When I was just a little junk food craving tacker I wrote to my favourite potato chip company. Call it extreme optimism, call it arrogance, call it plain weird but I asked them, politely in writing, if I could learn more about their esteemed chips and perhaps try some samples.

I was disappointed when I recieved back a fat envelope a few weeks later, containing A4 sheets on information pertaining to the making of chips, how they’re produced in the factory and other dry information that a child would have no patience for. Less talk, bit more action (aka more samples.)

My disgust at educational information offered for junk food has risen again at 7 Eleven’s advertisement for their biggest slurpee yet. Instead of just an oversized picture a giant slurpee, with beads of ice dripping down it’s cardboard cup and a mountain of enticing, sugar laden goodness, here we have way too much text and dull pictures of some of steps necessary to erect this monement.

It’s like 7 Eleven are viewing their giant sculpture as akin to a war memorial, built in adverse conditions. Look at those poor tradies who slaved hour after hour (probably no more than 3 without an iced coffee and smoko break) to put together this piece of history. O glorified Slurpee monument, how we shall always commemerate this special day.I think the problem here is that 7 Eleven may have temporarily forgotten it’s audience.

Slurpee slurpers don’t want educational blow by blow accounts of the HISTORY of this event, they just want slurpees. Slurpees and then bye bye. Or at least, if they do a want a slurpee in print, just something simple would be fine. A giant slurpee with straws, being attacked by eager children, teenagers (and adults), or even just a sexy picture of a glisteningly cold Slurpee with the provoking words, “Come and get me!” would be more effective….

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett Melbourne, Australia
Creative Director: Jason Williams
Art Director: Richard Walker
Copywriter: Andrew Woodhead
Photographer: Chris Von Menge
Head Of Art: David Klein
Digital Producer: Brian Walton
Released: January 2009

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Greenpeace has cleverly merged the iconic image of the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevara (you know this recognizable dude-found on lots of trendy tshirts worn by teenagers) with an ape. Nature should be respected, and merged with human intent to change, this poster may be implying.

But whatever it may be saying, an image representing the marriage between humans and the enviroment cannot be mistaken.for its suggested link between man and nature.

This image is for the Greenpeace Design Awards 2009, and its art director, Gjoko Muratovski, clarifies that this featured ape is no run of the mill, generic ape. Rather, it is modelled on Dr Cornelius, whom he refers to “the chimpanzee archaeologist and historian (and in a way a revolutionary of his own) from  the cult movie ‘The Planet of the Apes.’”

The art director further explains his use of this as reflecting “a hidden message of a mixed utopian/dystopian post-futurist apocalypse (ape-ocalypse) or paradise.”

I don’t know about you but I’d probably refer a paradise than apocaypse.

That’s where Greenpeace come in. Their whole mission is about preventing the destruction of nature, of the natural balance of things. Admittedly, sometimes Greenpeace can come off as a little extreme  (just a tad) but in our turmaltenous, selfish world where we kill whales, condensing them into bite size tins and clog air with all sorts of toxins, their place in society is seeming more and more relevant.

Advertising Agency: Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Sydney, Australia
Creative Director / Illustrator: Gjoko Muratovski

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I know it appears that I have a thing for agencies using George Bush-whacking, but this advertisement for Veet hair removal products is first page in the How to Whack Handbook.

EURO RSCG Sydney have showed us a simple, creative and relatively inexpensive way to use current affairs in advertising. Why spend hours on artwork when you can just have a two-word headline? Why pay for extra space to include a detailed copy? No, just stick in the logo, and we will know your talking about body hair hauling.

The key however, I think is the fact Veet have good brand recognition. Use of the pink was also very wise as there was a high chance every other page would be filled with red, white and blue.

The ad is undoubtedly great placement. The agency only needed place the ad “somewhere” in the first few pages (as it is assumed the Obama-rama would engulf all news until the birth of a rhino on page 12).

The question is though- can we use the same method when Bush-whacking becomes a past-time? Well who is to stop another hair removal ad in the light of he recent Superbowl? Place the ad somewhere in the sports section with a new headline: “A Smooth Touchdown.”

