These two spots sound alike to us, but what the bleep do we know?

The ad story that just won't die this month seems to be Australia's "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign. It launched the last week of February and was created by M&C Saatchi in Sydney.

First, the ad was restricted in the UK for the word "bloody", which was eventually overturned after the Australian Tourism Minister, Fran Bailey, took a trip to London to defend the use of the word in the campaign.

Then Canada's CBC restricted the spot during family broadcasts for the ad for the use of "hell." Now, they are asking for the ad to be edited to remove a shot showing a half-full pint of beer.

Diesel's Scoprion ad has been banned by the ASA after a run in The Sunday Times Style Magazine lead to complains.

The complainants objected that the position of the women's legs around the man's body overtly suggested sexual behaviour and was therefore offensive. They were also concerned that the image was unsuitable in a magazine that might be seen by children. One complainant, who believed the man in the ad was black, objected that the ad was racist.

We've all see Saatchi copies Saatchi? Where Sunny D and Verve both caught the sun.

What do a Romanian pharmaceutical company and a private luxury jet arm of United Airlines have in common? Their logo. Dada dada tips us off to these logo twins.

A Disaronno ad from 2003 and originally from the US aired in UK cinemas recently. But, it has now been banned for sexual overtones and "was in breach of guidelines linking sexual pleasure with alcohol consumption."

This ad is just one among other brands that have felt the hand of the ASA. Young's Bitter and Lambrini have been rapped in the past for the same violations.

SuperAdgrunts, see the "banned" spot here:
Disaronno-Pass the pleasure around - "Ice Cube"

When I spotted (bad pun intended) Duval Guillaume's new campaign for one second breath mint I was instantly reminded of the Badlander Pore Bore back in 2k. But hey it's been six years I s'pose that now is as good a time as any to revive an old look and call it a "clearly differentiating visual style...." as CD/AD Dirk Domen said to Creativity magazine, even though it isn't. Read more to see the ads and a few more 50's cartoon style ads.

Previous hype on "one second", the world first one second advert, which wasn't the worlds first one-second advert at all.

Another set on our little list of twin logos. One mans cheap printing is another mans shopping center located at the harbour where the fish mongers used to be. Just proof that when you simplify things enough, it could be anything really. ;)

Previus logo mishaps: Xerox vs Logoworks, Quark and the scottish art council, Hampel Global Toilets and Hyregästföreningen, The EU presidency vs Bruges Group.

Superheros are popular in ads. But this set of badlanders for Walt Disney World and Prudential Financial share the idea that Mom and Dad are superheros. And yes, they are dressed in the appropriate garb for superhero greatness. Read on to see the idea twins.

At least eightynine people complained about the gay kiss in the Dolce & Gabbana advert which super adgrunts can see here. However, this is not a good enough reason to ban it, says the ASA :
"We did not consider that a kiss between two men automatically made an ad unacceptable for broadcast or that the kiss was in itself grounds for imposing a stricter timing restriction," it said in its ruling.

The first ad victim of the ban-hammer is rather tame, but bound to offend someone in "80% Catholic" Lithuania.

Beer-brewing company Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe have been "condemned" by the Catholic Church in Lithuania, as Kalnapilio-Tauro used an image of Jesus Christ wearing headphones to advertise its beer. "Many believers are hurt and outraged that the Saviour's image... was used for advertising beer," said Archibishop Sigitas Tamkevicius in a statement. "The use of Catholic symbols for commercial purposes and especially for advertising alcoholic beverages is absolutely unjustifiable." Why the headphones? Well, if you bought a beer you could win a CD. God help them, as that's not very creative at all. ;)

Once it's a coincidence, twice it might be something else.

Scott @ the Media Orchard tips us to this post Environmentally Unconscious, a rant about Kia's "Save the Greenbacks" Campaign, posted on Tuesday January 10, 2006. Something which, oddly enough, was posted at the DailyKos Monday Jan 09, but links to Tuesdays post at the Orchard. How twilight zone! ;)

Anyway, their point is that ads parodying Greenpeace type actions when talking about gas guzzling cars ain't very smart. On that we might agree, though I'm much more enraged by the plagiarism, as Toyota did that idea better back in 2004! Super adgrunts, see for yourself:

Old timer adgrunt AndrejX suggested these two ads as badlanders - and we must admit, never seen such dead on twin ideas before. Well, not too often anyway. ;)

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned its first internet viral ad.

They defended it for a long time, the infamous faces advert for digital TV, but the BBC has been forced to withdraw the advert with the creepy head, made up of lots of smaller heads. At the end of November it had only received 400 complaints, but now that number has climbed to 1,300 complaints.

A spokesman for the BBC is trying to save face - heh - by stating that the trailer had simply "finished slightly early", after it "achieved its goal".

The BBC's own website is witness to how much people were genuinly creeped out by the image - comments include:
"As a registered psychotherapist, I wish to protest that this image is disturbingly psychotic. Its unacknowledged aggression could make a fragile viewer ill".
Another entry reads: "I was having my dinner when the advert came on and it was all I could do to keep my food down. The images actually made my skin crawl."

A billboard featuring a nude Italian singer sponsored by fitness company, PerfectUK.com has been banned by the ASA.

Is something going on? The iTunes spot on Apple's sites won't play. Athough they did air over the weekend. Is it because it's similar to a 2002 Lugz ad?
View Apple's iTunes spot featuring Eminem or here (via AdFreak)

The Lugz "Arrow" spot from 2002 (superadgrunts click to watch):

From ever entertaining Screenhead.com

A whopping six people complained about a billboard campaign in New Zealand for Alibi Jeans by King Street Advertising. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board has now labelled the ads offensive.

One of the complainees was concerned about school children and the general public being exposed to "this level of gratuitous sexual intent".

"The lump under the sheet where his genitals would be leaves no doubt as to her intention," the complainant said.

However, Alibi Jeans said the concept showed "the empowerment of women using a typically male scenario".

Read on to see the "offensive ad".