Note 2004-01-15 Paypal, the eBay owned internet-bank thing has frozen our assets and shut down the Commercial Archive's only donation option right before the superbowl (ouch) due to the nudity in this image. Read more here

The now infamous Sophie Dahl Opium ad has become the most offensive ad of 2000. It'll go down in history kids! Or at the very least, become a trivial pursuit question. Aren't we proud?

Opium: a whopping 948 complaints - but the ad was never banned.

While Miller Light and Coors Light battle breasts in Boobwar 2K3, USA's Great White North neighbor is getting mighty clever with its Miami agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Adding to Molson's excellent Twin Label Technology, they're now heading to magazine land with a decidedly different two-sided approach.

Hmm... Nice puppies.*

Meanwhile, Molson's been having some fun in its homeland too. Their new designs for their Big Bubba Beer mini-kegs, paying homage to the great Don Cherry, is pushing the envelope on Canadian advertising regulations in a way that might even be more controversial than catfights. For Canada, that is. Head to the bottom of this post for that story.

No doot aboot it - Go Molson!

After seeing that 7up has agreed to pull its "Captive Audience" spot, I an reminded of what happened last year with 7up, pixilated nudity and the holier-than-thou American Family Association.

Well, Adland has the naked truth along with the spot that was yanked in 2001. Click "Read more" for mo'.

The Suits Must Die.

The advertising industry at a dead end.

Greg Stene, Ph.D.

Mass Communication

Idaho State University

Pocatello, ID 83209

208.282.4539

[This is the Forward only. I'm seeking a publisher for the whole book.

Barnardo's uses shock tactics to tackle child poverty, this strategy has backfired. More than 60 people contacted the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) through its website, and dozens of people called the within hours of the ads appearing.

The first in the series of newspaper adverts from Barnardo's shows a new-born baby with a cockroach crawling out of his mouth. Another advert in the "silver spoons" campaign features a baby with a methylated spirits bottle in its mouth while a third shows a baby with a syringe.

The headline on the adverts says: "There are no silver spoons for children born into poverty." Read more to see the ads.

A new Greenpeace UK spot has aliens, portrayed by Eddie Izzard, Joe McFadden, and Jim Broadbent, pondering an invasion of Earth. Is it a worth while venture? Can their top man pull them together?

Check out the spot here. (quicktime and windows media)

Ad agency: HHCL/Red Cell.

Does this sound familiar? Twentythree pointers to clue you in to if you are a prostitute or simply an advertising creative. The similartities are endless.... (oh, and do please add yours!)

Ford Sports Ka The Evil twin - is a little too evil in one of the commercials apparantly. In the ad a pigeon swoops down to the bonnet of the car, but the evil car defends itself and whacks the bird away.

People who fancy pigeons are condeming the advert (suprise!). Brian Tattersall, president of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, calls the ad "incredibly bad taste" and he has called for the advert to be banned.

Even the RSPCA has joined in the battle to bad the advert, claiming that the use of shock tactics to cause offence and gain publicity is just "very, very bad taste."

"The car is most certainly not designed to hurt animals." said a spokeswoman for Ford to Ananova

Izvestia writes that this ad, from the Russian Finance magazine was banned with immediate effect in Moscow. The poster company had to tear down a 100 posters overnight after receiving a stern letter from Igor Presnyakov, chairman of the Moscow Committee for advertising and information.
Igor (and probably anyone else who saw it) thought the image depicted a sex scene, while the magazines publisher said: "I thought the currencies were dancing on our poster". A cossack dance, maybe....

Gals, this one's for you.
And guys, cover your eyes.
Do not click on the following link if you have a weak constitution or prefer to leave things to the imagination. Oh, and hide the children. Supposedly this is the first big brand advertisement featuring male full frontal nudity.