Contextual ad buffoonery isn't limited to the online world as clearly illustrated by the placement of this ad, sent to us by FishNChimps, for online supermarket Sainsbury's on the page opposite a story in yesterday's edition of the UK's The Independent about the Amish killings. What's even more buffoonish about this particular instance of buffoonery is that the ad appeared on page three of a printed newspaper which, one would assume, gets seen by human editors before it goes to print. We're guessing there was a big, collective "oops" heard 'round The Independent offices once that issue hit the streets.
Here's a pretty funny ad in which a jogger becomes food for the Loch Ness Monster after wandering transfixed over to what looks like a deserted Toyota Vios. Everytime we see Nessie's head snap back after swallowing we can't help but smile a little. Hey, you didn't think monsters ate? Somebody's got to pay for all those free photo opps. Our favourite part is when it pokes its head back out of the water to neatly set the decoy back up. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Like a clumsy butcher trying to trim the fat off a mouse, this virally-intended hack job is supposed to promote the new Nokia E-Series Smartphone by enabling one to create a personalized message from an overbearing company CEO and send it to a friend. Trouble is, like that annoying "Head On. Apply directly to the forehead" commercial, this creation is so bad...uh...oh wait...we didn't finish reading the release. OK. There it is. "The jerkiness of the clip transitions add nicely to the impersonal irony of the message." There. That explains the hack editing job. Irony.
The clip is being seeded by Rubber Republic which tells us there's an NDA that prevents them from telling us who created the piece. Hmm. A smart move. Wait until if and when it becomes popular, then take all the glory. If it fails, face saved.
Sometimes when a copywriter sits down to hone the craft, the intended meaning of the written words occasionally takes on something other than what was originally intended as in this directional sign in the UK's Northhampton General Hospital which reads, "Family planning advice. Use rear entrance."
The Slug offers up a retrospective on this past Summer's inane Head On commercial and the media frenzy which ensued because of it. If you haven't seen the spot, it's the one that repeats, "Head On. Apply directly to the forehead," over and over and over but offers no actual statement as to what the product's purpose might be. Created completely without ironic insiderism, the commercial found itself the subject of many parodies, an MSNBC interview with Barbara Lippert in which she just won't shut up, coverage on NBC Nightly New with Brian Williams, again with Barbara Lippert, and, finally, a self-referential spoof created by the company itself. Still, no one knows what the hell the product is supposed to do. OK, yes, it's for headaches but they never say so. Witty.
As Brian Unger said on MSNBC, we shouldn't be surprised to hear "Bud, put it in your mouth" during the Super Bowl.
If you ever feel like your life is in a rut and your days are filled going through the same masochistically obsessive-compulsive routines over and over and over so much so that you can do them blindfolded or in complete disregard to alternative routines, you might want to go see a psychiatrist. Or, you might want to watch these ReginaldPike-produced commercials from Vancouver's ReThink for Sobey's food stores.
AdJab was sent this humorous Chinese spot which follows the seemingly overdone "push up bras make your boobs fucking huge" theme, this time by illustrating how difficult it is for a push up wearing woman to properly situate herself inside an elevator. It all makes one wonder about the difficulties females who actually have unassisted big breasts must deal with.
Defacing a billboard is a time honored activity practiced by pimple-faced highschool kids, angry cause group members and advertisers themselves. We've seen a lot of various defacements in our time but nothing's funnier than simple bathroom stall humor as seen on this billboard here. Click the image to see the true artistic abilities of these defacers.
We're not really even sure what these people were thinking but hey, sex sells everything so why not cheese? At the very least we'll finally learn the names of twelve of them for sure and that's great, because knowing cheese by name (regardless of the means) makes us more cultured. Right? - Contributed by Angela Natividad
We don't know anyone who would dine on the combination of fried eggs and beans nor do we know what, exactly, this eurostar ad is trying to sell but any ad that turns beans into swimming sperm rightly deserves mention of Adrants.
