Support Barbarian Group's Eva McCloskey With Your Vote

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Occasionally, important events present themselves which call for the entire advertising industry to band together as one unstoppable force with the sole mission of advancing a worthy cause and doing good for all human kind. One such event has presented itself today requires our complete attention and participation.

What is this important cause? Why the voting for Barbarian Group's own Eva McCloskey as Boston Magazine's Most Wanted Single, of course! What? Did you think we as an industry were going to participate in that Cannes Humanitarian Lion thing and solve all the world's ills? Of course not. That's way too much work. A simple hottie contest is much more our style so please, do your part. Vote for Eva and represent!

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by Steve Hall    May-19-08    
Topic: Agencies, Cause, Industry Events



'What's This? Oh. It's a Body, Bloated in the Sun'

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Somewhere in the bowels of my memory is a man with a 'fro, a soothing voice and a paintbrush. As a kid I watched him on TV, mesmerized as he effortlessly whispered magic onto his canvas.

Right about now, though, I'm wondering whether those gripping pastures and endless telephone lines were not actually thinly-veiled and mildly traumatic messages about ethnic cleansing.

I like how at the end he gets all sinister and hisses, "We're almost done here, aren't we? No. It's never done."

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by Angela Natividad    May-19-08    
Topic: Cause, Good, Online, Spoofs, Strange, Trends and Culture, Video



BlogAds Explained, Congdon Returns, Idol Awesomed, Mullen Gets Relentless

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- Saatchi Singapore adds what AdFreak calls a bit of Evil Dead to a domestic abuse campaign which focuses on verbal abuse.

- Rocketboom's Amanda Condonn is back after a two year stint with mainstream media with a new video show of her own called Sometimes Daily. (Did you get a nose job, Amanda?)

- Advertising Age's Simon Dumenco rounds up the top seven "most awesomest" American Idol moments of this season.

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by Steve Hall    May-19-08    
Topic: Agencies, Cause, Weblogs



John Mayer Gets Bold, Bus Shelters Get A/C, Man Pees to Save Earth

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- As the rest of the world goes green, Dubai sets its sights on air-conditioned bus shelters. Groovy Green is not amused.

- Chuck McCarthy has produced a PSA that encourages men to save water by wizzing in the sink. Beware of hazardous ass action. McCarthy was also responsible for this York Peppermint Patty spoof.

- I realize this Turkcell spot is over a year old, but you have to appreciate that charming kid with the Turkcell "noid" antennae.

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by Angela Natividad    May-18-08    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity, Commercials, Outdoor, Promotions, Spoofs, Video



Why Rubberneck from the Freeway When You Can Do it From YouTube?

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Few things are more irritating than a manufactured crisis intended to scare you straight -- in this case, using the human tendency to rubberneck to guilt drivers into slowing down in less dire situations. Then again, few things are more provocative.

It's a fine line, I guess.

The stunt took place on Matakana Road in New Zealand. And if the logo on the marquee is anything to go by, I guess this was brought to New Zealanders by the Rodney District Council.

Huzzah -- I was right. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi. Thanks in:fluencia for pushing it our way.

by Angela Natividad    May-16-08    
Topic: Cause, Guerilla



Social Hotties Endorse Their Favorite Brands

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Well OK. So now when you troll MySpace, Facebook or whatever your favorite daily social diversion may be, you can view, yes, even more ads courtesy of SocialVibe, a service that lets people choose brands they wish to endorse with a widget they can embed on their profile pages or blogs.

For example, Nicole Lynn's cleavage endorses...oops, I mean Nicole Lynn endorses Adobe. By displaying the SocialVibe badge on profile pages, people get points they can use to donate to charities as well as the chance to win trips, gadgets and entry to events.

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by Steve Hall    May-15-08    
Topic: Cause, Social



2/3 of a Donation Drive is Provoking Empathy. Will Ferrell Can't Do It; This Might

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For MTV and the Burma Arts Board, Shilo and Ogilvy & Mather/Amsterdam created the "Burma Viral," which will air on MTV's Times Square Jumbotron and elsewhere around the world.

The film depicts war planes lifting off all over the world and meeting over Burma. I watched with a pinch of irritation as their hatches open, expecting bombs and the requisite sight of human suffering, but -- unexpectedly -- the planes rain a canopy of flowers over the cityscape.

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by Angela Natividad    May-15-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Good, Video



Fair Trade Groupies Toss Wares in Aisles Six and Seven

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The Max Havelaar Foundation, a coalition of fair trade producers and initiatives worldwide, is using this video to promote fair trade practices.

I'm not really sure what's going on, aside from that a bunch of subversives seem really unhappy with what they're finding at the grocery store.

Alternatively, they could just be looking for buddies to play catch with. Reason #458 to take up Ultimate Frisbee.

by Angela Natividad    May-14-08    
Topic: Cause, Guerilla, Online, Strange, Video



George W. Bush Unites Globe in Shared Mockery

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In the course of his Presidency George W. Bush has both enraged and made us laugh, often at the same time. We've seen plenty of ways where his unique talent has manifested in reactionary advertising. Sometimes the results are funny, sometimes they piss us off, and often they do both at once.

Either way, it's become impossible to leave the States without a good sense of humour -- or an iron-on maple leaf.

Ivan of CreativeBits put together an invaluable collection of print ads where Bush is the star. This close to November, it almost makes us fond of the guy -- the way you grow fond of a stooge you're about to screw over in a drug bust.

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by Angela Natividad    May-14-08    
Topic: Cause, Good, Magazine, Political, Poster, Trends and Culture



DC Commuters Play Hopscotch for Rail Safety

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I bet subway stations are among the most bountiful wellsprings of suicidal feelings. They are generally ugly, reeking of piss and bad food, and we get stuck at some such place for longer than we'd like, contemplating the person and/or creative career we failed to pursue.

No wonder people fling themselves into the tracks.

Exit10's "Life is Fun" campaign for Washington, DC METRO gives commuters games like hopscotch and I Spy to pass the time. The message: "Life is fun. Keep on living. Use caution around the tracks."

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by Angela Natividad    May-13-08    
Topic: Cause, Games, Good, Outdoor