HDTV Makes Traumatic Impact on Collision Kind

Martijn over at Fresh Creation pointed us to this ad for Videotron, which sought to emphasize the HDTV experience with a crash test dummy.

We dig the voice-over and the concept, but why haven't crash test dummies been retired to the annals of old-school yet?

Boy Band Lovers Get Juicy Fix in Fruit Guys

We never get tired of a rip on boy bands, especially when the pith is as thinly-veiled as it is on Fruit Guy Fans, a site for a Fruit of the Loom-sponsored boy band whose costumes are just as fruity as its music.

The concept's actually pretty sound, resisting the urge to go over the top like so many other parodies (or not) tend to. Download MP3s for would-be one-hit wonders like "You Can't Overlove." Our favorite is "Dream."

Thanks Bill for the heads-up and the bad poetry.

Why Deal with Unpredictable Personalities When You Can Make Your Own?

This really takes egocasting to the next level. For those who find even virtual networking a problem, Brando gives you USB Virtual Friends, which enable you to invest a little plastic buddy with all the qualities you really need in a desktop partner. Including a photo.

Far from a mere memory-logger, these dolls give you a virtual world where you are master. Give them personalities and your choice of over 100 preprogrammed dialogues for communication.

Available in Virtual Boyfriend, Virtual Girlfriend ($17, respectively) or sets ($30).

The Sun Shall Not Shine OnThis Cold Fosters

Some people will go to great lengths to keep their beer cold. Other people, such as the chap in this M&C Saatchi-created Fosters commercial, are simply insane. Or, he have the ability to detect, perhaps, a tenth of a degree temperature difference that might be caused by the sun walking from the bar to his beach chair. While his buddies are ogling beach beauties, this guy is acrobatically following tiny bits of shade to protect his beer from the sun.

YouTube Debuts In-Video Ad Unit

It seems Google's YouTube has debuted a new in-video style ad format. It's not pre-roll. It's not post roll. It's a transparent banner that appears on the bottom of the screen several seconds after beginning of the video which the user can either minimize or click on. If clicked, in the case of this example, the advertiser's video opens and plays within the same YouTube video window as the original content. Once the advertiser's video has played or if the close/minimize button is clicked, the original video commences playback right where it left off.

So it's a bit of a mashup between banner advertising and the standard :30 with a bit or user-controlled DVR-like behavior tossed it. It's certainly new. It's definitely different and we have to admit, we like it a lot.

MPAA Dirties Hands with Fake Torrent for Pirate-Busting

There's nothing dirtier than a self-righteous agency that dips into unarguably unethical practices to nail, uh, unethical practices.

So with that completely objective introduction, we present you with Miivi.net. "Hey," you say. "That site doesn't exist." That's because it was taken down after a "D'oh!" by the MPAA, which realized, the hard way, that pirates - real pirates - stick together.

With help from an equally pompous agency called Media Defender, the MPAA launched fake movie torrent Miivi, which promised "fast and easy downloading all in one great site." The real purpose of the great site was to catch sinners in the act of sinning. There was even an app that simplified the downloading process.

Pirate Bay called shenanigans, leaking news of the gross deception to ZeroPaid. The site got pulled shortly thereafter.

Dumbasses.

Adrants Targeted by Miami Serial Killer

Holy shit! It seems we've been targeted by a Miami serial killer according to a WBFX news report. Curiously, all five of the serial killer's victims have been male, in their 30's and work in the media industry. Chillingly, our name has been scrawled in blood on a wall in Miami and on a piece of paper found by the police naming us the killer's next victim. Even more chillingly, we were just in Miami for a conference.

In fear, we've barricaded ourselves into our offices with one inch thick back issues of Vogue and blocked the the windows with the hundreds of Casale Media bags we've collected at ad:tech conferences over the years. The police have been called and we hope the industry's prayers are with us.

OK, OK. It's all just one of those personalized video promotions, this time, for the Showtime series Dexter which will begin airing on FX in the UK.

Car, Gun, Fight, Poker, Breast-Filled Promo Reaches Orgasmic Conclusion

Spike TV, to promote it's manliness, has tossed all manner of stereotypically manly imagery including fast cars, guns, fist fights, poker and water-drenched, bikini-clad, moaning women squeezing their breasts together into a promo which ends, of course, with an orgasmic explosion. OK, we get it. Spike TV is all about men.

Phillies Act Like Idiotic Fans to Promote Game With Pirates

Players in the Philadelphia Phillies dugout, like bleacher buffoons playing to the camera, act out all manner of baseball fan stupidity to drum up interest in a series of games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ad agency Bubble in Philadelphia created.

Client Demands AE Ask Permission to Take Vacation

AdPulp's David Burn points to anonymous ad blog Agency Tart on which the writer castrates his (or her) client for telling him permission should have been requested when he told the client Monday he'd be out of the office this Wednesday through Monday...but fully available via Blackberry. We all know some clients like to keep their agency folk on a tight leash but after laughing at the client thinking the whole thing was a joke, Agency Tart minced no words over being treated like a kid and wrote, "[the client] proceeded to tell me that he expects me to clear it in advance with him any time I plan to take off, as it might not 'coincide with the company's needs.' You gotta be kidding me. While I'm gone, I'll scour the souvenir shops looking for a device that will help him get his head out of his ass."

Clearing your vacation with your immediate supervisor, yes. Sharing your vacation plans with your client, yes. Being required to ask your client if you can take time off like a second grader asking his teacher to go to the bathroom...um, not so much.