Belgian born Peter Forret, who recently took a trip to Bulgaria, noticed an ad campaign for Mastika, an aphrodisiac used as an ingredient in mixed drinks or in the yogurt drink Ayran. He remarked the standard of advertising in Bulgaria appears to be far different than that of his home country, Belgium.
The print campaign employs visuals of scantily clad women foisting their curvaceous features towards the viewer. A commercial has two guys ogling a girl who passes them by on the beach and casts a shadow on the sand suggesting a figure of, shall we say, larger than normal proportions. Sadly, the commercial employs the tired, much over used male arousal tactic.
Why are these people staring off into space and accepting bribes in the form of Pepsi? Why do they look like they are somehow detached from the realities of their lives? Why is it so inconceivable to believe these situations would actually take place?
Oh wait. This is advertising. Reality is irrelevant. All that matters is cool art direction and great photography. For that we give thanks, or not, to CLM BBDO Paris for this Pepsi print campaign.
February 24, 2006: OK, we finally get it. This Pigs Anonymous thing. To promote the Advertising Women of New York's Good, Bad & Ugly Awards, Lowe created a site that calls men pigs. Oh but wait. We don't think anything's wrong with it. After all, men have been calling women bitches hoes and sluts for years. Payback's a bitch.
Certainly, you've all noticed how men have to be the stupid one in all commercials now, right? That's payback for all they years men made women stand in front their refrigerator glorifying it as if it were some sort of Godlike orgasmatron needed because no man gave a crap about a woman having an orgasm in the fifties.
- MediaWeek has announced its 23rd Annual Media All Stars. If they provided a link, I could actually share the winners with you. You'll just have to wait for the November 10 issue for the list.
- Hallmark Channel (UK) has hired digital advertising agency Ralph to produce an interactive viral campaign to promote series 9 of Law & Order Special Victims Unit, season 9.
In what appears to be nothing more than slapping the Green label on Bank of America's Keep the Change program, Citizens Bank has launched the Green$ense Campaign which pays customers ten cents for every electronic transaction they make but only up to $10 per month and $120 per year. Even without the facade of "greenery, Bank of America gives up to $250 per year with its program. And people don't even have to be green to get the $250.
Of course it's all to motivate people to bank electronically which uses less paper which, yes, is an admirable "green" effort. But, seriously, the real reason any bank would motivate its customers to bank electronically is to cut overhead (by hiring fewer tellers) and increase profit.
With cutesy headlines like "Being eco-friendly just got eco-nomical" and "The environment is like a bank account. Every little bit helps," the campaign rolls out in print, radio, outdoor and television.
- Doritos is holding another CGM contest for the Super Bowl. Ooh, but there's a twist: win $1 million if your spot becomes the FIRST EVAR! consumer-generated ad to take No. 1 in USA Today's Ad Meter. (Here's what won last year.) Entries welcome 'til November 16.
On the Vh1 website, Sharon Osbourne admonishes girls about drunk dialing, going commando, showing their boobs, vomiting and other less than polite behaviors as part of a mobile campaign leading up to the premiere of the VH1 reality show, Charm School. Created by Bradley and Montgomery, the "manner musts" are raunchy, tongue-in-cheek clips that can be sent to friends from the VH1 website as either audio or video clips.
Sometimes driving alone and all the mind wandering that comes with it can be a therapeutic experience. Other times it can just suck, be boring or make you want to fall asleep. Driver Assist Connect, a gadget that projects a holographic image to the passenger seat of your car aims to keep you company, keep you awake and, in your absence, help prevent people from stealing your car.
The product could come in handy when driving to work alone allowing one to scoot down the less jammed, two-per-vehicle express lane. It could also cause problems when inadvertently switched on while driving past one's significant other. Or, conversely, it could aid in the creation of jealousy, an occasional but much-needed card in the relationship game.
The ads themselves are of the cheesy infomercial variety variety; poorly acted, oddly scripted and produced with the finesse of a sledgehammer.
- A handful of rich-ass celebrities use reverse psychology to cajole MySpace users into voting. What, does Jennifer Aniston not do it for you? Maybe Leonardo DiCaprio's poverty-ridden excuse for a blog will.
- The wife of David Warthen, founder of Ask.com, is facing tax evasion charges on money she made while working as a hooker to pay for law school.
