Six Packed Hotties Herald Breast Cancer Cause

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It's about time. Most every campaign that calls attention to breast cancer features some colored ribbon or some celebrity lamely attempting to soften you up so you'll make a donation. Why? Why? Why? It's boring. Why not offer women (the ones affected by this disease) what they really want; stunningly hot, six packed guys in near nude poses offering themselves up as fantasy fodder. It might even be enough to make that next chemo session pass a little quicker.

Well, that's what The McGratch Foundation's Naked for a Cause did for its 2008 calendar. It enlisted the help of 26 NRL and AFL Australian footballers to strip down and offer up their chiseled bodies for all to admire. Who can complain with that? We have our Double Standard-equipped saber to debate anyone who does.

by Steve Hall    Oct-17-07    
Topic: Cause, Racy, Specialty



Disney Uses Bananas to Promote 'The Jungle Book' DVD

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Adrants reader Adam Silverthorne writes to tell us about some advertising he saw on a banana he bought this morning. While isn't altogether new, the tie in is brilliant. The ad is for Disney's The Jungle Book DVD. Complete with image of a monkey (chimpanzee?), the ad gets points for relevancy.

by Steve Hall    Sep-27-07    
Topic: Good, Packaging, Poster, Specialty



Westin Goes Zen, Adrants Gets Adstrubated

- Next week, Union Square Park in San Francisco will be transformed into a Zen garden with 25 tins of gravel, stepping stone and bamboo courtesy of the Westin Hotels & Resorts.

- I got my Adsturbation T-shirt (Thanks, Deutsch). Did you get yours?

by Steve Hall    Sep-20-07    
Topic: Guerilla, Specialty



HSM Rocks Ratings, Diesel Fuels, Asses Wiped

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- Cynopsis reports, "High School Musical 2 premiered on Disney Channel on Friday night and drew in a record breaking audience of 17.2 million viewers, according to the Nielsen preliminary fast national ratings." The kids do like their HSM.

- If you think the CxO Insanity has progressed to buffoonery "WorldNow announced today that advertising sales veteran Adam Gordon has joined WorldNow's Local Media Network as Chief Revenue Officer, National Ad Sales."

- Diesel's up to something again.

- Mini gets even..."minier"?

- We once said wipe your ass with this ad. Now, apparently, all you have to do is use up all the toilet paper.

- "Facebook surfers are costing Australian companies billions of dollars a year in lost productivity." Oops.

OK, this is just gross.

by Steve Hall    Aug-20-07    
Topic: Cable, Online, Specialty



Starz Flips Elvis Miniseries

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Elvis Presley left the building thirty years ago, but Elvis: The Miniseries recently arrived on DVD and to promote the release, Starz Home Entertainment is passing out free flip books from Elvis decorated Segways at several celebrations in Memphis coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the legend's death this week. The flip books from Flippies play full-motion clips from the movie.

by Steve Hall    Aug-14-07    
Topic: Specialty



Seat Back Pockets Keep Conference Attendees Away From Trash Barrel

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Pity the poor conference attendee. At every turn, they are bombarded with useless handouts that, two feet later, end up in the trash barrel. Or, worse, they find themselves on every email list known to man after leaving the conference. Rather than foist this crap on attendees in a manner that's annoying and far too easy to ignore, why not provide them something useful they won't want to toss as soon as they come into contact with it?

At a recent media conference held in Tel Aviv, Israeli retail fashion chain H&O had the right idea when it created seat back mounted "chair vests" complete with pockets filled with bottled water, a snack bar and the reatailer's catalog, all easily stowed in front of a captive audience without a trash barrel in sight. Come on conference sponsors, take a hint from H&O and give your prospective customers something they can actually use.

by Steve Hall    Jun-14-07    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Good, Specialty



This 'My Name is Earl' Ad Stinks

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Concord Litho is helping NBC with a promotion for the May 3 episode of My name is Earl. The promotion really stinks. In fact, it doesn't just stink, it stinks six different ways. It stinks so bad, NBC is going to make people stick their noses in the stink delivered courtesy of TV Guide.

Yes, during the May 3 "Laugh 'n Sniff" episode, NBC will prompt viewers with on-air graphics to rub one of six corresponding numbered boxes on TV Guide's scent card, which will release aromas connected to the My Name Is Earl storyline, including the smell of "a brand-new car," and the chocolaty-creamy signature scent of Oreo cookies who is sponsoring the episode. The stinky ads will appear in the April 30 issue of TV Guide.

by Steve Hall    Apr-30-07    
Topic: Good, Magazine, Specialty, Television



Bleeding Coasters Deliver Drunk Driving Message

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The Mumbai Traffic Police, with help from Mumbai agency Contract, have placed coasters with images of faces on tables and bars in the city that start to bleed when they get wet from the condensation of the glass placed on it. A message on the coaster reads, "Just a reminder. Drunken driving kills."

by Steve Hall    Mar-28-07    
Topic: Point of Purchase, Specialty



GMC Offers Free Valet Parking to Southern Shoppers, Forgets North

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With help from Dalla-based AdverTickets, GMC is offering free valet parking to shoppers in eight cities as part of a promotion for the car maker's new Acadia SUVation wagon crossover vehicle. shoppers in LA. Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Tampa will be given tickets good for free valet parking. Also part of the promotion are Boom-Ads, wraps that cover the gates drivers who choose not to valet park must pass through to get into parking structures.

We think it's all well and good to help a struggling shopper out but hello? It's winter up here in the Northern half! We could certainly use the luxury of valet parking far more than all those warm staters who should enjoy walking from their car to the mall whereas those of us up here have to endure frostbite weather and the pummeling of winter winds. Something's wrong here.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Brands, Good, Outdoor, Point of Purchase, Specialty



College Campus 'Recruitment' Campaign Remembers Holocaust

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Calling attention to the nastiness of the Holocaust for the University of Colorado, Boulder's Holocaust Awareness Week, is starkly dark campaign, created by TDA Advertising & Design, that reminds us of the horrors that time brought. From freakish experiments on the body to pressure chamber torture to showers of gas, bulletin board postings, door knob hangers and shower hangers slap students in the face with this message of remembrance. A radio spot featuring a sickly twisted fairly tale accompanies the campaign. There's nothing pretty about this campaign and that's as it should be.

See the campaign components here and listen to the radio spot here.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 1-07    
Topic: Good, Poster, Radio, Specialty