Australia is apparently running this spot for the *dating* service during the upcoming Oscars, while the U.S. is not. Yea free speech down under! Or is it more, yeah good taste in the U.S.? Latter! Ashley Madison claims there’s hypocrisy at work because of the themes in the movies that night. (Maybe, but the films don’t openly advocate the lifestyles they depict, unlike the dating service which encourages you to cheat.) Here’s the thing though, and it’s what kept Mancrunch from ever having a realistic shot at getting on the Super Bowl, and has nothing to do with gay, not-gay, single, not single, etc.— The ad just ain’t that good. Come Oscar night, there are going to be parodies by the best FX houses (and plastic surgeons) in the world doing segments with actors throughout the evening, and then this comes on? It’s like student work with actors and spray paint. The end.

Find more videos like this on AdGabber  read more »

Once again, the world wide web causes a local ad to be misinterpreted abroad. Americans who saw the KFC Cricket Survival guide ad found it racist, as it depicts "African Americans liking fried chicken"

Come again? The ad, which in Australia was titled "How to Silence a Noisy Crowd", depicts an Australia fan who has ended up in the seating area of the West Indies fans. "Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" he asks the camera. He then serves a bucket of chicken to everyone around him and any opposing team friction is defused as all cricket fans like food. It is but one handy tip in the KFC Cricket Survival guide campaign.

Over in the states, both Videogum, and the Huffington post think the ad is racist, News.com.au reports on the accusations of racism abroad. KFC has responded by discontinuing the ad.  read more »

The Guardian reports that the OAA campaign designed to promote the effectiveness of billboard advertising has withdrawn the poster that read: "Career women make bad mothers" after an outcry from the offended public. "Educashun Isn't Working" and "1966. It Won't Happen This Year" will be running instead.

The campaign was devised by veteran creative Garry Lace, from the Beta agency, to show the power of billboard advertising as an alternative to digital advertising. He was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

Adage reports that this Method ad from Droga5 was pulled after sexism complaints.

Sexist ad ban of the week goes to UlsterTrader.com who ran this billboard, featuring a bra-clad cleavage with the headline Nice headlamps and below that asking asking what do you look for in a car?

Since the ban was invariable, and the ASA clampdown will, as always, result in more exposure for this piss poor excuse of an ad, one might think this was the idea in the first place. Either that, or the creators of the ad hoped that punters would see it, and unable to tear their eyes away they'd crash their cars and then need to buy a new one at Ulstertrader.com. Or they were simply really crap creatives and an even worse client who thought this would fly. Wake up and smell the coffee, like adlib says in our previous post about sexist ads, " my reptilian brain does not make expensive car purchasing decisions". Ads like these are as insulting to men as they are women. But you'd have to have half a brain of your own to know that, and clearly nobody at Ulstertrader.com does.

Hat tip to Grahamcreative who sighed about the extra exposure. The Guardian:

The complainants argued that the poster was offensive because it objectified women, degraded them, was sexist and that it implied that women, like cars, were commodities to be bought and sold.

UlsterTrader.com said its brand values included the "use of humour and fun" and that the ad used "light-hearted slang, to what people of both sexes would regard as attractive attributes". The ads ran in 20 high-profile and high-traffic locations in Northern Ireland.

"We considered the image of the woman's cleavage coupled with the strapline ... was likely to be seen to objectify and degrade women by linking attributes of a woman [and] her cleavage to attributes of a car, [namely] the headlamps, in a way that would be seen to imply a woman, like a car, was to be selected for those attributes," said the ASA. "We concluded that the poster had caused serious offence to some readers and was likely to cause widespread offence."  read more »

Last year a school class of twelve year olds reported ToysRus Christmas catalogue to the Advertising Ombudsman in Sweden for "sexual discrimination" in their advertising - and won.

