Homeless People Used to Condemn Use of Homeless People In Ads

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Dripping with egotistical irony, this Giovanni+Draftfcb Rio de Janeiro-created campaign for the Creative Club of Rio de Janeiro rips on the nation's apparent obsession with the use of homeless and disabled people in advertising seemingly to achieve creative brilliance and win awards at their expense.

With headlines, "I helped a copywriter become a creative director", "I've made a creative team win a lion at Cannes" and "Thanks to us. An art director had his salary doubled," pulls no punches while, at the same time, does the very thing it's trying to stop.

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by Steve Hall    Jun- 6-07    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Good, Poster



Delta's New Campaign Is So Fetch

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In yet another example advertising is clearly not the place to let loose your jive-talking, yo dude, phat fetchisms, Copyranter points us to the new Delta outdoor campaign currently assaulting New Yorkers from all angles. What the new campaign like? It's fly, my friend, fly.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 5-07    
Topic: Bad, Outdoor



Orbitz Game Sucks. Can They Do Anything Right?

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This Orbitz game, which involves some really weak shakram-like throwing, is amusing until you realize how much it sucks, which takes about 35 seconds.

It's also way too salesy. Why don't you give Wrigley's a call? They know how to throw together simple brand-oriented games that are actually fun.

Orbitz last disappointed us about a month ago.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Games



Haggar Makes Reverse Sexual Harassment Cool

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Writing on Make the Logo Bigger, Bill Green questions Crispin Porter Bogusky's use of sexual harassment in the office place as the focal point of one of its commercials for Haggar. Because the spot focuses on male sexual harassment, it's perfectly fine to turn it into one big joke. Watch the spot. Now watch it again but imagine the men as women and the women as men. Would that approach be acceptable? Would it pass the PC test? We think not.

Yea, yea. We know. It's a joke. We get it. But consider this. Why is it OK to joke about male sexual harassment while, at the same time, it's not OK to joke about female sexual harassment?

by Steve Hall    Jun- 1-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



Virgin: 'You Rule! Oops, Except Not.'

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For its new geo-specific campaign "You Rule," meant to push its no-commitment cell phone service, Virgin Mobile made a big oops in the Big Apple, installing neighborhood-specific ads in the wrong neighborhoods.

This wouldn't be a huge issue if not for the fact that some wrongly-placed ads are actually trashing the neighborhoods they've found themselves in.

To note, an unspecified number of Upper West Side posters have been placed on the Upper East Side. And they say really clever things like, "...because up here it's not cool to be tied down and uptight. If you want to live like that, move to Greenwich, or at least across the park."

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by Angela Natividad    May-31-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Outdoor



Lee Cooper: Great Ass-Cop, or Just a Great Ass?

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In case you wondered what happened to Buddy Lee, he's taking advantage of his height and conducting ass inspections.

This winning spot demonstrates for maybe the umpteenth time that most anything can be sold with a whole lot of ass and a whole lot of tacked-on moan tracks. And while we've never felt inclined to see another person's southern comfort that close, we're sure somebody got off on it, which means the ad wasn't completely for naught.

Dude what is with the tent camera?

by Angela Natividad    May-30-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Commercials



Carl's Jr Gets Butthurt Over Butt Joke

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Under the playful slogan "Where's the Angus," Jack in the Box released an ad in which Jack shows JITB employees where sirloin is located on a cow.

In the ad, one employee points out that the competition is selling Angus Burgers and asks where "the Angus area of the cow" is located. After a pause, the puzzled Jack, standing beside the, uh, rear region of the illustration, says, "I'd rather not." End spot with the usual brand roll-up.

But the cute schoolyard poke is not the funniest part. Apparently the butthurt (read: peevishly pissed-off) CKE Restaurants, whose Carls Jr. chain pushes the Angus, is taking Jack to court.

The paperwork claims the ad (and others under the same slogan) creates "The erroneous notion that all cuts of Angus beef are derived from the anus of beef cattle."

Before you point and laugh, step back and remember how upset you felt when some boy looked at you and asked if you had a pencil sharpener. And you totally fell for it. Then and only then can you fully conceive of the private angst the Angus-pushers must be suffering.

See ad at MSNBC.com.

by Angela Natividad    May-30-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands



Questionably Named Jig-A-Loo Repels, Lubricates

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This is so bad it's good because it knows we'll know it's bad and think it's good even though it knows we'll say it's bad but mean it's good. Got it? No. OK then just watch this video for Jigaloo, a recently introduced to the States invisible, odorless, stain-free, all around lubricant (no, not that kind you pervert) and water repellent. Watch as sticky windows are opened and the President gets "unstuck." Unfortunately, it's name is way too close to the not so nice racial slur, jigaboo.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials, Good, Video



Hardee's Wants You to Have Sex With Its Mega-Burger

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It's one thing to use a sexy, scantily clad woman to, by association, promote your mega-burger of the month. It's another thing entirely to liken the eating of that mega-burger to the eating...uh...spending intimate time with that sexy, scantily-clad woman. But that's what Hardee's is doing in its latest babe-on-a-burger commercial in which Patty counts down the ten steps of eating the burger like you were having sex with her. Sex with a woman, groovy. Sex with a burger, eeew.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



UK Mac vs PC Ads Even Less Palatable than US Variations

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Update. We're not too keen on the UK variations on Apple's Mac vs PC campaign, but user comments suggest they're really rather awesome in a UK kind of way.

Guess you have to be there. On this side of the pond, however, the variations really make you appreciate the kind, if condescending, chemistry between Justin Long and that-other-guy.

The ads feature actors Mitchell and Webb of a sitcom called Peepshow, whose vibe can perhaps be most easily compared to Larry David's painfully awkward Curb Your Enthusiasm.

by Angela Natividad    May-23-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Commercials