Safer sex billboard versus fretful mother

AdFreak has a story about how a resident of Van Nuys, California, successfully lobbied to have a safer sex billboard in her community taken down from a public thoroughfare. 

The ad in question?

Via KTLA

According to local news outlet KTLA:

"Eve Ragsdale worried about having to explain the billboard to her 6-year-old triplets. 

... 

Ragsdale had contended that her children, who read now and ask questions about everything, were not developmentally ready to have the AIDS-condom relationship explained to them. 

'It's just an inappropriate image for all of the children in the neighborhood,' she said."

I am raising a young child in an urban environment, too. He's also a kid who is curious about everything, but he rarely asks awkward questions about the condoms we see on the sidewalk, or the streetwalkers we drive past. It's not that he doesn't notice. He just doesn't care much about those things at his age.

But as a 7-year-old obsessed with nature, he knows what sex is. (He surprised an after school caregiver last year by pointing out two "mating" squirrels.) If he asked me straight out what a condom was for, I'd tell him in an age-appropriate manner. Even though young ones don't yet have those feelings, it won't be long. My belief is that it's better to normalize condom use before the occasion... arises?

But, of course, other parents may have different views. My major concern here is a very important public health massage being stifled by an individual's feeling that it is not appropriate for the public media. And the media company, who decided to take the knee-jerk approach, gave in without so much as a second thought.

According to the LA Daily News:

"Van Wagner Outdoor Vice Chairman Bill Crabtree told the Daily News that the billboard would be changed on Wednesday or Thursday. 

'I told my operations manager to move it,' Crabtree said. 'We listened to (Ragsdale), we don't necessarily agree with her, but if it's offensive to her, the last thing we want to do is offend anyone.' 

'We don't put up (ads for) strip clubs, we don't put up anything that is lewd," Crabtree explained. "But the AIDS thing is educational, quite frankly. I know people might look at some of the designs askew, but they're trying to get their point across.' 

'We don't put up ads for strip clubs, we don't put up anything that is lewd,' Crabtree said."

 Ironically, as AdFreak's David Kiefaber points out, Van Nuys is literally The Porn Capital of The World. And a recent LA law requires all adult performers to wear condoms in their onscreen couplings.

But hey, Ms. Ragsdale. Heaven forbid you should have to explain that billboard to your children.

If I were the AHF, I would not take this lying down.

Your Grandma won't rest until you get a job #FdAdFriday

Sissy Spacek has seen better days...

That's the joke in this bizarre ad by Draftfcb Argentina. AdFreak covered it this week, and it made some people really upset. (A commenter on their Facebook page wrote, "I hate this ad and I hope all the people who made it die violently.")



 I thought it was kind of funny.

PETA sexploitation ads: Coming on a fire truck near you?

Add caption

Only if you live in Baltimore.

According to AdFreak, a Baltimore city councillor has proposed selling ad space on city vehicles to add an new revenue stream. PETA has already mocked up their own custom ad for the occasion, claiming that seeing a half-naked woman and a bad pun "will drive Baltimore residents to PETA's heart-healthy vegan recipes that will keep them firing on all cylinders."

Yeah, whatever.

Louisville's bizarre breastfeeding ad is not helping the cause #FdAdFriday

Great. Many Americans are already weirded out by breastfeeding because they see breasts as single-function male titillators. But with this completely effed take on the unfortunate and played out "animated talking baby" format, they're just creeping people out even more.



Worst of all is the sped-up baby voice. It reminds me of "that high squeaky voice" of evil Toon in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not a good association.

The campaign means well, at least. In the United States, women of African ancestry have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates. It's an issue that needs addressing. But is the the best the mayor's Healthy Hometown initiative could come up with?

If you read this blog, you know how I feel about the issue. Breastfeeding is a marvellous and deeply human thing. This ad... is not.

Via Adfreak

Pastor brings down naked billboard with 4 tweets

Via NY Post

No, this is not a billboard announcing the re-release of Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove. It's the space where Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater ad used to be.

Via allouteffort.com

This is the creative that used to be there. Pretty run-of-the-mill sexploitative advertising. ("XXX" is one of Vitaminwater's flavours, according to AdFreak.) But the giant version was posted across from Gallery Church, where a small group of Baptist Biblical literalists worship with Rev. Freddy Wyatt.

Wyatt tells the New York Post that he was "angered and brokenhearted" by the ad, because it "takes something that’s pure and precious and just strips it of its value.”

I assume he's talking about sex. Or maybe specifically female sexuality. I would agree that hypersexualized ads do diminish the awesomeness of real human intimacy, however not all sex is "pure and precious". Sometimes, it's dirty and cheap. (At least, I hear some people are into that.)

Anyway, Rev. Wyatt sent just sent four tweets to Vitaminwater and parent company Coca-Cola, and miraculously the company removed the ad the next day, unintentionally creating a great outdoor conceptual piece honouring the fact that is was Good Friday.

The Rev. was so thrilled that he served Vitaminwater at his next service, even though he couldn't believe heis voice could be so powerful. “Here’s four tweets from a random pastor," he said "and without even a conversation, they took it down.

