UK Christians Crusade Against Deliciously Sinful Haircare Ads

Having received 23 complaints -- including one from the Archdeacon of Liverpool -- the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided to pull GHD's "A new religion for hair" campaign off the air. Which is too bad, because the ads are gorgeous. Especially when compared to the Super Bowl trainwreck that was Sunsilk's diva spot.

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The Hand of God, He Works with WaPo

Check out these Washington Post ads by Adworks, DC and production company Phasmatrope (neat name). They're random. Like, Chocolate Skittles random.

The gist: on a job search? WaPo, and its Proprietary Wall-Breaking Disembodied Hand!, can get you where you need to be.

o Lab
o Go-Getter
o Charts

Military Service Glamourized with De-Glamourizing Ads

"There are many thankless jobs out there. This - isn't - one of them," barks this new ad, "Thankless Jobs," for the US Coast Guard.

Put together by Cossette, NY, the campaign aspires to draw recruits by forgoing stylized images in favor of reality. REALITY? That's funny, because the PR guy brought the spot to our attention with the following introductory pitch:

"Is it a trailer for the next Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster? A breaking news report on a dramatic rescue? Close. It's the US Coast Guard at work."

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CHOCOLATE THE RAINBOW! And Fight Pinata Abuse

This new spot for chocolate Skittles is KICK-ASS. The pinata co-worker idea? Genius. We only loved it more when we realized the guy was made of crepe-paper, not leprosy.

The agency responsible (see all credits): TBWA\ and production company MJZ, our new favourite friends. Because anybody who can come up with a slogan like "CHOCOLATE THE RAINBOW! Taste the rainbow" is a keeper ... and probably a regular contributor to 4chan.

Clinton's '3 AM' Poster Girl is an Obama Supporter. Oops.

Over a week ago, Hillary Clinton launched this ad. "It's three AM and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing," it starts. Who do you want picking up the phone and protecting your kids -- somebody with experience, or somebody without?

To populate the spot with compelling pictures, Hillary's team used stock imagery. And it turns out that the ad's most prominent child is all grown up ... and an Obama supporter.

From HuffPo (via The New Argument): "While I love Hillary, I would much rather hear Barack Obama's voice at the other end of the phone at 3am."

That's gotta hurt.

ANONYMOUS Introduces Walkman Slider to the Daisy Cutter

This is kind of quirky. To promote AT&T's Walkman Slider, BBDO/NY and production company ANONYMOUS tried building an association between fireworks and the phone's blinky lights and slidiness.

Didn't LA Gear try saving its ass with some similar effort? We're always a little wary about products whose many merits begin and end with a light show.

Lifesavers Brings Sweet Back in Style

This spot's nearly a year old, but it isn't in the Almighty Database so we're covering it anyway.

Lifesavers guides us down the sometimes precarious road of good intentions with this ad for "It's Good to Be Sweet." The bright colors, friendly deeds and sweet cover of "What's So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding)" gave us an unexpected feel-good feeling.

We LOLed at least twice. And that North Korea scene? Priceless.

Vantage Point Teaser's a Tease, All Right

Check out this :50 teaser for Vantage Point by th1ng. Vantage Point is a stock action film (premise: presidential assassination, ooooh) with a respectable cast (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker).

The teaser was positioned as an "amber-drenched" perspective piece, which is a gorgeous way of saying you'll get nothing but a crisp, clear shot of the movie title. It will, however, leave you with a distinct "That's IT?!!" feeling.

What's the phrase -- no emotional reaction is a bad emotional reaction? No wait, that's not right...

The Ruin of a Fine Casino? YOU Decide.

Ogilvy once said that advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything.

And having just watched this Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners-directed spot for the Mohegan Sun casino, where the wannabe cast of Grease 3 molests the tune to Superfreak, we don't just believe it -- we live and breathe it. The lead CD was Izzy DeBellis, the chap responsible for the new Wendy's ads.

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Chinese Wool Ad Feels Something Like Water Torture

This ad for Heng Yuan Xiang, a wool company, pisses China off. We thought it was just the mob overreacting again, but -- having watched about half of it -- we're suddenly jam-packed with repressed rage. A great way to destroy someone's soul would be to pin their eyelids open and force them to sit through this for a little over six minutes.

The spot starts about :09 into the video, so don't be fooled by all that happy baby stuff at the beginning. Here's a positive: after one sitting, you'll feel uncomfortably familiar with all the animals in the Chinese zodiac. AND you'll have three new syllables burned forever into your brain.