Laxative Company Makes a Big Demonstration Out of Paris

Microlax gets intimate with its surroundings with this clever laxative campaign by JWT Paris. Very cute.

Makes our stomachs feel a little funny, though. The thought of a resistance-free tube leading the way from throat to derriere does not the most comfortable feeling make.

Project Agency Says Cheating is Good For the Relationship

Likening an agency/client relationship to a marriage contract but acknowledging things or permanence can sometimes be droll, boring and, well, just not that much fun, project agency Tattoo Projects in encouraging brands to stray. Just a little. To have a fling, some fun, some action to spice up your life. In fact, Tattoo Projects' approach - providing that pent up and much needed occasional release - might actually curtail the wildly increasing divorce rate between clients and agencies.

So don't make a big move that will ruin your life and cause you to say fuck off to your client or agency. No. Just have an affair. Stray a little bit. Cheat, if you will. According to Tattoo Projects, it's a very healthy thing.

Newcastle Makes Billboard Debut with Smoothness Authority Campaign

Newcastle dips its toe into national print media with a gargantuan effort orchestrated by VitroRobertson. To add personality to the popular brown ale they're focusing on out-of-box interactive efforts, like these smoothie and tango ads promoting the beer's smoothness.

Billboard-to-print versions like Snake Farm and Golf Academy present the interactivity opportunity with phone numbers that, when called, allow consumers to audibly experience a smoothness authority lauding the beer.

Our local library had a similar call-in service for children who wanted stories read to them but whose parents were too busy. We hope there isn't any confusion. Imagine the potential havoc of all those latchkey kids calling beer people for a soothing morality tale.

Be a Lady's Man Like David Barton, Says Irresistible New Ad

Guys who pump iron are always easy targets for self-infatuated narcissist jokes. But this Sugartown Creative ad for David Barton Gym practically spoonfeeds the smirks to us.

In case you wondered, Monsieur Barton himself is standing dead center. The title of the ad is, aptly, "Irresistible."

Really, could you resist? We didn't think so.

The Goonies Return to Astoria...With Jeep As A Sponsor

If you ever saw the movie, Goonies, and just couldn't get enough of it, now, courtesy of Jeep, BBDO Detroit and Fuel Industries, you can relive all that eighties adventure goodness in the form on an online game called Return to Astoria. There's even a trailer for the game. We're told Goonies are timeless. We wouldn't know. We can't even remember watching the movie.

Zonite Reeducates Wives on Good Upkeep

Think gender pressures in advertising are bad now? Nothing like a good throwback ad to put things in context. This ad for Zonite, a feminine hygiene solution, impresses on good wives the humiliation and loathing they'll experience if hubbies have to deal with their natural aromas.

But that's okay - the text considerately reads, "Is a wife to blame if she doesn't know these intimate physical facts?"

Off-topic, Lysol used to be a douche. Not to be icky, but we don't know how much of an improvement that dead-flower smell is over human musk.

Unix Geeks Represent on Stanford Campus

Nothing is safe from an awkward rap spoof. CS Rapper Monzy appears at Stanford University to rap hardcore about the merits of Unix. Appropriately, the footage was later used in a documentary called "NERDCORE for Life."

Considering Linux/Unix are slowly taking schools by storm, it won't be long before it's been appropriated beyond the realm of its l33t h8x0r geek demographic.

"Unix geeks are among the most endearing geeks," a colleague observes with an almost pitiful expression. Yeah.

Texas Rangers Fans Don't Smell Scented Candles

As a guy with a girlfriend or a wife, you know you've found yourself in situations where, if you were to view them as a third party, you'd cringe and wonder what the hell happened to your manishness. That's the plight in which the guy in this Texas Rangers commercial finds himself. Thankfully, the campaign's tagline, "You could use some baseball," has the cure.

The campaign, created by Austin-based Door Number 3, consists of three television commercials and an outdoor effort (PDF).

Farmers Do Strange Things For Accounting Software

If you've ever read a farming magazine, you know they're full of bland looking ads for tractors, milking equipment, barn stantions, feed mixtures, silage blowers and all sorts of other things you've never heard of. To cut through all that boring clutter John Deere (yes, the tractor people) have, with help from Yamamoto Moss Mackenzie, created some decidedly different looking ads to promote their Farm Plan accounting program.

The two ads, Disco Ball and Skateboard, are certainly not your average milk tank ad and we think we think they just might catch a bit of extra attention from your average farmer.

Murderous McBride Hits SF with Cutwater

After stylishly offing everybody at his old agency, Chuck McBride prepares to start afresh with a new San Francisco agency. Called Cutwater, it'll mainly consist of employees and clients from TBWA's SF location. TBWA will consequently be bowing out of the SF market.