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New York Pizza and Italian Stereotypes Envision Rollergirl

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New York Pizza, which is not in New York, is out with another strange commercial just in time to be compared to the recent Miller commercial, featuring Sopranos actor Frank Vincent, which was derided for perpetuating Italian stereotypes. In the commercial, we see the stereotypical mafioso type who's "got other businesses" envision a "Damn Hot" promotion that, in the end, doesn't go so well.

After surprising a little boy, pleasing dad and shocking mom, New York Pizza's Rollergirl gets lost, hangs with prostitutes and ultimately gets arrested. At which time our mafioso character concludes, "Eh, bad idea" and realizes all that matters is a "damn tasty pizza and a damn cheap price."

by Steve Hall    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Commercials, Creative Commentary, Strange



Gain: So Sweet-Smelling, You Might Attract Hop-Ons

GainSubway.jpg

This print effort for Gain could probably have done with better execution. I had to read the tagline -- "It smells that good" -- and even then I had to look hard. And it was like, "Oh, it would appear that there's a person stuck to that other person."

But it isn't immediately clear that they're trapped there because they're smelling, and not because, oh, they got sat on and taken-with when their host got up again.

Variants include Gallery and Airport. Work by Leo Burnett/Toronto.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Magazine, Poster



The Crime Isn't in Napping, It's in Napping Indiscreetly

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BreatheRight keeps you snoozing soundly without leaving the auditory evidence in your wake, promises CBGrey/Paris in "Theatre."

In the piece, a man snoozes quietly in a packed audience. Meanwhile, onstage, some melodramatic Vagina Monologues-meets-beat-poet stuff folds brains into various shapes of comatose.

Nice that Napping Ned is considerate, but that's gotta be one hell of an expensive siesta.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Television



Audi Q5 Goes Anywhere Your Bicycle Can. Well, Not Really.

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Here's a cute little Audi Q5 spot called "Bicycle." It's shot from the perspective of a bike-rider exploring the city on a beautiful day; later, you discover it's not the bike doing the work but a teeny little Audi, upon whose roof the bike is resting.

"Agility that conquers the city," the tagline reads.

Trendy and chic material brought to us by Ogilvy & Mather/Tokyo. Guess it would be too much to ask for the car to do wheelies, or leap off little wooden ramps resting on barrels, but it's cool that it goes down public stairs and invades pedestrian walkways and whatnot.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Because Who Needs Hands...

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...when you've got a bra that turns your mammaries into superclamps? And consider this: if women had more paws for shopping bags, they'd probably be a lot less depressed. For the next eight minutes, anyway.

Just another support-illustrating gem by Wonderbra (via y via).

Previous efforts to break the mold with basoomas have included the glass-breaking bus shelter ad, the extra caution line at metros, and the, uh, "we hold big boulders" approach.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Magazine, Poster



Paul Smith Rabbit Lights Up for Scraps

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@dabitch and @leighhouse graced our morningtime desks with this rabbit rubbish bin. The bins are designer Paul Smith's contribution to Super Contemporary, an exhibit that launched at London's Design Museum this week.

The "New London Rubbish Bins" will solicit garbage over the next four months at Covent Garden and Holland Park. Ears light up when you toss a little something-something into their sacks.

More photos at High Snobiety.

Good way to bring design character to a city and reward constructive community behaviour. Here's hoping no malevolent clothes irons appear over the horizon.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Events, Good, Guerilla



Bud Lite Puts Tongue in Cheek

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Ever walk into a store and buy something you'd rather no one see you buy? And then your prom date shows up? And the store clerk has to shout to the other store clerk at the top of her lungs about what you're buying? And then some freak exacerbates the issue? And then the store gets held up? And then you're on the news?

Thank God for the internet no one is at risk of going through this scenario any more. Which begs the question. What was Bud Light thinking when they made this ad? Are these things still sold in convenience stores? And why would anyone risk embarrassment when they can obtain an endless supply of the stuff in the privacy of their own home?

by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Brands, Video



'Can't' Has No Place in Ladies Lacrosse, Gentlemen.

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Longtime coach Barry Switzer invades the locker room of the St. Anne's Ladies Lacrosse team, which is more interested in campfires than in kicking some padded ass. Fast discouraged by the ladies' refusal to be pep-talked (which is something we practice in the mirror every morning while primping), he wanders off on a quest for a donut.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Online



Things We Like And Things We Don't

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- We like the new Miller Lite commercial with Sopranos start Frank Vincent but, it seems, Italian cause groups are all a flutter (twitter?) over the supposedly stereotypical portrayal of Italians in the commercial.

- We don't like the "screaming" ad from Volkswagen. Not at all. Not one bit? Why? Because we know a little bit about being a dad and we've heard our fair share of screaming. We don't need a commercial to add to our stress level.

- We like Southwest's new commercial which, in effect, holds its middle finger up to the recession and says, "fuck off." Yea, we like that dark sort of optimism.

- We don't like Microsoft's new Bing commercial which, while it claims to reduce search result overload, piles on more overload than anyone should have to sit through inside of a minute. But that's typical Microsoft. Just like they're packaging on which every last conceivable speed, feed and spec visually assault you to the point you're like, "where's the Apple store?"

more »

by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Commercials, Opinion



Dissecting GM, Facebook Poetry, Playing God with Sims 3

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- The Big Money conspiracy theorizes around GM's post-bankruptcy ad.

- Self-affirming Facebook poetry. Face it though, no pun intended: if you're among the 50% of users spending over 20 minutes on average per day distributing pokes and Liking other people's surveys, you require no sagacious back-patting. You're all up in a self-made echo chamber, untouchable by prickly realities and ugly strangers.

- iPhone Apps need to be buttressed by other forms of marketing. Also, they need to be useful. Seriously though, did you need AdAge to tell you that? (Say it with us: "Nooooo.")

- 3D pop-up book music video. Can't imagine it? Just watch.

- "We really felt like the ability to create human beings, to give them a soul, if you will, was really exciting," says an EA rep about The Sims 3. See the encapsulation of that vision.

- Pop online SMB philosophy.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Video



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