eBay Kidnaps St. Nick. Does this Mean We Have to Bid for Presents?

Okay, this is only slightly horrifying. Watch your friends at eBay kidnap Santa.

This was part of an unbranded guerrilla campaign that went live last week.

The kidnapper's manifesto is stated at Santa Kidnap. Naturally, it's all in our best interest. (Kind of like Abu Ghraib?)

Credits: Total for digital and media work; Tequila for creative (man, we don't like most things they do, do we?); and LAVA comm for seeding.

The Cookie May Crumble With 'Do Not Track' List

Today, a group of privacy groups declared war on advertisers by asking the Federal Trade Commission to establish an online Do Not Track list similar to the offline Do Not Call list. The Consumer Federation of America and the World Privacy Forum, among others, want marketers to stop using cookies which enable behavioral targeting.

There has been much debate on the merit of cookies and their use to track online behavior. Marketers argue it makes the online experience better because ads are more closely targeted to the individual. Privacy advocates claim advertisers have no business collecting information about where on the internet someone has gone unless consent has been given.

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Pomade = Sex? You Got2B Kidding

There's little chance that pomade is going to affect how a member of the opposite sex feels about you. But Got2B claims its new Magnetik pomade and gel are infused with pheromones and scientifically proven to "positively influence the psychology of attraction."

It's more or less like believing underarm deodorant turns noncommittal girls into man-fucking hyenas, right?

Hit the Magnetik subsite, where you can make your own sex molecule. It's not super-exciting but the little bubble noises in the background are fun.

Put together by BBDO West.

The Gadget Show's Suzi Perry Gets Her Own Game

Courtesy of UK viral game maker TAMBA Internet, The Gadget Show's Suzi Perry now has her own game called Suzi Says. To play, you have to grab the items she tells you to. Sounds easy? It's not. But it really doesn't matter how well you play because after the game, you are treated to a video of Suzi undressing while a Nokia N95 strategically covers the NSFW parts.

What's this promoting? Um. Sorry, We have no idea. We are easily distracted.

Dwyane Wade Love Letter Becomes Promotional Vehicle for Converse

Aww. Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade's letter to basketball reads like an earnest, and early, version of Common's "I Used to Love Her," a love letter to hip-hop.

But unlike hip-hop, the game doesn't start turning tricks in adulthood.

The letter is the inspiration for a Converse promotion by Anomaly. The spot, "From Robbins, Illinois," started airing on October 28th. Around that time, the Wade 3 signature basketball shoe was also released.

See the spot and behind-the-scenes footage here. The :60 piece does a good job of capturing a moment that apparently meant a lot to him.

Also, Wade is really into triangles.

Agency Life Making You Twitchy? Game On!

Ever have one of those days where you just snap and kick the living shit out of something? Chances are you've had a few over the past few months, and so have your other agency chums.

Riester has an elegant solution: kickball! Check out the video for the Riester kickball tourney, which happens tomorrow. The spot is loaded with situations that will motivate your kicking leg.

This actually brings a spark of life into the room. Kickball is one of the few games we'll actually get off our asses to play, alongside four-square, double-dutch and tetherball.

Dan Fielding Domestic God Mystery to Be Solved Soon

Remember that Domestic God promotion where you have to consume all the Dan Fielding stuff and try to guess who the sponsor is? (We don't either.)

On Monday, November 5, when his last video clips are released, Dan is going to reveal all on his MySpace.

"The mystery surrounding Dan and his sponsor has baffled online communities," the pressie swears. "Dan has built up an online following with over 100,000 people watching his video clips on domestic life."

If you happen to be one of those people, tune in at Dan's MySpace. The winner of the scavenger hunt gets a prize "worth 700 quid." It will probably be something (or many somethings) that you don't want.

Context Research Study Causes All Media Plans to Be Revised

Well whattayaknow. This is breakthrough stuff, people! Web ads placed within relevant editorial perform better than those placed run of site. And we needed a research study to tell us that. And, like most studies that confirm the obvious, the study itself is just a mechanism to get publicity for the company that sponsored the study. In this case, that company is online ad exchange company ContextWeb which...wait for it...helps advertisers place their ads next to relevant content.

Wow. It might just be time for a nap after hearing this startling news. That was a lot to digest. We might have to go revise every media plan we lazily whipped out yesterday and re-direct all our online ad placements to media that - thanks to this study - actually have something to do with what we're advertising. OMG! What a novel concept. We'll look like heroes in front of the client! Sorry, that nap's gonna have to wait. "Julie, quit giving the interns hard ons with that tiny miniskirt and go get me those media plans!"

Free, Add-Supported Games Coming to A Mobile Phone Near You

Ad-supported mobile game distributor and mobile ad network company, Greystripe, today announced an agreement with Vivendi Games Mobile to distribute ten ad-supported titles which will be offered free through Greystripe's online and mobile gaming portal GameJump and through its AdWRAP Catalog Platform.

Game titles include After Dark, Flying Toaster and Amy's Hangman, as well as some Garfield titles including Garfield Bowling, Garfield Euchre and Garfield Mice Sweeper. The mobile games will be distributed through Greystripe's AdWRAP Catalog Platform channels along with 21 web and mobile website partner and GameJump.

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Advertising's Old-School Tonnage Model Irks Reader

An Adrants reader has some pleading words for those behind the Toyota media buy. "Can't Toyota come up with another commercial to rotate with that stupid 'ran out of gas' ad with the girl laughing at her date? Every day every channel, I'm over it."

Can't the ad industry come up with another method of advertising than the old school tonnage model? Aren't we past that yet? Are we still dumb enough to think people want to see the same crap over and over again? Aren't we smart enough to realize this is chance to go to the client and ask for more money to produce a new commercial every one (except this guy, apparently) will skip over with their DVRs? Aren't we aware the consumer has been burned out since the turn of the century? Aren't we smart enough to come up with something better? Aren't we?