There once was a time when it was perfectly fine to use the word gay to describe something other than a person of the homosexual persuasion. In fact, my grandmother used to use the word all the time in a perfectly harmless manner to describe a joyous occasion. The use of the word gay in that manner, while not incorrect in terms of its definition, isn't all that culturally acceptable any longer. Just like titling the chapter of a Hardy Boys book "The Big Boner" (as in blunder or error) wouldn't go over so well in today's publishing world.
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If you've been wondering where the original James Bond, Sean Connery, has been hiding out, we can't answer that question for you but we can tell you he's come out of hiding to appear in an Annie Leibowitz-shot Louis Vuitton ad campaign. Yes, the 78 year old hottie (come on, he's still hot, right?), can be seen in the ad lounging on a beach and enjoying life.
It's the new math. 40 is the new 30. 50 is the new 40. 60 is the new 50. And 78 is the new...60...which makes James Bond 30, right? After all, the dude hasn't aged since 1962.
Mirrors don't lie. That's the tool this Erwin-Penland-created commercial for Clemson University takes. Noting most people don't undress in public, don't humiliate their friends, don't vandalize the campus and don't sleep around, the commercial makes it clear you shouldn't either.
"Our goal with this campaign is to reach people - students and non-students - and make them think about their own behavior," said Vice President for Student Affairs Gail DiSabatino. "There is such a bombardment of advertising that promotes alcohol and sports. This is one attempt to combat those promotions."
It won't be an easy job but the message will be spread across posters, newspaper, radio and video.
Sometimes we have to get lost to find ourselves. Sometimes we have to push away life's mundane, trivial, unimportant and, in the greater scheme of things, entirely pointless aspects of daily life in order to truly appreciate life and all the beautiful things in it. To treasure what really matters. To rediscover what first enthralled you with the people in your life. To understand there is much more to life than work.
These are the stunningly beautiful messages within Baz Luhrmann's new commercials (Kate, Lee Ming) for Australia's tourism campaign. The work does a spectacular job of making Australia a far more interesting place then the previous "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign ever could.
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Giving the New and Improved! Ask.com a promotional kick, Hanft Raboy & Partners personified the nagging questions that sit fussing in the back of our heads -- or, in this case, on our shoulders.
Watch as an elephantine nag weighs down an inquisitive 8th-grade boy. Here, a cop contemplates where to meet cool girls. And in our favourite spot, a pregnant woman wonders, "Can I eat eggs, clams and crab legs?" -- through an elderly Indian man.
Each question-asker accentuates its host's musings in a slightly tone-deaf way, imbuing the spots with quirky charm. And the tagline ensures we know exactly what each shoulder-bound burden represents: "Get the best answers to all your nagging questions."
I don't know why it would matter, but the Minnesota State Lottery seems to think a longer lotto game would dramatically lengthen the thrill of (possibly) winning.
To promote the new Print-N-Plays, Colle+McVoy launched three spots that depict ecstatic lottery-playing moments in slow-mo. Nice touch with the dramatic score.
See Coach, Librarian and Slacker.
Here's "Life Story," a spot by IBD Brands for the Panasonic Lumix camera. It's narrated by a guy trying to capture meaningful moments of his life -- except the most crucial factor (his face) keeps getting cut out. Hence the need for a Lumix, which sports a wide-angle lens.
There's something appealing about "Time for a Change," Diapers.com's first stab at online video marketing. Positioned like a political ad, it offers "gas relief" and bi-potty-san support to frustrated Americans.
After walking the talk with some discount codes, a voiceover grandly concludes, "Your doodie is our duty" as the Stars and Stripes hover in the background.
Aww. Finally, something a hockey mom can really get behind.
The ad went live at Parents for Change. Users click straight into the Diapers.com site, where they can put their discount codes to good use. Good, simple stuff by The Ad Store.
In IBD Brand's "Make Me High" for J. Hampstead Fabrics, Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra does a sensual, ribbony wind dance with her bedsheets.
They convey her into the air before she alights angelically upon some faceless dude, strokes his shoulder and croons, "I've never felt so close to my man."
Cheesy, so cheesy, and there doesn't appear to be any connection with the fabric and the love interest at all. Did he precipitate the wind dance? Or did fine fabric save their fraying relationship? One commenter was all, "I was hoping the fabric was connected to his suit as workers were still stitching it."
That would've been fun to watch. This rang more like a parody for an early-'90s perfume ad: it felt loaded with banal effects (hot actress, out-of-body experience, a thin stab at love) but lacked sublimity.
DigiSynd prepared an alternate reality game (ARG) to promote the movie Blindness, which is about an epidemic of blindness that affects some small, nondescript town. Check it out at I Am Blind.
The site includes a forum, photos of people wearing blind people shades and abstract, overserious videos with themes like "Stress is blind," "Work is blind" and "Death is blind."
Not great. Poverty-ridden and fetishy, even.
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