The internet, coupled with a war that's making everyone crazy, makes politicians out of the most unexpected people.
And no, we're not talking about Stephen Colbert.
In this case we're talking about Pittsburgh Paints, which allegedly sponsored the ad at left to take a poke at homeland security while advertising its soothing and well-named series of colors.
Honey Pot would look nice on the ammo den we just built under our living room tables. Thanks to our chum Brian A. for pointing it out.
Today, the European Union has launched an anti-smoking campaign consisting of several videos that highlight the nastiness of smoking such as brown teeth, gray skin, raspy voice and smoky stench. Several videos mock these side effect of smoking by making them the price of entry and acceptance by creating products that actually create these side effect.
A man who tries to enter a saloon is turned away until he used a product that browns his teeth. A singer's producer doesn't like what he hears until she sprays her through that makes her sound like an old lady who'd been smoking for 40 years. A woman who looks too healthy uses skin cream to mask her skin with a seemingly more attractive gray color.
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We like checking up on the BBC, mainly because its home nation seems really nervous about the internet (whose merits and demons we were comparably quick to embrace).
In the last few weeks, the BBC has furnished vigilant parents with terror-stricken warnings about Cyber Bullying and ID theft (social networking's mainly to blame), the "worsening" state of child porn, and the denigration of basic human values resulting from virtual worlds. (Well, we could've told you that.)
But we can't hate that hard. NY state is home to investigators that posed as kids to tempt sex predators on Facebook. Nice.
To promote either 5 Gum or Orbit (because those are the ads that pop up), Candystand gives us Pow Pool, where you shoot little time-bombs into holes before they explode.
The game was developed by Stimunation in Germany. Like any pool tourney it's a matter of getting your angles just right.
But we're not engineers, and we're really bad at this game, so in our minds it possesses absolutely no value at all in the known universe.
Phenomenon, a crappy '90s movie with John Travolta, is now a crappy 21st-century TV show with Criss Angel.
Play the promotional game. Criss and minion Uri Geller will try to convince you they are reading your mind with a little numbers game.
It's pretty clever if you're in the 5th grade, but at the very least it gets you to play so you can be all cynical about it afterward.
We recommend you turn your sound off unless you're into that whole Universal Studios feel.
HungryManTV is coming out with a new web series called Strange Detective Tales: Dead on Stage this Oct 30th.
The series stars Dracula's Renfield and Frankenstein's Dr. Igor Vorlic -- in Hollywood. And because it's ironic social commentary, the monsters are trying to stop big bad humans. Kind of like X-Men.
This is an adaptation of a comic book called Strange Detective Tales: Dead Love by Jesse Bausch and James Callahan.
Check out character animation and set designs at the Dead Stage blog.
Hungry Man TV is building a reputation for "poignant social commentary," at least according to Shoot Magazine. Essentially, it's SpikeTV with spectacles. Other shows include Phistophicles, Danimal's Late Nite Cartoons (this is for people who don't have Cartoon Network), The Biggs (which also premieres on the 30th) and Undercover Cheerleaders, which is ... exactly what it sounds like.
Hangman Studios is an interesting company.
Why do we say that? Because we just watched Pr*ck, a stylish, gratuitous piece of self-fellating would-be viral production.
It's circulating YouTube -- or at least making a valiant effort to -- as we speak. The idea is to position Hangman as a "glossy, artistic alternative to the lo-fi joke-oriented virals that saturate online marketing whilst reflecting our offbeat and alternative tastes."
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Late Wednesday, Microsoft announced it has taken a $240 million equity stake in Facebook, recently valued at $15 billion. As part of the deal, Microsoft will increase the scope of its existing ad sales agreement with Facebook. So it seems Microsoft is back in the online ad game. That is until Facebook flames out from hype and overexposure.
For Guinness, BBDO decided that instead of freely disseminating ads online or on TV, it would turn its media messages into prizes.
There's a Guinness ad hidden somewhere on the 'net and it is your job to find and launch it. ("Why us?" we wonder.) To do this, you have to unravel a mixed bag of clues, codes and puzzles.
The campaign involves a village of some sort. This is the mayor, Juan Ramon. (We like how you can hear sinister background laughter at the end.)
If the idea of hunting down a Guinness ad is irresistible and you're ready to jump on and go, you may also want to "peruse" (their words) this letter.
A college kid named Will is working with KFC to promote the company's Triple Dip Strips. See the challenges on Will It Spill.
The idea is the packaging will protect eaters from spills while enabling them to dip on the go. True to form, the package doesn't hold while Will rides a mechanical bull. Did we really expect it to? Well, kind of.
"Yup ... that's a spill," Will concludes, lying facedown and observing the mess he made all over the padded floor.
This is what Tupperware is for.
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