Publicis Plunders, Butt Banned, Santa Subserves

- Publicis Groupe wants to be advertising's God. Yes, it want full reign over the industry and is on it's way to accomplishing that goal by having acquisition discussions with Interpublic Group. George Parker thinks it's all a "giant fuck up."

_ Maine doesn't want to look at Santa's Butt while drinking beer. Yes, we know. It's strange.

- Here's a little holiday time-waster from Signature Marketing Solutions: Subservient Santa.

Crunch Uses Couch Potatoes to Inspire Gym Attendance

In general gym ads tend to be pretty weird and there's a good reason why - inviting your target to do a bit of self-demeaning self-reflection can be tricky and requires a light touch, like a pickpocket or a safe-cracker.

Crunch ads are no different. They feature a series of conversations between unstudly spuds whose punchline is the campaign slogan: "Don't be a potato." Catch another variation here.

It made us laugh but needless to say we didn't extract our asses from these chairs. And really, who needs to when there's Wii in the world? - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Benjamin Moore Targets Women with 'Enticing' Paint

Here's a gift for the vixen in your life. Invite her to discover her Aura, a new line Benjamin Moore calls "the finest paint we've ever made." According to the copy Aura is deeper, richer and more enticing than normal.

The campaign features the usual gimmicks intended to appeal to the senses of the yoga mama: soft nude graphics, colours that look like writhing bodies under satin, and flowers.

We've seen the ad in the train station for weeks without actually knowing what it was for. In fact, we had to kneel over the tracks and really look at it, thus risking our lives, before we worked it out. From a distance it looks like it's for tomato soup, maybe with a breast cancer awareness thing going on. A sexy soup. A sexy paint. Does there really a difference make? - Contributed by Angela Natividad

'Probably' the New First, Best Only

Leave it to a lone shoe store somewhere in America to hoist honesty in advertising atop its gated entry in the form of a sign shot by Flickr user JoelJohnson. Claiming , "We are probably the lowest price in the city," a fresh breath of honesty and humor finds its way into the most simplest form of advertising. More of this would certainly not be a bad thing.

Unrestrained Creativity Begets Funny Agency Christmas Video

OK. OK, we laughed. We couldn't help it. We love a sick Christmas (uh...holiday) video and what better to kick off the agency holiday card bonanza than this video card from TBWA\Vancouver sent to us by Mack Simpson. This, my friends, is what we get when creatives are not constrained by pesky creative briefs and annoying client approval processes.

CMT Inspires Community Superheroes with 'Power of One'

Fresh off that compelling Dove ad, production company Reginald Pike jumps on "The Power of One," a campaign for the Country Music Channel to promote community activity and awareness.

It's endearing in a corny MidWestern sort of way. We're just not sure how far a man with a tight rubber outfit and cape could get down the street, even if he was reading to old people and whatnot. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Ariel is as Flawless as its Billboards

Shedwa points us to creative use of an old medium. Buenos Aires detergent company Ariel set a billboard low on a roadside and attached an inkspot to a pole nearby so it actually appears to leave the shirt as drivers pass. The copy at bottom says "Comes out this fast."

We're hard-pressed to find flaw in such cleverness. Creativity doesn't always have to be all blinged-out. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

The Quitter Inspires Smoke Rings

Nodding to that covert blog thing that didn't go so well, the American Cancer Society visibly sponsors The Quitter, a blog written by a generic representative (they hope) for smokers at large.

We like a good message but the blog tries so hard it's almost farce. With terminology like "Ya know," "I'm really craving a cig" and "this ain't their first rodeo," we couldn't help looking around and wondering, Are they serious? Or are they fucking joking? The video blog nailed it in: they are really trying to do this with a straight face. In consternation we left for a smoke break.

Yes, we know smoking is marketed as cool but really isn't. We have to hand it to Big Tobacco for doing a better job at hawking cool than the ACS, who visibly struggle with this whole "get down with our peeps" thing. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

MSN Holiday Challenge Launches With Crashed SIte

Sucks when you launch big holiday promotion and your site tanks. That seems to be what's going on right now with Micrsoft's MSN Holiday Challenge, a celebity-filled contest in which people can watch videos to get clues to win $50K, $20K, $10K prizes and a grand prize of $100K. Al Roker, Kristin Cavallari, Jerry Rice and Perez Hilton (fame whore:-) ) will be on hand to deliver the clues. That is once the site actually works.

Subservient Santa Shakes in Sassy Sequence

Subservient Chicken - so yesterday. Adrants reader Mark presents us with this warped fusion of Subservient Chicken and Parappa the Rappa, Office Max's North Pole Dancing which, disappointingly, isn't what it sounds like. There's no pole (so no removal of clothing - then again, why would we want that?) but sometimes there is a candy-cane, which is a little redeeming but not by much.

Get Santa to dance in a sequence you choose but not really because all the moves are pre-selected. We're not quite inspired to buy Bic pens in bulk but we were amused for like 8 seconds. - Contributed by Angela Natividad