Newsflash! Stickman Trapped Inside LG Phone!

To hype the launch of the LG KP500 Cookie touch screen phone in Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, some cruel soul thought they'd trap a stick man inside the phone. This video is the outcome of that creative genius. The poor guy manages to get out once only to be stuffed back inside for a lifetime of torture.

Anything to sell a phone.

For Every Air Hump You Vouch For, Someone Out There Gets Protection.

We've all fantasized about making a living out of sex, drugs and poorly-tuned instruments. So it's likely we've all played air guitar -- the process of using your fingers to make sweet love to an instrument that isn't really there.

Thus inspired, McCann/Paris launched Safe Air Sex, a campaign that takes the concept of air guitar and applies it to (SAFE!) sex. Confused? Watch Rabbit Man molest valuable O2 after shimmying an invisible condom onto his imaginary three-foot jimmy. (We love how, to segue into condom application, he goes, "Stop. In the name of love.")

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VW's 'Surrealism' Touts Absurdly Low Gas Consumption!

Volkswagen looks to the Surrealists to promote its Polo BlueMotion's "absurdly low consumption." A Magritte-inspired print is at left; here's another in the style of Dali.

Fuel plays a big part in both pieces, and I like how neither ad outrightly says it's inspired by this or that artist. People that know will get a nice cuddly feeling in their tummies (or maybe rant and rave about the flagrant commercialism of art). And people that don't can still ravish the visuals with their eyes.

Work by DDB/Berlin.

Minneapolis Brings Glad to Mad Men

The use of the beloved Mad Men for agency-related promotions is in serious danger of jumping the shark. Hey, it's a great show and there have been some interesting homages but you all know how the ad industry works. If something becomes cool and is played up as cool, it loses it's cool faster than agencies will lose employees come January.

So, here's yet another Mad Men-themed agency holiday message, this time from Minneapolis-based Gabriel deGrood Bendt. It's not bad. Not at all. But there's only so much Mad Men one can take.

Dare Ice Coffee Lessens Blow of 'The Coffee Moment'

So guys, when your girlfriend stops, gives you a serious look and asks, "Hey babe, can we grab a coffee?", does your mind race with fear over the horror you are about to experience? Because, inevitably, these "coffee moments" are never about discussing the weather.

In this commercial for Dare Ice Coffee, that question sets off a terrifying onslaught of imagined outcomes in the mind of a guy whose girlfriend just asked him that very question.

His solution? Have a Dare Ice Coffee instead. While it's not clear how a bottled ice coffee would change the "coffee moment," the metaphor expressed in the tagline, "The coffee moment without the moment," does relieve a bit of stress if only for a few seconds.

Barbarian Group Named Digital Company of the Year

It's no secret we've loved Barbarian Group from the start. From the first time we heard of them back in the days of Subservient Chicken to its more recent work for CNN and Dove, they have always impressed. And not just with their work but with who they are as people.

So we're super pleased they were just named Creativity magazine's Digital Company of the Year.

Co-Founders Rick Webb, Robert Hodgin, Keith Butler and Benjamin Palmer are amazingly talented. Boston office President Bruce Winterton is a great guy. Uber PR pro/Director of Communications Eva McCloskey does a stellar job telling the agency's story. They host amazing parties. What's not to love?

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Out of Work Animation Seeks Employment

This Christmas card from Manchester-based AHD imaging in which an out of work computer-generated character, AHD168, finds itself homeless and destitute strikes a cord. With this one video, AHD has accomplished two things; it's wished everyone a Happy Christmas and it's looking for work, something a lot of companies are doing these days.

So come on, help out an unemployed animation (company).

'Carol of the Pickles' Stops Short ... for Murder.

In this tiny burg populated by upright-standing pickles, the townsfolk come out, don hats and carol for the viewing pleasure of omnivorous predators.

All's well until a giant hand reaches down and takes a big noisy bite out of a baby pickle -- right after his solo. The savage! Mangled bits of soured cucumber fall from the sky, a disturbing yellow stain splashes across the snow, bystanders vomit relish ... and the miracle of singing dill becomes a wretched crime scene.

By Firehouse/Dallas, which, as of this moment, are the only people we want to invite to our birthday party.

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Burger King Fails With BK Boxers

Of Burger King Boxers' inclusion on TippingSprung's Best Innovations & Worst Line Extensions survey, Laura Ries toled BrandWeek, "While people love the Whopper, they don't want to parade around in underwear that says, 'This is where my big, fat ass came from.'"

According to the survey, 45.5 percent thought the Burger King underwear line extension was the single most inappropriate line extension. Also topping the list were Kellog's hip-hop street wear and Kanye West's travel site.

Seriously. What was burger King thinking?

FirstBank's Cop-Out Gifts Help Stingies Save Scrilla

To prove how far it's willing to go to help you save, FirstBank encourages holiday spendthrifts to snap digital photos of its ads -- and repurpose them as presents.

The idea's a lot funnier than it sounds. At left is an outdoor ad with a generic piece of art, which you can photograph, frame and pass on to unwitting (or undeserving) family members.

Other cheapskate gifts include a star adoption certificate (which we're actually thinking of using) and a homemade jam label.

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