Needlessly creepy parental control ads

Why so creepy? My guess is that the Art Director watches a lot of vintage porn.

Unfortunately, the "parent" in these ads ends up looking like a predator. Which is pretty much the opposite of what was intended. (Also, why is the supposed protagonist made of porn? Hmmm...)

Ads by Sancho BBDO, Bogota, Colombia.

Via Ads Of The World

Reframing the solar power pitch (sort-of)

"You just heard 'solar" and assumed I'm some weird pickler guy"

A new Fast Company post features this fun campaign by Heat for  SunRun, a San Francisco-based provider of domestic solar power systems.

This one's the best:



By making gentle fun of environmentalists, the approach does two things well:

1) It appeals to people who are more thrifty than "crunchy", and
2) It appeals to people who are a little crunchy, but have a healthy sense of irony

In other words, the ads appeal to smart people who want to live more sustainably — one way or another — and lower the barriers to trial.

It's a refreshing attempt to normalize solar.

McDonald's wants you to buy your kids' love with McNuggets

It's always been known that McDonald's real brand promise is "buy your children's love". They create this opportunity by marketing so effectively to kids that they think anything tastes better in a McWrapper. Then they sappily remind third- and fourth-generation McParents how great they felt when they went to the Golden Arches.

Knowing all of this, and as cynical as I am, I was still shocked when I saw this print campaign on Copyranter's Buzzfeed blog.

DDB New York has produced what may be the most blatant execution of McDonald's brand strategy by telling parents that even if they suck at making their kids happy, the anodyne is a quick trip to the Mc, where a few bucks worth of sugar, salt, fat and designer flavours will make it all okay.

Yeah, it's supposed to be clever and funny. No, I am not laughing. Especially in regards to the one where a little boy is abandoned in a dark soccer field because mom or dad simply forgot to pick him up:

Show some responsibility already, McDonalds and DDB. Or at least be a little more subtle in your evil manipulation of parental love. OK?

Another Indo-American reaction to Ashton's "brownface"

I posted earlier today about Puja Mohindra's reaction video to the tasteless Indian stereotype Ashton Kutcher portrayed in a viral ad for Pop Chips.

It turns out Ms. Mohindra wasn't the only one. American comedian Hasan Minhaj really lays into the advertiser:



And so he should.

I find Mr. Minhaj's term "clownable minority" a really useful one when discussing the "just a joke" racism of ethnic stereotypes. We really need to take a step back and think about what these jokes really mean to a billion of our friends and neighbours.

Chewbacca celebrated Star Wars Day by having a bubble bath with two women

The last remnants of the Empire have been defeated, and it is a period of peace in the galaxy. The Jedi Order, no longer needed in their role as defenders, have scattered across the stars and started new lives...while the Sith wait quietly hidden in their midst. Such a Jedi and her Sith counterpart have found common ground and established a new business together on a remote planet. United by a love of animals and a belief in the force, they have rededicated their lives to the art of grooming. Their latest mission leads them to the base of a former Rebel. Though the war is over, they have not forgotten where their true allegiances lie...

This is one strange fake ad. Last Friday, "May the Fourth (be with you)", was Star Wars Day, and it inspired this Seth Green-directed commercial spoof: According to Nerdist:

"The Fourth is in Force at the Nerdist Channel, where nothing says celebrating Star Wars fandom like two lovely ladies with lightsabers. "Saber 2: Return of the Body Wash" sees Rileah Vanderbilt and Clare Grant returning to their popular fake-but-we-wish-it-were real cologne commercial world with a curvaceous clone-war twist. Watch as things get wetter than the planet Kamino in the newest Duel of the Femme Fatales."

Ummm... okay. Clare Grant, by the way, is Seth Green's wife.

Advice for Ashton on how to make fun of Indian people

Indo-American actress Puja Mohindra has some advice for Ashton Kutcher on how to properly make fun of Indian people:



Kutcher's steretypical portrayal of "Raj" on a since-yoinked online campaign for Pop Chips has been roundly criticized on social media. But this oddball (and somewhat meandering) video is at least the most... ummm...  interesting reaction I've seen.

UPDATE: Ms. Mohindra has listened to critics of her video's pacing, and has edited a new version:

This is why the world needs FEMEN

With their headline-grabbing tactic of demonstrating topless, the women of Ukraine's FEMEN movement can seem like a novelty act. But believe me, they are deadly serious.

And one of the main reasons they came into existence, a few years ago, was to fight against the way Ukrainian women are perceived and treated — not just in their own country, but around the world.

This year, the focus of their anger has been the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2012), which will be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. Like many other major sporting events, Euro 2012 is expected to arouse a boom in prostitution as local women offer to "service" foreign soccer fans.

The potential for widespread exploitation and abuse of women is even worse in Ukraine, which is a well-known European destination for sex tourism.

How well-known? Check out these two ads:





In both cases, the idea that Ukrainian women are Europe's sex toys is simply taken for granted.

FEMEN's founder, Anna Hutsol, told New Europe:

“I don't know what type of people will come or how they see our country, but if they think it is a 'brothel country', how will they behave with young women on the streets? You know, our girls dress quite liberally, which is usually not accepted in a European country, and to some could seem as a sexual call . This will also influence the behaviour of the sport fans. Thus, we need drive home the message: 'Yes, Ukrainian girls usually dress like this, but they are not prostitutes.'”

Women re-appropriating their own sexuality. It's a thing now, with worldwide movements like Slutwalk and Rock The Slut Vote. But before them were these half-dressed Ukrainian women, shivering and screeching against a system that tries to keep them down. Let's all hope in never does.