And the most Effed ad of #FdAdFriday goes to...

...this barfworthy spot for French radio station Le Mouv':



Copyranter translates the kicker:

"Not everything was better before."
"My time. My radio."

You see, condoms were once made of sheep guts. (Some still are.) And listening to classic rock is kind of like putting an intestine on your johnson.

Okay.

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.

Durex ads: Faked for your pleasure?

Update: According to Copyranter, these ads are apparently "real" abominations created by Buzzman.fr. Not that it makes them any less vile. (Although it's odd that they're not on Buzzman's Facebook Page.)

These fake "edgy" ads are getting really tiresome.



This one, from Illegal Advertising, uses a cheap sight gag with batter to make a naughty bukkake reference. (If you don't know what that is, don't look it up. You've been warned.)

It's not so much the making of these spec pieces that bugs me so much as they'll be passed around as real.

But hey — if you're into this kind of humour, here are two more from the same YouTube Channel:





(Post picked up by Copyranter on Buzzfeed)

Absurdly violent condom ads #FdAdFriday

These have to be some of the most absurdly macho condom ads I have seen. By a sausage party of a creative team at TBWA Buenos Aires, Argentina, they seem to imply that men thing they have a mighty warrior in their pants. But it doesn't seem sexy at all to me, and can't possibly be an attractive image for women.

It's about technique, guys, not brute strength. Mine's a lover, not a fighter.

Via Ads of The World

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.

"I love sex, and I don't like condoms"

Somehow, this doesn't seem like a great pick-up line to me.



Sure, it's a condom ad. But I think I would have assumed this woman was the STI version of Typhoid Mary ("Chlamydia Fanny"?) and run far away before we ever got to the rubber part of the conversation.

Via Illegal Advertising

F'd Ad Fridays: Condom wrappers everywhere

Maybe it's just me, but I hate finding other people's condom packages lying around the streets or on other public places. Mostly because it's a reminder that there may be a discarded "white balloon" nearby, and also because it's litter. I'm happy people use them. I just don't want to be reminded that people are picking up street prostitutes so close to my home and work.

That said, I get the humour in this playful ad from K Swamy BBDO, India.  But why would an old married couple use one?



I do, however, love the brand name: Hindustan Lifecare Limited Moods Condoms

For all your limited moods?

Via IBiA

New condom ad rolls out an old idea

This condom ad by Marcus Thomas, in Cleveland, brings back the old "parenthood is a nightmare" gag that seems to appeal to younger singles.



The problem is, it's been done before — by a much better ad.



The only advantage of this new ad is that it brings a unique product benefit into the mix. But hearing about penile sensation while watching screaming children is not exactly a great viewer experience.

Via Ads of The World

The Durex ad that I didn't need to see on World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. And while many great attempts have been made by social marketers to get people to practice safer sex, the sexual transmission of HIV continues at a worrying pace.

The biggest barrier is that fact that nobody really likes condom sex better than bare sex. "Shower in a raincoat," etc. It will always be seen as a sensory compromise, even if it can improve length of performance or allow a more relaxed response by offering peace of mind.

And even the condom manufacturers know it:

This ad was featured today in Photoshop Disasters, because of the badly altered hand, but I found the concept itself gave me pause.

So, apparently, did @sidgestion, who Tweeted another version of the ad with the comment, "you can leave her pleasantly puzzled - do I need to get an abortion?"

Indeed, the ad seems wrong on so many levels. That a woman would muse about whether her partner used a condom or not brings up all kinds of questions about sexual health, consent, and plain old respect in the bedroom. It implies that she really would rather you forwent the Jimmy cap and jumped in au naturel, no matter what she has said to the contrary. In some ways, this is as bad as "no means yes".

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just a stupid ad. But in a world where some men would rather have their foreskins cut off than wear a condom, I don't think it's helping the cause any.