McDonald's Celebrates Open Late With Red Carpet Events

OK. Who knew going to McDonald's late at night was such a big deal. Apparently a few people in Oklahoma City do. Enough to show up for a red carpet-style event put together by Wave Omnimedia Group. Patrons heading to the restaurant had their pictures taken on the red carpet and their likeness projected on a large shadow wall.

You can see a video of the event here and photos here. Other red carpet events will take place July 4 and August 1.

World's Funniest Ads Hit TBS Tonight

Make sure you don't miss TBS's airing of Very Funny Ads' World's Funniest Ads tonight at 9 EST. Or you could just go to VeryFunnyAds.com and see them. Either way, have a look. And you can vote for your favorites as well.

Some of the ads you'll see are Cadbury's freaky Eyebrow ad, Pepsi's Octopus, Renault's Football, Volkswagen's Dog-Fish and AmbiPur's Fart.

Even in Death, Michael Jackson Sells Pepsi

Wholly unintentional, Pepsi is enjoying a bit of added exposure in Times Square. It's signage is placed all around a digital display which is paying tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who died yesterday.

Most brands don't willingly take advantage of a celebrity's death but it's a sure bet a few people at Pepsi and the brand's agency aren't complaining about this coincidental confluence of events.

Barack Obama Helps Improve Perception of Illinois Lawyers

See if you can find Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama in this Abraham Lincoln mosaic, part of a perception improvement campaign for Illinois State Bar Association. Created by & Wojdyla (yea, that's not a typo. what's up with these agency names?), the campaign consist of mobile billboards and posters.

Also appearing the in 3,055 head shot image are Stephan Douglas, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan and (Abe's son) Robert Todd Lincoln.

The campaign will make its debut this Sunday at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade.

Create A Playlist Video. Win A Nokia 5800

The 7th Chamber has seeded a video which promotes Nokia'a 5800 phone. The entire video is spoken in song titles and album covers. On the site, people can create their own song title playlist video, submit it and get a chance to win a Nokia 5800.

So while the lucky (unlucky?) ones are in Cannes this week, the rest of us can get all creative and win a phone.

But here's a thought. All these contests. What aren't they all one by people working in advertising? After all, we're supposed to crank this shit out in our sleep, right? Why is it always some pimple-faced teenager that wins these things? Are contests beneath us? Do we refuse to be creative unless we are paid? Are we just lazy? What's the deal?

Cannes Lions: Real Winnars in Cyber, Design and Press

Last night was the Cannes Lions awards event for Design, Press and Cyber efforts. As always, for the full list of winners, go hithery-dithery. But here are the Grand Prix winners for each category:

For DESIGN: "Paper Battlefield" for Nike Hong Kong by McCann Worldgroup/Causeway Bay.

For PRESS: "We Are Animals," that creepy bejeaned-human-meets-carnal-instinct campaign by FRED & FARID/Paris for Wrangler.

For CYBER: "Best Job in the World" -- which is seriously cleaning up this year -- by Cumminsnitro/Brisbane for Tourism Queensland.

"Eco:Drive" by AKQA/London for Fiat also scored a Cyber Grand Prix, as did "Why So Serious?" for Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight. The latter campaign is a typical piece of elaborate genius by the folks at 42 Entertainment/Pasadena, whose every project is not so much advertising as it is grand oeuvre.

more »

Cannes Lions: More Ambient Guilt Lubrication.

Hey, Cannes Lions delegates! Have a big heaping slice of buzzkill, brought to you by Weisser Ring!

I get that these are for a good cause. Given the appropriate context, these particular pieces are damn stirring.

But given that this image ornaments the exterior of the Palais and these ads plaster the interior, you gotta wonder: which sadistic member of the ad festival planning committee picked out this year's damaged kids motif?

Cannes Lions: Soaking in Saint Antoine with Shannon

The other night I had dinner with Shannon Stephaniuk of Glossy Inc. Because she's an old-school Ad Fest attendee, she brought me up the narrow, picturesque Rue Saint Antoine -- one of the staples of Old Town Cannes, where few fresh ad folk venture.

Ended up having dinner on the terrasse at Le Chaperon Rouge, where foie gras comes cooked and snails are extra-salty. We also experienced more than our fair share of pupil-dilating Priceless! moments, two of which I managed to record.

(Granted, they both happen to be street-guys-for-profit moments, but that's life in the jungle for you.)

more »

Wrath of Cannes Thursday Night!

- Don't miss Wrath of Cannes! It's tomorrow from 7-10P at the East River Bar.

- Amidst Cannes, New York Festivals announced the 2009 Grand Trophy winners, honoring six countries with the coveted award. This year's Grand Trophy recipients include: CumminsNitro, Australia; Publicis, France; and BBDO/Proximity Malaysia. The United State also received three Grand Awards, honoring BBDO NY, Big Ant International and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

- Do you laugh or do you cry when you watch this New Zealand safe-driving PSA?

- Dos Equis Most Interesting Man is now a professor at the Most Interesting Academy.

- Zugara has launched an online shopping application that's destined to make online shopping much easier.

Say No to Plumping

Calling attention the to the practice of plumping, injecting chicken meat with salt water to increase size, weight and cost, Foster Farms has launched Say No to Plumping, a website that features two chickens, Betsy and Martha, talking to each other about plumping as if it were a botox treatment.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the work. The site also includes plumping facts and figures, how to detect a plumper, links to health resources and an interactive "Plumpinator" calculator to help site people calculate how much money they waste on saltwater from plumped chicken each year.

Seriously. If we all just stepped back and took a look at the idiotically stupid, inane and unhealthy things we do as humans simply to make an extra buck or two, we'd actually laugh. Seriously. Injecting chickens with water to make them...what...taste more like water and less like chickens? Are we really that idiotic?