ONDCP Puts Hispanic Parents on Drug Alert ... by Villainizing Their Children

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Coinciding with the (coincidental!) release of a CDC survey that found Hispanic teens more likely to use drugs and try suicide than black and white kids, the Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) launched this really weird campaign.

The heading above the girl at left says, "I sell drugs during recess." And here's one where a sheepish-looking boy divulges, "Yesterday, I offered marijuana to your daughter."

The effort will appear in print, on TV and over the radio.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun-10-08    
Topic: Cause, Magazine, Poster, Worst



Search Engines Sipped, Hitler Plays Hillary, Boston Gets Fish-Faced, Charney Pushes Package, Hello Kitty Gets Stuffed

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- FunAdvice mashed up top search engine and soft drink brands, under the premise that search engines today inspire us the way colas once did. Hrm.

- Hitler plays the fated Hillary in this emotional Nazi interpretation of the Clinton/Obama nominee race. The best part is when he shouts "The DNC has thwarted my destiny!" while the women tremble in his midst. It wasn't as funny as Hitler Gets Banned though.

- Legal Sea Foods' "Fresh Fish" ads piss off the easily-rattled Bostonians. The MBTA decided to pull the ads after Green Line workers took offense to them. (Some ads said things like "This conductor has a face like a halibut." Touchy much?)

- Penis advertising gets you everywhere. Especially if you're Dov "The Colonel" Charney. Horrors.

- Build-a-Bear Workshop is partnering with Sanrio to let kids build Tropical Hello Kittys. "Tropical Hello Kitty's sun-kissed look is perfect for summer and we're certain that she'll be a big hit," says Dave Marchi of Sanrio. But will that sun-kissed pelt betray her age?



Is that a Bike Rack, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

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To promote Tom of Finland, a new manly-man scent from Etat Libre d'Orange, Ogilvy/Paris attached naughty images to protruding public fixtures.

Tom of Finland was a gay comic and erotica artist dedicated to preserving his craft. The Ogilvy street images follow his aesthetic.

About the scent: Antoine Lie, who created the fragrance, says the perfume manifests "a guy coming out of a shower. He's clean, but not fragranced. And he puts on leather pants."

Um, okay then. Onto the ads (with captions thoughtfully imagineered by me):

o Hard-ons on the promenade
o Dent-resistant elephant tusk
o Length isn't everything
o Warholian meter maids. Got a quarter for the big boys?
o Leaning tower of indefatigable self-esteem
o "...I guess I'm just lucky, Tad. As far as I can tell, I'm the only man capable of hugging my best friend."

The campaign started running in San Francisco at the beginning of June. They also appeared in Paris' Marais, a big gay hot-spot, last weekend.

Thanks to in:fluencia for the tip-off, and to Adrants reader Chris for the video of the Parisian wheatpasters (linked above).

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 9-08    
Topic: Brands, Guerilla, Poster, Promotions, Racy



Tabasco Brings Sizzle, and Possibly Some Confusion, to Antwerp Bus Service

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Antwerp residents: if you're wondering why firetrucks are suddenly ubiquitous, slow-moving and sponsored by Tabasco, it's because those aren't firetrucks.

It's just your local buses, dressed like the life-saving vehicles they never grew up to become.

The bus-as-firetruck campaign was put together by Duval Guillaume, which explained -- slowly, so we could understand -- that "Tabasco is so hot that you need a fire truck to cool down your mouth after you've eaten some."

I wonder if that ladder gets hop-ons.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 9-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Guerilla, Outdoor, Poster



Trade Show Booth Gets 'Muralized' During Event

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Who says your trade show booth has to be perfectly complete by the time the first conference attendee walks in? Not online billing service Freshbooks which hired Boston artist Jazz Martin to paint a mural on the booth during the HOW Design show in Boston. It's a bit long, but here's a time-lapsed video of the booth's creation over the course of the conference.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 6-08    
Topic: Events, Guerilla, Poster



Samsung Reinterprets HP's 'Hands'

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I think Samsung missed the point of HP's "Hands" effort. "Hands" was cool because the hands in the ads belonged to people we could both admire and identify with. By exposing the contents of their hard drives, celebrities also shared the contents of their minds: how they saw the world and chose to make it their own, all in a style that resembled play.

Along that vein, Samsung gives us "Express Yourself" by Cheil Worldwide Canada. Its two ads, "Express Yourself" and "Hands," try replicating HP's idea but taking the human interest story out.

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by Angela Natividad    May-26-08    
Topic: Commercials, Mobile/Wireless, Outdoor, Poster, Television



What Ho, It's a Film Strip Roller Coaster

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Animation studio th1ng helped create this ad for NBCU's PictureBox, a subscription film service. Tagline: "Movies full of emotion. Enjoy the ride." I missed the whole "emotion" vibe, but come to think of it, I did see Russell Crowe looking ragey.

Actually, that's not new.

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by Angela Natividad    May-21-08    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Commercials, Poster, Promotions, Television



Amstel Light Teaches Us Dutch Word for 'Beer'

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And it's a lot like the English way, actually. Also see banner variation.

Sadly, the banner doesn't sing, dance or turn monitors into open bars. Guess it won't be joining the rich media gallery.

by Angela Natividad    May-20-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Poster



Outdoor Campaign Mirrors Yellow Pages Categories

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Just click the Outdoor category here on Adrants and you'll see the medium never ceases to allow for innovation. A recent Israeli campaign for Yellow Pages created individual boards for specific yellow pages categories. For the electricians category, a board was created that flickered with electrical problems. For Chiropractors, a board was placed on the ceiling of a bus shelter. For Pizzarias, boards shaped like a slice of pizza were created.

Many yellow pages categories were turned into billboards that reflected the category and, apparently, the effort paid off increasing unique users to the site by 40 percent. Shalmor Avnon Amichay / Young & Rubicam, Tel Aviv created the campaign.

by Steve Hall    May-19-08    
Topic: Good, Outdoor, Poster



HP Plays Eye Tricks on Strolling Malaysians

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To demonstrate how well an HP printer can print, Publicis/Malaysia punched paper holes in realistic-looking landscapes. One dog-eared strip shared the gospel of HP with bewildered passersby.

Neato. Variations here and here.

by Angela Natividad    May-16-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Outdoor, Poster