PETA conducts its State of the Union with the one gimmick it knows can't fail: by having a somewhat attractive representative take her clothes off and talk at the same time.
We didn't really even pay attention to what she said because we were too busy lampooning her for her tasteless choice of underwear. If you're going to exploit women as a gimmick to keep people from exploiting animals, can't you at least find them better knickers than whatever they had lying around courtesy of their (already abusive) not-for-profit paycheques?
And don't even get us started on the hugging chickens and monkeys that appeared shortly after she finished her mediocre moment in the sun.
When someone sends us something they describe as "sexy and juicy," our attention perks up. So off we shot over to the Diesel site where, beginning today and running through Friday, two girls in their underwear are holding a guy, a Diesel sales rep, hostage webcam-style on a bed in a hotel room. The set up has five camera angles to choose from and the ability to chat with the two girls. Though intriguing, as with most live webcam set ups, the quality is bad and video and audio continuously cut in and out. That's no way to enjoy hotties of either sex. Perhaps they'll get it right after a while. OK, now it's working fine. Aside from pure tantalization, we're not quite sure how this is going to sell any product for the company. Oh wait. This is advertising. It's not suppose to sell. It's suppose to amuse. Our bad.
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Imagine for a minute you are a brand. Feel the monetary hurricane at your back pushing you towards the unwanting consumer. Wallow in pain as people pass you by without a care. Take offense as everyone fast forwards past you as you try to deliver your message. Feel the frustration as you and your fellow brands are yanked out of the Sunday paper tossed into the trash en mass. Sense the rage as you are digitally eradicated from a web page by an ad blocker.
Now, picture yourself empowered with the ability to fight back. Envision those pesky little consumers as helpless, tiny flies. Imagine yourself holding a fly swatter ready to attack. Feel the pleasure of whacking the consumer upside the head with a vengeance that requires...no...demands attention! Now, go watch this YouTube video and revel in a world where brands actually get noticed.
Here's a couple of spots created by TBWA Dubai for an "online matrimonials" site called Bentelhalal (we're guessing that's their version of a dating...arranged marriage?...site) that capture perfectly long-held stereotypes about men and women living together. We won't spoil. Just watch. (1, 2) They're very simple and we like simple. We're not sure about arranged marriages though.
OK. Now we know why a good commercial needs a talented agency and a capable production house. Otherwise, we'd end up with boring outtakes like this making their way to the screen instead of the finished product. As if to drum up some excitement for one of its upcoming Super Bowl spots, Budweiser has released b-roll footage of a spot that will feature Dale Earnhardt Jr. in what looks like a nod Mel Gibson's Road Warrior. You can view the footage here but you won't be missing anything if you wait until game day to see the final product.
We once worked in an agency where one of the B2B clients was in the dermatology space and each month a magazine called Cutis would appear in the mail room. When the magazine arrived, several of us took great pleasure in horrifying the squeamish at the agency by placing copies of the magazine on their desks. The cover of the magazine always featured some disgustingly sick skin affliction, pussing orfice or freakishly huge zit-like thing no one would ever want to see on their own body. What? You thought ad agencies were intellectual institutions staffed by scholarly folk who would never stoop to such antics?
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Monday is never a good day to analyze why so many commercials featuring athletes always portray said athletes as mindless idiots. Poor Vinny Testaverde, back-up quarterback for the New England Patriots is the latest to receive the jock-as-buffoon treatment. Setting aside for a moment the lunacy of a professional football player ordering food from a stadium's fast food counter while in full uniform, MasterCard, while promoting its PayPass card, felt it necessary (with advice from McCann-Erickson/New York) to capitalize on the stereotype of athlete as slave to coach.
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While quite a few commenters think this Toyota RAV4 jousting spot is for shit, we like it purely for its unique entertainment value and because it's not a winding mountain road spot. And, wouldn't it be fun to watch two drunk idiots actually try to do this? Come one. You know you like it. Admit it.
Continuing is long-running trend of thrashing about its Tacoma pick up truck, Toyota is at it again; this time with a barfing Loch Ness monster who can't seem to stomach the truck's indestructible nature. Of course, a truck being shot out of the water like a cannon ball, smashing head first onto the ground and then being driven off with nary a scratch causes one to put as much belief into that as the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. Oh but wait, there's a disclaimer: "Fictionalization. Not a demo of Tacoma's performance or crash capabilities." Hmm. It might as well have read, "This commercial is a lie and we apologize for treating you like an idiot. Go buy a Ford. They're the ones that are really Built Tough." Nice touch though having Loch Ness Project's Adrian Shine in the spot. Not such a nice touch dropping the word "Expedition" in the spot though.
To push HP Total Care for small and mid-sized businesses, Moxie Interactive put together a few digital spots that depict hard-up SMB owners raising money for hardware. See Carwash and Experts.
Total Care acts as a kind of financing and product lifecycle management service. We dig the spots, even if we'd prefer to see a younger demographic whoring out carwashes in their underpants.
Our big question (and really, this is always our big question): how do they get into the hands of small business owners? Are you gonna mail them laptops with the ads on loop, HP?
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