When I write these posts I try not to ‘Google‘ the product. As far as I am concerned these advertisements should be self-explanatory and that you should not really need to look up the thing… generally. Although I think if an advertising agency could produce such an advertisement where they can guarantee that more people will go home and ‘Google’ than those who will just shrug their shoulders and live without- that would be the most awesome thing ever

Therefore this is what this advertisement appears to be about: a cream that women put on their breast and neck area in order to ensure that the skin in this area is firm.

There are several problems that I have with these two advertisements.

1) It’s vulgar for no reason.

2) The women them are both too young to have any problems with lack of elastin in that area of their body.

3) Though this is true that when women start to look better somewhere they generally like to show it off, this is just a little ridiculous. Wedding dresses and wet suits are expensive.

Maybe I’m just not a fan of body creams that promise something they won’t deliver, ie. all of them. But mostly I think it’s because I’m just not that into advertisements that take the road many travel and use sex to sell their product. It just indicates to me that there’s not much there to sell.

Advertising Agency: Morrisjones: Johannesburg, South Africa
Creative Director: Angel Jones
Art Director: Bernie da Silva
Copywriter: Michelle Kreuiter
Photographer: David Prior
Published: March 2009

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Do you know that in Italy they have a slightly different economic situation from that in Australia? I don’t mean to poo-poo them, all I’m saying is that they’re diffrent. Anyway, you go there and there are older people working at McDonald’s and in department stores, unlike here in Australia where mostly young people work there for some pocket money. It’s a little strange and jarring at first, because it’s just not what you’re used to.

I don’t think I could work in such customer service for the rest of my life. I worked at the local grocery store for five years and that almost killed me.

Another thing that Italy has are these machines that you hire DVD’s from. There’s no DVD store with a friendly customer service representative behind the desk, but just a touch screen. I mean, sure you can touch the screen, but who wants closeness with such a cold, unfeeling surface? Anyway, that’s what these advertisements remind me of- except different because it plays with the common preception that machines are replacing humans, in fact all that’s happening is that work areas are just getting more and more confined.

These ads look great and it’s placed in such a cleaver spot. The detail in each booth is excellent especially with all the bits and pieces scattered on the floor of each booth. The workers look cramped and depressed and the clustrophobia in each picture is aptly able to express the horror of a terribel job.

I like these. They’re good looking and well place.

Agency: Scholz & Friends, Berlin
Creative Director: Matthias Spaetgens, Jan Leube
Copywriter: Axel Tischer
Art Director: David Fischer
Photographer: Hans Starck
Illustrator: Graphic Artist: Inga Schulze, Sara Dos Santos Vieira

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Most used cars have a story you don't want to hear. All of ours do: Full history, a minimum of 1 year warranty, a maximum of 40 000 km

Most used cars have a story you don't want to hear. All of ours do: Full history, a minimum of 1 year warranty, a maximum of 40 000 km.

Most used cars have a story you don't want to hear. All of ours do: Full history, a minimum of 1 year warranty, a maximum of 40 000 km.

Most used cars have a story you don't want to hear. All of ours do: Full history, a minimum of 1 year warranty, a maximum of 40 000 km.

Most used cars have a story you don't want to hear. All of ours do: Full history, a minimum of 1 year warranty, a maximum of 40 000 km.

I have a friend who spent his whole life in Sydney. He never left the beautiful city. He even studied Mechanical Engineering at Sydney University. He’d never been on a plane to anywhere natioanally let alone an international flight anywhere in the world.

When he finally finished his degree he was offered a job before he even took one step outside of the university grounds. This job was to work for the Ford company in Geelong- the one that fired a whole bunch of the people at the height of the global economic crisis if anyone recalls that particular situation.

Anyway, Sydney Boy moved to Geelong, where he promptly became best friends with his boss, was promoted in a matter of months, met the girl of his dreams and married and her and is now living happily ever after.

I can only presume from these series of events that Ford cars are the beeneez and that they will make all your dreams come true… that is if you have those kinds of dreams.

I like this series of advertisements. I like that they’re selling second-hand cars and that they’re not denying that second-hand cars are indeed seond hand and therefore have a story.  The writing is a little difficult to read, but I like that it looks hand written because second-hand cars do indeed have a lovely human touch. I especially like the ghost car, it looks so fun and whimsical.

I think I’ll give it three and a half stars Margaret.

Advertising Agency: FP7, Dubai, UAE
Regional Creative Director: Marc Lineveldt
Copywriter: Vincent Fichard
Art Directors: Vincent Fichard, Joanna Chaker
Published: February 2008

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I can’t quite tell if this advertisement is meant to be purely poking fun at George Bush, in a condemning sort of way, or if they are really serious about the letter writing.

Actually that’s not true, of course Amnesty International are serious about the letter writing, they’re Amnesty International and it’s sort of their thing to be serious about letter writing and ensuring that people are caring about other people around the world in far less fortunate situations that each other.

