Hasta La Creative!

Y&R New Zealand turns manly beards into cute animals for Schick’s “Free Your Skin” campaign, which takes a bold anti-beard stance in this golden age of hirsute ruggedness. 

Of course, sneering observers are all calling the Schick models hipsters, so maybe the ads also tap into a sort of cultural exhaustion with all things bearded, buttoned-down and knit-capped. Seriously, I think Tony Montana said the F-word fewer times than I’ve read the word “hipster” doing research for this post. 

Y&R did a brief interview with Metro about the campaign, claiming that the bearded creatives in the agency’s employ “all confessed that their beards aren’t actually that pleasant to live with.” Lies and slander! They also claim that “women actually find beards kinda gross,” which science would argue is only half-true.

Via Design Taxi.

I'm not sure which is more disturbing—the hirsute images that adorn the Beardvertising site from Kentucky ad agency Cornett-IMS, or creative Whit Hiler's use of the work "mancessory" to describe such facial hair. You might recall Hiler from past wacky ventures such as conquering Reddit with fake fliers (including a meetup to recreate scenes from Human Centipede—"Guys only") and crafting a tourism campaign that was presumably too "kick-ass" for the Bluegrass State. Here's his latest pitch: "Do you wanna get paid for having an epic beard? Of course you do. Join the world's first Beardvertising network. Get paid. It's simple—turn your beard into a business. Just like Duck Dynasty. Hang a BeardBoard (Patent Pending) in your beard. Sit back and get paid up to $5 per day." So far, A&W Restaurants and Eagle One Automotive have slapped their messages on Beardvertising mini-billboard clips. Maybe Schick, Gillette, Old Spice and DollarShaveClub.com should join in to cut through the clutter and carve out some unique ad space.