Hey, Look. Condom Ads with Sex in Them.

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Gratuitous raunch, black humour, etc. all appear in these ads for LifeStyles' SKYN line, which trips all over itself in an anxious commitment to "change safe sex forever."

All we got out of this was lag and choppiness, with the occasional softporn moment for good measure. There are punchlines at the end that we didn't entirely understand, due to said lag and choppiness and general being-distracted-by-shinier-shit.

Don't blame our connection; the site just has a lot going on. (Really though, do the TV spots have to rotate? Being merched shouldn't feel like Duck Hunt.)

Work by AMP Agency/Boston. Pressie reads, "New Campaign Adds Sensuality to Condom Advertising." As if that's innovative. Or something.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online



Heh-Heh, British Stuff for Shoe Brand.

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With help from digital agency Holler, footwear brand Kickers is launching an online comedy sketch series called "Random Bandits," which features characters from TV show Modern Toss and guest voice-overs from the UK's The Office.

The effort'll run for three months, beginning in the first week of April, and will "send up everything from entertainment, popular culture and even social networks." Hope you're equipped with that slapstick Brit wit. You'll definitely need it for this dive back into MySpace.

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'He Lives Vicariously ... Through Himself.'

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He once had an awkward moment -- just to see how it feels. He can also speak French. In Russian.

Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World spreads wee bits of his magic in five ultra-short spots. Just imagine if James Bond were cross-bred with Hugh Hefner and being constantly shadowed by an ironic narrator; you might get a whiff of what this effort's all about.

Point is, the seasoned hunk of cultured man drinks Dos Equis, and he encourages others to "Stay thirsty, my friends," a suave, winky-winky way of saying Stay fast and loose, keep learning ... and drink a helluva lot.

Labors of love by Euro RSCG, which sought to target "men who live or aspire to live 'interesting' lives."

The quotations around "interesting" are from them, not us. Smirk.

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



There is Something Wrong with this Picture.

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You tell us when you've figured out what's so intimate about letting MySpace users orchestrate, then monitor, one of the most important days of your life.

The web series is casting for couples now. URL: www.myspace.com/marriedonmyspace, but it keeps redirecting to MySpace.com. Lucky lovebirds can expect to be exploited, pampered, dressed and coddled by the Zeitgeist across 13 episodes leading up to the big day.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Social, Strange



Biz Stone Makes More Twitter Premium Noises.

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Think for-pay add-ons. Stone maintains, though, that the services people and companies are already using will remain free.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Online, Social, Trends and Culture



Vincent Gallo Sleeps Around

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From blow jobs to vodka mass retail? My Vincent Gallo does have quite a range. Yes, you can now find him in H&M's new commercial along with Eva Herzigova.

My, my, that's a lot of red? Are we sure this isn't a Target ad?

by Steve Hall    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Celebrity, Commercials



Havaianas Blooms, Kevin Spacey for AA, ATL Goes Intramural

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- Ex-Ofsted chief proposes that kids learn social media skills -- Wikipedia, blogging, podcasting, Twitter -- in primary school, alongside other communication skills like handwriting and keyboarding.

- How far would you go for some glacier-fresh Kokanee? As far as the dudes in this spec ad? (Gotta say: the premise is cheesy, but production is clean.)

- Pretty spiffy ATL ad.

- Havaianas footwear in full bloom around Paris. Almost too pretty to stand.

- Fallon Skimmer.

- Take it straight: we fucking hate this execution.

- Kevin Spacey to do Michel Gondry-directed ad for American Airlines.

- Killed Idea alert: "the following ad for Krystal Hamburgers created by the Johnson Group in Chattanooga was killed for fear of 'clown retribution.'" Ever read Jpod? This sorta reminds us of that.



Playboy TV (Somewhat Feebly) Aims to Improve on Reality

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It's hard! times! for Hugh Hefner, the world's most recognizable epicure of biped bunnies. With that in mind, Playboy TV's tapped zig/Chicago to help launch its first-ever programming promo campaign.

Under the tagline "A better reality awaits," each ad depicts a formulaic reality TV trope that could do with a little bit of Hef-style debauchery. For some reason though, they feel less party-at-the-mansion and more like Wild On.

I know Playboy needs to walk that line between cutting-edge and soft porn, but it's doing more brand-tarnishing than brand-polishing here. Random party shots of the Mansion in Entourage and Sex and the City probably do more for the company image than these knee-jerk knockoffs of network TV.

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



'It's Called Earth Hour. And it Promises to Be One of the Hugest Turn-Offs Imaginable.'

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Janeane Garofalo, who's cool in a dicey sort of way, lends her spokeswoman clout to the World Wildlife Federation's Big Turn Off.

The sitch: this Saturday at 8:30 pm local time (wherever you live), people around the world are committing to switch their lights off for one hour.

As noted above, Garofalo vows this'll be one of the hugest turn-offs imaginable. More of a turn-off than watching her say all this while she paints watercolours with her armpit hair. (And speaking of, who decided lengthy underarm locks should be the awkward fist bump of 2009?)

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Cause, Celebrity, Commercials



Under Armour Brings Drug-Free Drama Back to Baseball

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New York Mets base-grabber Jose Reyes makes an appearance in "Instinct Fast," a new spot for sports label Under Armour.

Put together direct-to-client by Shilo, the piece is sober, slow-moving and taut. Its objective is to promote the Heater lightweight cleat to aficionados of baseball, a word we never hear independently of "steroids" anymore.

Under Armour's carved a niche for itself as the athletic label with a flair for the theatrical, but bon mots from Shilo creative Noah Conopask suggest the vibe's infectious: "We wanted it to feel like a battle, where Jose and the pitcher both had their fingers on the trigger. We wanted you to see it in their eyes, in their body language, and we wanted to subtract everything out of the world they were in, no bleachers, no fans, no scoreboard, only the moment..."

Heavy.

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television