…but still, I can’t help but feel that this ad is just making fun of George Bush. None of the other two stamps contain the line ‘Remember, use simple words’. This might be because it’s just not true that you would have to use simple words when writing to the other two leaders. However, the ink sketch of Bush against the painted portraits of the others just seem to demise him a little more than the others.

I’m not sure if the overall effect of this is that Bush looks like he is the worst of the lot, or if simply he’s the stupidest given the kind of power that someone like him should not.

Either way, my convoluted ramblings should be clear on the effect of this ad. It’s just confused me. Instead of giving one clear message it’s given a couple and I’m unsure about which one to focus on and either way, I have no inclination to write a letter because I’m just a little too concerned about the power given to less than great American leaders.

Agency: Saatchi&Saatchi, Petaling Jaya
Creative Director: Steve Hough, Andy Greenaway
Copywriter: Steve Hough, Joel Clement
Art Director: Joel Clement, Steve Hough
Photographer: Lee Kong How, Xpose Photography
Illustrator: Aston Choong, Saw Beng Hong
Typographer: Joel Clement

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This was an advertisement that was sent to a group of executives before lunchtime to remind them to buy advertising space.

I love it!

This advertisement is just wonderful in so many ways. Firstly it looks good and it’s funny and apparently it did the trick. The advertising space was sold. What more could you want? Plus, it’s just so ‘business world’. It seems to me that there are always people in office buildings who go out for ‘sushi‘ because it’s the height of sophistication, or something like that. And this advertisement just seems to be making fun of that whole image thing.

Secondly I love Nemo’s face. They captures the fear and anxiety that I imagine a fish would be experiencing if they found themselves chopped up and put into a packet for sushi.

This is brilliant. It has everything you could want in an ad. It’s clever. It’s aesthetically pleasing. It’s memorable. It’s funny. I’ll say it one more time for the road, I love it!

 Agency: Saatchi&Saatchi, Auckland

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There was once a time when women were celebrated for their volumptous curves. If you look at Renaisance art you’ll see women lying there, with the soft, supple curves of their thighs painted to perfection. Their bellies would bulge slightly as they lay seductively on their side and the pillows of their breasts would rest robustly on their chest so that you could imagine the rise and fall of their every breath.

This time is no more. Simply because slim is cool, and looking like you could actually bear children (which, by the way, is what your hip bones were purposed for) is very uncool. Very, very uncool. You know, the human race might actually die out, in style of Children of Men, because of their obessession with thinness. Even the men are too skinny. I can’t even rememeber the number of times that I’ve looked at a guy in his skinny jeans and wondered how on earth he managed to fit his foot through those pants.

Also, another thing that is apparently uncool is putting effort into advertisements. The colour is nice and the the little writing might just make people pay a little more attention. However, one can’t help but notice that the biggest thing in this ad is the brand name, and then the actual ‘Minimiser bras. Now available at…’ is so tiny that you can hardly read it! Am I complaining too much? Is it so much to ask that I not have to squint when I look at an ad? What if this were a bill board (and it may well have been)? I would probably have a car crash just trying to see what this ad is about- or I would have just lost interest and realised that I don’t need to care. And ad needs to grab attention before people realise that they don’t need to care.

Marks & Spencer are a big brand and they’re not going to suffer from a bad ad (in my opinion) such as this one. But come on! If you’re going to charge that much for a pair of under dacks the least you can do is give me an advertisement that’ll give me smile lines rather than squint lines.

Agency: GMASCO Marketing Communications
Copywriter: Kumar Ganesan
Art Director: Harshad Badbe

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Unlimited incoming calls.

 Jesus has never called me. It doesn’t bother me, I’m just saying.

I like to think this ad is funny, but it isn’t really, is it? I don’t even know any more. I think I have been thinking about it too much, and now it is just “meh”. Maybe it always was.

I suppose, though, that we should appreciate what little humour comes from organised religion, because not much about it is usually funny. There is a church near my home that always tries to be clever and witty by putting funny signs out the front. Like they are going to convince you to go in. At the moment, I think we have: Free trip to heaven: Details Inside. How boring. I would rather go to Bali. And there was another one not long ago that I remember (how do you forget these things?): Can’t sleep? Don’t count sheep – talk to the shepard.

All very lame, but at least it is a blatant attempt at preaching. When I was a teenager, someone gave me a flyer to attend a Youth Concert and skate competition. Myself and a few friends got together and we went along, only to discover (to our horror0 that the concert had been set up by a church, the bands were christian bands, and there were people handing out “notes from Jesus” on brightly coloured paper. Unfortunately this was no mistake of mine, in-fact, most of the teenagers in my local area found themselves wandering the streets trying to find something (anything!) to do besides attend the concert.

So, while the attempts at humour outside churches can be annoying, at least they are trying, and at least they aren’t trying to trick you. When golden arches or the like start appearing, I will get worried.

Advertising Agency: Bos, Montreal, Canada
Creative Directors: Roger Gariépy, Hugo Léger
Art Director: Maxime Jenniss
Copywriters: Renaud Beauvais, Sylvain Thomin
Illustrator: Pifko
Published: April 2009

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