Here's an Amnesty International ad that depicts footage of ordinary people sticking their noses where they don't belong -- and stopping injustice, sometimes even death, as a result: a guy in a colorful button-down shirt throws a door open to free prisoners, a pregnant woman leaps in the way of a beating, a girl in a velour tracksuit takes a rifle from a young child.
Gotta say, we felt pretty nonplussed by the ad until we saw the kids with rifles, blowing smoke out of their nostrils and shooting into space.
The message? "Individuals can make a difference." The track is Until the Day is Done by Michael Stipe. Work by Mother/London.
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"The sun goes wherever you go" Nivea says -- not too loudly, either -- in "Church," a tanning oil ad.
No need for sunkissed girls or an exaggerated product demo; a festive beach towel, draped over a skeletal pew in a sunless gray church, does the job fine. It's even a little wity: all that hallowed sobriety, broken by beach gear.
Good stuff by TBWA/Frederick, Chile.
For client O2, VCCP/Berlin directed "Curiosity," a patchwork of scenarios where curiosity gets the better of you: is the bench with the "wet paint" sign still wet? Can bubble-gum help you hold your breath under water? Will your tongue really get stuck on the frozen pole?
The ad concludes by sending viewers to the O2 website, where they're invited to indulge their curiosity and try O2's service.
T-Mobile also appealed to the inquisitive mind in an American ad campaign for its G1 handset. But instead of pursuing their own answers, actors faced the camera with childlike postures and posed small but nagging questions.
The approach was more quirky than seductive -- signs of a cultural difference, or is one method actually better than the other?
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You might have seen a walk-in fridge on TV or in movies. Typically they're used for storing dead bodies or hiding from a giant blob monster until you suffocate and/or freeze to death.
Rarely is a walk-in fridge an appealing thing.
But in "Walk-In Fridge," Heineken positions the frozen death box as the XY version of every Sex and the City fangirl's dream: the walk-in closet. It's good -- the kind of work we expect to see during the Super Bowl. And the walk-in fridge does indeed kick copious ass.
After the screamers have their joygasm, the ad wraps up with a simple enough tagline: "Heineken. Serving the planet." Suits just fine.
Work by TBWA\Amsterdam. The ad appeared on Dutch TV at the beginning of the month, but the PR firm says it drew over a million hits online in less than five days -- which is probably why they're bringing it hither.
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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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No, not three-prong vibrators and gag balls. Actual toys. Like, to show off to your friends and/or prop up on the mantlepiece beside your as-yet-unwrapped collection of first edition Star Wars action figures.
Because being a toy-loving adult doesn't mean you've got sex on the brain 24/7. Some grownies are just gung-ho, copiously-tatted dorks that enjoy stylish mythological creatures. And flannel.
By BooneOakley/Charlotte for Niche, whose online store we visited out of curiosity.
Half its product categories (including TOYS!) have nothing in them. Bad e-tailer, bad!
More specifically, it wants its couches and desks and bedroom sets and carpets and oblong dishware inside the White House. (See concept design for the Oval Office, which doesn't so much say "President" as it does "patriotic single mom with puppy and kindergartener.")
And by adopting the "Change" message that worked so well for Obama, it hopes you'll help achieve its goal. Witness and wince while it slathers Washington, DC's Union Station with bright yellow propaganda:
o "The time for domestic reform is NOW!" (At left.)
o "Fiscally responsible home furnishings FOR ALL!"
o "Change Begins AT HOME!"
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As demonstrated in Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola is really good at making pretty productions, unfettered by complicated narratives. It's this quality that makes her such a fetching fashion advertiser.
We give you the Coppola director's cut of Miss Dior Cherie, an ad for Christian Dior's bopper-honing fragrance.
Fortified by Brigitte Bardot's beachy Moi Je Joue -- and by model Maryna Linchuk's Lolita-like coquettishness -- it's sublime, frothy and fun: the perfect cocktail for girls that haven't yet graduated to Chanel No. 5.
See prints here.
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Ever on the lookout for sensory violations, Brentter's brought us Angry Whopper ads for the UK and Germany.
In case you need refreshing, Burger King recently announced the availability of its Angry Whopper in the US with this bizarre ad, where a farmer physically abuses an onion during its crucial growing stage.
As a result, the onion leaves the earth hotter than Satan's feet. Added to a jalapeno-infused Whopper, it spanks the mouth of any office cog who dares order it.
It turns out the Angry Whopper's been on the market in Europe since May, with ads obviously tailored to each culture. The UK spot is pretty tame -- an anger management teacher, who thinks she can "handle" her rage, doesn't handle it very well after taking a bite.
As for the German one? Well, it's Germany. Add a fetish, slip it in leather and give it a whip.
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@tim_nolan introduced us to The Fist of Oblivion, a bizarre web series directed by Roman Coppola for Scion Broadband.
Scion Broadband, a lifestyle content network targeted to young, thrifty and image-conscious drivers, launched in 2006. We didn't realize it was still kicking.
And while it's hard to go wrong with muppets, kung-fu and mobsters, we're glad there's a place where Scion's ad folk can potentially still express its creativity.
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