"Muscovites have been puzzling over a series of vaguely Warhollian posters appearing in subway stations. The 'product' being presented is called Amerikanskoye Salo, which translates to 'American Lard' or 'American Fat.'
Judging from the poster, it has several culinary uses, including chocolate-covered lard and lard drizzled with borscht."
According to Read Russia (linked above), Russian business newspaper Kommersant claims this American Lard thing is a propaganda effort by political party A Just Russia, which wants to draw attention to the sick, unhealthy interior beneath the US's tasty veneer (edible or otherwise). Others claim it might be a viral effort to promote a book, and at least one civilian believes this really is just a new food product.
"Sigh. Propaganda here used to be so simple," the author laments. Yeah, we know the feeling.
Joining the distinguished ranks of Dame Edna and Fergie, Hello Kitty is lending her likeness to MAC cosmetics.
"We are thrilled to partner with a brand that shares the vision of offering an innovative, authentic and transforming experience to our loyal fan base," said Janet Hsu, who said some similarly frothy thing when Sanrio announced its partnership with McDonald's earlier this month.
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- Speeding could turn you into Haley Joel Osment.
- The Marijuana Policy people are boycotting Kellogg's for firing Phelps for smoking pot, even though he's been nailed in the past with a DUI. They feel this is hypocritical because pot doesn't necessarily kill; it just makes you real, real sleepy.
- So Good is boycotting Kellogg too, as is HuffPo.
- Guerrilla Comm rebrands.
- Twitter to charge brands for use. No word on how.
- Dame Edna for MAC.
- French billboard rage.
- Radiohead licensed House of Cards one of its songs to a homeless shelter for an ad, dubbed "House of Cards," that breaks this month.
Young female online gamers are probably a good market for Gwen Stefani. She vibes kinda like a gamer, and her creepily coquettish Harajuku Lovers label has a decidedly Bejeweled-friendly aesthetic.
Soooo, from January 20 to February 1, Harajuku Lovers partnered with SPIL GAMES to organize an online scavenger hunt on GirlsGoGames.co.uk, a site targeted to casual girl gamers from ages 8-15. Users had to hunt down five different Harajuku girls/fragrances -- Baby, Love, Music, Lil' Angel, and G* -- on HLFragrance.com, then enter codes for each to win a shopping spree at Topshop.
Following up from that, Harajuku Lovers re-skinned GirlsGoGames between February 2 and February 4. Users could watch videos, learn the Harajuku Lovers theme song or play branded games that make it okay to seem jail-baity because everything is animated in pastel and written in bubble letters.
Example: Are you girly and sweet? Don't you just love yourself a pair of Mary Janes? Then by all means dive into Baby.
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Hello Kitty is the ultimate licensing whore. Her oblong, be-ribboned visage has been plastered onto everything from toasters to credit cards to vibrators -- er, massagers -- to brassiere.
Now you can find the world's most ubiquitous cat in your Happy Meal. Through February 26th, McDonald's is stuffing them with one of eight Sanrio watches.
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Last week we reviewed a St. Lukes ad for IKEA's PAX wardrobe, which wordlessly depicted women being jostled about in an ongoing quest for safe haven.
In response, zig sent us its take on PAX. "Garagetalk" airs in Canada and was adapted in Germany. The vibe's completely different, but it still ties PAX to women and our apparently insatiable need for ambient shoe space.
Easing a friend into her PAXed-out closet with a casual "Welcome to the Jane-zone" (wince!), one chick shows off her wardrobe space with the attitude men adopt over modded "bachelor" garages. In case you miss the cues, concluding text wryly reads, "Men have the garage. Women have the PAX wardrobe."
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Failing to observe this approach has already been mined dry by Nike and Dove -- among others -- Adidas launched "Me, Myself," a girl power campaign that rings like a modern-day sports riff off celebrated femme manifesto Our Bodies, Ourselves. The campaign release, for example, is heavy-laden with buzz words like distinctive, inspirational, individuality, confidence and -- our favourite -- intimate portraits.
WNBA MVP Candace Parker lent her face to the in-store/online program. Members of the fairer sex can submit "real" stories about their training struggles and successes on the website (where incidentally, you can also "mix and match outfits"!); three entrants will become the face of "Me, Myself" alongside Parker.
Parker synopsized the effort thus: "[Me, Myself] celebrates women of all ages and athletic abilities and shows that despite our struggles we can achieve our impossible."
Guess that's somewhat more productive than eating your feelings.
- Creatives Chris Yi and Jesse Epstein spent a month and $2000 producing three spots for that Doritos Super Bowl ad contest. Obviously they didn't make the cut, but hey, can you ever have too much material to compare your own to?
- AOL to cut 10% and forgo merit pay increases in '09. Join the club, guys.
- Coca-Cola's contribution to the Super Bowl: Heist. 'Tis cute.
- Print and TV ad tropes invade the online contextual ad space, and this is the kind of crap we get.
- Hey ambitious marketers, here's a radio controlled live beetle. Use it for something magical ... like whispering jingles into the ears of impressionable window-shoppers, Jiminy-Cricket style.
- One reason to spend $9, plus the popcorn fees.
- New energy drink! Syke. No, seriously though.
Sensing a recession isn't exactly an enabler for Jimmy Choos and Prada handbags, Saks Fifth Avenue takes on the marketing style of Communism ... and Stolichnaya.
The high-end department store tapped Shepard Fairey, architect of the familiar Obama Hope poster, to infuse worker's morale into its Spring 2009 "Want It!" campaign.
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Cyclists have it hard down under. All those hours pushing pedals literally chafes balls, which is funny from a distance but sobering enough that the condition requires an anti-irritant, aptly called "chamois cream."
To contribute to the well-being of fellow bikers, pro cyclist David Zabriskie developed a cream called DZ Nuts -- pronounced "deez nuts," a colloquial expression defined as "The large, sweaty, hairy dangling spheres of man-hood containing future illegitimate seeds that swing violently in the wind when slapped."
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