Ahhh…squeezing pimples. Very few people admit to enjoying it, yet we all do it. It hurts, it is gross, and we all know it makes things worse. Yet we all do it. My conclusion: we all like it. What other reason would we have for squeezing those tiny bumps that don’t need to be squeezed?

Unfortunately, whilst browsing for some interesting links, I came across possibly the most fascinating and by far the most revolting video I have ever seen. No exagerration. Here is a link, but please believe me when I tell you that when it says “Biggest pimple in the world” it means “Biggest pimple in the world”. The thing needs stitches by the end. If you have a weak stomach, do not watch it.

So really they have hit the mark here. It is different, good fun and (like most of the best ideas) really simple and great idea to promote the product.

The product that I Googled my little heart away for and found nothing. The mysterious Clearasil pill. There just seems something not quite right about a company giving away these wonderful new miracle pills in funky and creative packaging. And I have to be honest, I don’t really understand the copy (probably a translation issue). Are they trying to convince GP’s to prescribe these pills? If so, how does this funky packaging do that? And, more to the point, how on earth could they be allowed to give them away?

Of-course, I could have totally misunderstood what is going on here, but to be honest I don’t care and I don’t think it makes any difference to the effectiveness of the ad (surely the people who recieved these little packages knew what they were on about).

I have to wonder though, after squeezing a little pill out of a psuedo-boil how easy it would be to swallow…

Advertising School: Hambre, Leo Burnett Lisbon School
Creative Directors: Chacho Puebla
Art Directors: Pedro Vicente
Copywriter: Fernando Christo
Illustrators: Bruna Guerreiro, Ricardo Mico Toledo, Renato Lopes
Released: 2009

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Anywhere.

These ads are nice. I like the concept, simple, straight to the point, no obscurity or lame attempt at humour. No ridiculous exaggeration, and the novelty of a sink in your briefcase is good fun.

I can think of about a million more places where hand sanitiser is without a doubt the most important thing you can have in hour bad (However I will admit, they are not really appealling for advertising). Shopping trolleys, for one. They are just so gross. Along with handrails on stairwells and escalators, public phones, computer keyboards, and in pubs and bars. I could go for forever, because the universe has provided me with an endless supply of comfortable environments for filthy germs.

And whilst browsing online, I have discovered that I am no super weirdo – there are plenty of germs out there, and they want to get on my skin. Here is a weird site that suggests that germs are sexist. That’s right – apparently they like women more than they like men. So I am not as paranoid as I thought.

As you may have guessed, I have at times the tendency to border on obsessive compulsive, however to balance this out I also have the tendency to not care at all. I suppose, sometimes to me it seems like you can feel the germs on your hands. This hand sanitiser has been my saving grace, and now I do not have to cover my hand before I open public doors, or push the shopping trolley, or lean on the handrail…

Advertising Agency: TBWA\RAAD Dubai, UAE
Executive Creative Director: Milos Ilic
Art Director: Mohanad Shuraideh, Bassam Doss
Copywriter: Bassam Doss, Mohanad Shuraideh
Photographer: Lai, Groovy Studio

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Why is it that McDonalds have so wrongly assumed that we are so easily entertained? This is just not funny. If it wasn’t for the copy at the bottom nobody would even look twice at it. Nobody even looks once at a plain red billboard with a picture of a cheeseburger on it. Nobody cares. Nobody needs McDonalds to tell them about cheeseburgers. We know they are there, we don’t care how much they cost, and if we want one we will get one; we do not need advertisements to entice us. We have already been brainwashed. Mission complete.

This ad may have been a little more effective (not to mention creative) if it even slightly resembled one that McDonalds would actually release, which would have to be more interesting and attention-grabbing than this, no matter how crappy (you can decide for yourself in relation to their first ever T.V. ad).

I would bet that very few people noticed this one, and of those who did, even fewer would have looked at it long enough to see more than the golden arches. So, for an April Fool’s joke, it is really very lame and a waste of time, and is just an example of McDonalds being friggin’ everywhere, and taking full advantage of every occasion, event or public space that they can.

We don’t need McDonalds to try to April Fool us. They are like the big, fat, loud guy that nobody invited crashing your party and pissing everybody off. They are like the idiot who tells you the end of the movie, or the sooky emo teen threatening to do something weird. Annoying.

What a waste of advertising space.

Advertising Agency: DDB Stockholm, Sweden
Copywriter: Magnus Jakobsson
Art Director: Fredrik Simonsson
Production: Daniel Liljas

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I have to admit that it took me a little while to understand what this ad was all about, because Cheer Dark is not a product that I am familiar with. But now, having put it together, I have to say that I am impressed by the whole package. The concept, the photography, the copy. It is all very simple and effective, and every single woman in the world knows how important every item of black in her wardrobe is for purposes of concealment, camouflage and illusion.

And that is precisely why I think it took me a little while to figure out the message in this ad. I find it strange that it appears to be directed at men, rather than women. Advertisements for cleaning, washing, laundry products are usually – if not always – directed at women. Those poor beings who are responsible for keeping the clothes clean. So, this advertising agency has not only gone out on a limb when it comes to avoiding what you would assume would be the market audience in relation to the USE of the product, but they have also avoided the obvious angle of appealing to women who would be interested in the slimming RESULTS of the product.

