Out of Work Animation Seeks Employment

This Christmas card from Manchester-based AHD imaging in which an out of work computer-generated character, AHD168, finds itself homeless and destitute strikes a cord. With this one video, AHD has accomplished two things; it's wished everyone a Happy Christmas and it's looking for work, something a lot of companies are doing these days.

So come on, help out an unemployed animation (company).

'Carol of the Pickles' Stops Short ... for Murder.

In this tiny burg populated by upright-standing pickles, the townsfolk come out, don hats and carol for the viewing pleasure of omnivorous predators.

All's well until a giant hand reaches down and takes a big noisy bite out of a baby pickle -- right after his solo. The savage! Mangled bits of soured cucumber fall from the sky, a disturbing yellow stain splashes across the snow, bystanders vomit relish ... and the miracle of singing dill becomes a wretched crime scene.

By Firehouse/Dallas, which, as of this moment, are the only people we want to invite to our birthday party.

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Burger King Fails With BK Boxers

Of Burger King Boxers' inclusion on TippingSprung's Best Innovations & Worst Line Extensions survey, Laura Ries toled BrandWeek, "While people love the Whopper, they don't want to parade around in underwear that says, 'This is where my big, fat ass came from.'"

According to the survey, 45.5 percent thought the Burger King underwear line extension was the single most inappropriate line extension. Also topping the list were Kellog's hip-hop street wear and Kanye West's travel site.

Seriously. What was burger King thinking?

FirstBank's Cop-Out Gifts Help Stingies Save Scrilla

To prove how far it's willing to go to help you save, FirstBank encourages holiday spendthrifts to snap digital photos of its ads -- and repurpose them as presents.

The idea's a lot funnier than it sounds. At left is an outdoor ad with a generic piece of art, which you can photograph, frame and pass on to unwitting (or undeserving) family members.

Other cheapskate gifts include a star adoption certificate (which we're actually thinking of using) and a homemade jam label.

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Deleye Fashion Educates Belgians on Multiple Uses of Socks

In a world where bigger is better, size matters...and socks have multiple uses, Belgian retailer Deleye Fashion is out with an ad that majestically embraces the world's obsession with size.

Created by DDB Belgium, the ad is a nod to the world's collective inferiority complex but let's not be negative here. Is there really anything wrong with striving to be bigger, better, stronger and more intelligent? OK, that last one is stretching it a bit. After all, this is an underwear ad. How intelligent can it possibly be?

Maria Sharapova's Dog Springboards into Owner-Eclipsing Fame

Last year Canon ran a series of ads where tennis pro Maria Sharapova follows her dog Dolce around, snapping an endless string of doting pics the way pet owners like to do.

This year, we see the fruits her labors reaped: this new spot depicts PowerShot-toting fans racing over to the tennis star -- and taking pictures of Dolce instead of her.

Maria's not happy about that. But on the cheery up, Dolce's apparently lost the ability to think out loud in a Spanish accent.

For every cloud, a silver lining.

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Twitter Before Birth, FlightLipDub, Best/Worst of '08

- Geek rigs maternity device to tweet when his unborn baby kicks. Probably the earliest instance of Twitter use EVAR. (Thanks, Atif!)

- Collateral Damage's top 10 marketing blunders of '08. There's way more than 10 ("It was a very good year for very bad things"), and the top two are tied. Go figure.

- Deep Focus does FlightLipDub.com -- the new online home for Flight of the Conchords.

- Free Will Power aims to safeguard "the future of pro-choice America." There's spoken word poetry! And a T-shirt contest!

- It's a site on the hunt for beautiful ads.

- Another advertising socnet.

- Best and worst of AdFreak. If you consider what Collateral Damage's worst marketing campaign was, you can probably guess AdFreak's best ad of '08. We'll give you a hint: celebrity mashup.

Chevrolet Aveo Gets Its Sion On

Getting its Scion on, Leo Burnett Dubai has created a new commercial to kick up Chevrolet Aveo 5's cool factor to 18 to 30-year-olds and to remove the vehicle's stigma as a fleet car.

Produced entirely in the UAE - uncommon with most production outsourced to Eastern Europe or South America - the spot certainly does make the car seem attractive to one particular target audience: the canine. How that translates to the desired 18 to 30-year-old will remain to be seem.

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Microwave Ovens Sing 'Jingle Bells'

OK, wow. It's not like the massively co-ordinated, perfectly-timed thing hasn't been done many times before but timing a bunch of microwave ovens to render Jingle Bells is impressive.

We have AKQA to thank for this.

And we hope no one was inadvertently radiated during the creation of this "epic."

Toms Shoes Does Block Type Thing For Podoconiosis

OK it's hard to crap on an ad that hypes a good cause - in this case, TOMS Shoes' effort to eradicate Podoconiosis in Ethiopia - but after seeing so, so many block type-style ads akin to Motrin, Starbucks and Ford, it's not easy to reign in the rant.

But, in the interest of the holiday season and all the good feelings that come with it, the rant will be reigned in on this one. So just enjoy.

Santa Beatboxed, Christmas Pickled, Agency Gratified

- Santa gets his Christmas beatbox on in Bring the Toyz.

- The folks at Firehouse bring us The Christmas Pickle.

- Mobile answer service Cha Cha is happy it's market share has grown from seven percent to 28 percent in 90 days.

- HandPickedAds lets "search, view and rate the most gorgeous advertising photos ... discovered in some of the most respected magazines in the world."

- How about some common sense when it comes to the client/agency relationship?

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Crown Royal Coronates a King Under the Street Lights

In "Set," Crown Royal tells the tale of an old jazz cat who passes opportunity to a young, wise-eyed trumpet player on the street. It's our favourite kind of trope: one about rebirth, and how the American dream can pass from one hand to the next.

And while Crown Royal is only seen briefly in the spot -- moving across the frame on a waiter's tray -- it ends with an elegant kick-back to the label: "For every king, an heir. For every king, a crown. Crown Royal."

I quite liked it, but a hoodied kid peering over my shoulder walked by and went, "Ugh, is that a liquor ad? What do they gotta use jazz for? That makes no sense at all."

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Target Reinterprets the Story of Christmas

This ad for Target makes the commercialization of the holidays look downright cuddly.

It's like a glimpse into mirror world: parents' pupils dilate as kids spout retail propaganda in iambic pentameter. Scrooge is loved for exactly who he is. And nobody's pretending it ain't about the presents.

If only my childhood Christmas plays had been this relevant to the longings of our souls. Think about it: does Baby Jesus help you save on everything from Isaac Mizrahi ankle socks to vintage poster art deco? Is he as generous about parking spaces? And does he own exclusive rights to Christina Aguilera's greatest hits?

...No? That's what I thought.

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