Gratuitous sex sell alert! Now you can't say we didn't warn you. Apparently hot girls and erections are now the method of choice for financial services recruitment. It seems a position with Optiver allows one to have a successful, rewarding career in financial services without burning out or losing one's lust for life. One of these two men on the park bench who watch the ubiquitous hottie prance by in this ad has, as clearly illustrated, not lost his ability to raise the bar.
On Tuesday, we reported Jennifer Love Hewitt would be reprising her role as Hanes spokeswoman to promote the company's All-Over Comfort Bra. Hewitt will appear in :15 and :30 commercials as well as in print. The television commercials, breaking tonight on American Idol, feature Hewitt struggling with ill-fitting bras during a photo shoot until she she finds the perfect Hanes bra. The entire campaign will direct people to www.hanes.com/photoshoot for additional behind-the-scenes footage and commercial outtakes, an interactive "Bra Toss" game and sweepstakes for consumers, as well as a blog where consumers can vent about their biggest bra challenges.
You can see the new commercial, view the out takes, play the game, share bad bra stories and see more of Jennifer Love Hewitt in all her glory here.
Just what happens when every other agency in a $100 million account pitch, except yours, drops out? Do you open a case of Heineken and celebrate? That's a bit unclear for Berlin Cameron which finds itself in that position right now as every other agency has dropped out of the $100 million Heineken account pitch. Weiden + Kennedy was the latest agency to throw in the towel claiming "a difference in strategic direction" as told to Advertising Age. Berlin Cameron already handles Heineken's Premium Light account but neither Heineken nor Berlin are commenting yet on the status of the pitch.
Now if ad*itive and Reebok had chosen, oh, say, Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan instead of Scarlett Johansson for the company's new Scarlett Hearts apparel and footwear campaign which carries the headline, "I Am More Than A Cover Story," the ad might have carried more weight. While Scarlett is certainly cover story material, it's not like she captures the mind of America like some of the more famous starlets we have.
She's much better suited to the new Disney World campaign that just broke in GQ and other mags in which she appears as Cinderella along with Beyonce Knwles as Alice, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare, Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter and David Beckham as Prince Philip.
While we're sure retail campaigns like Gap's (red) and Kenneth Cole's Are You Putting Us On? mean well, they don't always ring sincere to the adxhausted audience they aim for.
With fingers on the pulse of a social backlash, Words Pictures Ideas and Romantic Static marry up to bring us the cynical Buy Less Crap, a pithy-prints effort pushing for less, not more, purchase-oriented donation.
In contrast to Gap's campaign, where donations are tied to purchasing (red) clothing modeled in the ads, (less) ads feature naked models with headings like (red)icu(less), meaning(less) and point(less). The website lists multiple charities where people can donate without having to purchase a heart-warming hoodie.
This isn't the first spoof on Gap's (red) but we dig the way it makes the point. While we see the benefit of turning philanthropy into its own sort of brand in a consumer culture, we can't shake the feeling there's a conflict of interest in blurring the lines between purchase and social responsibility.
In the pantheon of unintended hilarious road signage comes this image from Adrants reader Andy Malis who passed by a Maryland Friendly's on his way to work and simply had to turn around and capture the image for us. Family friendly Friendly's is now providing its patrons free sexual satisfaction as long as they buy five new sandwiches. We think this sign will be coming down soon.
Promotions like the Carl's. Jr./Hardee's Spicy Buffalo conjure up major differences between Adrants editors. To start with, Hardee's for Steve is Carl's, Jr. for Angela, who is going, "WTF is Hardee's? Talk about a double-entendre!"
It also brings up the gender issue. While Steve can be sold by the buffalo wings by both the blonde (who knows our names!) and the sandwich, Angela can't help thinking, "I'm tired of sexy girls undressing to sell me shit. What happened to the Chippendale market? Doesn't Kasey Kahne want to sell me something? Jude Law? This guy?"
