To Push Pickens Plan, T. Boone Pickens Takes Aim for Our Wallets

Lately I can't turn the TV on without running into an ad for the Pickens Plan, T. Boone Pickens' $58 million attempt to liberate the US from its sordid addiction to foreign oil.

Interesting things about Pickens and this campaign:

o Pickens is an oil magnate. (Can you hear the crows going "OMG! OMG!"?) Soon, he'll be a wind magnate too.
o The ads are totally finance-focused. Pickens hardly says the e-word ("environmental") at all.

more »

Parrot Makes Noise, Shark Spotted, White World Wrinkled

- We got to check out the Facebook redesign yesterday. There's tabs and room for more ads (I'm seeing TWO now instead of just ONE!). Also, personal information is intuitively distributed so you don't have to read everything from one long column. A lot of people are annoyed because it's heavy with the social media vibe, but we'll be used to it in, like, two weeks.

- For Parrot, Feed Company started a video campaign featuring a nightmarish kid on a driving lesson. "We're done, we're done! FUCK IT!" Heh.

- Shark sighting. Or not. By Mullen for the sharks and rays exhibit at NE Aquarium.

- New spot by BBH/NY and Partizan/LA for LG Steam Washer. It's called "World of Steam" and takes place in a wrinkly fabric world. It's weird, but not as weird as this was, and I guess sort of passively pleasant.

- Another Parrot thing: Parrot Not Quail. (I'm not really down to make a parrot the state bird, but we did make the Terminator governor.)

What is It About Doppelgangers? They Always Seem So Angry.

If you carry a knife, you risked being stabbed by your own blade. Most likely wielded by Evil You from Mirror World.

The spot was put together by AMV BBDO for the Tower Hamlets Council, which is concerned about "rising!" knife crime and convinced people won't stop carrying blades unless they believe they're disproportionately likely to trip, fall and impale themselves.

Bet that pansy-ass excuse didn't stop Genghis Khan, though. (Yeah, I know that's not Genghis, but it's a pretty rad picture.)

Gossip Girl: Every Parent's Nightmare

From the look of these new Gossip Girl promotional posters, you'd think all they do on the show is have sex. Oddly (or not), that's not the case. The show is entertaining, witty and juicy. And who doesn't like to watch pretty people prance around the screen and whine about their difficult lives...even if they all come from multi-millionaire households? Besides, sex sells so the more we can show Blake Lively and Leighton Meester get it on with their boy toys, the better.

September 1, people.

Dressed Like Cancer, Henry Winkler Dashes House of Cards

Most sobering situations could use an inappropriate joke. Contributing to Stand Up to Cancer's "This is where the end of cancer begins" campaign, celebrities use donated airtime to make laughter, not bummer. See spots:

"Cancer patients and their chemo-induced baldness have stolen the sympathy that is rightfully mine." And that's why Larry David can't get laid.

Meanwhile, Henry Winkler plays cancer in the style of Epuron's infuriating Wind guy. "Did I bite you? ... I didn't mean to." Ahh. That Fonzie's still a riot after all these years.

More videos at the Stand Up to Cancer website, including one where the Daily Show says FU to cancer, and one where Katie Couric ... well, "Katie Couric" should be enough to make you laugh, actually.

Virgin Wants to Put You on TV!

To nurture the creative minds of future filmmakers, Virgin's "What Happens Next?" campaign poses three unfinished scenarios: "Kidnap," "Police" and "UFO." Each starts at a nowhere-ville diner called the Rattle 'n' Hum.

The snapshots are only a few seconds each and have a Tarantino sheen, so feel free to make use of your local leather-clad gimp. There's also a "designing" tool to help bring the pieces to their conclusions, which range from Devastatingly Minimal to Comic-Con.

Best entry wins TV time! Put together by Host/Sydney.

Not Every Suicide Note Looks Like a Suicide Note. (Some Look Like Kate Moss)

For the Looking Glass Foundation, which assists adolescents with eating disorders, DDB, Canada launched a PG-rated but poignant awareness campaign in British Columbia.

The "Pencil Marks" PSA features a girl charting her waist-slimming progress with pencil marks on a wall. The agency also distributed broken toothbrushes in baggies that read, "Attempting to purge, Jane B. broke a toothbrush off in her throat and choked."

See, if you're gonna be all pro-Mia, you need to get over your squeamies and use a finger.*

more »

Dunkin' Donuts Stands to Benefit from Knee-Jerk Hatred of 'Moving' Ad

I've seen "Moving" for Dunkin' Donuts about 486 times -- and I find it more loathsome after each sitting.

But Dunkin' knows how to maximize a spot's branding power. If you watch any amount of weekly TV, you'll see it enough times to be mouthing the words in a month. And the music is so distinctive, so gratingly terrible, and so instantly recognizable that it will probably do its label more good than harm in the long run. Life can be cruel that way.

"Moving" is part of the Hill Holliday-developed "America runs on Dunkin'" campaign, which has been running -- successfully, even -- for the last two years. Message consistency contributes to its sheen, but rival Starbucks, which lost its grip on its own brand, also threw plenty of kindling in Dunkin's direction.

Starbucks Smoothies Up, Border Passes Make Ad Space, Draft FCB Dies Slowly, JWT Joins Border Patrol

- Watch as Starbucks, flailing wildly, stumbles into smoothies.

- A company called Sojern has partnered with Delta, United, Continental, Northwest and US Airways to sell ad space on boarding passes printed off the 'net.

- It's another review site. The difference is, Culture Clique aspires to be the only review site you'll ever need or want. Think of it: review the iPhone, The Dark Knight, Twitter and Ana Karenina all from one place.

- Draft FCB is imploding, and its biggest antagonist is covering it with unrestrained gleeee. (Yeah, with four Es.) Well, what did you expect with nonsense like this?

- JWT keeps its hand in with a warm, fuzzy border patrol ad. Oh look, a little bunny girl on a bike.

Guitar Hero Goes on Tour.

And they're bringing jetpacks.

Meh. I'm not sure what definitively killed this ad for me: the retro lightning effects, the radioactive squirrel ("Go forth and ROCK!"), or the sabre tooth tiger that doubled as a magic carpet.

Put together by Bent Image Labs for DDB, LA.