While I appreciate the humour behind this advertisement, I don’t think that it has the effect that Pal FM had hoped it would. The whole headphone-eyepatch is clever don’t get me wrong, but I think that since they’re trying to make a serious point, they need to treat the subject matter seriously. If they’re making fun of it (the people who should REALLY care about piracy), then what are we as consumers supposed to think? To put it bluntly, this ad makes me want to watch “Pirates of the Caribbean”, it doesn’t make me concerned about anything, except Johnny Depp’s swagger (the Depp Swag).

Honestly, I don’t think that there’s even a point in pursuing the fight against piracy. The music industry has forever changed with the advent of the internet and p2p file sharing, and it’s pointless to try and stop people from taking advantage of that fact. There are too many leaks in the dam.  As hard as you try to fight something like this, there’s always going to be a new way around it, remember Napster?

A lot of bands have actually embraced p2p file sharing. It’s a great way for bands who are starting out to get noticed, and almost an incentive for them to write better music. Now consumers know exactly what they’re going to get when they go to a show or buy an album, where as years ago they might only have had a vague idea of what they were about to support. People now have the choice of whether or not to support bands (whether or not we like it) the music has to grab their attention, consumers now have to make a conscious decisions to keep bands going.

Just to make this clear, I’m not saying that I don’t think bands should not be paid. I just think the system is obsolete.

I will say that the ad was well cast though. This man definitely looks like he could shiver your timbers. There’s something about a red beard and earring that just screams “Swashbuckle”.

Advertising Agency: Güzel Sanatlar Saatchi & Saatchi, Istanbul, Turkey
Creative Director: Burak Arıcı
Art Director: Yılmaz Akbayır
Copywriter: Cihan Kavaklıpınar
Illustrator: Can Zibil
Photographer: Serkan Tunç

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

For something that’s allegedly ‘ayurvedic’, this product has gone for an incredibly unnatural looking ad. And I don’t just mean the creepy spring joints – the model actually looks like a robot.

This is the strangest way to advertise pain remover than I’ve ever seen. I actually can’t even grasp the connection between the graphic and the product – if it were something that enhances flexibility, maybe. But removing neck pain? Maybe it’s something that makes you feel ‘light and springy’.

I can think of a few random ways to advertise this product that actually make sense – maybe retirement home folks leaping for joy instead of tween-sized gymnasts, or if you want to take the gymnast path, why not the 34-year-old Olympic competitor, Oksana Chusovitina, who somehow still wins medals on the world stage at a sport which declares you expired when you hit sixteen.

I just can’t find this visually appealing, as much as the concept might be interesting. I don’t even think of metal springs as particularly flexible; surely rubber bands or some sort of elastic meet the criteria better.

If this is the way of the future, I’m a little scared. I’ll admit to being excited by the idea that science will make me age slower, but replacing my bodyparts with anything metallic(that isn’t a pacemaker, at least) is just a tad too sci-fi for my liking.

Advertising Agency: Bhadra Communications, Bangalore, India
Art Director / Copywriter: Siju S Nair

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

Let the hills be the hills and the rivers be the rivers.

These ads look like they was bought directly off the walls of a Stanley Donwood art show. They’re a blend of creativity and politics. I like it when someone lends his or her talent to help out a cause. The ad paints a picture (literally) of China as a desolate, dark, misty nightmare.

As one of the most quickly growing nations, it is important that China thinks about where the energy that they’re using to drive this development forward is coming from. Having said that though, this is easier said then done. Dirtier forms of energy are often much cheaper, which is important when you’re trying to gain as much ground as quickly possible. Some (especially those with power) might say even more important then environmental issues.

Now if I may contradict myself, I think that people are kind of taking this Chinese pollution issue (and it is an issue) out of context. Yes, they are creating a lot of pollution by using cheaper, dirtier forms of energy (like coal) but we are so quick to point the finger. The only difference between our development and theirs is that we did it (using all the same dirty chemicals and energy) before it was deemed un-kosher i.e. before anyone knew or cared about the environmental problems that are common knowledge today. It almost seems like we’re using China (and other developing nations) as scapegoats, pointing the finger at them to direct wandering eyes away from our own ecological boot-print.

Agency: JWT Shanghai
Creative Director: Yang Yeo
Art Director: Lillie Zhong
Copywriters: Jacqueline Ye and Rachael Freire
Designer: Sean Tang
Print Producers: Hester Lim, Liza Law, Joseph Yu, Tao Shen
Illustrator, photographer & art director: Yong Liang Yang.

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

The first thing that went through my mind when I saw these ads was not “What is this ad for?” or “man, I love 60s Batman” (but just for the record… god I love 60s Batman) it was “Christ, even I could make a better ad”.

If I may take this even farther (you don’t really have a choice in the matter) I would even go as far to say that a picture of a brick sitting on wooden table would make a better ad then this. Provided the brick was well lit and you were of course advertising for a company that sells bricks..or wooden tables.. or bricks attached to wooden tables.

The advertiser really does a good job at getting your attention. They could’ve just had an ad that said “Positions available as an Art Director” but that’s so bland. This ad shows that the company has a clever side, a sense of humour. It makes it seem like a place you would actually WANT to work at (god forbid).

This is a different style of advertising. They’re gaining your trust by poking fun at themselves. “We know we suck, that’s why we need you”. They’re flattering you in order to get you to pay attention, rather then tricking you into paying attention with catchy slogans or other devious marketing schemes.

