Advertising Is Good For You

Don't have a lame value prop. And if you do, don't put it in a yellow starburst.

Actually, Clarke's is a great little restaurant. My colleagues and I often go there for our Friday lunch out. The food is good and it's not pricey. The value prop is another story.

Social media just bit Arby's in the ass

More specifically, it was comedian Patton Oswalt.

Unfortunate logo placement for UK Olympian

Whose idea was it to write 'British Gas' over Olympic diver Tom Daley's ass?

The Singapore water polo team had a similar problem with their trunks a couple of years ago. Click here to see.

Via BuzzFeed

"How did they get this Dora ice cream to look so much like Dora?"

                                                                — Jim Gaffigan

Unfortunate contextual advertising from Louisiana

Click here to see a few more unfortunate contextual ads.

Via We Are Change

So, you want to lay off your last competent proofreader? Suit yourself.

In case you missed it, here's the May 5th cover of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Living section:

 

Via AdFreak

Should I eat the pita chips or wet my pants?

You've probably heard people claim they don't watch TV, the implication being that they spend their free time reading, writing a screenplay or curing cancer.

Advertising is full of such pretentious a**holes. Which is weird since these same people claim to be experts at creating TV commercials.

I can't say for sure whether or not the people who created the new commercial for Stacy's pita chips actually watch TV. But if they did, they would have known that the music they chose for the commercial has been used by Depends adult diapers for more than a year.

Click here to see the Depends spot.

Then click here to watch the new commercial for Stacy's pita chips.

 

Heart attack at the Heart Attack Grill: good or bad publicity?

The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas has lived up to its name.

Saturday, a customer eating the restaurant's Triple Bypass Burger suffered a heart attack.

Customers thought the whole thing was a publicity stunt and took photos and videos of the poor man in distress being wheeled out of the restaurant by EMTs.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Heart Attack Grill website is currently down.

 

ADDENDUM

The Heart Attack Grill website is back up.

 

Via Mother Nature Network
Photo: Gary Wilmore/Flickr

The surreal fantasy spot for Jean Paul Gaultier's Le Male fragrance

I have a love/hate relationship with this commercial.

It's beautiful. The music adds to the sensuality. But the male actor's over-the-top sailor suit makes me burst into laughter every time.

Click here to watch the spot for Jean Paul Gaultier's Le Male fragrance.

Regrettable results

Yesterday, I discovered a website that appealed to my warped sense of humor: FMyLife.

It's a crowdsourced site that lists anecdotes contributors submit to exemplify how their life sucks. Visitors to the site can vote "I agree, your life sucks" or "you totally deserved it."

Rather than tragic, the site is strangely uplifting.

Except when the banner ad is such a heartbreaking example of contextual advertising gone awry. (Click image to enlarge.)

Boycott Arizona businesses if you like -- just know that this isn't an Arizona business.

Poor Arizona Iced Tea. Opponents of Arizona's new tough immigration law are boycotting the soft drink company. Trouble is, it's a New York company.

Read more at Jezebel.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

A Mobile, Alabama TV station created a billboard that displayed the station's news tweets in real time.

Great idea.

What could possibly go wrong?

Source: Switched

Bad timing for Umi

Ashton-Drake Galleries had the bad luck to offer us a baby monkey doll the same week Travis the chimp went berserk and mauled a woman.

Click image to enlarge.

This ad ran in one of the Sunday circulars in yesterday's Boston Globe.

In the defense of the advertiser, there was really nothing it could do to prevent this ad from appearing in newspapers this weekend. Sunday circulars are created and printed far in advance. Getting the circular pulled in time would also have required the agreement of all the other advertisers appearing in the same circular.

See another Ashton-Drake ad HERE.