McDonald's the Mother of All Milkshakes

Several more anti-McDonald's billboards were spotted by flickr user Eric in SF over Memorial weekend in San Francisco. With the headlines "McSoylent Gold is Cattle" and "Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone Injected Cows Are The Mother of All Milkshakes," Billboard Liberation Front was quite busy.

Gillette Says Screw It, Keeps M3Power Razor Claim

Even though a U.S. District Court ruled, earlier this week, Gillette's M3Power advertising claim, "stimulates hair up and away from skin," is unproven by Gillette research, the razor giant, snubbing the court and competitor Schick, will continue to use the "up and away" phrase in its advertising.

British Hottie Says Hand in Pants Not Hard

It's Not That Hard

Handling a serious issue in a light hearted manner, British pop star Rachel Stevens, on behalf of British male cancer awareness group Everyman, seductively asks men, in an online video called Rachel Gets Fruity, to keep a close eye on her and to put their hands down their pants. While the video, at first, might appear to be England's version of self gratification education, it's really just a sultry invitation for men to frequently, and, if possible, in a non-sexual manner, check out the family jewels for lumps or bumps which could be signs of testicular cancer. After instructing men how to handle their balls, Rachel says, "See, it's not that hard, is it?" Then, peering intriguingly down into the camera, Rachel realizes some things are always hard for a man and exclaims, "Oh, it is."

UPDATE: Mirror site here. Apparently, that hand in the pants thing got exciting.

Shadow Ads Next Anti-Ad Skipping Strategy

We're ashamed to admit we were actually a proponent of this sort of advertising - though on websites - way back in 1996. We're talking about shadow ads. Shadow ads are lightly visible images imprinted, or watermarked, on editorial pages of newspapers. While some papers have run the unit for quite some time, mostly over stock quote pages and movie listing, insert giant Valassis caused heightened interest recently when it contacted several newspapers to discuss the ad unit and explore the level of its acceptance among publishers. While publishers debate acceptance, the bigger question raised by this ad unit is the potential damage forced ad viewing will have on editorial credibility and how any change in that credibility will change viewership or readership.

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