It brings to mind an Ad that I saw of a Basketball player rep-ing some soft drink (clear and bubbly) in which everytime he said something about the product, a little picture of them would pop up in the corner of the screen holding handfuls of bills. It was like that company was undermining all of the other companies who were saying “Drink our product because this guy does”. They were on the consumer’s side.

Advertising Agency: McCann Erickson, Budapest, Hungary

Creative Directors: Ágnes Hoós, Gábor Havasi
Art

Director: Zoltán Endrődi

Copywriters: Zoltán Endrődi, Dávid Ráday

Published: January 2009

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

If you’re willing to forgive me, I’d like to rant about food. I assure you that I know much more about food culture (or the lack there of) then I do about sanitary wipes. It will make for a much more interesting, and to be sure, informative article.

I’ll take your silence as a cautious, yet curious “Please continue”.

“Eat food, Not too much, Mostly Plants”, the tagline for his new book In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan insists that it isn’t too much fat, too many carbs or not enough gym time that makes us obese (although no one’s arguing that exercise plays a large role). According to Pollan it’s the “edible food-like products” which clog up our super markets that are making us into the Hindenburgs we are today.

What Pollan means by his recommendation to “Eat food” is to skip over all the imitation, heavily processed food products and go for the well grown (usually organic or free range) foods. In other words, eat foods that your grandma would recognize.

What’s in a non-dairy creamer? A cheese slice? A McDonalds hamburger? I couldn’t tell you, but according to Pollan, it isn’t anything good. In fact, it’s becoming a popular belief that the Western diet (lots of meat and processed foods, small amounts of fresh veg) is responsible not only for rising rates of obesity, but also for most of the deadly diseases that plague us today. Diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even Cancer are being chalked up to this particular dietary pattern.

As for the ad itself, it doesn’t really make a strong case for anything. This, so much so that I’m not even sure that it’s actually for sanitary wipes, it’s just an assumption. No slogan, no clear message. If anyone knows where-abouts of the premise of this ad, please, let me know.

And to anyone looking for a good read or who is curious about food, I definitely recommend “In Defense of Food”.It will change the way you eat.

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Gurgaon, India
Creative Directors: Ajay Gahlaut, Nitin Srivastava
Art Director: Krishnapriya Dutta Gupta
Copywriter: Kanishka Vashisth
Photographer: Pradip Dasgupta

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

Your home, true to you

These ads are really nice, but I think they would be just as well off to have only made one. They’re practically three of the exact same ads.

You see the first and you think to yourself “Oh, (chuckle) that’s cute. A person decorating their house with a pile of stuff that looks like a happy house”. And then you see the second and you’re like “Oh, another happy house.. That’s also similarly cute”

By the time you see the third picture, you want to see it mixed up a bit. Give the house some attitude. A tattoo, or a big pillowy cigar hanging out of it’s big pillowy mouth.

Ok, maybe I’m being a bit too harsh. It’s late, all of my friends are out having fun, and I’m stuck at home reviewing ads about smiling piles of furniture. I’m not in the best mood. What’re they so happy about anyway? If only they knew how sparsely apart they were about to be spread…

Alright, I’ve talked myself out of it. You deserve better then a biased, late-night-written ad review. These ads aren’t the fiery undoing from hell that I’ve made them out to be. They may not be grade A, but they definitely have something going for them. Maybe it’s just the visual appeal (something I liken to solidified pop music) that’s doing it for me, but they’ve turned me from Grinch to Grouch… Couch Grouch that is!

Please forgive me…

Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG 360 Paris, France
Art Director: Benoit Filliat
Copywriter: Julien Meurisse
Photographer: Cyril Chauvin

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This

Now, I can appreciate the flavour of chilli, but the heat – not so much. I like it mild, and when a dish takes me by surprise at a restaurant, it is impossible for me to eat it. We all know about the effects of burning your insides out with chilli: the sweating, the burning mouth and throat, that feeling like your head is going to melt, and the watery eyes. And I don’t think it is necessary for me to discuss the effects of chilli once it has completed it’s journey through the digestive tract.

It doesn’t take too much chilli to do this to me. However, when my baby was a week overdue and I was desperate to no longer be pregnant, I resorted to eating meals loaded up with chilli to get the show on the road (apparently, this can induce labour). Unfortunately, while I did suffer the usual consequences of eating a little too much chilli over a three day period, I did not go into labour.

Chilli, I’m afraid, has not and will not ever be my friend.

But then there are those at the opposite end of the scale. Those who can eat mountains of chilli and not even blink. This guy kind-of got stuck somewhere in-between, and managed to die after eating a meal, laden with chilli, that he cooked himself.

I appreciate the effort Le Cactus has gone to to not only advertise their product, but to make sure the customer knows the extent to which these Monday Night Hot Wings will burn. There is nothing worse than thinking a meal might have a bit of bite, and then discover it has a bit more than you expected. And I imagine there is nothing more annoying than being a chilli lover, ordeing a spicy hot meal, and being totally dissapointed by the lack of burn.

Not only have Lg2 entertained the general public with this innovative ad, but they have also catered for all Le Cactus clientele. This ad can therefore be seen as an invitation or a warning, it just depends on how much chilli you can stomach.

Advertising Agency: Lg2, Quebec City, Canada
Creative Director: Luc Du Sault
Art Directors: Vincent Bernard, Luc Du Sault
Copywriter: Vincent Bernard
Photographer: Marc Couture

Rate this Ad  Loading ...

Free Subscription

eMail Subscription

Tweet This