Clustarak Cogs, AT&T Hijacked, 9/11 Ripped, Mentos Pooned

- Here's yet another knock off of the Honda Cog commercial which, of course, itself is claimed to have been a rip off.

- The Billboard Liberation Front is at it again, this time hijacking an AT&T billboard in San Francisco commenting on AT&T's release of people's voice and data information to the National Security Agency.

- Copyranter rants about even more lame 9/11 rip off ads.

more »

GEICO Gecko Makes Cameo at Houston Zoo

Possibly because he proved such a smashing success in San Diego, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has brought a man dressed like GEICO's Gecko to the Houston Zoo along with a live gecko exhibit.

Houston Zoo director Rick Barongi called GEICO "a great partner for zoos and aquariums." What?! GEICO on best behaviour amongst wee kiddies and disgruntled animals? We believe it. If we were the most visible insurance option at a zoo, we would be too.

Dorky White Chick Magnet Loses Running Man Rights to MC Hammer

We love a guy that's man enough to kiss his own ring, shortly before molesting an empty dance floor with the old-school running man.

Except in this 1989 revisionist history piece for Utah Saints' Something Good '08 (produced by Between the Eyes, London and Sleeper, LA), the running man is new-school, and MC Hammer's a gangster on the market for moves. Guess who he steals his trademark shake from? -- a white guy in Cardiff! Of course.

No word from the good reverend on where he managed to score those sassy genie pants, though.

K-Swiss Makes...Half-Dressed Tennis Hotties That Want Me?

K-What? I'm sorry, I know you want me to look at your logo and go visit your website but I just can't take my eyes of that figure of perfection lying on the tennis court as if she's channeling Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan and wants it...NEEDS it really, really badly!

I've been locked away writing about advertising way too long. Had I known female tennis players dressed like this and teased the spectators between matches I'd have GIVEN Adrants away long ago and signed up to be a ball boy.

more »

On Fancy Feet of Foucan, KSwiss Hits the Running Scene

To promote its hot new Ariake running shoe, K-Swiss enlisted the face of Sebastien Foucan, the founder of free running. ("Free running" is when you go jogging and, instead of hauling ass around an obstacle, you do an impressive Ranma-style aerial flip over it. Seriously.)

The print ads are very Zen. There's no copy, just images of Foucan being Foucan and a small K-Swiss logo at bottom. They were put together by Perfect Fools which is based in Sweden and the US. The ads will be accompanied by a wannabe-viral (which we haven't yet seen) and a website.

See Foucan variant. We're not really sure whether people will put two and two together and go, "Okay, Ariake = running! Got it." Because we were all, "Acrobatic skater gear?"

Schick Video Contest Gives Us Ad Babe Booty

Damn, we wanna work at Circle One Marketing! Just who is that hottie with the booty sitting on that guy's lap in this AdPulp Schick Video Contest challenge entry? Say what? So Schick launches some YouTube video contest, sends out a press release full of R's and AdPulp makes fun of it along with challenging the ad community to submit a video to the Contest.

Norwalk Connecticut's Circle One Marketing (keep the Circle Jerk Marketing jokes to yourself, please) answers the challenge with Joey Sanchez and a bevy of ad babes.

Coke Zero Drags Cultural Differences Down to Lowest Organ Denominator

Here's another weird Coke Zero spot that elaborates on Coke's newfound fixation with body parts. (If you're all "huh?", see the Brazilian tongue spot we covered yesterday.) Just so you know -- if Coke Zero collaborates in ANY WAY with The Vagina Monologues, we're going on strike.

It's in English this time, so hurrah. The characters: a statuesque Coke Zero (sort of like a golden calf), an ornery French eyeball, a bull-headed British tongue and a pothead Californian finger.

more »

Carl's Jr. Did Not Copy TouchBlue's 'Knight School'

We were going to leave this one alone but since it's beginning to appear in a few places, we feel it's necessary to cover (with facts, no less). So, here goes. We received an email earlier this week suggesting a recent Carl's Jr. Chili Cheeseburger commercial which aired during the Oscars was quite similar to a video, Knight School, that "aired" in 2005.

The creators of the Knight School video, TouchBlue, claim the creators of the Carl's Jr. spot, Mendelsohn Zien Advertising, stole their idea. And so the classic copy cat story was born.

more »

CPX Interactive Leaps, Launches New Voting PSA

If you're in New York tonight and looking for something to do, you could head over to the Merc Bar in SoHo for CPX Interactive's Leap and Launch party (RSVP). At the event, footage from a recently shot Hip-Hop Get Out The Vote PSA featuring Snoop Dog, George Lucas, Ciara, LL Cool J, Jim Jones, Andre Harrell and other celebrities. The PSA, developed by CPX Interactive's new Caliber 1 Media entertainment division in partnership with Russell Simmon's Hip-Hop Action Network, will urge young people to register to vote at voteforit08.org (not live yet).