Sophia Vergara Wears White For Got Milk Campaign

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Seems Sofia Vergara has been quite busy in the ad world as of late. Having just completed commercial work for Pepsi in which she appears on a beach in a bikini with David Beckham, Vergara will, for a second time, appear in the Got Milk campaign.

Dressed in a conservative white dress, the Modern Family star sports the milk mustache.

In other Sophia Vergara ad news, there was a bit of a controversy over her appearance in a print ad for Pepsi which purposefully or otherwise concealed her "assets." More of a tempest in a teapot than anything else. And she's also appeared in a Bally Fitness commercial in which her "assets" are on full display.

by Steve Hall    May- 9-11    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity



Harry Potter's Rupert Grint Dons Milk Mustache

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Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley in the movie series Harry Potter was tapped to appear in England's version of the Got Milk campaign. Called Make Mine Milk, the campaign does the milk mustache thing and Rupert will be seen on posters and the sides of buses all over England, Scotland and Wales.

And like a PR rep fisted a press release down the poor guy's throat, Grint said, "I come from a big family and my mum always made sure we had lots of milk to drink as kids. It's low in fat, refreshing and good for you, and really tasty too. Nowadays I still have milk with cereal for breakfast and always try to pick up a milky cappuccino when I'm on set or on a photo shoot - it's important to get your daily dose of milk."

You can, of course, see Grint on the big screen in the final chapter of Harry Potter in theaters soon with words far more eloquently placed within.

by Steve Hall    May- 9-11    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity



Dos Equis Challenges New Yorkers to Eat Strange Tacos

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- If you're into tongue, cricket and veal brain tacos, you need to hunt down the Dos Equis Feats of the Brave taco truck currently touring the streets of New York.

- A new trade association made up of media-auditing firms has formed to establish ethics and best practices for this niche of the advertising world.

- "Talk to the Bird" is a campaign for Gigaset, a German phone manufacturer, which shows the bird talking to callers from around the world. Why? We have no idea.

- DeVito/Verdi has created a caption contest for Duane Reade called New York's Least Pretentious Caption Contest. Each week New Yorkers will have the chance to enter and vote for their favorite captions. Then on June 1st, 2011, a final vote will determine the best caption among all finalists.

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by Steve Hall    May- 4-11    
Topic: Agencies, Cause, Celebrity, Commercials, Guerilla, Promotions, Social, Tools



Google Launches Message For Japan

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Japan has had to deal with a lot of difficulty of late and the rest of the world hasn't let that go unnoticed. There's been support and aid but sometimes just a kind word or two can help a person get back on their feet. And that's exactly what Google is facilitating with Messages For Japan, a website that will translate messages from any language into Japanese.

A video, created by Johannes Leonardo, promotes the site which also accepts donations for the relief and rebuilding efforts through six organizations: the Japanese Red Cross Society, JCIE (Japan Center for International Exchange), Save the Children, International Medical Corp, Give2Asia and Globalgiving.

The launch is being touted this week though the site appears to have actually been launched last week. Oh well. We're not complaining. It's all for a good cause.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-19-11    
Topic: Cause



Mom Hops Into Girls' Underwear to Protect Them From Pervs

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Now this is twisted. And it falls right into that category we've seen so many times before. Racy ads that try to get you not to have racy thoughts but are, in a sense, racy themselves. We saw it in an ad that put big boobs on 12 years old girls, a tactic which was supposed to inform pervs that if they look at an underage girl as something more than what she is, that's a really bad thing.

Now we have What Would Your Mother Do underwear emblazoned with statements like, "zip it," "dream on," "not tonight" and, of course, "what wold your mother do. The goal is to, well, keep guys out of a girl's pants.

But it's a little weird that the brand hypes the line by saying on its website, "Boy shorts are hot right now. Slide into the right pair (we swear you won't find any better!), and good goddess, you're good to go."

