- Jezebel compiled a list of the top 10 female product advertising icons -- and the actresses that could replace them. That Mrs. Butterworth's/Queen Latifah one is hella funny. Now you: go forth and laugh.
- Driverside.com, which sends reminders for auto maintenance and calculates repair estimates in your area, is paying parking tickets off for 100 San Francisco inhabitants. Register at the above link and check back July 25th to see if you're among the scott-free parking violators.
- Gary Busey's objectively bananas, and here's proof. If you're planning to argue, I've got three words for you: stupid, misfortunate placenta.
- Neat water campaigns: submerged-society ones for Australian brand Insight, quiet dreamscape ones for Diesel.
- BooneOakley is behind State Farm's "Experience Peace of Drive" car wash campaign. (Apparently you also get a free massage.) More from the effort: bathing car, car and yoga, car and cucumber, car and candles, car and acupuncture. (Kinda cool. I had a fat friend whose mom made him visit an acupuncturist to induce weight loss. It didn't work, but he kept telling her it did because he found the needles soothing.)
The DHSMV and the Florida Rider Training Program are looking for cool ways to get bikers to dress more visibly. So they launched Ride Proud Dress Loud.
The associated print ad campaign -- put together by Kidd Group -- features bikers in various shades of yikes! and oh my!. There's also some wince-worthy flaming-leather action. Great balls indeed.
More ads here.
Our source at Kidd says a lot of hardcore bikers are pissed about the campaign. Well hell, sour grapes, it could always be worse. Good stuff from Kidd though. I like a little colour on my burly man.
Treehugger sent us news that the ad at left, which depicts a Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion chained to a bike rack, violates EU law by failing to disclose fuel consumption and CO2 emissions data.
And it isn't just the one piece. All creative from VW's current campaign, which promotes its "environmentally friendly technology," is being challenged by the Association for Protection of the Environment and Nature of Germany (BUND) as illegal under the above stipulation.
Not to say the VWs aren't actually fuel efficient; apparently, though, you can get your wrist slapped for not making it clear enough. Weird world.
Right-slap on the back of the current issue of UC Berkeley's California magazine is an ad for an officially licensed Cal Berkeley Gillette Fusion Power Razor. (That's the one with five blades for your most comfortable shave.)
Feeling nostalgic? Pick the right alma mater Gillette for you!
Damn. They're just giving those licenses away.
- Hit the honeys where it hurts. Effort by the Association of Women Against Genital Mutilation.
- Stitch up a rosebud. Because where our ladyparts are concerned, we just love ourselves a flower pun. Effort by Amnesty International, variant ad at Copyranter.
Now that you've been primed, here's some reading on female circumcision. (Because while the image of a dirty blade in new panties might make my eyelid twitch, it doesn't really tell the whole story.)
What satisfies a hungry woman? Not the muscle-bound napper at left. Shredded Wheat with Strawberries, on the other hand, might give sex-starved Wifey a run for the money.
The ad comes straight out of next month's Real Simple and is brought to you by Post, the come-hither cereal company with plenty of other other colon-friendly choices. Tempting. But will they make us breakfast in bed?
When they need to promote a drab or tiresome message, French creatives always know what buttons to push: the really, really shallow ones.
At left, Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld encourages pedestrians and motorists to wear yellow safety vests with the following message (big merci to desedo for translating): "It's yellow, it's ugly, it doesn't go with anything, but it could save your life."
Thank you, Lord Lagerfeld. I will never complain about my bicycle helmet or plump orange swimming vest ever, ever again.
The effort is part of a French government safety campaign. As of July 1, the vest and reflective triangle will be mandatory for drivers and cyclists.
Wince. No wonder they enlisted The Karl. It sounds unforgivably tasteless. Oh, the sacrifices you make in the name of life.
To promote yet another limited edition vehicle, the xD RS, Scion went all Hot Lava. The subsite -- produced by SolutionSet -- features a bubbling volcano with a gray xD RS in the foreground; an explosion of lava makes it that wild red-orange color we love so much.
I find the bubbling noises comforting. They remind me of this one time we cooked a rabbit alive, invented some nifty rhymes, and put a curse on Bob Dole.
See print variant with vehicle specs. Beyond magazines and the 'net, expect to see "smoking" billboards, and street teams clad in flameproof uniforms, all from the fancy folk at ATTIK.
And while you contemplate getting an xD RS before all 2000 run out, see previous efforts for the limited edition xB Series 5 and Scion tC.
Today, not more than a few hours after word of George Carlin's death spread across the internet, this atrocity arrived in the Adrants inbox:
"Today, we learned of the passing of comedy great George Carlin, an unintentional champion of freedom of speech.
Over the years, the discussion of WHAT CAN BE SAID on TV has raised eyebrows, and court gavels. From "period" to "pregnant," how are companies talking to their audiences these days and how has it changed since years before.
An editor at [redacted] is available for commentary on this new media culture, including:
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- John McCain souped up his logo. Bystanders are skeptical. UPDATE: McCain did not change his logo. The new one comes from a third-party vendor. The Under Consideration blog apologizes for the confusion.
- For its 50th anniversary, The Marketing Society launched 50 Golden Brands, which will celebrate 50 "hero brands" for the past 50 years. Contenders include eBay, Virgin, Perrier and some weird thing called Fairy Liquid.
- George Parker taught me a new word: Adverati. He also handpicked the ugliest pictures out of Advertising Age's Cannes party post and put the subjects in a more engaging light. And by "engaging," I mean "fluorescent."
- Rocawear and Boost Mobile launched a mobile campaign. Amobee is serving the ads. The campaign is about overcoming adversity. It's also about scoring discounts and disseminating unique and motivating Jay-Z lines like "I will not lose."
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