Angels’ Delight
Just you in case you haven’t seen this. I hadn’t until about five minutes ago
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Shock as ad found to be not entirely true
The ad on your right, for some brand of pomegranate juice that I had never heard of until today, has just been banned by the British Advertising Standards Authority because it is apparently “misleading”. What? An ad that’s misleading? Surely there’s some mistake? Apparently 23 very literal minded people complained to the authority that the company had exaggerated the health benefits of the juice by suggesting it would help them live forever when that might not actually be the case. For its part, the company argued that it was not implying its product would bestow immortality and said that the exaggeration was deliberate and not intended to be taken literally. The story has already been picked up by nearly all the broadsheet and tabloid newspapers in the UK giving the company a degree of publicity that they could scarcely have dreamed possible when this rather dull poster was first conceived, which is, I would imagine, exactly the result the ASA would have hoped not to achieve. -
A lot of bread
I wouldn’t normally post a link to an ad (unless I was giving out about it) but this one from Hovis won the Best Television Commercial of the Year at the British Advertising Awards last night and really is worth a look (I have Sky Plus so never get to see ads, so I accept that there is a good chance that everyone has been talking about this for months and I’ve only just cottoned on now). I wonder what a Guinness ad built on the same premise would look like? Mostly grim, I suspect, but I’d still love to see it. -
Waste money, not water
I’ve just heard what might the most pointless ad ever broadcast on Irish radio. It was from the water conservation people and urged listeners not to use hoses to water their grass. Sorry, what? Did someone really think it was absolutely necessary to spend money – our money – on cautioning people against watering their grass with a hose? Just when are we supposd to be out watering the grass? In between sandbagging our houses keep the torrential rains out? Pity they haven’t heard of money conservation.
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Just stop it!
So I was watching TV a few minutes ago, again almost flat on my back (it’s a theme of the day), when I saw this ad for Just For Men. It is, I’m guessing, trying to be cute but comes out creepy. It also made me ask way too many questions. Where’s the children’s mother? Dead, I’m thinking, but you can never be sure – maybe she ran off with a carnie. How long has she been gone? A month? A year? When is it time, exactly? What made the kids think their dad needed to dye his hair before he’d be attractive to other women? And, really, what kind of lessons is he teaching them by so readily agreeing to cosmetically alter (I was going to say enhance, but who can say?) his appearance in order to find them a replacement mother? There are so many, many things wrong with this ad that I wish I had grey hair so I could refuse to buy it. -
Put the freshness back
I was feeding my baby yesterday evening when something alarming happened. She was eating in a distracted fashion, as is her wont, and casually shaking her cup about the place. All the shaking brought to mind that Shake n’ Vac ad from the 1970s so I started singing it, as you do. The terrible thing is that while I haven’t thought about or seen the ad for 25 years I was still able to sing every single word of the song. Every single word! It’s not that long, I know but I still can’t believe that a small part of my brain has been given over to remembering the jingle for such a ridiculous product all this time when it could have been better employed remembering where I left my keys last night, the name of anyone I am ever introduced to for more than 15 seconds or how the modh coinniollach worked (or even how it was spelt) back when I was doing my Leaving Cert. So of course I had to go and find the silly ad on youtube and have been singing it (against my will) all afternoon. I’d love to know what it is about it that makes it so irritatingly memorable and if there are any other ones that have the same affect on others. -
They don’t make ‘em like this anymore
And thank the Lord for that! Here’s a collection of some of the most bizarre ads you’ll ever see. I wasn’t sure which was more ridiculous: the waterskiing smokers, the opera singer who thought Camels had “a mildness that agrees with my throat”, the Salem cigarette which “breathes in fresh air” or Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble promoting Winston during a children’s show. Then I got to the chesterfield ad towards the end which is beyond belief. -
Coke’s ‘satanic’ ad angers Russians
Coca Cola have got themselves into spot of bother in Russia after over 400 residents from the city of Nizhny Novgorod filed a complaint against the company accusing it of insulting Orthodox Christian beliefs in an advertising campaign which uses images of Orthodox churches and crosses, including some which “were even put upside down”. Coca-Cola insists the ads are aimed at promoting Russia’s culture.
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