President Bush Sells Pizza in New Zealand

Photo usage rights aside, President George Bush appears on a billboard which promotes a New Zealand pizza chain called Hell. Likely capitalizing on anti-American feelings, the board reads, "Hell. Too Good For Some Evil Bastards." Once George sees this, it's only a matter of time before a smart bomb finds its way across the globe and through this billboard.

Dog No Longer Man's Best Friend in Opal Viral

Adland points to another funny Opal viral from McCann Erikson and MRM Partners which brings back memories of the Ford EvilTwin and Ford SportKa cat decapitation virals. In this viral, no animal gets decapitated but a cute, fluffy dog does get pushed aside for man's new best friend: the Opal Astra GTC.

Clothing Retailer Uses Sex Education to Sell Clothes

A small Michigan agency, named Hawairish because one of the partners is Hawaiian and the other Irish, has done some interesting work for local clothing retailer, Incognito which speaks to the importance of the now for teens.

Agency partner Ty Hutchinson explains the work thusly, "We know what teens think. One wrong move could end their life as they know it. Whether it be a parental embarrassment, dating the wrong person, being seen on the wrong side of the lunchroom or wearing the wrong fashion. It really was a simple solution for us - agree with them. This is an important time. In fact, every other stage of life sucks. The result is edgy but right for the audience."

The creative was produced as in-store posters and a website will be launched in the near future. A second version of the poster can bee seen here.

Atari to Host Graffiti-thon For New Game

Atari will host a graffiti-thon street festival on August 24 to promote the release of it graffiti-based game "Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure" by designer Marc Ecko. At the event, held August 24th on 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues from 12:00PM - 8:00PM, 20 artists will spray-paint 48 by 8 foot replicas of New York's blue-bird subway cars.

A lineup of graffiti artists, from the notorious COPE2 to T-KID, who first started writing on trains as early as 1974, will spend the day doing full color murals on the vintage trains. Other participating graf writers include Dash, West, Ces, Sonic, Iz the Wiz, Min, Duro, Wane, Wen, Dero, Cycle, Smith, Lady Pink, Doc, Kel 1st, Mare139, Crash, Daze, Ghost, and the Tats Crew.

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Gold Industry Signs Marketing Deal With Joss Stone

The World Gold Council has signed a deal with Joss Stone, recently seen in GAP ads, to appear in the group's "Speak Gold" ad campaign. A four-page spread, shot by fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, will appear an October Conde Nast Fashion Rocks supplement inserted in Conde Nast Traveler, Glamour, Lucky, Self, Vogue, Vanity Fair and W. In the ad, Stone will be decked in Italian jeweler Di MODOLA's gold jewelery collection.

Agency Creative Proves Ad People Are Beautiful

If you thought advertising was an ugly business, New York magazine's The Most Beautiful New Yorkers may change your outlook a bit with its selection of 24-year-old Merkely + Partners Creative Department Coordinator Tatiana Moses as one of New York's most beautiful specimens...uh...people. Ad Freak reports she and her boyfriend were approached by a photographer who wanted her boyfriend's picture but she asked that her picture be taken as well just for fun. Oddly, she was chosen for the list and her boyfriend was not.

It's all good for agency publicity though. We're quite sure she'll grab more attention than these Merkely + Partner management guys.

Book Promoted With Pet Killing Game

To promote a book, called Dead Pets, about pet cemataries, cruel animal death in movies, the stunt doubles that make that happen, pet afterlife and its religious implications and, yes, recipes for cooking pets, book publisher Canon Gate has launched a microsite, with ghoulish music, where you can play "whack a pet with a bat." We're sure it's all done humorously. We hope. It was created by Small Oranges.

Like young lovers finding out how much fun it is to kiss each other, book publishers can't seem to get enough of these kooky promotions for their books. But, with this execution, is the trend dead before it even began?

Court TV Creates Advertecture

Court TV has erected a piece of "advertecture," a huge banner that looks like the building it is draped upon but carries artistic renderings of windowscapes and, of course, the Court TV logo. If you look closely, you can one apartment dweller about to be whacked with a butcher's knife while other tenants are oblivious. Can you say voyeurism? The board is located on King Street in New York's Soho neighborhood and was created by Venables, Bell & Partners. Other images here and here.

Milwaukee Drill Powers Helicopter

In this commercial which involves drills and helicopters, the power of the new cordless Milwaukee V28, lithium ion-powered drill is clearly and humorously displayed.

Movie Mom Overreacts to Movie Billboards

Obviously never having worked in advertising thus having no clue as to the lead times needed to get a movie billboard campaign up and running which usually occurs before the movie is rated, Yahoo's Movie Mom, Nell Minow is accusing studios of placing billboards for R rated movies without the rating thereby, she claims, attracting interest in the movie by kids too young to watch the movie. Aside from the fact that ratings, when they do appear on a billboard, are unreadable at driving speeds, Minow seems to have forgotten the Mom part of her title. As far as we know, the parent is the one makes the determination whether or not their child will see a movie if the rating, which is always available upon release date, is not within their comfort zone.