Hot Chic Points Out Addictiveness of Cigarettes

Using the delightfully lustful imagery of the typical male fantasy, this American Legacy commercial aligns the allure of cigarettes to that of the hot neighbor next door. The spot is part of a new multi-city health program aimed at acknowledging the difficulties of quitting smoking and offering resources to make the job easier. The spot points to BecomeAnEx.org where those resources can be found.

College Notebooks Become Ad Medium

If there are still college students who use notebooks versus laptops for note taking then a new company called Unotes just might have an interesting new method of advertising to the hard to reach demographic segment. Launching in January, Unotes plans to take the lowly 5-subject notebook and turn it into an ad medium selling glossy four color divider pages, the back cover and watermarked pages and using that revenue to provide the notebooks to students for free. There's a charity angle as well with part of the proceeds going to First Book, an organization that provides books to children of low income families. We've seen the prototype and we like what we see. The program will role out nationally in September.

Along with Unotes notebooks, the website yet to launch Unotes.info will offer a virtual world of sorts which will mimick a college campus and college town complete with, yes, embedded brand promotions and other good stuff such as branded ringtones, MP3s, screensavers, wallpaper, buddy icons, video clips and advergames. It's not up yet so we can't comment on its viability though it's intended specifically not to be a Facebook-like place but rather an environment full of deals which studdents can seek out.

Steve Irwin Appears at Satan's Halloween Bash on South Park

Old hat at nipping at current events that rile people up, South Park works its boat-rocking magic in an October 25th episode featuring a smiling Steve Irwin, who shows up at Satan's Halloween party with a stingray hanging out of his chest.

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PS3 Capitalizes on Fact that Naked Baby Dolls Are Always Scary

As members of a generation haunted by films like Child's Play and Puppet Master, as opposed to those weirded out by the non-sensical ending of 2001:A Space Odessey, it's only natural that we feel unduly sensitive to the new ad for Playstation 3, in which a naked doll laughs and cries in unsettling ways while alone with the new console.

Fuck that, man. We're not taking it home to wreak havoc with our toys. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Wine Vendors Make Festive Ads Without Grapes or Sun-Kissed Leaves

In the spirit of Halloween, Quebecois wine purveyor SAQ is conducting a rabais mystere (mystery reduction) promotion. We think the print ads are satisfyingly creepy considering other wine companies hedge their bets with shots of vineyards that go on forever and that's about all. See another version of the ad here. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Candystand Flirts with Slightly Sexier Animation in Mini Putt

Candystand may not feature a sex-ridden, Adrants-inspired carwashing game featuring the blonde Wrigley's twins anytime soon, but after seeing the trailer they sent us for the Mini Putt game that's coming out we're more certain than ever we can convince them.

Video game females are so unrealistically, deliciously contorted. Better still, you can change their outfits before they get out on the green. Oh, and the music is cool too. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Dominos' Oreo Desert Pizza the New Obesity Drug

It's official. Burger King and McDonald's are no longer the whipping boys for obesity. If pizza alone weren't enough to add mass to your body, Dominos, with help from JWT, has created a serious food oddity: the Oreo Desert Pizza, which, along with adding to one's body mass, will also, according to this commercial, give one an Oreo Desert Pizza Mustache. Or goatee. Or beard. Or whatever. Gross. Probably tastes really good though and the commercial's funny. Directed by The Perlorian Brothers.

Advercan Introduces Biodegradable Can-Top Label

Back in October of 2004, we wrote about Advercan, a company that affixed labels to soda can tops so marketers could place advertising on cans. While we liked the idea, we chided the company pointing out all those labels would do a good job keeping landfills busy. Making nice, the company has now introduced a new labeling product that is pulp-based, biodegradable and completely hygienic. Advercan is working with Innovia, 3M and Alcan as well as beverage companies pepsi, Coke, Cadbury Schweppes, Miller and others to make cans a viable advertising medium. Not a bad idea since no one watches TV anymore but everyone still drinks flavored sugar water from a can.

Movie Trailer Touts KLM 'Fly for Fortne' Online Game

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has introduced an online flying game called Fly for Fortune in which players fly to catch certain objects and avoid others. Those who are successful, are eligible to win tickets to anywhere in the world. There's a great movie trailer-style video that promotes the game and features a Cars-style talking airplane. Hmm. Disney? Maybe KLM will license their lane boy to you for your next animated blockbuster.

Sprint Brings NFL Mobile Message to People's Feet

For its client Sprint, Organic teamed with Reactrix Media Network, the company that places those six foot by eight foot interactive floor videos in malls, movie theaters and other public spaces, to develop a new game. In the game, anyone passing by the projection can kick teed up footballs in a virtual football stadium while - this is advertising, after all - Sprint branded images and the tagline, "The Power to Make Every Day Sunday. NFL Mobile, only from Sprint" appears. There's even a Sprint branded blimp in the background. The game ends with a message that urges people to visit the Sprint retailer nearby for more information about NFL Mobile.

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