The "gender testing" line is an obvious swipe at Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was pressured into taking a gender test to prove she was female.
Surely the Teazers people could have found a way to promote their club without being assholes.
The Guard Dogs, a French and Swiss feminist organization, has named this ad for Sloggi underwear the most degrading ad of the year.
The headline, "On Special Offer," led the feminist organization to accuse the ad of promoting pornography and prostitution.
I wouldn't go so far as to defend this ad but, honestly, this is the most offensive advertising these feminists could find? They weren't looking very hard.
The Guard Dogs would probably get the vapors if they came across this ad.
I was watching a heartwarming video of a mama cat feeding the baby squirrels she had adopted when an ad for "Squirrel Removal Services" popped up.
Next, an ad for "Louisianna Cajun Foods, shipper of meats, seafood, sweets" appeared.
Contextual advertising can be scary.
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If you love animals even when they're not on your plate, you can watch the video HERE.
Click the images to enlarge and read the text that promises, among other things:
Put your mind at ease. With the AIG companies, you're tapping into more than 85 years of wisdom and expertise that can help make your retirement savings last."
And be sure not to miss the irony of the tag line, "The strength to be there."
From Kiplinger's, August 2008:
From Money, September 2008:
From Kiplinger's, November 2008:
Did AIG know it was going under when these ads ran? I don't know, but I can make some educated guesses.
First of all, AIG probably reserved advertising space in the magazines at least six months in advance, even more if they wanted to negotiate a really good price.
Second, the finished ads were probably delivered to the publications electronically at least three months before the date on the publication. So the ad in the November Fortune was probably a done deal back in July/August.
Third, if an advertising and/or media agency were involved, they didn't have a clue. Advertising agencies don't get paid in advance. So even if you think advertising people are scum you can understand that an advertising agency would not do work for a company that was not likely to be able to pay its bills.
Fourth, I bet the advertising/marketing department at AIG was one of this first departments to lay off a lot of people.
Ironically, most business books, marketing classes and MBA programs advise that when your company is struggling you should INCREASE your advertising/marketing budget. Well, duh. When you need to increase sales just to stay in business, of course you should step up your promotional efforts. Yet, in practice, when most companies hit tough times the first cut they make is to their advertising/marketing budget.
I was at an online fabric store today when I discovered that Brother makes a special Project Runway Limited Edition sewing machine. The TV reality show, in which aspiring fashion designers compete against one another, is wildly popular with creative types who like to make stuff.
There's just one catch. This sewing machine is computerized. And as any Project Runway viewer knows, the machines the designers use on the show are famously not computerized. This was made obvious in the first episode of season three when contestant Stacey Estrella was eliminated in the first round because she had never before sewed with a non-computerized machine and it showed in the construction of her garment.
Apparently, the only connection this machine has to Project Runway is that it is endorsed and promoted by Jillian Lewis, one of the three finalists in season four of Project Runway.
Seems to me, calling this the Project Runway Limited Edition machine is rather misleading.
Yesterday's Boston Globe Magazine recounts an exchange in which writer Mark Pothier cons a spammer. It's very funny.
Beyonce and her mother Tina Knowles have released the ads for their latest collection of little girl clothes under their House of Dereon brand.
Source: Style Dash
According to Wired, as of 1 May 1978, Spam was no longer just a suspicious lunch meat. On that day, the first spam message was written -- although it wasn't sent until two days later via email to 400 unsuspecting poor bastards people. That particular spam was a promotional message sent by Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation.
Don't you wish you had Gary's email address so you could send him a spam message of your own?
Image: Liesel Elliott
The Consumerists posts about a Best Buy that used actor Heath Ledger's death as an opportunity to sell more movies.
Political correctness has reached obnoxious levels. Normally, I thoroughly enjoy tipping sacred cows. But there's something unseemly about celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa with piles of excrement.
I'm referring to Publicis & Hal Riney's holiday e-card. Under the pretext of Warmest Holiday Greetings, the advertising agency's e-card is filled with images of boys squatting over the "warm present" each has just dropped. The e-card tells of the fictitious custom of placing a figurine of a pooping boy in the nativity scene. At the end of the card, the recipient is invited to send his or her own greeting written in excrement.
Tattooing a holiday greeting on Santa's butt is one thing, but bringing a pile of poo into the manger crosses the line.
Addendum
Once again, Saurio is right. (See comment.) The pooping kid in the manger is not a fictitious custom.
Saurio is also right that this whole thing looks very strange, indeed, to USAmerican eyes. I still don't think it's appropriate for a B2B holiday greeting in the States.
Irish airline Ryanair is putting out a cheesecake calendar featuring some of its female flight attendants. The men officials at Ryanair think the calendar is perfectly acceptable because the it's being sold to benefit charity. What do you think? Here's Miss April to help you decide.
Of course, there was a time when flight attendants didn't wear much more while on the job, as seen in this photo of Southwest Airlines flight attendants a few decades ago.
To see the rest of the Ryanair calendar images, click here.
Vintage image source: Found in Mom's Basement