Come on, Carl's Jr. (or Hardee's, as applicable). The ovarian gender isn't all just eating salad over here. We have needs too. Show us some buffalo.
Hi. It's Steve. Angela, Chippendales? They wear Speedos! G Strings! Eew! Make me puke! I'll take a sexy girl undressing to sell me shit any day of the week thank you very much! And what's with the sexy image in your article here? Huh? Huh? Who's perpetuating the sex sells theme now? :-)
Steve - Speedos and male G-strings are the warrior loincloths of today. What could be hotter than a warrior in meat-slaying battle gear? Yeah, can't think of anything, can you? I rest my case.
And PS. Unconditional purchasing allegiance to the prototype Barbie blonde? So passe. I'd venture to call it Neanderthalic, but even the Geico caveman's too cool for that. >=) *Flips hair*
Oh but Angela. We men pride ourselves on our Neanderthalic simplicity. Why bother with all that overly complex emotional stuff that bogs you ladies down when a simple "Dude, we cool" and a busty blond in a bikini will do it for us every time? Simplicity, baby!
I can't beat the simplicity argument. *long pause* Man, losing to you sucks. I think I'm going to head back to my room, cry and listen to Jagged Edge's cover of "All Out Of Love" on repeat.
It's all good. What would Adrants be with out fair and balanced coverage? Oh wait. Fair and balanced? We don't do that? That wouldn't be any fun. And we like fun so we're just going to keep writing about politically incorrect, thong-clad hotties who hate gun control, love suicide, hate PETA (but love to appear nude in their ads), like sex with midgets, think ads that make men look stupid are cool, like to make fun of fast food workers and think kids who get fat at McDonald's is because of their own stupidity and not that or marketers.
Hardee's and Carl's Jr. are up to their spicy hotness again. If you remember, this is the restaurant chain that had Paris Hilton slather herself all over a Bently while eating a giant hamburger. Now, with help from Spacedog Interactive, the chain has enlisted the services of another delicious-looking (hey, we're talking about food here so we can use the word delicious if we want!) blond named Ashley Hartman who takes center stage on the company's Spicy Buffalo site and alluringly frolics about for your pleasure. It's all to promote the chain's new Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.
On the site, you'll find a description of the sandwich, a history of Frank's Red Hot Sauce, a behind the scenes look at the commercial shoot and, of course, the spots themselves. The best line in the commercials: Good thing chickens have big breasts. Yes, the entire thing is laced with double entendres and we love everyone of them. Bring on the cause groups!
Without question, this President's Day (yes, the dealers now think it's President's Month) promotion from New York/ Long Island Honda Dealers is, by far, the best promotional work we've ever seen from a car dealer. In a nod (well, basically a complete rip off) to Jib Jab, the video (click the talk bubble next to George Washington) on the site has a collection of Presidents rapping about the great deals you can get at the dealership. In true dealership style, the video breaks down the cost of an Accord LX lease to $6.41 per day aligning it closely to a cup of Starbucks coffee.
If you went to the movies this past weekend, you might have seen what initially appeared to be a trailer for Saw IV but turned out to be a Scion promotion directing people to, by far, the weirdest site we've ever seen called Want2BSquare. The trailer, the site and wild posting are all part of an ATTIK-created promotion for the car maker's 2008 xB. Accompanying the campaign over the next two months will be virally-intentioned videos, events and guerrilla marketing (watch out Boston).
At the site, which creates a square universe, we are told, "visitors are encouraged to explore an expansive world, play games against other visitors, view a wealth of video content celebrating the xB's boxy shape, and discover other quirky experiences. These actions lead to the accumulation of points that can be redeemed for an array of prizes ranging from Scion key chains to DJ turntables." If the Internet were around when the "This is your brain on drugs" campaign first launched, this would have been the site leading the campaign. Truly kooky stuff. And fun. We especially like the Urban Zoo.
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