I think I speak for women the world over when I say that the day Slim Jeans became cool is the day that fashion and good taste died.

No, that’s not true. I know many a woman who finds these things attractive, and even more men. I just don’t. Firstly, I’m doing the world a favour by not wearing them and secondly, I’m just really not thrilled by the fact that he has much thinner legs than I do. Also, because there are a whole bunch of ‘know-no-better’ teenage girls who are larger than a size 6 walking around with muffin-tops and camel-feet and thinking that that is ‘cool’.

After that big rant, Levi’s make good jeans, so good that their ads don’t even need a picture of the jeans themselves in them, all it needs is the red tab. That ever so distinct label. Really, a company has great advertising if they don’t need to advertise the product. All they have to do is display their trademark and people will find their way to the store to check it out. And, so I think that’s just what’s happened here. There’s not even an attempt to detail the jeans or even display them. There’s just that red label.

Although, the second picture kind of freaks me out. Their legs just look really weird.

Agency: JWT, India, Mumbai
Creative Director: Senthil Kumar, Agnello Dias, Bruce Matchett
Copywriter: Karan Amin, Prahlad Nanjappa
Art Director: Hital Pandya, Vivek Kakkad
Illustrator: Nilesh Naik

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My initial reaction when I saw this advertisement was: “This ad has too many words”. And it does. But that’s kind of the point.

When I was growing up there were only two really interesting things in the newspaper. Obviously the comics, and the obituaries. I don’t know what it was about them. I think I was really only ever looking for people who were the same age as me, or who shared my birth day or my state. There was something about the morbidity of one of those dead people being even a little like me.

This advertisement is great! It hits the nail right on the head! People die of obesity, when there are other people in the world who are starving to death. This is proof that too much of a good thing can kill you. I love that the people whose obituaries (or pre-obituaries) are displayed are not people who are the ‘trailer trash’ of society, but they’re people with families that love them, and who are successful. I don’t think the advertisers are saying that these successful people will be missed more than others, but rather that this is something serious for the sedentary culture of the middle class. Our gluttony will kill us.

It’s so simple and yet so real. What does one put on the obituary of someone whose death was admittedly not wholly unexpected because their health was clear to see in the very way they lived their life. I’m not being harsh on overweight people, but it’s a reality that needs to be faced about health and well-being. This advertisement takes a confronting issue, and makes it real.

Having said all of that I’m a little suspicious of the Gmail account email address for a University Clinic and I can’t help but wonder which section in the newspaper they would place this advertisement.

Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy, Dubai, UAE
Executive Creative Director: Till Hohmann
Creative Directors: Dalbir Singh, Ramzi Moutran
Art Director: Mel Harvey
Copywriter: Dylan Kidson

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New Schick Razors, with aloe and vitamin E. Shick

I am totally freaked out by these ads. These ‘things’ (well, they aren’t really men and they definitely aren’t babies) look like human beings at first, and then it takes way too long to figure out what it is that makes them look so weird. And then, when you have figured it out, you just stare in a strange combination of fearand fascination.

Well, that’s how it went for me, anyway.

When considering the baby-smooth softness of a good razor, picturing a strange combination of photoshopped man and baby faces is not something that comes to mind. What makes these images worse, I think, is the fact that the men in the ads are so hairy chested (and hairy backed, in one case). Not to mention the water dripping down the ample neck and chest fat. I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t work at all for me.

But do these ads work? I think not. They aren’t obvious enough; it takes too long to work out a mental schema that will accomodate the weirdness of the man/baby faces. And while spending the time it takes figuring it out, you get stuck trying to work out  how exactly these faces are made so strange. Is it just the mouths? Maybe the noses as well? The fat baby necks are obvious, I’ll give them that, but the rest is too ambiguous.

If I were of the sex that these ads are targetting, I have to say I would feel like a Schick Quattro razor might just emasculate me a little bit, and would also be a little concerned about just how smooth the razor with make my face.

I would also hope that the smooth and soft skin on my face would not, as in these ads, draw attention to the fact that as a man, I am actually hairy in other places, too.

Advertising Agency: JWT, Venezuela
Product: Schick Quattro
Photographer: Marcel Boldú

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1 latex condom extra safe.
Available at all Doc Morris Pharmacies.

There are some advertisements out there that seem to genuinely attempt a little innovation and originality but sadly fail. This campaign does not even appear to have attempted on either part, and as a result has the advertising value of a dead rabbit.

Personifying something like sperm has gotta be obvious, I have to give the people at Grey Worldwide that, so really there was no more obvious choice than to feature the three most recogniseable heads in the world in order to accomplish this. However, I would have assumed that pretty early in the piece, the sheer lack of imagination on the drawing board would have been blatant enough to toss the idea aside before it even got so far as deciding whose heads will feature on the sperm. Apparently, though, somebody thought this worthy. Go figure.

