There are many ways to sell insurance: the full coverage facial. Or cross dressing cheerleaders. Or the accidental wedding proposal. Or five-year-olds. Or Sanjaya.
And then there's bouncing thong-clad women getting spanked, courtesy of Bennetts Insurance.
Which brings us to Bennetts' latest effort, featuring motorcycle-style mechanical bull riding ... in slow motion ... in the rain ... while the riders wear bikinis.
But before rising to argue that wet, slow, mechanical bikini bull-riding has nothing to do with insurance, consider the roots of the company. "The origin of the oath 'Gordon Bennett' lies in the behavior of a 19th century playboy of that name," FishNChimps informs, helpfully adding, "It therefore came as a pleasant surprise to read on the CV of a certain insurance website that in 1930 this company was 'Founded by Gordon Bennett in Coventry and provided general insurance for customers.'"
So it's probably safe to assume Gordon Bennett himself -- self-styled playboy -- is smiling down upon the warped efforts of his ad men, proud that his pervy love of poon has trickled down to the modern day ... with admirable fidelity.
Once again, nudity in advertising brings back good old-fashioned American outrage. To which, we offer our standard reply: Why so shocked? Nudity is natural and beautiful. And, not to mention, normal.
Of course, using it to sell products is another story but still. Is it really so horrific to show nude people in ads? After all, given the length of time humans have been on the planet, clothing is a pretty new concept. This ad is just getting back to...ahem...the natural way of things.
Remember The Wolf, the cool operative summoned in Pulp Fiction to clean up the remains of a guy who had his brains blown out in a moving car?
UK-based cleanup firm Clearway riffs off that unseemly scenario with the ad at left -- "No job too big, no job too awful" -- depicting bloody furniture and a distinctly man-shaped stain. Among other things.
The ad was banned for obvious (read: "excessively graphic, offensive and distressing") reasons. Obtusely defensive, Clearway insists the piece is "an accurate portrayal of the work they undertook on a daily basis."
Which I guess is one way of saying Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino -- or their gun-and-butcher's-knife-swinging muses -- get open tab when they're in town.
Last week, international underwear brand Sloggi held its second annual World Most Beautiful Bottom "Show me your Sloggi" competition at Club Quartier Latin in Paris. Out of 11,200 entrants who submitted photos to Sloggi, 46 finalists from 29 countries were selected with the aid of 31 million voters and a panel of seven judges including supermodel Adriana Karembeu, ESA Astronaut (huh?) Paolo NesPoli, conceptual artist Stan Murmur, FHM Editor in Chief Lomig Guillo, Invista Global's Michelle Rice Sloggi Global Brand Manager Thomas Herreiner and 2007 Sloggi winner Kristina Dimitrova.
The winners? Brazilian 20-year-old Melanie Nunes Fronckowiak had best female bottom, while French 27-year-old Saiba Bombote was named the most beautiful male bottom.
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OK so here's one of the most unlikely scenarios ever to unfold in real life. Thankfully, this is advertising which has nothing to do with real life and, because of that, we get stuff like this (faux?) Burger King commercial which involves poles, cleavage, flirtatious (goofy sounding) giggling, pole dancing, seductive looks and...erect chicken sandwiches? Clearly, we've been riding in the wrong subway car!
Adrants reader Martha pointed us to this Nutrecan senior dog food ad by Gomez Chica/EURO RSCG out of Medellin, Colombia. Playing on the "senior" bit, caption reads "Adults only."
Gawker put it best:
Sex sells fruit. Sex sells condoms. Sex sells magazines. Sex sells charity. Sex sells cheap clothes and pseudocool clothes. Even child sex sells cosmetics. So people are pretty cool with sex, and its selling implications. But does dog sex sell? We can only hope.
Uncute. Come on, Gomez/EURO. Sex may sell coffins and cheese, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. Last I read, the job description for "man's best friend" didn't include a deep-throat clause.
Sometimes the clothes are simply more important than the people wearing them. Most fashion brands know this but wouldn't exactly shout it for fear of harming sales but Sela, in a way, doesn't see that as a problem.
In a playful video which features a man and a woman doing a rooftop flirting dance while dressing themselves ultimately find themselves at an impasse. And because, well, the clothes are far more important than the people wearing them, these clothes take matters into their own hands. The clothes get what the clothes want.
We all know many ads love to portray men as drooling, sex-crazed idiots who are easily turned on by just about anything because, well, we are but this commercial for Skykee, a WiFi spy robot (who thinks this stuff up?) stretches the metaphor a bit too far in terms of men's obsession with "ass."
Oh whatever. It's funny. Sort or. In a freakishly twisted, perverted sort of way.
Upon returning home from a business trip, it's sometimes nice to get a follow up email or card from that special new friend you met while engaged in activities entirely unrelated to business. The recipient in this commercial for Snapily is quite proud of himself when he receives a card from Tiffany, the girl he met on his last trip to New York. Quite proud indeed. That is until his co-worker points out something that could only be described as unexpected. Keta Keta created.
Like a sledgehammer, this Duval Guillaume-created ad for Belgium's Organ Donor Foundation bluntly deflates mens' egos and, like a reality slap upside the head, manipulates them into realizing the rigid organ they have in hand isn't the one which will do this woman the most good.
As Adland writes, "thanks for that lesson in truth in advertising Duval Guillaume."
And as we'd say, Cruel, cruel and more cruel!"
But we'd also say," Simply brilliant."
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