Innocence Used to Promote Politically Transcendent (Tele)Communication

Adrants reader Sunil pointed us to this sleeper controversy. Did Airtel rip one of its India-based ads off this Cannes-award-winning New Zealand Telecom spot?

We're inclined to say no. The idea of two boys, innocent of politics and bonded by communication, is pretty attractive. We find both spots pretty moving in a Prince of Egypt sort of way. (Remember? "MOOOSEEEEES!")

Miller Lite Hopes Dalmatian Ad Will Sway Thrall of Bud Lite

Bartle Bogle Hegarty put together this spot, "Dalmatian," for Miller Lite. Feast your eyes on some feel-good dalmatians chasing a branded truck which, just for the heck of it, takes a friendly jab at Bud Light.

Exciting, right? Oh, wait. No.

Can't Fight Monday? Cease the Lameness. GET BETTER JOB.

There's something apocalyptic about this Monster spot by BBDO, NY. Called "Daybreak," the premise is you shouldn't have to fight Monday. To illustrate that, a bunch of people knock down their satellite dishes, grab trashcan covers and run out to do battle against the sun -- only to walk off in defeat when the sun rises anyway.

The ad made us sad. Can't a comparison be made against this futile race to beat sunrise, and the lame way we trudged (hung OVER) into the office and passive-aggressively trawled eBay for the first three hours of the morning?

The ad debuted in early January (another debuted during Lost last night), and is part of "Your Calling is Calling." Maybe we find the spots such a consistent bummer because that slogan sounds so promising. Shouldn't Sally Housewife be cupping her ear to the kitchen window and listening for the sunny Higher Calling (inevitably, her dormant talent as a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist)?

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SalesGenie Super Bowl Ads Not So Cheesy This Year

Ah yes, recall the cheesiness of last year's Super Bowl ad for Salesgenie in which a wannabe suave, debonair dude hops out of his mid-life crisis sports car and utter, "I don't work hard. I work smart." Eesh. At least this year we don't have a repeat of that debacle. But we will have cartoons. Two of them. And cheesiness works just fine in commercials.

In the first ad, a married panda bear couple is stress out because they have now customers and fear they will go out of business. Thankfully, Panda Psychic comes to the rescue and recommends Salesgenie and its 100 free leads offered new users. Love that bamboo sports car at the end.

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Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid For Yahoo

Microsoft, following its unsuccessful bid a year ago, has made an unexpected and unsolicited bid for troubled Yahoo as it continues its efforts to compete with and/or topple (never happen) Google. In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will "carefully and promptly" study Microsoft's bid. Even if the takeover doesn't happen, at least Yahoo will benefit from a 50 percent jump in its share price following the news.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer tells us, "This is a decision we have - and I have - thought long and hard about. We are confident it's the right path for Microsoft and Yahoo."

Debbie Gibson Launches Cattle Call for Acting Camp/Reality Show

Remember Debbie Gibson? You know, the one whose many hits include "Only in my Dreams" and "Electric Youth"?

We do, but just barely.

Here is an update on Debbie Gibson. To start with, you now have to call her "Deborah."

Anyway, Debbie Gibson is conducting scholarship auditions and a reality show taping for her pet project Camp Electric Youth (keep your volume down unless you want an electric deja vu attack). This is her performing arts summer camp for kids between seven and 17.

"I was the Hannah Montana of the '80s and I have a lot of experience and knowledge to offer today's aspiring performers," Debbie says. (Yeah. Like "you're never too young to start a career in reality TV.")

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VCCP Invites Watchers to Follow 'Neighbours' Elsewhere

So there's this BBC show. It's called Neighbours and it's changing stations to channel Five. To make the transition as smooth as possible, Five tapped VCCP, which came up with this sunny little print and bus campaign.

All the characters are featured in ha-ha-you-love-us! fashion, under intersecting street signs that read "Same Ramsay St." and "New home." We were like, Hey, this looks festive. Neat wallabee.

Then we thought, Why are there so many parrots in this picture? The enigma drove us to Google, where we found this.

Suburban parrot diaspora. Only in the wild and wacky UK -- or, in the case of Neighbours, Australia, apparently.

Loch Ness Monster Migrates from Scotland to Tokyo

Here's footage of the Loch Ness monster, live in Tokyo! Wait, don't pick up the crossbow just yet. It's actually just a promotion for The Water Horse.

The monster was created with help from a water screen and water jets. We hope it's not hungry for people or trucks.

Tokyo seems to be the spot where all the monsters come to play. Doesn't seeing Japanese across the screen add a realistic "monster footage!" quality to the video? We thought so, anyway.

Gawker Crowns '25 Most Memorable Super Bowl Ads'

Gawker has put together a nice list of commercials dubbed "The 25 Most Memorable Super Bowl Ads." From Budweiser's Zebra Ref to Pepsi's P. Diddy truck to Anheuser Busch's weepy (in a good way) military tribute to Reebok's Terry Tate to Robert Goulet messing with people's stuff for Emerald Nuts to FedEx's Stick and Castaway to Career Builder's Monkeys to Christopher Reeves' appearance for Nuveen to Britney Spears in her prime (such as it was) for Pepsi to ETrade's Wazoo to Monster's When I Grow Up to Budweiser's Frogs to Kevin Federline's Nationwide fantasy to classic Cindy Crawford for Pepsi to GM's suicidal robot to, of course, Apple's 1984, it's a stellar collection.

Now if only we could have one year where every spot in the game were as good as these. Well, at least we can imagine. Check out the entire collection. Unfortunately, after viewing, Sunday may be a big let down.

Adrants Plagiarizes Agency Spy's Love For UK Levi's Campaign

There are a few of these, but here's our favorite from a series of new print ads from BBH UK for Levi's. Possibly because there's so much obsessive "maleness" here at Adrants we like anything with hot girls in it? Don't look shocked. You all knew it, anyways. Possibly because we were the guy drooling at every girl who passed by in the high school hallway and had a cheesy Gold's Gym T-shirt on? No matter. Love it. Love it.

Go check out the entire collection over at Scamp's blog. You'll see that BBH has made a very cohesive, simple and effective campaign. (Or so says Agency Spy)