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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Batman And Symantec Get Secure

Somehow attempting to relate Internet security with Batman, Symantec has struck a tie-in deal with the producers of the upcoming Batman movie. Perhaps there's a plot tie in but, for us, we agree with flickr user Jagger, Batman was always more about kicking freaked out uber-criminal ass. I mean it's not like Norton Utilities or Symantec AntiVirus really comes to mind here.

MindShare Works Hard For Your Money

This is just cheesy enough to be great. Mindshare Amsterdam has created an in-office video set to the tune of the 1983 Donna Summer hit We Work Hard For Your Money. With lyrics like "planning various strategies, buying loads of GRPs, "Group M is the name. Buying power is our game," "We work hard for your money, Reach people with your money. Build brands with your money so give us your money. your investment will return."

We have no idea how new or old this is but this lyric, "Our goal is to tell the products we tell. Bling bling is what we want," places it at least within the last few years or so.

UPDATE: According to mf in comments the video was created for the European MindShare-conference 'Fame & Money' in Barcelona last month.

Radio Gets On Podcast Bandwagon

Even though 99 percent of Americans have no idea what a podcast is, thousands have sprung up and hundreds of companies are chasing them with open wallets. Rush Limbaugh has joined the movement and will make his radio broadcasts available as a podcast. Clear Channel will offer podcasts of certain programming as well.

In a unique move, San Francisco's KYCY-AM has become a station programmed completely by podcasts submitted by listeners. It's all the rage now but it isn't dot com insanity. With the explosive growth in usage of MP3 player (on which podcasts can play) and the increasing amount of citizen-generated programming, podcasting, in our opinion, will take off and become a viable medium providing both individuals and corporations to cash in.

Paris to New York Undersea Train Hoax Revealed

While we knew the website that promoted an undersea train/subway from Paris to New York was a hoax all along, Adrants reader, Bruno points us to a story in LeJournalduNet which reveals the prankster to be a travel site called Voyages-sncf.com. Apparently, a supporting campaign has been launched which, today, revealed the truth behind the hoax and includes online and transit elements.

Earthlink Promotes Protection With Super Heroes

Following the Superheroes theme, Crispin Porter + Bogusky has created a microsite, called Cyber Heroes, for Earthlink promoting the ISP's scam, scam, virus and spyware blocking services. The site, which represents the three threats with three Cyber Heroes; Stephanie, Don and Rashidi, who each have professional sport-like profiles and can be pit against the threats in several games. The site also offers screensaver downloads, product description areas and a Cyber Gear area where visitors can register to win a Cyber Hero Cape in the form of a towel. Many areas of the microsite point to various areas of the Earthlink website to provide additional details.

With most ISPs falling into the boring, commodity-like category, CP + B has done a good job at least bringing a little fun to the mundane but excruciatingly nagging aspects of spam, scams, spyware and viruses which take the fun out of everyday Internet life.

Some love it. Some call it lame. Join the debate in the Adrants Network

Merck Launches No Disclaimer Drug Ads

If you're tired of those drug that dedicate 75 percent of their time to the ridiculous disclaimers that must legally be attached to ads that promote drug products, you can now wallow in the lush beauty of drug brand advertising. That's right. You remember branding. It's those emotional, feel good campaigns that say nothing, sell nothing, yet seem to have this ability to allow marketing managers to look at post buy analysis and say, importantly, "We moved the needle."

Merck will spend $20 million to convince us it's people the company cares about, not the billions it makes off drug sales. Ogilvy & Mather created the campaign which includes television, print and online.