Here's another cautionary tale for the MySpace scandal scrapbook. Last year, a girl named Megan Meier met a boy on the social network, fell in love, then killed herself after he told her the world would be better without her.
A year later, Megan's parents have come forward to say a couple months after their daughter's death they discovered the boy was the invention of some neighbors they know -- not other kids, mind you, but other adults, trying to find out whether Megan herself spreads rumors about their own spawn.
The incident naturally sparked talk about whether MySpace and the 'net in general should endure more regulation.
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Perhaps inspired by the tacky and totally arbitrary banners that once characterized the ads for Lower My Bills, classesUSA is circulating a series of ads to drive high school grads to get vocational degrees online.
And what better way to do it than with tattoos and a line of dancing girls in catsuits?
Granted, the spots -- which make exactly zero sense -- caught our attention. But would you trust your higher education with these people? It all reeks of the plaid suits and seedy tipped hats of the prototypical car salesman.
In the first of what is sure to be many holiday advertising fuck ups, Lowes is taking heat for calling Christmas trees family trees in one of their recent catalogs. "Come on kids, let's go take a nice family trip down to Lowe's and pick up a family tree for the living room. After all, it's nice to stick a tree in the house isn't it?"
Lowe's has apologized for what it is calling a "breakdown in our own creative process." Um, right. Like no one noticed the non-sensicle heading, "family trees," above a shot of those cone shaped trees people like to put decorations on and presents underneath? Were human resources' PC police running the creative department the day the catalog was created?
This is a little maddening. Black Magic Marker brought our attention to TomTom's latest effort, a book of secrets that "highlights the unexpected features of their device."
That all sounds promising but after blowing eight minutes waiting for the TomTom Secrets site to load, we're convinced we can do without this particular mystery.
Ah yes. Equating the affordability of some swanky Chicago address called Burnham Pointe to the likelihood you'll be able to have sex with the pair of legs in this ad is, well, probably unlikely to attract female buyers. Well, at least those that don't enjoy being objectified. Lesbians and bisexuals on the other hand...
Oh, and guys. Yes. Let's not forget guys. Given the possibility of connecting with this surprisingly doable piece of real estate (yes, the ad is equating women to a piece of real estate), we expect a pretty good response to this ad
There's little chance that pomade is going to affect how a member of the opposite sex feels about you. But Got2B claims its new Magnetik pomade and gel are infused with pheromones and scientifically proven to "positively influence the psychology of attraction."
It's more or less like believing underarm deodorant turns noncommittal girls into man-fucking hyenas, right?
Hit the Magnetik subsite, where you can make your own sex molecule. It's not super-exciting but the little bubble noises in the background are fun.
Put together by BBDO West.
Eric over at SmashLab thinks Google copied his logo for its new SearchMash offering.
And while some may be quick to remark a font is a font is a font, Eric gets down and dirty, geek-style: "Back in 2000, when we started our firm, we created the smashLAB wordmark.
"It presented a few technical problems, including the marriage of two styles/cases, and an 'h' with an awkward counter and a tricky ascender. I think we resolved the issues well by condensing that counter's horizontal space, cranking the x-height on the lower-case glyphs and a few other tweaks."
Check out the comparison at left to decide for yourself.
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Some spam out of the Adrants mailbag:
Experience the most mind blowing muliple orgasms ever with the one and only.... Jack Rabbit Vibrator!
Check out the vibrator made famous by Charlotte on Sex and the City.
Discover why Charlotte wouldn't leave her room for days until Sarah Jessica Parker burst in and wrestled it away from her.
We're going to be honest. Shortly after seeing the Sex and the City episode mentioned, we bought a Rabbit. This is one instance in which the hype is sadly misguided.
"It's in your nature to care for others. To listen, to advise, to always be there."
That statement, coupled with the image of a happy mother tossing her red ribbon into the air as birds whisk it away, may fool you into thinking you've slipped back into a world pre-dating Rosie the Riveter.
And then you hear Sarah McLachlan. Yeah, that's right. Sarah McLachlan. It's the Lilith Fair, a Disney worldview and an appeal for Zoloft, all rolled into :60.
Bob Garfield trashed this ad for CVS Pharmacy. It's called Watering Can (we couldn't have made that up) and was put together by Hill Holiday.
The verdict? Garfield calls it puke-worthy. We'll just call it condescending and icky. Stick with slanging pharma, CVS.
Levi's has just launched a virtual world in Hong Kong and China. It has the amazing effect of chafing both our American and Asian sensibilities.
Way to go, Tequila\TBWA.
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