Breakfast Cereal Club, Sam L. J. Pushes Broadband, Cuts at Ogilvy

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- Jack Morton Worldwide, Almighty, Weber Shandwick and Google join Citizen Schools to help kids succeed.

- Which Dog are You?

- "They only met once, but they stayed crunchy forever."

- Sam L. Jackson fronts for Virgin Media Broadband.

- "Fast casual" wha...? McD's training film.

- UK's Benylin is in the dog house for using ads to teach people how to call in sick.

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The Whopper Virgins Got Their Aid ... But Who Will Serve the Perrier Virgins?

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A Humanitarian Lion supporter produced a video riffing off Burger King's Whopper Virgins campaign, where documentarians engage Third World inhabitants in hamburger taste tests -- and incidentally pop their hamburger-free cherries.

Unlike Burger King's ad footage, which makes backwater village life look exotic and friendly, the pro-Humanitarian Lion video uses images of abject poverty to illustrate "Whopper Virgins," followed by Nike Virgins, Playstation Virgins, Perrier Virgins and Human Rights Virgins.

The push point: "Millions of people cannot enjoy the world. Why not use our creativity and power to help them once a year?" A link to the Humanitarian Lion website wraps it up.

Poignant if lengthy. If nothing else, it illustrates the crassness of imposing Whoppers and Big Macs on people with bigger voids to fill.

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by Angela Natividad    Jan- 6-09    
Topic: Cause, Online, Trends and Culture, Video



Organ Donors, Faux Sci-Fi Ads, Israel Tweets, NYT Sells Out to Cash In

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- The New York Times is pushing front page display ads. It's hard times, yo; deal with it.

- Shoot creative briefs and account execs. As in, whoosh-whoosh, bang-bang.

- TBWA dubbed AdWeek's top agency of '08.

- Top 25 fictional sci-fi movie ads. Slurp.

- BREAKING NEWS - Steve Jobs is sick.

- Facebook peaks on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, Mark Zuckerberg!

- Israel tweets.

- Planning for your demise? Give your organs to the girl, not the tin jar.

by Angela Natividad    Jan- 5-09    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Celebrity, Online



NAB Reminds Us Not to Toss Squish-Toys at the Help

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It's always a little difficult to gauge the quality of advertising from other countries, but "Don't Disturb the Ones Working" -- an ad for the Norwegian Association of the Blind -- really threw us for one.

In it, a handful of perplexed service workers are interrupted mid-job by clueless passersby, which either pay them infantile compliments ("Aww, what a cutie!") or try getting them to do tricks. For example, one game-faced dad pulls out a round squidgy ball and tries making a bus driver play catch.

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by Angela Natividad    Jan- 4-09    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Television



John Lennon Repurposed As Third World Laptop Salesman

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On Christmas day, One Laptop Per Child brought back the voice (if not the body) of Yoko Ono's beloved John Lennon.

OLPC's mission is to bring cheap, sturdy laptops to the world's poorest children. So paint your sympathetic face on as a freshly conviction-laden (if nasal) Lennon compares giving a child a laptop to the vision he shared through his music. At the end, the Walrus himself appears, piped in from the great beyond through a kid computer with Shrek ears.

Negroponte ought to learn from his profitable peers. Resuscitating a dead guy -- particularly one whose yearning for peace has been used to sell everything from diapers to ice cream -- never works in your favor, no matter how noble the intentions. In fact, it's about as disturbing as watching a demented technophile play puppeteer with a decomposing marionette.

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GCFD Introduces Spaghetti ... Pour Elle.

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With help from production firm Dictionary Films, Leo Burnett launched a TV spot for "Food Shouldn't Be a Luxury," an effort to encourage locals to donate supplies to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

The ad's put together like a generic perfume ad, with occasional flashes of a boiling pot and some random pasta fondling. We seriously winced when the model sexily purred "Spaghetti" in her fake Kate Moss-for-Eternity voice, but it got the point across: Okay, okay! Food shouldn't be a luxury.

Make a donation or volunteer time at Every1Can.org. Unlike the prints (see first link), the spot doesn't invite users to text donations over. Not sure if that means the texting thing didn't pan out, or if Leo Burnett just doesn't think people keep phones nearby while watching TV.

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by Angela Natividad    Dec-23-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Good, Television



Learn from Davo: Slow Down, Stupid.

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@dirkthecow introduced us to What Davo Loves, a responsible-driving initiative for Queensland Transport, Australia.

The site's put together like a generic profile page for a dude called Davo. At right is a montage of people he loves, and at left is a video of him fondling his new car, lamely named "Rex."

All frothy fun, right? That is, until the car careens out of the video frame and slams into his collage of friends, fracturing their faces like so much cheap glass.

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by Angela Natividad    Dec-22-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Online



PETA Takes Fur Hags in Virtual Snowfight

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In its ongoing mission to condition otherwise-normal citizens into forming violent knee-jerk reactions toward people that wear fur or (le gasp!) eat animals, PETA's created this holiday snowball game.

It's sorta like hitting groundhogs with a hammer, except you're pitching snow at "fur hags" like Madonna (10 points), Donna Karan (+25) and the Olsen Twins (+50!). But watch out for Grandma and Generic Blonde! Hitting either of them could cost you 50 points apiece.

Idle good times. Just wish my mouse moved faster. Oh, and while the game is characterized as a "snow fight," nobody else throws snow back at you, which I thought was funny, because, you know, zealous institutions always see antagonists where none exist.

by Angela Natividad    Dec-18-08    
Topic: Cause, Games, Online



Alabama Gets a Workout from 'Biggest Loser' Roger Shultz

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Scale Back Alabama is a yearly campaign to encourage state inhabitants to shake off some love handles. Those that register for the program, which is free, are encouraged to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks -- which isn't improbable to do in a healthy way, provided you have resources and encouragement.

This year, Alabamans are getting a little help from Roger Shultz, a finalist from The Biggest Loser. To promote the effort, Luckie Underground -- the basement-confined baby brother of Luckie & Co. -- launched "Gettin' in Shape," a playful PSA with its own YouTube channel.

Witness while a very large dude dressed like the Heart of Dixie pumps iron and selects fruit with conviction, all under the peppy direction of Shultz.

See that victory dance at the top of the library steps? That could be you, my friend.

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by Angela Natividad    Dec-17-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Good, Online, Television



Levi's Beast Tops Taxis, Humans Righted, Swag Watched, Data Ported

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- The Levi's Beast is now hanging out atop New York Taxi cabs. OK, so the beast is imaginary but the jeans are unbuttoned.

- If you could step into a human rights violation. this is what it might look like. The video celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

- Ad Age is doing its Annual Swag Watch again. Up today, lot's of candy.

- Alisa Leonard-Hansen thinks data Portability will have a big impact on design practices in the next five years.

- Oddcast loves Adrants! And they've sent us a nice dog-themed holiday card.

by Steve Hall    Dec-17-08    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Outdoor