Brave and succeccful move, because these ads offer that quirky weirdness that almost prevents you from looking away from the images. There is something almost bitter-sweet about the people; they are so wrong and awkward, yet the sharpness of the black and white images are so beautiful. And, having thought a little more about it, I can’t imagine women would be appealed to this ad if it indeed were female fat bodies being photoshopped to look slimmer in black.

I really hope the general public gets as much of a kick out of these crazy ads as I did, because they really are refreshing and different – qualities we don’t see as often as we would like in ads.

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Toronto, Canada
Photography Studio: Ishi Studios
Creative Directors: Heather Chambers, Israel Diaz
Art Directors: Anthony Chelvanathan, Israel Diaz
Copywriter: Steve Persico
Photographer: Ishi
Chief Creative Officer: Judy John
Art Buyer: Heather Morton

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I have come to the conclusion that, no matter how creative you are, no matter how much humour you use, or how abstract you try to be, it is simply impossible to advertise the fibrous, laxative-like qualities of breakfast cereals without making you think about poo, or the activity of pooing itself.

Of-course, there is no denying that the ads are still funny. They do succeed at the humour, just not at distracting us  from the obvious. Here is one that I think is a good case in point. I also liked this one for Honey Almond All Bran, featuring the malicious Tall Jan, although this one goes for advertising the  flavour of the product, not the fibre.

Anyway, I do like the slide concept in this ad and the image is definitely  nice to look at. However, I can’t help but get the impression that if I eat a bowl of All Bran, there is a significant possibility that I will have only a short space of time within which to find myself a toilet. Of-course, you aren’t supposed to take advertising too seriously, but it just seems that the use of exaggeration to assert the digestive effects of your morning meal might not be the best way to go.

On the other hand, for people who do have a few problems in that department, this ad might just offer them a glimpse of the ease of movement of which they dream.

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett Mexico, Mexico City
Photography Studio: Flavio Bizzarri, Mexico City
Creative Directors: Rafael Martinez, Manuel Sandoval
Art Director: Luis Sordo
Account Executive: Marcela Berlanga
Copywriters: Alejandro Ramirez, Cesar Lazaro
Photographer: Flavio Bizzarri
Illustrator: Mandaraka Estudio
Chief Creative Officer: Jorge Aguilar

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WWF ads can sometimes be a little obscure, sometimes weird, sometimes boring, sometimes neither here nor there. There are definitely some >good ones, though, and this is one of them. Very simple, straight to the point, and also funny while not being funny (I am sure there is a word I am looking for here).

To see an ambulance pulled over with one paramedic on the phone, one smoking a fag, and the other casually taking a leak is not an image we are accustomed to seeing. So, it is funny.

But then you see the rolled car in the background, and someone struggling to escape before the vehicle is engulfed in flames. Not quite so funny.

Funnily enough, I have actually been in a position similar to this. A family member was in a car accident that involved power lines, so they were stuck injured in their car until the power company could come and disconnect the lines. Unfortunately, because there had been a severe storm, said electrician took almost two hours, and for this entire time a whole bunch of police, paramedics and SES workers stood about ten metres from the car with nothing to do but wait. Really, if they had gone to hang a piss in the field or call their wife, it would have made no difference. Funny now. Although it wasn’t at the time.

Altogether I find the awkward combination of comical paramedics and devastating car-accident in this ad quite effective in getting a simple message across. No flowery language and la-di-da rhetoric about saving the earth. Just a basic and confronting image with simple copy that you can’t really argue with.

Client: WWF
Agency: Ogilvy France
Creative Director: Nick Hine
Art Director: Eve Roussou / Daniela Nedelschi
Copywriter: Nick Hine / Chris Garbutt
Photographer: Carioca
Country: France

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It works.

So, so foul.

Good idea. Gets the message across. But just totally, totally foul.

You know when people talk about a bad smell and you can almost smell it as they speak? It is like your imagination conjours up the reality of what it is processing and makes you think it is real. There is a fetid, dank, and retchid smell in my imagination right now, and I am trying to pretend is isn’t.

This ad is, well, lets just say extremely effective at displaying the impact of a recently evacuated bowel on the community of rats living below.

A person with constipation might very well find themselves at such a point of insanity that the thought of their shit making even a bunch of rats retch doesn’t even make them flinch. In fact, I imagine there are probably people with severe constipation that would give money to have their shit evactuate their body with such force and stink that rats would flee.

However, for the average viewer of this ad, it is funny for a second, and then the gross just takes over, until a few minutes later you can look at all the individual rats and find it funny again (I especially like the little guy with the sign and bell atop the hydrant).

So, while I am grossed out and also a little annoyed that my senses tried to recreate the smells portrayed in this ad, I have to say that for all it sets out to do, it does it well.

Advertising Agency: Cbgrey Paris France
Executive Creative Director: Andrea Stillacci
Creative Directors: Giovanni Settesoldi, Luissandro Del Gobbo
Art Director: Giovanni Settesoldi
Copywriter: Luissandro Del Gobbo
3D: Baptiste Massé, Mécanique Générale

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