Norwegian Parkinson's Association Pokes Fun at, Uh, Parkinson's.

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Rather than focus on fractured families and the slow, tragic waltz toward death, the Norwegian Parkinson's Association (Norges Parkinsonforbund) decided to add a little jazz to its disease awareness campaign.

And by "jazz" we mean you'll probably release an involuntary smirk, then put on your Serious Creative Face and soberly acknowledge the work's incendiary nature, the poor taste, etc etc.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-14-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Television



We Just Don't Understand Anti-Gay Marriage Logic

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So let's get this straight. In America we are free to choose the religion we practice, express the opinions we care to share, join the people with whom we wish to assemble, enjoy the right to bear arms, live a life of privacy and to vote for whom we deem worthy.

But when it comes to selecting who we wish to marry, it's as if America forgot the reason America became America. Supposedly, we are the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Sadly, some prefer we become the land of the handcuffed and the home of the terrified.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-09    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Opinion



There's No PMS in Fairy Tales!

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While we don't speak Spanish and can't understand all the words in this California Milk Processor Board commercial, the message is clear: a glass of milk can cheer you up on a bad day. We could use a gallon right about now.

In this commercial, created by Grupo Gallegos and animated by Psyop, a prince saves the day as a Princess' mood reeks havoc across her world. It's a grand gesture and one that's best experience without actually understanding the words. Because if you did, you'd realize the whole thing is a metaphor for the Princess' PMS and how milk lessens that monthly blow.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-09    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Good, Strange



Kiera Knightley Takes Beating In Women's Aid PSA

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In this PSA for Women's Aid, Kiera Knightley gets together with her Atonement director Joe Wright to create this two minute video about domestic violence. Shot as if a scene within a movie, Knightley, who has just returned home from the set, turns to the camera and says, "Sorry, we didn't agree to that. That wasn't in the script," as she's hit by her boyfriend/husband.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 3-09    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity, Good, Video



Black Battles White For Green Obama Girl

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So where's Obama Girl when you need her smile to cheer you up? She's in yet another Barely Political video pimping a new environmental effort America's Greenest Campus, an efforts which urges schools to compete against one another to see who can reduce their carbon footprint the most.

We aren't even going to comment on the oh-so-tired hip-hop black dude trumping the lame-ass white guy stereotype. Oops, we just did. Sorry about that. But don't listen to us, green is color blind, right? Oh wait, that makes no sense at all.

Just watch Obama Girl. She's way more exciting that reading about her here on Adrants.

by Steve Hall    Mar-31-09    
Topic: Cause



Human Trafficking Gets Shrink Wrapped

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Well here's a happy one. OK, not really but it's an issue, like many cause-related issues, that needs to be addressed: human trafficking. It's a hidden issue. One that gets swept under the carpet, ignored like most things not in our own back yard.

Calling attention to sex, labor and organ trafficking, a woman, a laborer and an human organ are encased in packaging and labeled as if they were meat in the display case at a grocery store.

There are many campaigns like this out there using various version of shock value. This one, apparently, was a bit much for the client and was killed (yes, I'm pimping).

by Steve Hall    Mar-30-09    
Topic: Cause, Good



Amnesty International Takes Pulp Comic Tack

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Vaguely Russian kitsch and vaudevillian melodrama infuse this new spot for Amnesty International/Portugal. It's the usual global atrocities, all in-your-face and extra-extra, but tempered by a comic-book feel. The tagline seals the deal: "EVERYBODY IS AGAINST EVERYBODY BUT SOMEBODY HAS TO BE FOR THEM."

It's a big message, delivered in a heightened reality, given appropriate weight without vibing like overbearing charity bullshit. We likes.

By Leo Burnett/Lisbon and Lobo, a Brazilian production co.

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-27-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Good, Television



KFC Mascot Gets Community Service-Savvy

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When we first heard that KFC Colonels were circulating Louisville and filling in potholes, we had this horrible mental image of street cavities being retrofitted into giant buckets of fried chicken.

The reality behind KFC's road-refreshment project is more benign, if not as nice-smelling. To celebrate its dedication to freshness, KFC plans to re-tar potholes and refresh roads in five major cities across the nation.

Instead of luring stupid-hungry drivers out of their cars with chicken in dangerous places, the filled-in holes will feature a road-stenciled "Re-freshed by KFC." (Temporary chalk, natch.)

Oddly satisfying to see a corporate mascot don a yellow vest and do something for the community. What are the odds we could get Karl Lagerfeld to re-tar roadsides?

by Angela Natividad    Mar-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Good, Guerilla



'It's Called Earth Hour. And it Promises to Be One of the Hugest Turn-Offs Imaginable.'

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Janeane Garofalo, who's cool in a dicey sort of way, lends her spokeswoman clout to the World Wildlife Federation's Big Turn Off.

The sitch: this Saturday at 8:30 pm local time (wherever you live), people around the world are committing to switch their lights off for one hour.

As noted above, Garofalo vows this'll be one of the hugest turn-offs imaginable. More of a turn-off than watching her say all this while she paints watercolours with her armpit hair. (And speaking of, who decided lengthy underarm locks should be the awkward fist bump of 2009?)

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Cause, Celebrity, Commercials



Classic Movies Call Attention to Dirty Water

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Messing with old movie clips for use in advertising isn't a new thing so here's more of that from Good Magazine to hype World Water Day. The premise is there's a lot of dirty water in the world doing a lot of harm to a lot of people. And yea, nice job titling the videos "(dirty version)" on YouTube.

There's a Psycho version, a Cool Hand Luke version and a Crocodile Mile version.

Their downfall? Their all too long. The message drags. Except, of course for the Cool Hand Luke version featuring a woman washing a car Paris Hilton-style.

by Steve Hall    Mar-24-09    
Topic: Cause, Good