Advertising Is Good For You

No, no, no!

No, you cannot teach children to reach into Santa's pants for a treat.

Available for purchase at Collections Etc.

Homeless bedding

To raise money for the homeless, a UK-based company specializing in contemporary home goods by Dutch designers, is offering The Home Duvet.

This line of bedding features a photographic print of cardboard, a material often associated with the makeshift 'home goods' destitute people fashion in lieu of more conventional, not to mention warm and comfortable, materials.

30% of the gross profits from the sale of The Home Duvet duvet covers and pillowcases will be donated to the homeless.

I like the concept, but the site of the bedding being used in a trendy contemporary home seems incredibly insensitive. I think I would be horrified to walk into a friend's $600,000 loft and see faux cardboard on the bed. It would be offensive to me.

You may not agree, so you should know The Home Duvet line is available for purchase at Dutch By Design. 

Source: Shelter Pop

Email stalking -- oh, what a feeling

Here's the tale of Amber Duick.

She's a Los Angeles woman who for five days received emails from someone she didn't know, a man named Sebastian Bowler. Sebastian told Amber he knew where she lived and told her he'd be coming to her home to hide from the police.

Amber says she feared she was being stalked and had trouble eating, sleeping and her job performance suffered.

When she found out the emails were part of a guerrilla advertising campaign for Toyota, she decided to sue Toyota for $10 million.

Of course advertising shouldn't be masquerading as a guy who's wanted by the police and is on his way to hide out at your house.

But what about a series of tongue-in-cheek emails from a guy who says he's wanted by the police and is on his way to hide out at your house?

I don't have access to all the emails, but here are two snippets from the emails sent by the fictitious Sebastian:

Amber mate! Coming 2 Los Angeles. Gonna lay low at your place for a bit till it all blows over.

Amber, ran into a little problem at the hotel. After I'm done visiting you, I'm going to go back and sort out that front desk Muppet. (this email included a bill for damages from a hotel)

THIS is the kind of thing that "terrified" Amber Duick? Seems to me the copywriter did a great job of injecting just enough cornball into the copy to clue in the reader that this is some kind of joke.

Read more about Amber Duick and her suit against Toyota.

Ever since I first read this story, in my mind's eye the role of Sebastian Bowler has been played by Terry Thomas.

And that, children, is how Happy got his name

Disney is a bit miffed about this ad for Australia's Jamieson's Raspberry Ale.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

Perplexing Skoda ads mix drinking with driving

Yeti. Love it on the rocks.
Skoda. Simply clever.

Advertising Agency: Cayenne Milan

Source: Ads of the World

Be forewarned, pink doesn't necessarily mean money is being donated to breast cancer research

Breast cancer-pink products make me feel guilty. Because they're starting to be annoying.

Not only do I think there's too many of them, some are downright silly.

Pink rubber spatulas. Pink bags of bird seed. Pink water bottles. 

I see these things and, rather than feel compelled to donate to the cause, I roll my eyes. Then I feel REALLY guilty.

And now I'm pissed off. Because I just read this article on how some marketers are exploiting breast cancer to increase their sales.

For example, this box of Swiffer sweepers features the iconic pink ribbon and the phrase "early detection saves lives." But it doesn't actually promise that any of the proceeds from the sales of the product will go toward fighting breast cancer. Good thing, too. Because the only way buying this product will result in a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation is if you buy it using  a coupon that appeared in newspapers on September 27.

Kind of sleazy. On the other hand, any advertising for a good cause helps, right? It's a tough call.

Read the article to learn more.

And by all means, read the packaging of a product before deciding to buy it -- good advice whether there's a pink ribbon on it or not.

Creepy Ralph Lauren ad

When I first saw this ad posted on the web a few days ago, I thought it was a hoax. Look at her! She has the proportions of a Barbie doll.

Turns out, it's a real ad.

It's not a real woman's body, of course. That has been photoshopped to ridiculous effect.

Ralph Lauren's reaction to criticism of the ad is ridiculous, too. Read about it HERE.

Come to think of it, she doesn't look so much like a Barbie as she does another doll:

 

ADDENDUM posted 21 October 2009

More Ralph Lauren nonsense.

Read about it at the Daily Mail.

Mean-spirited billboard

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.

Advertising to parents and children

In the 1960s, when I was a kid, it was still legal for advertisers to target children directly. Most toy commercials ended with the voiceover suggesting something like, "Ask mom and dad to buy you one."

Some think advertising today surreptitiously targets kids. Well, it kind of does.

I once worked on some ads selling children's books based on Disney characters. The ads were most definitely targeting parents. However, we made sure that the look of the ads would appeal to children.

The thinking was, parents who were impressed with the ads would likely show them to their toddlers and ask, "Honey, would you like these books?" Making sure Junior loved what he saw was certainly one of our objectives.

I didn't consider that unethical in the least. What do you think?

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The following Play-Doh ads are obviously targeting parents and their grownup sense of humor. Some parents will never-the-less find them inappropriate. And although they cracked me up, I would agree.

Source: Jezebel

NSFW

StyleCrave has posted The 50 Sluttiest American Apparel Ads of all Time.

Oh. My. God.

Even though StyleCrave excluded nude photos and any photos that showed "nipples, bush or booty holes," some of the images are still jawdropping.

Like (and don't even think of opening this if your boss or Human Resources is in the building) this photo.

Making matters worse, American Apparel is using these images to target high school and college students.

Above is one of the tamer ads to make StyleCrave's list. The model is a high-profile porn star.

Parents, do you know about this stuff?

Thought-provoking? Or devisive?

It's now or never if you want to invest in real estate.
Before you begin listening ask yourself who's talking.

Counterfeits no longer exist in our country.
Before you begin listening ask yourself who's talking.

Fish are becoming very overpriced.
Before you begin listening ask yourself who's talking.

Abortions are a real drain on health department fund.
Before you begin listening ask yourself who's talking.

The electric car has no future.
Before you begin listening ask yourself who's talking.

Advertising Agency: Young & Rubicam Paris

Source: Ads of the World

Porno candy

A West Yorkshire, England father had a heated exchange with the shop manager who sold the father these sour candies for his children. As the father put it:

The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter... The lime, whom I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face.

 

I agree, these do look pretty dirty.

But instead of yelling at the shopkeeper, I would have been snickering and buying up all the candies to give away as gag gifts to my friends.

Read more at the Daily Mail.

Glenn Beck and a few advertisers demonstrate how democracy works

Glenn Beck, appearing on the July 28 episode of "Fox and Friends," exercised his right to free speech by calling President Obama a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

As a direct result, Proctor & Gamble, Lawyers.com and Progressive Insurance have now exercised their right of association by pulling their advertising from Beck's TV show.

God bless America.

Source: Huffington Post