Perhaps to distance themselves from Ashlee Simpson's less than capable singing abilities and the bad press it caused, Candie's will now feature Hilary Duff in its upcoming ad campaign to promote a line of junior girl clothing and accessories. Duff will appear in print and television ads for the line which will be distributed exclusively at Kohl's stores.
Kohl's parent company president, Kevin Mansell claims Duff will "resonate with today's young shoppers." Duff was named one of People Magazine's 50 most beautiful people in 2005. Her new movie "A Perfect Man" is in theaters June 17, and her newest album is in stores Aug. 16.
While we all love a racy ad and any excuse to write about one, it seems marketers are simply creating them now in order to have them banned. Take the Plugg Jeans ad. It shows two hotties on the beach. The guy is holding a girl in a manner only seen in the confines of a photoshoot and the girl has her right hand in the guy's crotch. Hey, nothing wrong with sex but Plugg Jeans must have been smoking crack if they thought this ad would be quietly accepted by all media. Of course, that was the strategy all along according to Plugg Jeans parent company Andrew International President Andrew Kirpalani who told Ad Age, "We wanted something exciting, something provocative, it doesn't make sense otherwise to spend the money to be in Times Square."
The image was to grace a slot in Times Square but billboard owner Boston Properties declined to accept the ad as presented and asked for changes. The ad was also declined by Elle Girl and Teen People but accepted by Jane. To acquiesce to those concerned, M Media Creative Director Michael Cooper has toned down the ad a bit to unsexify the image somewhat.
UPDATE: Apparently it's now up.
 This Ain't My Graf Street art site Wooster Collective summarizes (then alters the story for accuracy here) recent happenings in the world of corporate graffiti. Recently Time Magazine paid CopeII to create a graffiti billboard in New York. Earlier this week a graffiti artist was arrested in Chicago for buffing - covering up with black paint - another graffiti artist's work, commissioned by Critical Massive, for Axe Deodorant. This has caused a battle within the graffiti community. Graffiti wants to be art. Not commerce. But even natural graffiti artists need to make a living. Not to mention ad agencies which can't leave a single inch of potential media space untapped.
Chase has just launched a website supporting the launch of their new consumer credit card with blink, a Mobil SpeedPass-like credit card feature. The site lets users learn more about blink and interact with this innovative card first-hand, showcasing its purchasing speed and convenience through a concise demonstration. The site is part of the blink summer market-by-market roll out and will continue to evolve as awareness and acceptance of blink increases. By evolve, Chase means more and more brand names that accept blink will be added to the site. The site was developed by T3 Labs, in partnership with mcgarrybowen, JPMorgan Chase’s agency of record for branding and advertising. T3 Labs is a new division of T3 (The Think Tank).
With Deutsch losing clients faster than Lindsay Lohan's losing cup size, it may be time to stop making fun of the debacle and simply feel sorry for Donny and crew. Just as it's shameful to humiliate poor Lindsey by making a spectacle of her declining breast size with the flawed logic all actresses should be flat, causing her to turn into Calista Flockhart with a nervous breakdown, so is it shameful to post pictures of Donny in a Speedo and rip Deutsch to shreds with rude, snarky commentary. Oh, who are we kidding, we love throwing the final sucker punch at a cripple who's just fallen out of his wheel chair.
The latest blow comes courtesy of Old Navy which announced the account would leave agency of record Deutsch LA and be divvied up among several agencies for project work. Deutsch will continue to work on the company's teen segmented and interactive programs while StrawberryFrog will take over TV and print for back to school.
Yesterday, it was sex in advertising that came in a pair. Today, it's transportation announcement advertising. We'll call it ad-nouncevertising. Following Alaska Airlines forcing a captive plane load of passengers to listen to flight attendant-read Bank of America Visa ads, commuters passing through Penn station this morning were subjected to promotional announcements for the Belmont Stakes. Is there no peace, I ask? Is there no f'ing peace? Not that bleary eyed Penn station commuters are would even hear such announcements before they had their morning shoot up of Starbucks.
With the recent likelihood New York City will not be chosen as host for the 2012 Olympics, some have pointed out the countdown clock is now an unfortunate, gigantic reminder of the city's failure.
Adrants reader Bucky Turco, spotter of all things advertising, points out the odd juxtaposition two advertisers can find themselves in when the medium they use does not naturally provide exclusivity. Turco explains, "I was walking on east 14th St. and 3rd Ave. when I happened upon this bus stop. On both sides of the same stop were vodka ads, one for Absolut, one for Stoli. Not only were both vodka ads, but both we're for their new lines of Peach vodka. And another interesting twist was that both ads had polar-opposite creative: Absolut pushed for a tropical and bright feel, and Stoli for an arctic and monotone feel."
Stay Free examines the, in hindsight, cult-like advertising McDonald's did over the year. From McDonaldland to the Evil Grimace to Shamrock Shakes to Happy Face to Mayor McCheese to talking wastebaskets to Double Dutch to the Hamburgler, Stay Free writes, "Here's a mind-blower for hungry third-world countries: in America, where the soil yields healthy food in abundance, we teach our kids to fantasize about over-processed crap with the nutritional value of the inside of a York Peppermint Patty growing in the wild." Revel in the history of McDonald's television fantasy land. After viewing the commercials, you can understand why intelligent life forms visiting this planet don't stay for long.
Just short of being force fed advertising while doing a stint in prison, Alaska Airlines has decided it's OK to require passengers to endure promotions read over the intercom by flight attendant. This time, passengers were encouraged to sign up for a Bank of America Visa card. With cell phone usage and Internet access soon to be the norm inflight, it's enough to make pulling the emergency door handle and jumping out a better travel option.
|