The class said that in the catalogue "All the girls are always dressed in pink, only found on the princess and Barbie pages, posing 'awkward' and never included in any of the action toy areas". The kids suggested that the background colors of the catalogue should be made neutral instead of stark pinks and blues, that girls should also been seen on the Lego and Toy car pages and that the princess and knight dress up pages could be gender mixed as suggestions on how to "stop reinforcing traditional gender roles". The class ended their motivation with calling the catalogue "old-fashioned and insulting". The Advertising Ombudsman took their time, but have now agreed with the class and Toys R Us need to rethink that pink. Source: Aftonbladet  read more »

This weeks ban could be filed under "that's what Dov was going for all along", as an American Apparel ad has been banned in the UK by the ASA for featuring a girl looking underage and the shots "suggested she was stripping off for an amateur photo shoot". Isn't that their entire 'campaign'? The ASA ruling also reads: "Because the ad could be seen to sexualise a model who appeared to be a child, under the age of 16 years, we concluded that it was inappropriate and could cause serious offence to some readers.'' The ad appeared in VICE magazine, where it paled in comparison to the editorial content. ;)  read more »

This ad, showing Jesus snapping a picture of a bunch of nuns with the Samsung SL310W camera, was published in Lebanese newspaper Al Mostakbal last week.

The ad has been called "an attack against Christian symbols", bound to happen as soon as Jesus is involved, but here's the kicker - the ad agency FP7 who created it, doesn't have the Samsung account.
Sunny Hwang, the president of Samsung Electronics Levant, said to Brandrepublic "At no time was Samsung Electronics aware of these advertisements and the company has not approved or commissioned FP7 to create any advertising campaigns. "

At the recent Dubai Lynx awards, FP7 picked up a gold, a few silvers and even the ad agency of the year award but after this little mishap, the agency (and their work) is being investigated by the award organisers and they might get stripped of all their honors.

At what point is it ever a good idea to create, and actually run campaigns for clients that you don't have? The spec turned ghost ad epidemic seems to be getting worse by the minute here - in some cases I understand how it happens. Say, for example, you have an idea approved by the local branch of a worldwide brand which gets nixed the moment the global director gets a whiff of it. Or, you were way too exited when you submitted spec work here that you forgot to tell us it was spec and the worlds adblogs operate under the assumption that it's real (please don't do that).

Seems to me that we're getting more and more cases of this, is it happening more often or does the collective hive mind of the web reveal them more often? Even Cannes is littered with ads that are ghosts these past few years, remember the Luxor hightlights campaign from Leo Burnett, even though it was Lowe's client. JC Penney never approved the dressing down ad which Saatchi NY won a Cannes Bronze Lion with, but at least in that case Saatchi did actually have the client. The balls of creating an ad for a competing agencies client and running with it, wow.

There are places you can show off spec work, for example the London International IDA, and new awards for work that dies on the foam core is popping up like mushrooms every day, even we have a spec work category here so we don't delete submissions, even when the client does a u-turn after you've spent a week on the shoot creating that great campaign.  read more »

The Coca Cola owned Oasis drink brand campaign about "Cactus kid" and his pregnant girlfriend has been banned by the ASA in the UK.

The ending to the story was chosen by Cactus kid fans at www.runcactuskidrun.com and aired the 22 August during the Big Brother show in the UK - making this a toothless ban indeed since the campaign has already officially ended anyway. This ad, it seems, was the final straw - the campaign received 32 complaints, which is apparently enough to get something off the air. It does make sense to kick Oasis a little for acting as if it is a relpacement for regular water. That ain't healthy.

Oasis – Cactus Kid part one (2008):30 (UK)

Oasis - Cactus kid / Diner (part two) - (2008) :30 (UK)

Oasis - Cactus kid / Motel (part three) - (2008) :30 (UK)

Watch the final ad inside, after the jump, folks!  read more »

A radio ad in the UK has been banned for being too quick!.

The Vodafone radio advertisement was banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the 'disclaimer' was too difficult for listeners to understand as it was read very fast. You can listen to it at the BBC website

[Vodafone] contended that the radio advertising standard codes made no mention at which speed the legal terminology should be delivered.
They also said they did not believe their advertisement to be deceptive and in contravention of advertising legislation.

I think Disclaimer guy might want to step outside to have a word with the ASA. "Don't interrupt Disclaimer guy, I'm serious don't even test me, I'll bring the heavens down..."  read more »

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" opened at the Toronto film festival last week and this poster - yes, this one on the left here - was banned because.. Well I don't even know why.

Silent Bob a.k.a Kevin Smith might just be getting his fingers slapped for putting the word "Porno" in the title here - he actually had to petition the film's rating down from NC-17 to R, and now this poster is banned by the MPAA. Whisky tango Foxtrot? The poster is humourous and fully clothed - though with two conspicuously placed heads. Is this deserving of a ban? What do you adgrunts think?

Only those who have done what is implied here might get - and if you've done it, I reckon it may be to late to save that kid with a rating. Girls are pregnant at the age of 17 - I think they might now what the woohoos and dodahs do.

