So I woke up this morning and heard on the radio that John McCain's getting sued for using Running on Empty, a song by Jackson Browne, in one of his anti-Obama ads without permission. That McCain, what a maverick.
I doubt he's losing sleep over it though, because another artist, John Rich, actually digs McCain enough to give him his own song. It's called Raisin' McCain, and while it bears a slight satirical resemblance to Raining McCain in name and subject matter, Rich's effort is actually not a joke.
That's some catchy shit right thar. And is it just me, or do sequins give our star-spangled banner a little more oomph?
And unlike other cars, which wave their ostentatious extras in your face, you can't even see the excess tooshums. Because you know why? It's made up of service, so says the tagline: "The extra Volkswagen part on every Volkswagen. Volkswagen service."
Nice repetition of brand name!
By production firm Czar, NL and DDB for Volkswagen.
Claussen, which has asked us for years to judge pickles by their snap, takes its chances on online "viral" advertising with this video for its "World's Most Excellent Pickle" campaign.
The premise: a series of "pickle fitness" tests were conducted. The footage was boring, so two comedians were tapped to ad-lib over it, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style. It is not funny, and the sight of pickles being systematically snapped by the accordion-looking machine only left us with a dull, empty ache in our chests: is this our lives?
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
And I like how on YouTube, the video is disseminated by "funnystuff75." Way to be obvious, Mister Obvious.
Imposed on us (and now YOU!) by Draft FCB.
Video ad firm Husky Media has decided to ride against the tide, offering advertisers big-ass ads instead of feeble pre-rolls and teeny ticker tape text. View the demo video, which makes the proposition look sane: videos flanked on either side by gigantor ad messages. It's about as offensive as Coverflow.
"At Husky Media, we believe bigger is better and will never succumb to the shrink ray," boasts Co-CEO David Carson of Husky. "We've been seeing it everywhere this summer, from the size of a cup of yogurt to dog food to cheese wheels to 'staycations' to 14 oz. pints of beer. Isn't a pint supposed to be 16 oz.? This is one summer trend we will not let idly pass. Last I heard WE LIVE IN AMERICA."
That's officially the Best PR Quote Ever. Bonus points if he starts appearing in public with a cowboy hat.
Apparently asterisks are bad.* In a campaign called "Don't be an Asterisk," the US Olympic Committee and the Ad Council associate them with steroids and inauthenticity.**
Witness as a high school jock repulses once-loving classmates when an asterisk starts forming on his forehead. (Apt, I guess, since steroids are supposed to make you break out like whoa.)
But here I was, all this time, thinking the teen angst market was reserved exclusively for the zit zappers. Speaking of which, J&J -- parent company of Neutrogena! -- funded this effort, which was put together by TBWA/Chiat/Day/NY.
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Britney Spears used to be cute. Britney Spears used to be adorable. Britney Spears used to be the hottest thing in the planet. The came K-fed. Then came baby. Then came Bald Britney. Then came the MTV Video Music Awards debacle. Then came....two commercial featuring an adorably cutre Britney Spears promoting this years MTV VMAs? Wait? What?
Yes. It seems our adorable cutie is back. And if she's going to remain adorably cute then what's not to love? Do we really want to fester in her trashy life or do we want to go back to worshiping her for being the hottest pop start on the planet? Wait. Don't answer that for fear you've all been adversely affected by the last five years of blogloid "journalism."
See the spots here and here.
Who needs political platforms full of platitudes when you have the Miller High Life Guy stumping the Common Sense Platform? It's unclear whether or not a beer-fueled presidency is the answer to the country's ills but with our current president seemingly drunk and unable to navigate his way to his seat at the Olympics, things couldn't be much worse.
Miller High Life Dude for President!
Oh, and Drink Responsibly.
In "Lighthouse," a (very!) short film by Exopolis, a wee seaside community helps light a path for ships long after technology fails them. Very cute. Created for Liberty Mutual's "Responsibility Project" by Hill Holliday.
See a previous effort, "Mandy and Lester" by RSA.
- iPhone apps have a "kill switch" that empowers Apple to yank any app off your phone whenever it likes. Steve Jobs says they'll never "pull that lever" unless an extreme situation calls for it (like if an app were disseminating a virus) -- but hell, the I'm Rich app wasn't hurting anybody and Apple was quick enough to pull that off the ropes.
- Glad Facebook wasn't around when Shakespeare was. Hamlet might've been much different (but still such a riot!).
- One expat rails against marketing stereotypes about the French, particularly sexy maids and misuse of "Ooh la la."
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In "Peanuts thrown at Shaun White," Shaun's stay-at-home buddies print out copies of his face and tape them to their own, then spend the afternoon calling each other Shaun and tossing peanuts into each other's mouths -- a creepy sight for the real Shaun White, whose first reaction is, "Is that what I look like?"
This is part of Feed Company's ongoing back-to-school online campaign for HP, carrying on from "Shaun White and Friends Fight to Help Shower Hottie."
The lesson in this one: It's Good to Get Out Once in Awhile.
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Stanton Optical
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