What's that all about?

The call to action: "Yes please rush me my Google happy ending software!"

by Angela Natividad    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Online, Strange, Worst



Obama Zombied, Nike Gets Courageous, Cuil Not Cool

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- Obama gets some zombie-style YouTube video parody. With bikinis!

- Deep Focus has created a new site for Nike called Courage which has a social media component. People can upload their own video representation of courage.

- No one likes the new search engine Cuil.

- Writing in Ad Age, Marti Barletti, who has seemingly watched half an episode of Mad Men, makes a twisted analogy between the show and the supposedly awful state of affairs when it comes to marketing to women. In a nutshell, it's a puff piece to promote her book.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Online, Political



Sears Needs to Pull Out its Power Tool

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Dear Sears,

Nobody likes a spitball, not even if it's online.

And while I get the "new year, new you!" idea behind your latest back-to-school campaign, "Don't Just Go Back; Arrive" still vibes kinda bootsy. Everything about it -- the crumpled pieces of wide-ruled paper, the scribbles that serve as navigation, the offer to bring Vanessa Hudgens (whom every 'net-savvy Disney fan under 10 has seen NAKED!) to a high school near me, seems forced, dated and focus-grouped-to-the-hilt.

Also, do we really need another show about dancing teens with big dreams and a bigger sense of hubris?

Come on, dream bigger. Be risky. Remind us why there's still a Sears in every mall. Throw us off-balance and keep us there.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Online



Sierra Mist Refreshes Your Mind. (Should You Take Pedro's Word for It?)

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Efren Ramirez, better known to us as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, appears in a new series of ads for Sierra Mist's "Refresh Your Mind" campaign. The format: he walks into a bar, tells a story, concludes, "It's a crazy world; it helps to refresh your mind," and downs some Sierra Mist.

The first spot, "Wedding Girl," is about a girl so desperate to get married she'll put bridesmaids in a coma to catch a bouquet. (Honey, there are easier routes than superstition. Speed dating, for example.)

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Dark Whoppers Recycled, Keys Blows Smoke, Scrabulous Cut, Mooches Called Out

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- Because nobody talks male impotence (or teen sex) like Americans do.

- Seth Godin is launching a members-only social network for marketers called Triiibe. It's like Fight Club -- for ideas. "Spots are limited and early members get privileges and bragging rights" -- and discount opps for his new book. My God, Seth, who do you think you are -- Obama?

- To Indonesian fans: Alicia Keys is very sorry for doing a gig sponsored by Philip Morris. (So soon after all the goodwill gleaned post-Africa, too.)

- The Scrabulous app on Facebook is officially dead.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Games, Online, Social



Keira Knightly Turns Down Breast Enhancement for Movie Poster

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Four years ago when Keira Knightley starred in King Aurthur, the studio had her breasts digitally enlarged for the movie's promotional materials. Knightley, now 23 and starring in the film The Duchess, refused requests from studio heads to toy with her chest, claiming she's happy with her body the way it is.

Oh yes, we all love period piece cleavage, what with the era's corseted gowns and plunging necklines, but every woman should be able to feel completely comfortable with her own body without society dictating that they be a C or D cup.

Knightley, who caved to studio breast enhancement requests in 2004, put her foot down this time. Last year she told Britain's GMTV, "I would love to have breasts! I'm never going to get them. I'm naturally who I am."

While we'd all love to be perfect, we know perfection doesn't really exist. And creating the illusion that it's attainable only spawns unrealistic goals that can do serious damage to a person's psyche.

by Steve Hall    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Celebrity, Opinion, Poster



Think Sex with a Condom Blows? Try Swimming in One

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Chinese condom maker Elasun is using the Beijing Olympics to push a naughty set of sports-themed ads over the 'net. Neat tagline: "Sports make you health." Line of fortune cookies in the works?

More here. But if you don't click, at least look at the basketball one, because it's, oh, priceless.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Events, Online, Strange



Diddy Burger King Ad Discriminates Against Fat People

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Wait, what? Is Diddy, P. Diddy, Puffy or whatever the hell he's now calling himself still a musician or has he completely sold out to marketers? It certainly seems so because the only place the guy seems to appear anymore is in commercials. Now he's doing one for Burger King in which his cartoonish, self-important, overinflated ego is on full display.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Bad, Celebrity, Creative Commentary



Windows Casino Thinks New Yorkers Are Jerks

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Live in New York City? You're an asshole according to Windows Casino which has created an game called Torch Runner. In the game, an Olympic torch carrier must navigate his way past squirt guns and fire hydrants which threaten to extinguish the flame and avoid cars which threaten to, well, kill the torch bearer. Is this any way to treat a global sporting event which brings the people of the world together? Say what you will about Chinese politics but the Olympics aren't (or shouldn't be) about politics.

Rather than play this lame ass game, everyone should go watch Matt Harding dance his way around the world. Now that's much more akin to the spirit (at least in intent) of the Olympics.

by Steve Hall    Jul-29-08    
Topic: Games, Worst



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