I'd understand the ban if the "coming soon" was spelled differently. Puns like that are evil. ;)

   read more »

Stockholm is currently party-town with Stockholm Pride festival in full swing. Sweden's Channel five are tagging along by showing pride-related films like Transamerica, and TV shows like "Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World". Absolut Vodka have released a rainbow colored bottle which is prominently displayed in the Swedish state operated liquor stores - but that isn't due to the Prideparty in Stockholm, instead the rainbow bottle is to celebrate that it is 30 years ago that Gilbert Baker of San Francisco designed a flag with six stripes representing the six colours of the rainbow as a symbol of gay and lesbian community pride.


Meanwhile, lots of ads are being pulled due to homophobia or offending homosexual people.


First there was that Heinz "New York deli mom" ad kiss. Or rather - peck. Mom of the house - as always making lunch bags for the kids and the hubby in the kitchen where else would mom be? - has been replaced by a stereotypical Noo Yawka deli man. When Dad is about to rush off to work without kissing the missus, Noo Yawka Deliman says "hey, aren't you forgetting something?" and there is the kiss. 200 people missed the joke and reported the "gay kiss" as offensive and "inappropriate to see two men kissing". Heinz withdrew the ad and and apologised to viewers.

 read more »

While not everything in black and white makes sense - that this ad is fake fake not paid for by Guiness is dead obvious on first viewing.

Sure enough, the director explains further down in the comments that it's "just a joke". Using someone elses trademarked brand. Not a parody or anything. Hmm. Might that cause legal troubles for DESchatz?

It really isn't real. I shot the ad with no intention of sending it to Guiness because of the content. IT was meant to either make people laugh or get really disgusted. I rather people felt the former because that's why it was made. Just for fun.
Oh and it only cost $320 for the ad. My equipment, 300 for the actress, and the rest for food and a six pack of Guiness

Then DiageoMarketingCode pops in and leaves a comment:

"Please be assured that Guinness is in no way associated with this video, and has approached YouTube to have it removed. We are proud of our brand, and our commitment to responsible marketing, and this is not how we want our brand portrayed. For further information, check out our marketing code at Diageo's website."

And DESchatz defends himself:

"Please understand that this was never meant to go this far as in terms of many viewers. This isn't a legitimate ad considering the glitches of the spot. In no way or form was there though of sending the idea to Guiness. This was meant for a good laugh. It shouldn't get more serious than that."

The biggest glitch in the spot (apart from the serious brand disconnect) is the sound, it's bloody horrible. And how naive are you when you think something with sex in it won't get that many viewers on youtube?  read more »

Last weeks "duh, obviously fake" ads for Bayer's Bepanthen first aid cream have been officially named fakes by JWT who've even released an official statement about them - as if ads depicting parents roasting their babies over fire, with blowtorches or burning a la marshmallows on a stick would ever have been approved - c'mon!

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The recently much debated Red Cross (youth) campaign has been pulled after a discussion with Red Cross headquarters in Geneva last Thursday. You can see the previous posts here; Red Cross campaign compares Chinese human right violations to olympic sports (16th June 2008) and a follow-up posted by the Red Cross Youth Sweden here; Red Cross Youth campaign for human rights (16th July 2008).

The campaign was first posted june 16th here on Adland, and like the (very similar) Amnesty International - After the Olympics campaign (posted 14th of March 2008) it didn't receive much attention at all, until about month later (12th July) when a new adgrunt - whole9yards - spotted something wrong with the images and left a comment about it. The photos in the campaign were shot in Nepal, and not in China.

The campaign then quickly took on a life on it's own, appearing in forums such as Anti-CNN.com, HK Yahoo.com, LKCN portal, bbs.hdpu.edu.cn, and even spawning facebook groups like this one*. For the extra curious who can't read chinese, you might find the worldlingo translator useful when trying to make out what is going on in some of those threads.  read more »

You'd think it couldn't be done, the "Lowering of dignity" bit that is, but the annoying ringtone with the equally annoying ad from Peach mobile which shows president Robert Mugabe as a caged gorilla has been canned. Peachmobile protested, saying that they had a constitutional "right to mock Mugabe because he is a despot." (From The Times: ‘Racist’ ringtone advert banned)

The ASA found, "... the respondent is infringing on the rights of Robert Mugabe by portraying him in an offensive an undignified manner and as such the commercial is demeaning and lowering Robert Mugabe's dignity. A hypothetical reasonable person would be offended on viewing the commercial as it unnecessarily and intentionally demeans Robert Mugabe."