Good to go. Hmm. Just what sort of message are they delivering here. Even creepier is the promotional video which entails a photo shoot during which a guy just leers at a girl the entire time like he can't wait to scream "I don't give a shit what your mom would do but I know what I want to do right now, baby!"

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by Steve Hall    Apr-18-11    
Topic: Cause, Strange



Campaign Urges Sexually Assaulted Women to Come Forward

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McCann Erikson in Israel came up with an interesting tactic to call attention to the fact of the one in three woman who are sexually assaulted, only ten percent come forward and speak out while the other 90 percent hide the offense.

The agency created an email campaign with a Word doc attached. The Word doc was a letter from one woman to her sister telling the story of how she was assaulted. Though the document had the track changes feature turned on so the recipient could see the edits being made. In other words, the covering up of facts out of fear or shame.

It can't be easy for a woman to come forward after something like this and an email campaign isn't going to solve everything but it's a nice effort and a step in the right direction.

by Steve Hall    Apr-18-11    
Topic: Cause



Consumer Reports Ad Opposes AT&T T-Mobile Deal

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Consumer Reports is out with an ad on Politico that states its opposition to the AT&T T-Mobile merger and why it would be bad for consumers. The copy reads, "To put it lightly, this wireless merger is tipped against you. Higher prices. Fewer choices. Say no to the AT&T T-Mobile merger."

In addition to the ad, Consumer Reports has sent a letter to all the members of congress urging them not to approve the deal.

Focusing on Consumer Reports, findings that T-Mobile has traditionally been a lower cost option than AT&T Consumers Union Policy Counsel Parul P. Desai said, "We are concerned that T-Mobile's departure from the wireless market would eliminate a relatively low-cost carrier as an option that many consumers need access to in order to afford quality wireless service."

The organization has also posted a petition opposing the merger and is asking for signatures.

by Steve Hall    Apr-15-11    
Topic: Cause



Strangers Scarier Than Drugs in New PSAs

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OK so what would you do if you woke your kid up in the morning and they were a total stranger? You'd freak, right? Especially if they weren't a kid but were wearing your kids clothes. And especially if they were some of the, shall we say, ugliest people you'd ever seen.

Which is is exactly what happens in these two commercial PSAs from Energy BBDO for The Partnership at DrugFree.org. Of course the message here is that a teenager's mood, personality and appearance can drastically change when they take drugs. Which, of course, is what Energy BBDO is attempting to convey here.

So maybe it's a bit more relateable than a couple of eggs being dropped into a frying pan but we just can't get past the freaskishness of the actors in this PSA to even begin to absorb the don't do drugs message here. But, perhaps, that's just us. Ugly people frighten us.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 5-11    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Strange



Sexual Assualt Prevention PSA Sells Clocks

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In perhaps one of the most boring, oddly crafted, amateurishly created PSAs of all time, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center is out with a :15 which will appear on the CBS Super Screen in New York's Times Square. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out below.

Of the campaign, NSVRC Director Karen Baker said, "Approximately 20 percent of the population will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. These crimes impact children, families, coworkers and communities; and the majority of which - nearly 63 percent - are never reported. With 1.5 million people passing through Times Square each day, this PSA provides a unique opportunity to get them involved in sexual violence prevention."

That is if they don't mistake it for a classroom clock commercial.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 5-11    
Topic: Cause



The Naked Truth of Sex Trafficking Revealed

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Calling attention to a certain form of tourism in Ukraine that the country isn't all too pleased is popular within its borders, non-profit group Femen has launched Do You Want Me, a website on which visitors can dig into the seedy side of the country's sex trade.

The site aims to call attention to the notion paying for sex creates a form of slavery. Similar efforts to fight the proliferation of the sex trade have been done by Amnesty International (here, here and here), by Stop the Traffik in London, by The Salvation Army in South Africa and by the Helen Bamber Foundation.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-11    
Topic: Cause, Online, Racy