Whole Grains Escape Boredom, Experience Thrills

Supposedly whole grain are the "world's least exciting edible." AMV BBDO and production company Outsider decided to change that with this commercial for Walkers Sunbites snacks which gives the lowly whole grain a dash of excitement. It's nothing to send Clio but at least it doesn't bore us to death with endless shots of whole grains being poured from a burlap sack onto a grain elevator or into some cereal box.

With Scion Handy, Biz Markie Wanders Old Haunts

"Stomping Grounds" is a half-hour romp through the childhood of Biz Markie. Crawling the streets in a Scion, Biz explores his apartment in Harlem, favourite restaurants, old friends, and the place where he first started recording.

We like it. Oddly though, it made us nostalgic for Cribs. Maybe it's the exit scene.

The vid was produced by Inform Ventures, which promised the tour would lend an "authentic perspective into the artist's back-story."

Well, "Stomping Grounds" is definitely more authentic than the Nelly storybook for Panraven.

Ad Council Launches Creative eNewsletter

The Ad Council just hopped aboard the online clue train and started its own e-newsletter, the Ad Council Creative.

It's pretty neat, actually. What it will do is showcase creative from ad agencies that donated time and effort to building campaigns for the Ad Council. The first three on the list include an eco campaign by DraftFCB, a child abuse campaign by Ogilvy & Mather, and a domestic violence series by McCann Erickson.

We'll probably be subscribing to keep ourselves updated on the wacky hijinks of cause advertising (there are many!).

It's Holocaust Awareness Week, and Anne Frank is Not Fiction

This is one of those well-tempered print ads that forces you to really look before you know what's going on. Most people will probably miss the point while rushing by on the subway, but those that catch it might go, "Hrm" and bring it up in random bar conversation. (That's totally okay though, because MTV will probably catch the speed racers with this.)

Put together by TDA Advertising & Design out of Boulder for Hillel Colorado, the ad promotes Holocaust Awareness Week (which is NOW!). It features a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank, marked "Fiction" with a library label. The copy: "Millions of Americans don't believe there was a Holocaust."

Alternatively, maybe a few library aids just never read Anne Frank. (In which case, they can't have grown up in the western public school system. Anne's plight -- in print and as a Fox 20th Century Studio Classic -- was resolutely hammered into our 10-year-old minds and souls).

'Moment of Truth' Hits Moment of Idiotic Ridiculousness

Has anyone watched FOX's The Moment of Truth? Well, of course you have. You and 20 million others. It's a good show for sure but is anyone else getting sick of the continued over hype and warnings from host Mark Walberg that, OMFG, some of these truths might be, OMFG, too hard for people to take? WTF? It's the entire point of the show! To continually hype it as if no one's smart enough to know exactly what's going on is degrading to people's intelligence.

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Big Ass McDonald's Coffee Ad Makes Smart Use of White Space

We're a big fan of white space. We hate ads that cram so much shit into available space under the misguided belief people will actually read the shit. Car dealers ads immediately come to mind as do many billboards whose creators seem to believe every one is a speed reader and blessed with binoculars for eyes.

So whenever we see an ad that gleefully makes use of white space, we can't help but love it. Especially when it actually serves the intended message as does this Swedish McDonald's ad which promotes the chains ginormous coffee. Thank you, DDB Stockholm for giving us our fix.

Che Magazine Continues to Celebrate Fact Men Lust After Women

Without fear of American political correctness or the nation's apparent refusal to accept men are, in fact, sexually attracted to women, we are thankful to have Che Magazine's continuing campaign which gleefully and without apology offers up women as objects of desire to increase circulation. Oh there's a joke in there somewhere but we're gonna leave that to you.

Created by Antwerp's Duval Guillaume, the ad envisions the ideal desk calendar for the man trudging, wearily, through his day when he'd rather be tossing everything off his desk and throwing that hottie down on it for some intense mid-afternoon tension relief. Come on, you know it's true. Just admit it.

See the ad in its full sized glory here.

Hast Thou Forsaken the Hopes and Dreams of Thy Patron Stork?

Monster.com's "Your Call is Calling" campaign has been a buzzkill since launch, particularly against CareerBuilder's darkly funny "Start Building."

But "The Stork" -- a :60 spot by BBDO, NY for Monster -- begets a bit of greatness.

You know that "What hath God wrought!" look your parents give you when you talk about what you do for a living? Apparently storks do it really well. Two hours later, we're still wallowing in quiet shame.

Jokes aside, the ad left us with a sense that there's magic and meaning in what a person chooses to do with his life. It's melancholy, well-timed and worth the watch.

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You Mean People Don't Get Off on Sarcasm and Malice?

Advertising Age says snide advertising is bad for business and society. (They also define "snide" in case you're teetering on uncertainty. Isn't that sweet?)

Having been victimized to emotional tatters by the online efforts of Jawbone, we believe it.

Toronto's Fake Drug Campaign Revealed to Be College Advocacy Ad

The Torontoist has been following a a local teaser campiagn which, for a couple of weeks, appeared to be a campaign from a pharmaceutical company for a fake drug called Obay. After much sleuthing, the campiagn turned out to be for Colleges Ontario, a pre-college group representing area colleges in Ontario.

A teaser campaign using a fake drug is a daring move but it appears no one got lawsuit happy. The campiagn itself is funny. It promotes a drug that makes kids think more like their parents, sort of like mind control in a bottle.

The ad copy is great. It reads, "My son used to have his own hopes and aspirations. Now he has mine. Thanks, Obay!"