Playboy's late-life identity crisis

Poor old Playboy doesn't know what to be in the 21st Century.

Founded as somewhat of a countercultural icon for affluent and educated men almost 60 years ago, it played an important (if one-sided) part in the Sexual Revolution and spoke out against McCarthyism. In the '60s, it matured into a brand for the wannabe martini set. But by the '70s, hardcore pornography took away its more horny audiences as it maintained its relevance through top-notch interviews and celebrity pictorials. In the '80s, it was all about video.

Now, here we are in the digital age. Pictures of naked women are abundant and free. So is interesting and subversive content. So what's left for Playboy?

I think their biggest problem is that sex, culture and politics are no longer a man's exclusive domain. Playboy will never be able to shake its basically sexist brand character, and who wants to be associated with that?

The douchebag market, that's who. Young men who read Maxim and wear Axe.

To compete with Maxim, Playboy launched The Smoking Jacket, an online ladmag that covers culture, entertainment and boobies with a less overtly-pornographic, teasing style. Fellow adblogger Steve Hall, from Adrants, is one of the contributors. (He pens a "sexy ads of the week" column.)

And Axe?

Check out this Playboy shower gel ad by DDB Paris:



Yeah, it's a shitty ad. It's also extremely creepy. Can you imagine how a young woman would feel if a strange man, alone with her in the elevator, hit the emergency button? She'd be expecting the worst.

I don't really know if Playboy has a future as a serious brand. It could be that, in a few years, it will only survive as a logo worn ironically (or desperately) by attention-seeking young women.

What do you think?

Russian bank's weird bimbophobic ad #FdAdFriday

"Bimbophobia" is something I just made up. It's the fear and loathing many people feel for the Hiltons, Kardashians and Stoddens of the world.

It is essentially sexist in its nature, seeing rich and vain women as monumentally stupid (which a few may well be) but it also smells a bit like class conflict.

That said, the ad is mildly funny and surprisingly restrained by Russian ad standards.



Via Adrants

Why is this Playboy Bunny's lettuce bikini so horribly photoshopped? #FdAdFriday

I suppose the combination of model Sheridyn Fisher's body heat and the studio lights would wilt lettuce pretty quickly, but come on, PETA.

Of course, it's not as if the Playboy Bunny has never been photoshopped before. But it's probably the most awkward and least fun photo editing job anyone's ever had with one of her photos.

You can see the "real" lettuce swimwear in the video version here:



Via Adrants.

The complete Axe guide to horrible female stereotypes

Earlier this week, I shared the lameness that was Axe's "trick the smart girl into boning you" ad.

What bad body wash and low self esteem will get you.

Today, Adrants shared the rest of the series of Axe ads based on female stereotypes:









Notice something strange about the series as a whole? While the "Brainy Girl" ad was about the douchey Axeman manipulating his date into thinking he cared about her cultural interests, it seems the theme of the ads was supposed to be about long-suffering boyfriends who will do anything for sex.

To recap:

Sporty Girls are turned on by violently competitive jerks.
Flirty Girls dig threesomes with meek men.
High Maintenance Girls want a total doormat.
Party Girls want guys who do lots of really hard stimulant drugs.

And apparently, Brainy Girls like great big frauds.

What's strange is that the "Brainy Girl" is the only one who isn't a completely inconsiderate bitch. Why does she deserve an Axe douche for a boyfriend?

'Tis one of the great mysteries of advertising.

Axe believes that even "brainy" women are this dumb

Look! She has glasses! She must be one a them intullekshul chicks!

Axe plays to the cheap seats with this story about a dumbass who tricks a thespian into being impressed by his commitment to the theatre. Presumably, she will jump his bones immediately upon exiting the venue so that he doesn't get the chance to blow it by actually attempting to talk about what happened on stage.



Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that this joke about tricking women into bed is an old and established trope. And Axe is not exactly a progressive brand. But this stupid ad insults every woman — and most of the men— I know.

At least put some effort into your sexism, Axe.

Via Adrants

Condom brand boards the "slut pride" bandwagon

It's a great idea, really. From the incident that led to Slutwalk's creation to Rush Limbaugh's recent verbal incontinence, there has been a strong will to reclaim the "slut" label foe a generation of sex-positive feminists.

Sir Richard's Condom Company knew a good meme when they saw one. This is a prophylactic producer with a cause. For every condom sold in the first world, they donate one to a free clinic in developing countries, engaging local artists and activists to brand them in culturally relevant ways.

Now, Sir Richard's has wrapped itself in the slut pride movement, launching the campaign site "Sluts Unite":

Sure, it's a money making ploy as well. But I like it, myself. Cynical or sincere, I think the only way to improve sexual health and dignity for everyone is to engage in a more natural and unashamed sex-positive dialogue.

For Sir Richard's, the front line is social media. So they have created a wide variety of avatars for people to use in the fight to make "slut" less of a dirty word:

Sure, there are people who object to this. I get it. But change should be a little unsettling.

Tip via AdRants.

Singapore's condoms protect you from more

Now here's a refreshing approach to condom marketing — a value-added App that keeps you from being walked in on by your parents.



Adrants posted this great campaign by TBWA\Tequila for Okamoto Condoms, the Okamoto Freedom Project, which promotes the brand by trying to help young people get it on without embarrassment.

We need more campaigns like that over here — promoting safer sex in every sense.

The Chevy ad Ford didn't want you to see

According to Adrants, Ford tried to have this cheeky ad pulled from yesterday's Super Bowl lineup for obvious reasons.

Chevy, having spent some serious coing on production, refused. And we all had a good chuckle.




The only question the ad left me with was this:

When will they realize there are no women?

Oh, wait...



That will end well...

F'd Ad Fridays: Those Doritos smell like ass!

I'm not sure the smell of powdered cheese and spices so much covers the smell of flatulence as disguises it.



Via Adrants

F'd Ad Fridays: Boner spray spoofs Charles Atlas

Adrants posted this rather unimaginative parody of classic Charles Atlas fitness ads starring reality TV model Adrianne Curry.

From the product site:

"Meet Erox, a new approach to functional fragrance design that combines patented compounds, including two human pheromones and Muricin Aglycone, a non-pheromone organic molecule that has been proven to increase excitement and arousal in men and women in a double-blind placebo controlled study. Prior to Erox, this compound has never before been available in a consumer product."

Sounds totally legit to me...

Lindsay Lohan wants your friction

At least this one wasn't done from jail. Adrants' Steve Hall says it was shot by her Playboy photographer Yu Tsai, but in a session a couple of years ago. Not exactly subtle.

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.