Even though I think this kind of sex in advertising is unimaginative and somewhat demeaning, I find the knee-jerk censorship surprising too. Considering the money obviously spent on the execution and posting, this must have been a real panic for them. Was Coke afraid of having its brand dragged through the mud by a man of god on Easter weekend? No idea.

It couldn't have been Vitaminwater that did it. These are the same people who did the Jennifer Aniston "Sex Tape" hoax to promote Smartwater and had her pose completely nude in their print ads.

Or maybe they found Jesus. I don't know. 

There is a male version of the ad as well, by the way:

Via Jason in Hollywood

Would that have offended the Rev as much, do you think?

Thanks to David Gianatasio at AdFreak for the tip.

These messages brought to you by #WorldWaterDay

It's World Water Day today, and I'm up to my baby blues in "real" work, so here's a compilation of classic water-related PSAs to remind us all of what's at stake if we don't keep our water resources clean and safe (hint: we all die).

Matt Damon's viral PSA "making of" freakout (contains F-bombs, via earthfirst.com)



Jennifer Connelly has to fetch water from Central Park to live (via search)



Wasting Water is Weird (via Osocio)



Sweden's controversial "dirty water" mom via (Adfreak)



A strikingly similar (and earlier) PSA from the UK (via The Next Good Idea)



Yet another execution of the same idea, again via AdFreak



And again, for UNICEF (via Ads of The World)



And, now for something completely different...

Surfrider Foundation: "Butts" (found via search)



The message is clear: Never take clean water for granted.

The choice of this generation sucks #FdAdFriday

Not the King of Pop

AdFreak tells us that Pepsi let lapse one of their most famous taglines, the one they paid Michael Jackson gajillions of dollars to promote back when I was a teen:



To capture the imaginations of the current generation of teens, the slogan has been snapped up by... Better Oats?



Oh, man. It may be a healthier option, but this generation's marketing sure does suck.

Sears pulls "butt plugs" out of online catalogue #FdAdFriday

The Sears catalogue was once a famous source of female models in translucent underwear and the occasional accidental penis, but in this pornified age it seems they feel they need to try much harder to get attention.

According to AdFreak (via Gawker), this tee briefly appeared in their online catalogue, before being removed.

Here's a screencap, via Buzzfeed:

Yes, it even comes in Santorum brown...

Liquid-Plumr porn #FdAdFriday

A hunky plumber comes to a lonely woman's door, telling her "I'm here to snake your drain". A second arrives shortly after, saying "I'm here to flush your pipe".

You can imagine what happens next... 

Don't be fatuous!

Via AdFreak

The least appropriate use of female sexuality in point-of-sale... ever

AdFreak shared this bizarre standee from Germany, advertising Jack Link's beef jerky.

There is simply no way I want to associate leathery preserved meat with sex. Hell, I didn't even like it when Lady Gaga wore fresh steak.

A little Gooogling revealed that not only is this campaign well known in Europe, but Jack's links actually teamed up with Maxim UK to run a contest across the continent to find the next "Jack's Girl".

Here's the winner, "Tillie T from Nottingham, UK":

The stupid Skittles spoof ad sequel you don't need to see #FdAdFridays

Wait.. didn't he pull out?

Last year's hideously pornographic Skittles Ad Spoof was outrageous enough to get Cousins noticed as a production team. But was this boring sequel really needed?


Reese's Pieces "Love Child" Extended Cut - Dir. Cousins from Cousins on Vimeo.


Meh.

Via AdFreak

F'd Ad Fridays: Five hours of Adriana Lima

KIA seems to have taken their Super Bowl "teaser" rather literally, providing boys (and girls who like girls) five online hours of slow motion flag waving. Although I'm sure most viewers will be "done" in under five minutes.

Garth: Hey, are you done yet? I'm getting tired of holding it. 

Wayne: Yeah, that's what she said. 

(Here's the actual ad, in case you're tired of being teased.)

Via AdFreak 

Obligatory Honda CR-V Matthew/Ferris Post

Like many of you, I have already seen this on AdFreak and elsewhere. I'm just posting it so people stop sending it to me.



It's a really great piece of '80s homage, and is really kind to the source material as well as the actor's dignity. Well done, RPA.

More background info here and here.

It's not that I'm not also fascinated by the Super Bowl advertising orgy of conspicuous budget consumption. I just hate to be overly "me too" on this blog.

F'd Ad Fridays: Epically Effed Pizza Ad

This Spanish microwave pizza looks awful, but that doesn't stop these creatives from pulling out all the stops to create the most insane online video ad I've seen that isn't from Japan.

AdFreak's Tim Nudd wrote, "It's not clear if Pizza Boomerang is a real thing, or just a stunt project by Sofa Experience Communications, which posted the YouTube video."

Warning: It contains a very fake but very graphic pizza penectomy. Yeah, really.

Crystal Light sexes up advertising for women

"I'm going to get wet..."

It's sexist, but it's also in interesting development. A Crystal light ad that has women making outrageous puns about their sexual response to a hunky male.



