Ripped Map Calls Attention to Haiti's Plight

Here's a recent print campaign from Y&R Lisbon for the International Medical Assistance. The torn map of Haiti is supposed to symbolize the destruction of both the city and peoples' lives by the earthquake, and to call attention to the need for immediate help and donations.

The campaign was launched on Jan 22 and will be running until the AMI mission ends. We're not going to judge.

If You're Fat, Aliens Will Eat You First

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. If you're fat and you know it, slap an alien...because they are going to eat you first according to this latest cause-tagonistic ad from UK fitness center Cadbury House which states, "Advanced Health Warning: When the aliens come, they will eat the fatties first."

Apparently this ad, which was lifted almost verbatim from a 1999 Grey-created 24 Hour Fitness billboard, has the English up in arms. One women complained, saying, "I am not overweight yet I still find this extremely offensive and patronizing, but how much more so to someone genuinely overweight?"

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Trees Hugged, Toys Wind, Mistletoe Cam'd, Magazine Futured

- Got a holiday wish? JWT wants it.

- Want so sexy Twitter analytics? Here's yet another tool for you to drool over. Check out Colle+McVoy's Squawq.

- Are you a Tree Hugger? Then you'll love this. Send a Christmas/Holiday eCard to as many people as you want - and the cost to you is nothing. For each card that's sent, Tesco will donate 5p to the Woodland Trust with the ultimate aim of planting 300 trees!

- TuB Gin, the bootlegger-themed premium gin created and distributed by Philly-based indie creative shop Red Tettemer and Colorado-based Peach Tree Distillery, has announced The TuB Gin Film Shoot Out.

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Restaurant Helps You Inhale and Exhale

Ever been out to dinner and marvel with a gasp at the succulent beauty of your meal as the waiter places it in front of you? Ever gasped the same way but with a decidedly different feeling when the waiter rests the bill on the table at the end of the meal? Wouldn't it be nice if you could breath a sigh of relief instead?

That's the brilliantly simplistic message of this ad for the Salem, MA-based Sixty2 on Wharf Restaurant and Lounge created by Keith Lane Creative. It's part of a campaign to promote the restaurant's mid-week Really Happy Hours from 5PM to 7PM.

AR Enlivens Benetton's COLORS Magazine

United Colors of Benetton has a quarterly publication for young people called COLORS Magazine. Each issue is themed and outfitted with occasionally controversial imagery, multicultural flair and an underlying desire to connect people through shared quirks and charming differences.

We don't think all print magazines are going to die, and we hope COLORS is one of the survivors. The content sometimes feels a little too self-conscious, but we dig its global roaming eye and its interest in burrowing into uncomfortable or strange topics -- like boys that like to wear skirts.

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French Vogue Paints White Model Black ... and Itself into a Corner

French Vogue's set off the sensitivity meter with its decision to paint Dutch model Lara Stone black for the October issue.

Another thing that bears mentioning, if only for its strangeness: after painting Stone brown, the makeup artist painted parts of her white again for some shots.

This is racking up the usual stink about racism in advertising (Birth of a Nation comes, unbeckoned, to mind). Commentary ranges from "Why not just use an African model?!!" to arguments that the move is a statement on the complexity of race and identity. Some people also think this is a knee-jerk reaction; one user observed that the rag once dressed a woman up as a man, and nobody complained.

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Michelin Man Made Over, Milk Meets Milkquarious

- The Michelin Man is getting makeover. He's transforming into a "tire-chucking superhero." OK, then.

- WONGDOODY: The company, along with a few lucky staffers, will be featured on next week's Oct. 14 episode of "America's Next Top Model" as part of a "challenge" experienced by the season's petite models.

- Ooo. Ooo. Here's a good one from a reader: Bridge Worldwide, an ad agency in Ohio, is having employees spend the day selling the CMO's new book, Marketing With Meaning. They've sent my company four unsolicited emails about it, in addition to spamming social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Marketing With Meaning? I don't think these people understand what irony is.

- This is what those New York creatives who charge $750 per hour do with the money.

- Outside Magazine enters the world of Harry Potter moving media.

- Check out Milkquarious. It's about a rock idol, White Gold, who swears by the power of milk for strong bones, hair, teeth and nails.

- Yellow Pages guerrilla marketing campaign hits the target.

Play-Doh Caters to Mommy's Little Sociopath

Fresh out of Singapore, and under the catchy slogan "Safe no matter what you make," Play-Doh's launched a series of magazine ads that depict weapons of suburban destruction made out of the claylike substance.

We like it, but only because we've relinquished all ties to the Kingdom of Heaven. On the serious though, the ads are running in at least one alt weekly rag that caters to free-thinking cafe-goers that are okay with this kind of humor without necessarily being god-awful parents.

See variants below the drop.

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Milk Won't Just Do a Body Good; It'll Do a Body SHATTERPROOF.

Milk's seen a fine trajectory: from nondescript white cereal enhancer to mustache marks on famous faces.

Ladies and gents, we have come a long way from the Dixie Chick days. In partnership with X-Men Origins, Wolverine's whipping out his indestructible talons for the Body By Milk campaign.

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Ad Hypes American Football. We Think.

This new ad from McCann Erikson Duddeldorf for the Dusseldorf Panthers borders on gross but hey, it's advertising and we like things that are different. And this is different. We're not quite sure how it actually promotes football...uh American football...as in NOT soccer...which...is actually called football in Germany.

Confused? We were too for a minute. OK so the ball in the guys arm is clearly not round which is the point the ad tries to make. As in American football...not European football...as in NOT soccer...as in the game where grown men collide with each other on purpose in order to move a ball down the field.

Oh that's so Neanderthal compared to the ever so graceful soccer...uh football. Oops, that would be American soccer. Wait, what? Football? Soccer/ We are so confused.