So we all get it: these condoms are really safe. Use one of these baby’s and you could be preventing future genocide, slavery, terrorism, and autocracy (to name a few). Don’t just think of the baby you might prevent being born, go one step further and think about the adult. He could be evil. He could have bad hair.

Even worse, he could go into advertising.

Advertising Agency: Grey Worldwide, Düsseldorf, Germany
Creative Directors: Lindsay Cullen, Jörn Sonnenberg
Art Director: Eric Straub
Copywriter: Jörn Sonnenberg
Illustrator: Klaus Knuth
Published: March 2009

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So I saw this ad, and I thought to myself, the first thing I had better do is go and find out what this MTV SWITCH is all about. So I checked out the website. It is lame. The lame result of big businesses and companies deciding that they care about the environment. Make a few cool ads with some interesting facts, set up a website with a carbon calculator and some trendy environmental issues, throw in some handy hints that everybody has heard before, and there we have it: a carbon conscious company.

It is pretend caring.

Not a word about any actual efforts by the people at MTV/Viacom themselves to reduce greenhouse emissions. But of-course, they are far too busy telling us to do it.

And heres where I have to say, they have done it reasonably well. It is such a shame MTV Switch itself is so lame, because these ads are awesome. It really does seem like a waste to me, I am genuinely disspointed that, at at time during which bad ads about environmental issues are continually thrust before us, one of the few times a decent one appears it is for a half-assed website that really isn’t worth visiting.

Does this make it a good ad? Unfortunately, I have to say yes. I was fooled: I thought MTV Switch  would be more exciting than it was. I went to the site. I read the garbage. I left dissapointed.

But I still went, so mission accomplished on their part.

Advertised brand: MTV SWITCH
Advertising Agency (Name, City, Country): Ogilvy, Vienna, Austria
Agency website: http://www.ogilvy.at
Creative Director: Ivo Kobald, Alexander Rudan
Art Director: Christian Bircher
Copywriter: Marco Kalchbrenner, Marcus Zbonek
Published/Released (Month, Year): March 2009

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Text messaging while driving prevents you from seeing what really matters.

I’m a chronic texter-driver and it’s honestly ONLY by the grace of God that I’m not dead and I haven’t killed anyone while killing myself. Hmm… resolution. I will no longer text and drive.

I like this advertisement. Because that’s exactly what it feels like when one is driving and texting at the same time, and it’s a horrible feeling. Because if you should happen to accidentally, almost (hopefully and not completely) kill someone you realise what a moron you’re being. Not only are you endangering your own life, you’re also endangering the lives of the people in the car with you, in the cars near you and on the streets around you. And all for a text message that’s probably not even going to be remembered fifteen minutes later.

I also like the way that the words in the illustration are written in ‘txt language‘ (one that I don’t always understand) and the varying sizes of the words indicate the equally varying importance of text messages- in terms of urgency of reply. I think it’s a great ad that gets an important message across.

Relatedly, I completely failed in my resolution this weekend when I was trying to drive to a location 1.5 hours away from my place of dwelling. I got lost and the first thing I did was turn to my phone and began texting people, because it’s slightly less worse than actually calling someone while driving. As a result I missed several turn-offs and ended up driving shamefully home without reaching my destination. It was sad, and hopefully lesson learned!

Advertising Agency: Shalmor Avnon Amichay/ Y&R Tel-Aviv, Israel
Chief Creative Director: Gideon Amichay
Creative Director: Tzur Golan
Head of creative team: Yariv Twig
Art Director: Shirley Bachar
Copywriter: Sharon Refael
Published: December 2008

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Let your 2nd hand clothes help the 3rd world.

Creative advertising is important when it comes to themes like child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, and poverty. Usually, the ads we see for international aid agencies involve images of starving children, walking miles in bare feet to collect dirty water from a creek that has almost dried up. They are devestating, and heartbreaking, and they evok sadness and sympathy, and they sometimes make us wonder (or realise?) whether or not we can even make a difference.

At least these ads are a little different, imaginative, and still get the message across. The advertisers have gone for hope and optimism instead of hopelessness and sympathy. I for one prefer the images of  some kids in school and a village with clean water, to those pictures that make me feel guilty and sad. I think this kind of ad would generate a little more curiosity and interest anyway, even if only because it is different to what is expected, and makes you respond differenly to the ads you see all the time.

Hopefully, Humana sells the second hand clothes and uses the money to buy books for classrooms and wells for villages. Otherwise, I fail to see how donated second hand clothing can educate and nourish.

Advertising Agency: LoweDraftFcb, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Art Directors / Copywriters: Maarten Vrouwes, Friso Ludenhoff
Exec Agency Producer: Peter Burger
Director: Ismaël, Pink Rabbit
Producer: Leonie v.d. Hoevel
DOP: Gabor Deak
Post production: Condor
Sound Production: The Alamo Race Track/FC Walvisch
Special Effects: Rob’s Propshop

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