Advertising Agency: EURO RSCG Sydney, Australia
Executive Creative Director: Rowan Dean
Art Director: Patryjca Lukjanow
Copywriter: John Gault

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Deforestation continues with the turn of a page.
BRIEF: The global degradation and disappearance of the world’s forests has many causes including agricultural expansion, mining, plantation construction, infrastructure construction and forest fires. Greenpeace believes that global deforestation is primarily due to large-scale industrial logging. Industrial logging has become the greatest danger to forests, threatening more than 70% of the world’s endangered forests. We are experiencing an unprecedented rate of destruction of the world’s forest resources.
IDEA: We are utilizing journal pages and deforestation’s direct relevance to the rate of the destruction of the world’s forests to display the terrible result. The two pages’ varied lengths provide for an interesting magazine advertisement.

Greenpeace uses up blank pages to encourage China not to wasted paper; this is what hypocrisy in print looks is like. This is quite an expensive print ad for Greenpeace in terms of paper wasted and the cost to the organisation. Just imagine that most of the money you contribute to people like Greenpeace goes on to advertise with really rubbish ideas like this.

Just how much of the money that is given to help the environment from charitable people does Greenpeace spend on advertising?

Advertising Agency: LINKSUS, Beijing, China
Creative Director: Polar.Qiao
Art Director: Polar.Qiao, Luo Ze
Copywriter: Han YuYang
Photographer: Hui Jing

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Nothing more than this cider’s brand would cloy this print ad’s thirst for a slick copy. This idyllic scene could’ve been any from Europe’s fairytale forests but with “Sherwood” affixed here, the mind easily makes the English connection. Couple that with obviously off-tangent arrows, and—wham! bam!—it hits you: Robin Hood is a drunkard!

Cagey it may be, but this advertising innuendo is the work of the Finnish for the Finnish, a lot of whom may not decipher British folklore at short notice. Sherwood Cider is a product of Olvi, one of Finland‘s biggest brewing companies.

Its premium cider’s name takes after the primordial forest in Nottinghamshire, England. Sherwood Forest is hailed as the erstwhile home of Robin Hood.

In the purported era of Robin Hood, sometime in the 13th century, this forest sprawled for around 100,000 acres. That time, it was a royal hunting forest, a territory devoted to Norman sovereigns like John and Edward I. Now Sherwood Forest is just a vestige of its royal past, the ancient forest covering only 450 acres today.

If tales of yore in England were to let on, Robin Hood was a Saxon noble, the son of Earl of Huntingdon, who ruled over Locksley in Nottinghamshire. King John, sovereign over England while King Richard the Lionheart was on a Crusade, had the Earl murdered, stole his land, and deprived Robin Hood of his birthright. Pronounced an outlaw, Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest. Here he subsisted on deer and stole from rich wayfarers, only to give the goods to the poor.

Robin Hood, however, is no more true than the legend of King Arthur. Sherwood Forest is a real location nonetheless, far more real than Camelot or Avalon. Sherwood is of great age, containing some of the continent’s oldest plants. Truth to tell, some trees here have reached 500 years old.

The tree in the ad alludes to Major Oak, a living, acorn-bearing tree in Sherwood, held to be the domicile of Robin Hood and his merry men. Weighing 23 tons, Major Oak has been here for all of eight centuries.

Sherwood Premium Cider would be lucky to keep producing similarly themed ads that long. One can’t be too prolific in advertising with such limited concept as Robin Hood. Adaptability should be no problem though, when there’s always Maid Marian or the Merry Men to shoot arrows at.

Advertising Agency: DDB Helsinki, Finland
Art Director: Antti Kaarto
Copywriter: Netta Stenius
Photographer: Antti Salminen

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Servicios Renault abierto en (English: Renault services; Open during summer/Open during Chrismtas)

How would you tattoo a pig? I don’t know, this is not my area of expertise and it has nothing to do with this ad campaign for Renault car repair services or something like that.

Ok, I’ll focus on the visual, the photography of these ads. Generally the artwork here is fairly good, not at all groundbreaking but… nice. It’s all about the concept and the ideas here. You get the point that it is better to have and call Renault on road services to assist with the car during the holydays were perhaps their competition takes time off.

It is a cool little play on the Christmas and summer beach getaways. Perfect for Spanish audience, were it is heavily a catholic country with a lot of coast all around. Dam I pine for some Pincho and Sangria right now…mmm

Unfortunately this can also have a vague connotation that Renaults breakdown a lot. I guess it’s not really that big of an issue.

Advertising Agency: Publicis, Madrid, Spain
Creative Director: Maxi
Photographer: Javier Tles

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