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Adrants Goes Porn

As if Adrants wasn't already close enough to porn, click here for a "Pornolized" version of Adrants. Thanks to Rick Bruner for this one.

by Steve Hall    Dec-31-03    




Pentax Pisses Off Righteous Right

A Swedish ad for Pentax (help me out here, Ask) with the headline, "A Perfect Body With All The Right Accessories," has professional female photographers in such an uproar, they have put up a protest page. So a bunch of women are outraged at that they are supposed to have perfect bodies and that perhaps only men are worthy of becoming photographers saying, "We're furious. Does Pentax mean that only men can/or want to use a camera? Us women are supposed to have a 'perfect body' and 'all the right accessories' and shall apparently only be in front of the camera rather than behind it. This is how we interpret the ad in the latest issue of FOTO, an ad where g-strings and a woman's ass is supposed to sell a camera."

Maybe, just maybe, the ad's purpose was to draw more men into the world of photography. And what better way to do so than to appeal to man's primary desire: a hot chic in a thong.

by Steve Hall    Dec-31-03    




Gwyneth Paltrow Gets $7 Million to Drink

Like the rest of the Hollywood actors who head to Japan and shoot commercials hoping no one in the the U.S. will ever see them, Gwyneth Paltrow, who doesn't drink, has headed to Australia to swill vermouth for Martini & Rossi. Gwyneth will appear in two television ads and has banned their appearance anywhere else in the world. �sk W�ppling of Adland wonders if Gwyneth has heard of the Internet.

by Steve Hall    Dec-27-03    




KFC President Bullshits His Way Through Interview

Still clinging to the notion that fried chicken is good for you, KFC President Gregg Dedrick gives PR shoveled, canned answers in this USA Today interview. Responding to a question about the recent KFC commercial claiming fried chicken is healthy by comparing it to Burger King's Whopper, Dedrick sticks by the health claims.

Q: When you claimed in TV spots that fried chicken could be part of a healthy diet, consumer groups and the FTC came after you. And some consumers laughed. If you had it to do over again, would you air the ads?

A: The ads communicated facts that were very relevant to our consumers. It was surprising news. Customers reacted favorably. Our sales were up 1% (for the month of November.) It elicited a number of inquiries from our customer hotline.

And it validated what people had been doing already - the idea of peeling the skin back from the chicken breast. The idea that people can eat fried chicken and have less fat than a Whopper was relevant to our customers.

Q: But weren't you playing it fast and loose with the commercials? A tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the ad said that KFC chicken is not a low-fat, low-sodium, low-cholesterol food. You can't have it both ways.

A: We don't believe we were. We stated the facts as they exist. Our message was not intended to say that this was a health food - but that it's better for you than you think. The campaign was a set of commercials that run three to four weeks. It went off as planned.

Telling the truth would have made for a better interview.

by Steve Hall    Dec-26-03    




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Girl Scouts Go Hip (Or Hope To) With New Ad Campaign

With poster taglines like, "We want an adviser who knows 50 Cent isn't two quarters" and "Be more popular with teens than you ever were in high school," the San Francisco Girls Scouts hope to transform the image of girl scouting from hopelessly hokey to happenin' hip and attract women 18-29 to become troop leaders.

The campaign also hopes to make Girls Scouts cool for girls over 10, the age at which most girls drop out of scouts for fear of being labeled something less than cool.

by Steve Hall    Dec-26-03    




American Culture Returns to Normal Flash Mob Fragmentation

This Time Magazine article likens the current fickle and flighty American culture to the recent meme of Flash Mobs, the sudden gathering of a crowd to perform some random act only to then suddenly disperse. Americans gather together only briefly now, as they always did pre-mass media. Normally, Americans live in their own very different worlds and came together as a mass culture only because no other option was available. Those options to return to a "tribe-like" life are now available in full force. The death of mass culture is a result of media fragmentation.

Media fragmentation has finally caught up with the cultural fragmentation that has always been the fabric of America. All Americans came from varied backgrounds, were drawn together for a brief moment by mass media, only to return the original stasis of mass differentiation. Mass culture was an oddity. Fragmentation is the norm.

by Steve Hall    Dec-26-03    




Adland Gives Eulogy to the Pillsbury Dough Boy

Jane Goldman, otherwise know and the Caffeine Goddes on Adland writes a humorous eulogy for the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, Califfornia Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The gravesite was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but in later life was filled with turnovers.


by Steve Hall    Dec-23-03    




ABC Attempts to Duplicate 'Full House' Success

With Mary-Kate and Ashley too old and too hot to be cute little television girl-stars, ABC is out searching for twin girls hoping it can recapture the long running success of the former Olsen Twin's "Full House."

The network has announced a casting call for girls who are "adorable, outgoing and fun-loving twin girls to play the roles of Hallie and Annie in the Parent Trap television series." Tollin/Robbins is producing the show and wants girls between the ages of 11 and 15 for the call.

by Steve Hall    Dec-23-03    




Overhead Bin Advertising Joins Airline Tray Table Advertising

The addition of tray table advertising on America West reported here earlier is now to be joined by overhead bin advertising. So now when you are wrestling your way to your seat and trying to stuff your oversized bag into the overhead bin, you will be presented with a "binboard." One wonders what sort of brand association will be achieved with this form of advertising due to the questionable mood travelers are in at that particular moment of travel. Perhaps, weeks after your "binboard" exposure, when anger and frustration strikes as you get fingered while driving somewhere, you will remember that advertised brand with "fondness."

Advent Advertising is the company behind this move and has plans to roll the service out over the next several months.

by Steve Hall    Dec-23-03    




Fly Guy Finds His Monkey

Here's an amusing Holiday greeting in which you can control how "fly guy" flies. The flight ends with the guy finding nirvana in the form on a dancing monkey and a booty shaking hula girl.

by Steve Hall    Dec-23-03    




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