The ASA ordered that the commercial be withdrawn immediately.  read more »

It was just a matter of time, wasn't it?

Italy's advertising watchdog, the Institute for Advertising Self-Discipline (IAP), has banned Tom Ford Eyewear ads from national media. A close-up photo of a woman wearing the brand's sunglasses with a man's finger in her mouth was deemed by IAP to be "markedly vulgar" and, as such, it "transcends the limits of simple bad taste and offends the sensibility" of viewers. In addition, the committee believes the "scene evokes an offending and abusive act against women, which degrades the dignity of the person." IAP also said the sexual innuendo and provocative edge are part of a campaign based on these kinds of images, noting that the brand's Web site itself describes the spring-summer campaign photos as "sexually explicit." Vincenzo Guggino, general secretary at IAP, said the images were banned after publication last month in three magazines, including Italian Vogue. "Fashion companies very rarely present their ads for inspection before they appear in the media," said Guggino. "Our mission is to promote better and more acceptable communication." .

From: wwd.com  read more »

Some might say that a castrated lion is the perfect symbol for European defence policy - and the Times online claims some unidentified US blogger did but I have not found a source for that quote. It all began when a few women in the Nordic Battle Group were miffed that the symbol for their group showed a male lion, and they figured this was sex discrimination so they lodged a complaint with the European Court of Justice. Before anyone could say nip-tuck the lion on the coat of arms was castrated via computer.

The lion, before and after.

The Lions designer Vladimir A Sagerlund doesn't think it's in the least bit amusing: “The Army lacks knowledge about heraldry. Coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown.” he said to Göteborgs Posten. Mr Sagerlund knows a thing or two about this, having worked as a crest designer at the National Archives since 1994.

A pretty useless snip if you ask me, since the Lion is still clearly a male with that mane - the Times says that "the message remains clear: the lions are supposed to display courage and nothing else." To me, choosing the lazy-ass, never hunt for himself male lion as a symbol for courage when the females do all the scary hunting work (in tight units no less, with each female responsible for one part of the hunt, how very army-like) seems kind of silly right there so while we're already using by now outdated symbols could we at least let the poor critter keeps his balls? Then there are those who are better at latin than me who argue that "ad omnia paratus" in female form would be paratas, so we're not gender neutral even in the motto, making the snip a tad impotent.
There are plenty of other crests that are clearly male animals, and sadly it looks as if they'll be loosing their parts soon as well. Where will all the baby crests come from in the future?
Hat tip to Bold  read more »

Price and Dwight Yorke sired a little tyke named Harvey, who was unfortunately born with a disorder called septo-optic dysplasia. HEAT magazine has the bad taste of giving away stickers with Harvey's face and a supposed quote from Jordan on it saying "Harvey want's to eat me". 30 complaints so far from members of the public and serious indication that Jordan will file a complaint as well reported in the Guardian. Heat has already apologized but I still smell the banhammer coming.

Meanwhile, that ill-considered Renault ad John Kelly photographed and wrote to Renault to complain about, has even though John didn't receive a reply been pulled. "Any misunderstanding of the N-word is totally unintentional. However, this specific print advertisement will be removed with immediate effect, so as not to cause any offence." said a spokesman for Renault UK. Unintentional, yah, rrrright.

Bonus: Stereo Hell has a great shot of a fake American Apparel poster in NYC which depicts an illustrated brazilian wax girl touching herself with the line "safe to say, she loves her socks". Good sendup, whomever made that.  read more »

This week the Swedish Consumer Ombudsman decided that Corona went one step too far when advertising their piss beer in print. I'd seen these ads near daily in every newspaper and was about to post them just for a fun use of media, where the lime shoots through and shatters the bottle, then "leaves" the designated ad area and flies into a nearby article. Cute.
Well, it ain't legal, says the Consumer Ombusman and banned Corona for breaking § 11 a of the alcohol advertising law which plainly states that "in print ad images you may only depict 1.) The product or ingredients of the product. 2.) One or two of the product's packagings or 3.) brand or comparable known mark."

Lime is not one of the ingredients of Corona, so nyah nyah, your ad is banned. It didn't help at all that Corona defended themselves with "but... but.. everyone uses lime with Corona!" (to add the flavour this beer is lacking I presume).  read more »