It's the kind of thing we're used to seeing with the roles reversed, with the everyday guys ending up with buxom bikini babes. It's a very male approach:  Instead of showing the women the bodies they "should" have, the ad shows them the biological reason for trying to be more attractive.

Does this way of looking at it make it okay? No, it's still sexual objectification.

Does it even the score? Not  even close.

Nonetheless, as a man I'm not at all bothered by the approach. What do my women readers think?

Tip via AdFreak

F'd Ad Fridays: F'ing Xmas Edition

All day today, I'll be featuring really bad ads and general pop culture crap for Xmas 2012.

Here's a start, from down under:

Via AdFreak

Christmas toys weigh in on the abortion debate

via AdFreak

Thanks, Niagara Region Right to Life. Because what a complex scientific and ethical debate about the nature of humanity and reproductive rights really needs... is more crying nutcrackers.

F'd Ad Fridays: Stalking the friendly skies with KLM

Image via Skyscanner

Last winter, Skyscanner reported on the popularity of “flyrting” — flirting with strangers onboard commercial flights — with a survey saying that 45% of respondents admitted to doing it.

Now, according to AdFreak, KLM is planning to launch a socially-enabled booking service service that will let solo travellers choose their seat mate by creeping that person in advance on Twitter or Facebook.

What could possibly go wrong?

Bloglove is in the air... #saveadland

When I started this blog, in early 2009, I decided I had better carefully study the style and success of some of the more popular ad bloggers. Quickly, I realized that there was a small group who I ended up reading most often: AdFreak, Copyranter, Adrants, Adland, Osocio and (of course) Ads of The World - the place everyone goes for content.

As I found my voice and my niche, I also found that these blogs were run by a close-knit fraternity of ad nerds who were completely modest and approachable. Tim Nudd of AdFreak is an Anglo-American family man who balances being edgy and fun with the demands of representing a corporate brand. Steve Hall of Adrants is an apparent ad convention junkie who also writes for Playboy's "I just visit it for the articles" blog. Åsk Wäppling of Adland is a Swedish design nerd and single mom who is the veteran of the group (having blogged since 1996). Marc van Gurp of Osocio is a Dutch family man and digital designer who has a passion for great work that inspires social change. Ivan Raszl of Ads of The World is a Hungarian family man, designer, and now New Canadian. Even the anonymous Copyranter, the cynical Rorschach of the group, is surprisingly humble and accessible and on his comments thread.

It has been a pleasure to find myself accepted into this group, even though I'm a noob and don't have a massive following. All of the above have shared content from this blog, from time to time,  and have respectfully linked back. Tim and I chat frequently on Google. Steve runs a Facebook club, of sorts, for fellow enthusiasts. I flirt shamelessly with Åsk on Facebook. Marc and I are now good friends (although we've never met in person) and collaborators on Osocio. Ivan and I just recently had a meet-up at a pub when I was doing focus groups in his new home base. And Copyranter, he occasionally gives me a nice shout-out.

But the real sense of community occurred to me just today, when Åsk found herself at the business end of an unpayable server bill. She put out an appeal, and... well... I'll let her tell it:

"We've raised $1,287.15 for the $2,658.50 so far, but that's not even the best news here. The best news is that so many of you care enough to retweet and donate and post blog posts and tell your friends. I honestly wasn't expecting this much love, and I am humbled by it.

@Adfreak asked everyone to please help save us, @agencyspy put a link in their tuesday morning stir to longtime adgrunt Purplesimon's appeal post. I didn't ask @purplesime to do that, and I didn't ask @imperica to post this appeal post either. I'm grateful they both did. 

Turns out that Imperica have a good grasp of how much I do here (read: everything), and some readers revealed they had no idea. Thus came the tweets showing me building hardware (acme, apex and acme again) which was quite fun for a bit. At least for me. :)
Even the End days of advertising joined in making a special sarcastic toon just for adland. Sweet. 

And to top it all off, my ex-ex hosting place Memset contacted me over twitter to see if they can help. They must have forgiven me for almost taking down their network a few superbowls ago. 

And today, Amazon in Ireland phoned us up, they've not just extended the deadline, they're going to help figure out how to make a better setup that won't cost a fortune each month."

It's a Festivus miracle!

So I'd like to do my part to give back some blog love as I entreat those of you who also love reading or writing adblogs to donate now to keep the lights on at Adland. (I hear those Swedish winters are really damn dark, too!)

And thanks to all my adblogging friends for teaching me the ropes.

F'd Ad Fridays: What to do if Santa comes too soon

AdFreak posted this ad promoting the morning after pill as a seasonal thing. Seems a little not-so-jolly to me, making emergency contraception festive.

And BPAS, "the UK's leading abortion specialist", wants women to get their oops pills in advance just in case they have unsafe sex over the holidays.

It's a little weird. They do give the disclaimer, "The ‘morning after pill‘ should only be considered an emergency form of contraception, other, more effective forms of contraception are available" but it still feels like they're completely ignoring the whole STI issue.