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.

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



Saatchi's 'The Breakfast Club' A 'Mean Girls' Failed 'Fetch'

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Saatchi & Saatchi's The Breakfast Club campaign for JCPenney has been crapped by everyone on since it launched. Today, it's Rebecca Cullers' turn. On AdFreak, Rebecca does the math, writing, "I was 3 years old when The Breakfast Club came out in 1985. I didn't know the film existed until I was in college, where it was included in a class on culturally significant movies for Gen X. Now, there's more or less a decade separating me from today's incoming high-school students. Does anyone really think they will get the reference?"

She is absolutely correct in her analysis of the problem and for anyone at Saatchi or JCPenney not to have realized this is further confirmation far too many advertisers and their agencies, despite believing the contrary, are completely out of touch with reality.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-24-08    
Topic: Agencies, Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Opinion, Trends and Culture



Islam is Cool. By the Way, Here's a Wife.

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Hoping to expand your nuptial smorgasbord? Add Shaadi to your list -- which, if you've been paying attention, should already include Russians, Filipinos and good white-bread Christian girls.

Shaadi is a conservative Indian "matrimonial" site, which I guess is less obnoxious than Filipina Heart's more overt cattle call. I found the ad alongside an article titled "Ad campaign promoting Islam angers NY lawmaker." Dude, that is some seriously misguided contextual action.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-23-08    
Topic: Bad, Online, Strange



Just Another Sad Chick Who Thinks Sex Will Save Puppies

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Subject Line: How Sex with Brad Garrett Can Save Puppies!

Body: This is hilarious! You got to see it. Regina Russell partners with us at The Humane Society of the United States from time to time and oh man is the video a riot! She is one creative gal producing this video!

Homegirl's not that funny. Though I can see how the scene with the bear and the cigarette might elicit a hoarse guffaw.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-23-08    
Topic: Bad, Cause, Online, Video



Shoot My Blog's Game Plan Could Use a Little Something Extra

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Renaud, the author of Shoot My Blog, asked a bunch of other bloggers (including us; we declined) to shoot a digital photo of something with his blog in the background. Here are the results.

It's cool that he got a bunch of people to go out of their way and do this for him, but what's it all for? Like Paris Hilton circa 2006, the blog apparently only exists to be photographed. You wanna put an ad on that bad-boy or what?

by Angela Natividad    Jul-22-08    
Topic: Bad, Online, Promotions



McDonald's Product Placement Deflects Attention From Fashion Nightmare

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What? You thought it would never happen? Oh please. Of course you did. Meredith-owned Las Vegas Fox affiliate KVVU (and others) has accepted money from McDonald's for iced coffee product placement during its news and lifestyle newscast. Whatev. We're more concerned about that body sack Monica Jackson is wearing.

by Steve Hall    Jul-22-08    
Topic: Bad



Even More Time Wasted Critiquing Dumb Commercials

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So we do a lot of ad critique around here at Adrants. Sometimes it's worthy, other times it's the digital equivalent of a newspaper used for dog defecation. In what has to be the most ridiculous critique of a ridiculous ad EVAR, MSNBC Ads of the Weird takes on a Dr. Scholl's ad featuring America's Next Top Model Runner Up Yaya DaCosta who dances on a desk and then jumps into a pair of shoes which, naturally, have Dr. Scholl's inserts.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-22-08    
Topic: Bad, Celebrity, Commercials



Because 'Blood, Sweat and Tears Factory' Would Have Been Too Long

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Promotional video of the Fiesta Love Factory features people in various states of G-rated ecstasy. Those warm fuzzies are then conveyed out of their bodies and into a Ford Fiesta.

News flash: Coke's Happiness Factory managed to sneak by us, mostly on Coke's frothy reputation and the romance of Willy Wonka, but there is nothing romantic about an auto factory. (Or any factory, actually. I went to the Jelly Belly and saw sadness calcifying behind the taffy machines.)

And lest we forget, Ford was the first home of the assembly line -- which is cool considering it kicked off our industrial revolution and all, but those first assembly line vehicles weren't made with vicarious bliss. They were made on the backs of tired, underpaid mummies and daddies. Think about that next time Papa comes home and demands his nightly gin.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-17-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Online



Starbucks Smoothies Up, Border Passes Make Ad Space, Draft FCB Dies Slowly, JWT Joins Border Patrol

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- Watch as Starbucks, flailing wildly, stumbles into smoothies.

- A company called Sojern has partnered with Delta, United, Continental, Northwest and US Airways to sell ad space on boarding passes printed off the 'net.

- It's another review site. The difference is, Culture Clique aspires to be the only review site you'll ever need or want. Think of it: review the iPhone, The Dark Knight, Twitter and Ana Karenina all from one place.

- Draft FCB is imploding, and its biggest antagonist is covering it with unrestrained gleeee. (Yeah, with four Es.) Well, what did you expect with nonsense like this?

- JWT keeps its hand in with a warm, fuzzy border patrol ad. Oh look, a little bunny girl on a bike.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-15-08    
Topic: Agencies, Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Online, Social, Television



Guitar Hero Goes on Tour.

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And they're bringing jetpacks.

Meh. I'm not sure what definitively killed this ad for me: the retro lightning effects, the radioactive squirrel ("Go forth and ROCK!"), or the sabre tooth tiger that doubled as a magic carpet.

Put together by Bent Image Labs for DDB, LA.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-15-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Commercials, Television