Tourism Dept Positions Philly as Land of Pleasures Untold

To drive people into the arms of Philly, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation gives us a print campaign called uwishunu ("You wish you knew" in ... hipster-language?) which, from what we can tell, is all about people trying to infiltrate Philadelphia entryways.

See variations one and two.

The tagline: "Let curiosity get the best of you."

Our curiosity is going, "What's the heroin quotient in Philly?"

Smart Sheep Make Savvy Friends (Plus You Can Shear Them!)

This Smartwool campaign by TDA ADVERTISING & DESIGN, Boulder, suggests Smartwool's sheep can outdo seeing eye dogs, gun dogs and St. Bernards. Very cute.

The tagline: "Sheared from the smartest sheep."

We're not sure why Smartwool thought endearing smart sheep to us would make us want to buy socks made of said sheeps' hide. But this isn't really the time to protest. We are wearing woolly socks now. They are warm and cozy. And if exchanging them for cotton socks would give a smart sheep its groove back, we would say no.

Out of Nowhere, Foster's Goes ENORMOUS

Nothing says BIG BRAND like a print ad with a big-ass typeface. With that, get to know the Foster's "BE ENORMOUS" campaign by StrawberryFrog.

Just another effort by a fermented beverage to make itself feel big -- real big -- by comparison. Instructions on BEing ENORMOUS are as follows (the spots are resisting our resizing tool. To see the whole thing, click on the ad and arrow down):

- Start an ATM conga line
- Become an urban legend
- Write your own theme song
- Make your middle name an adjective

Neato. Was "Australian for beer!" just not working out?

Masturbation's Net Result Sells Hombre Magazine

Now here's a campaign that doesn't beat around the bush...even thought there is beating and bush involved. Rarely do we find ad campaigns so blunt and so bold and so, pray tell, graphically honest as this one. Reminiscent of those fake PUMA ads years ago, this campaign for Hombre Magazine doesn't bother to dance lightly around what some of its readers do when reading the magazine.

Created by Leo Burnett Buenos Aires, this is a campaign we'd never see in America because, God forbid, we admit anyone ever in their entire life ever looks at "dirty" magazines or masturbates. Adland has the campaign's entire series of ads here.

Triumph Boat Baits Anglers With Fish Fry Feeding Frenzy

Does PETA care about fish? If they do, they might not like this new ad campaign from Triumph boats which promotes a Triumph Boat-sponsored "Feeding Frenzy" fishing tournament. With a Game Fish Identification Chart, the campaign, tagged "Good For You, Bad For The Fish," gleefully celebrates the all you can eat fish fry.

The campaign, created by The Republik in Durham, NC, includes posters, print and t-shirts to aid Triumph dealers in co-ordinating their individual fish fry events. And in case PETA wants to stage a protest, The first event will be held January 18 at Merritt Marine in Hillsborough, NC.

Racy Ads Are Best Viewed Privately

FishNChimps tells the hilarious story of how he dozed off on the train with the pages of his GQ magazine open to an ad for John White footwear which falls squarely into the category of "great to look at but not in a public place." Mid-doze, he awoke with a start that seemingly caught the attention of a woman reading the Evening Standard who did her best to politely conceal her chuckle behind the paper after seeing FishNChimps' embarrassment over having been caught with a lingerie-clad booty and a pendulous set of cleavage resting on his lap.

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Sobara Fur Ad Crucified by Jezebel

While Jerry Sobara Furs, according to some quick research, certainly seems to be a real company, celebu-blog Jezebel took a look at the company's latest ad in the December issue of Vogue and wonders if PETA was involved. Positing the ad could not possibly be real, Jezebel writer, Moe, says "I mean, I know fuck-all about fashion, and I know you don't make gold-colored fur jacket with gold buttons and gold bric-a-brac trim. And if you do that, you definitely don't force the model to stand against a bronzy-gold wall and leaning on a gold paisley chair with a mustard-gold gloved hand.

Humorously, the writer also wonders what the motive was behind the casting of the...um...not so beautiful model in the ad asking if Sobara "put out a call for 'pre-op Celine Dion, only 50-75 percent uglier?'" It goes on from there. And we thought we were harsh.

Celestial Seasonings Takes (Sweet-Faced!) Bite Out of Starbucks' Hide

Generally speaking, Celestial Seasonings reminds us of girls with frizzled hair sitting by a fireplace while reading books full of pressed rhododendrons.

Couple that with an unmoving loyalty to our cheery friend Starbucks (our fulfilling relationship has lasted longer than relationships with most human beings), and a college education that taught us the media makes us count calories at the same rate we pop pills, and you've got yourself a kamikaze campaign.

See Fat and Stretchy Pants.

The creative was put together by TDA Advertising & Design.

Something about the design of the fatty coffee drinks does bring those negative words to life. It really looks like fat floating in the Fat drink. And that whipped-cream double-chin? Pure art.

CS' press hombre called this a "sweet-faced competitive campaign." Would it talk you out of a soothing pumpkin-spiced concoction and into some chamomile a la glass mug?

Starbucks to Pass Cheer with Big Reach, Drink Generosity

Banking on last year's success, Starbucks is recycling its Pass the Cheer campaign and last year's microsite, It's Red Again.

A Wieden+Kennedy-orchestrated print campaign, which by now should look pretty familiar, will be running in the December issues of Bon Appetit, CN Traveler, Esquire, InStyle, Lucky, O, and The New York Times Magazine. See more cavity-sweet creative: Mint Messenger and What is Cheer?

If we didn't know better, we'd say the copywriters consisted of elves. Or, at the very least, Paul McCartney. (Come on. He wrote Silly Love Songs, didn't he?)

Beat Museum Brings Artist Angst to Livid Life

Considering we're still detoxing from a distastefully delightful Popeye's turkey (don't ask), we thought we'd kick off the morning with a campaign loaded with pretty pictures.

So here's creative for The Beat Museum, courtesy of Grey, SF. We hear you'll dig it if you're a big Kerouac fan, or at least somebody who still waves the flag for counterculture (you reverse conformist, you).

The posters will appear in magazines and on bus shelters throughout the hilly city. Website in the works.

We like them -- they've got that classy grit that so typifies the talented (and completely raging) bohemian beatnik. Plus, they teach you stuff without making you feel like a literature-starved ass-hat.

Our favourite is the poster we've affectionally dubbed the "fucking book" poster. Others (also nicknamed by us) include "hitchhiker thumb," "la grande HOWL," "no rules," and "junkies, drunks and criminals."