Girl Puts Her Box in Box For Justin Timberlake

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This is just too hilarious not to mention. It's not really ad-related but nods are made to brands in this video called My Box in a Box, a song by a Philadelphia girl that's about a certain "box" nicely wrapped inside another box that pokes fun at cheesy pop videos and parodies the recent Justin Timberlake Andy Samberg SNL "Dick in a Box" skit. The song has become somewhat of a hit since its December 28 launch getting air play on New York's Z100, Los Angeles' KLOS, San Antonio's KFOX and others. The My Box in a Box weblog, with the tagline "Britney showed the world her box...but my box is just for you," claims the video has been viewed by a million people and, apparently, the girl wants Justin Timberlake as she keeps pointing to stories about Justin's reported breakup with Cameron Diaz. Of course, there's the ubiquitous accompanying MySpace page to go along with all of this.

The girl, who, with good reason, highlights her chest quite prominently in the video is, apparently, an up and coming singer who leveraging YouTube, MySpace and blogging for all it's worth. Apparently this social media shit works.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 5-07    
Topic: Brands, Good, Spoofs, Strange



Gawker Ad Campaign Urges Skinny, Late Train-Causing Girls to Eat

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The Silly Girl points to Gawker's cure for the raft of New York city skinny girls who, for years, have been causing trains to be late because they pass out from lack of feeding themselves: a new ad campaign. Speaking as bluntly as more ad campaigns ought to, Gawker's ad is headlined, "If You See Something, Eat Something" with body copy that reads, "Look bitch, we don't care how skinny you need to be by the time your Hamptons share starts, we just want to get to work. Sweet Christ, why don't you just drug yourself thin like the rest of us? For fuck's sake." Now that's an ad that didn't get needlessly ruined by lengthy approval processes.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 3-07    
Topic: Good, Outdoor, Spoofs



Eau de Emo Draws Mascara-Stained Tears

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Ad Freak tips us off on this dandy little spoof for emo cologne which, with its drama-filled mod vibe, skinny ties and stars of ambiguous sexual orientation, assures emo lovers everywhere that if it isn't enough to bleed emo out of your tortured wrists you can always leak it out of your very pores and accost innocent bystanders with emo aura.

We don't even have to smell it. The very thought makes us want to cry.

by Angela Natividad    Jan- 3-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Spoofs



Poor Honda Asimo Can't Catch A Break

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Honda just can't seem to get past that woeful day when it Asimo robot fell down the stairs during one of it's debuts. Not to be deterred by that mishap, Honda, with help from Wieden + Kennedy, released this past weekend a new Asimo commercial with not one, but several stairs which the robot succesfully ascended. Of course, in true fashion., the commercial has already been spoofed with an intercut footage of that early woeful day.

by Steve Hall    Dec-18-06    
Topic: Commercials, Spoofs



Channel One Troubled, Evolution Spoofed, PayPerPost Discloses

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- As AdFreak points out, Chysler may want to revise the ad it has placed introducing the Time PErson of the Year. The ad's headline reads, "You might not be the Time Person of the Year." Oops.

- The controversial PayPerPost, a service that pays bloggers to write things about brands now requires those bloggers to make not of that on their blogs. Since the disclosure is not on a per post basis, this simply calls into question the merits of every single word ever mentioned on the blog.

- Esquire gives a nod to the 2003 Pop Montreal Festival poster with its current cover featuring George Clooney.

- Looks like Channel One, the company that pretends to educate kids but is all about delivering ads to them, is in trouble. Complaints have increased. Revenue is down. Regulation looms. A sale is possible.

- Yet another spoof of Dove's Evolution.

- Greenpeace continued its efforts at calling the public's attention to Apple's apparent less-than-green approach to manufacturing its computers by shining green lights on the the company's 5th Avenue store in New York City last Thursday night.

by Steve Hall    Dec-18-06    
Topic: Magazine, Online, Spoofs



Spoof Says Brown Zune Better Than iPod

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Apples commercials have been spoofed for decades but most of the spoofs have always favored Apple. This spoof, though, which compares Microsoft's Zune to Apple's iPod, clearly favors Microsoft and makes a big deal out of Zune's one button song sharing feature.

by Steve Hall    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Spoofs



Passport Forgotten, Bogusky Elfed, Apple Spoofed, Portals Die

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- Kid runs away from home, forgets passport, TV show promoted.

- Alex Bogusky gets his elf on over at Office Max.

- If you're going to spoof a Mac/PC ad for your holiday card, the least you could do what make it good. TM Advertising didn't.

- Joe Jaffe examines the long, slow death of the portal.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-06    
Topic: Agencies, Online, Opinion, Spoofs, Strange, Video



Lego Ads Fake. Creators Apologize, Agency Fires Their Asses

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Well, so much for those Lego ads. And so much for their creators. Today, the creators of the ads, Black Wu and Darren Cheung have acknowledged the ads are, in fact, fake, and that they were created as a "personal trial to challenge creativity." Commenting on the creation of these ads, they state, "We got so carried away that we came out with the stupidest idea that upset a broad audience. This was obviously done without the knowledge of any of the Saatchi & Saatchi managers."

Another letter from Saatchi & Saatchi Guangzhou China Head of Admin Ms. Cherry Yang clarifies the ads did not officially emanate from Saatchi, no one inside the organization was aware of their existence and that Wu and Cheung "have been dismissed today as their irresponsible personal behavior have severely affected our company's professional image." Well, there you have it. Pair creates spec ads to gain notoriety. Stupidly attaches employer's name to ads. Piss off employer. Get fired.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-06    
Topic: Agencies, Spoofs, Worst



In Reality, McDonald's 'Inner Child' Can't Get Out

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Here's a fun little spoof of that McDonald's Inner Child commercial, out earlier this year, in which kids crawl out of grown up's stomachs and end up at a McDonald's restaurant. In the spoof commercial (you might have to download it to see it properly proportioned), called Eat Large, the true reality of eating at McDonald's is revealed and it's suggested that one might consider eating at Sumo Salad to avoid that unfortunate reality.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 7-06    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Spoofs



Advertising Just Got Harder, Dan Wieden Worshiped

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That double-entendre-laden Reach and Frequency video from Elvis & Bonaparte has resurfaced, this time, on a site with its own specialized URL: www.reachfrequency.com. The seventies porn-style video about Tucker Swallow & Rockhard is full of the usual word play including our fav: the insertion order. Along with employees Buck Thrustwell, Nikki Swallow, and Candy Canal, Dan Wieden gets some interesting props in the elevator.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06