London's Channel 4 is searching for volunteers to have their body viewed as it decomposes after death. The show, "Dust to Dust," will aid scientists in their quest to better understand the process of decomposition and aid forensic pathologist to better determine time of death in murder investigations. Thankfully the show won't be filmed in real time sparing viewers the nightly agony of waiting for a fingernail to drop off or an orfice to pustulate.
Apparently, the documentary will air when enough volunteers die and and the English countryside is ripe with the smell of death. We don't know if we want to but we'll thank Adrants reader Charley Brough anyway for "forcing" us to write about this.
 I'm Getting Brain Hip-hip clothier Akademiks has raised the ire of New York's MTA for slipping sexually suggestive language into a transit campaign. In one ad, a hottie showing bootie is reading a book alongside the headline "Read Books, Get Brain" implying to the unsuspecting that reading makes you smart. Well, little do most know "get brain" means get head - the sexual kind. Needless to say, the MTA is angered by being hoodwinked with hip terminology and has vowed to take down the poster the New York Daily News reports.
The headline was no oversight. It was intentional as explained by Akademiks Ad Designer Anthony Harrison who said, "We knew this. It's coded language, city slang. Teens know what it means but the general public doesn't." It's now likely the term "get brain" will be retired for yet another inventive method of describing that particular means of relieving sexual tension.
The campaign also appears around the country in Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia. At least until they read the Daily News article.
The Long Island Press surprised a Newsday employee as he was tossing undelivered Newsday ad circulars and papers dated for the following Sunday into a dumpster. As LIP photographers snapped away, the Newsday employee pleaded with the reporter, "C'mon guys, don't do this to me, please. I got kids. I got a mortgage to pay. I need to do this. This is my only source of income."
Uh huh.
In the midst of circulation scandals, Newsday appears to be continuing its practice of overprinting and dumping to maintain circulation base.
The Long Island Press also states Newsday appears to be creating phantom credit card numbers and putting non-subscribers with delinquent accounts back on the circulation.
We think there' a new rash of nasty calls from advertisers inundating the Newsday phone lines right about now.
In a knock off of assvertising, changes in football (soccer for those in the U.S.) regulations now allow coprporate logos on the backside of player's shorts.
- At yesterday's Advertising Alumni Rountable, the consumer control, DVR, good creative, bad creative, TV sucks, Internet can't convey emotion bitchfest continued.
- Tommy Hilfiger awarded its European media duties to Interpublic Group's Initiative & BrandConnection.
- A Fine Kettle of Fish reviews the onslaught of Red Sox congratulatory ads.
Following the car giveaway on Oprah, Pontiac is extending its reach into the realm of product placement with embedded appearances in the WE Women's Entertainment Cinematherapy show, a movie showing with bookended commentary. The car will appear at the beginning and end of the show when the hosts introduce and then review the movie. During those periods, the car will be driven while the hosts discuss the movie as well as show off the car's features.
Well that was quick. And mercifully so. It seems Wendy's and McCann came to their senses and have cancelled this poor excuse for an ad campaign after less than a year. Granted, following up Dave Thomas is a challenge but the Mr Wendy campaign definitely fell into the "what were they thinking?" category.
The campaign will cease at the end of the month and McCann is expected to launch new creative in December. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Mildly related: A Wendy's training video made in the 80's.
Shocking audiences by appearing fully clothed, Kylie Minogue introduced a new line of lingerie Wednesday in London. Appearing not so fully clothed were a collection of the usual runway hotties strutting the new Foxy Fishnets, Peek-a-Boo suspenders and underwear styles. As Kylie stood up to introduce the line, photographers can be heard in the back ground yelling, "Kylie, turn around." "Kylie, bend down." Alas, all they wanted was ass.
Fleshbot points to the hotties doing there thing here and in a video here.
Timed to deflect attention away from sister Ashlee's unfortunate Saturday Night Live mishap, Jessica Simpson has entered into a $10 million licensing agreement with New York's Andrew Sports Club to introduce a line of junior sportswear (Jessica Juicy?), kid's clothes, dresses, hats, watches, jewelry and, of course, underwear. The line will hit stores in time for next year's back-to-school Simpson recently debuted a line of edible body fragrance and a line of branded home furnishings has been mentioned as well. Simpson will introduce the clothing line on her MTV show, The Newlyweds.
Paying tribute to the seventies cartoon "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," Minneapolis-based Olson + Co. has created a new ad campaign for the Detroit Pistons. The ad campaign, called "Interplanetary Pistons," consists of two minute spots (which can be viewed from the Piston's website) that mirror the look and feel of the "Cosby" cartoon and aim to portray millionaire basketball players as appealing to regular homies in the hood.
Adrant queried an intern who worked at the agency during the creation of the campaign who said, "I interned at O+CO when this was just an arbitrary idea. I was sent all over the city to hunt down old tapes of Fat Albert episodes. No one thought the it would see the light of day, and now its making a buzz" The agency came to the realization that cartoons aren't just for kids.
Grownups like them too. "The mistaken stereotype is to say that animation is a child's treatment. That's really not true," said former Campbell Mithun CEO Howard Liszt.
The first spot debuted this week at the team's season opener and will also be shown on local Detroit TV and on the web. The videos compile a selection of NBA stars, such as Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming, as "guest villains" who go up against a group of "superhero" Pistons.
Olson + Co. has created nine of the videos so far.
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