Hasta La Creative!

Most cancer charities want to highlight how easy it is to check yourself for lumps or other danger signs, but Testicular Cancer Canada decided to grab some attention by getting guys to do it the hard way.

BBDO Toronto and video production house Crush threw a party at which 20 young men were challenged to have their balls waxed while their reactions were filmed. The results are about what you'd expect, with red-faced screaming and a myriad of facial contortions. And like half the ads on earth, it's set to the increasingly frenetic tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.

So is it a good idea to associate extreme pain with a simple and painless preventative ritual like feeling your testicles? A spokesperson for Crush sent AdFreak this response: "Given that the target audience (young guys) don't ever think about cancer, or checking themselves out, we wanted a light-hearted way to get them thinking about their own groins."

On the bright side, if you decide to go for a full wax instead of simply cupping your crotch after a shower, I'm pretty sure it unlocks an achievement for completing the challenge in Nightmare Mode.

La série « The Ice Typography » de Nicole Dextras, une artiste environnementale canadienne, regroupe un éventail de mots 3D en glace que l’artiste a faits à l’aide d’attelles en bois. De la ville de Toronto à la rivière Yukon, ces installations poétiques montrent les mots comme étant éphémères et en constante évolution.

Nothing enhances a commute like coming into physical contact with a bunch of strangers at the bus stop.

Cossette's "Moments of Warmth" campaign for Duracell had public-transport patrons in chilly Montreal join hands to complete a circuit and activate heaters in a branded bus shelter. I suppose this marketing approach has positives and negatives. (Such battery puns fall into the latter category.) On the one hand, it's not as touching as that Norwegian "Would you share you coat with a freezing child at a bus stop?" stunt. And having the subjects kiss would've provided more sparks.

On the plus side, at Duracell's shelter, no one can pick your pocket.

Montreal agency lg2 found a goofy but practical use for all the snow this winter—it made it look like dandruff gone berkserk on outdoor ads for Selsun Blue. Pity the fool who had shoveling duty on this project, though.

"Dandruff flakes typically occur in winter," the agency says, "due to the use of heating sources such as electricity. Selsun Blue and lg2 thus decided to launch an offensive at a time when people are most in need of dandruff-fighting shampoo."

The headline, "Quand les pellicules vous prennent par surprise," translates to, "When flakes take you by surprise." Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Sanofi – Selsun Blue
Agency: lg2, Montreal
Creative Director: Marc Fortin
Creative Team: Mathieu Dufour, Marie-Ève Leclerc-Dion
Account Services: Julie Simon, David Legendre, Safia Dodard
Print Production: lg2fabrique
Media: Publicité Sauvage

Canadian snack maker Krispy Kernels had a sleeper hit a couple of years ago with its "Couch" commercial, a delightful bit of oddvertising that absconded from Cannes with a bronze Lion.

Now the brand is back with this amusing new ad, "Meditation," which mixes zen meditation with furtive snack eating, with unexpected results.

So much oddball work seems forced these days, but this stuff, from Quebec agency Lg2, is up there with the classic Skittles and Fruit by the Foot ads.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Krispy Kernels
Spot: "Meditation"
Agency: Lg2, Quebec, Canada
Creative Director: Luc Du Sault
Copywriter: Andrée-Anne Hallé
Art Directors: Luc Du Sault, Andrée-Anne Hallé
Account: Mireille Côté, Sandie Lafleur
Director: François Lallier
Production House: Nova Film
Producer: Simon Corriveau
Sound Design: Boogie Studio

When it comes to sex, a reluctant "yes," "OK" or "sure" doesn't qualify as a green light, according to a Canadian campaign encouraging "enthusiastic consent."

"Real consent is mutual and sure. It is not muted, frail, hesitant, or afraid. It is never uncertain, assumed, or silent," the campaign explains on its website, MoreThanYes.ca.

Created by Students Nova Scotia, a coalition of campus organizations, the ads feature large swaths of white space with small, one-word headlines like "Fine" and "Sure." The text at the bottom reads, "If it's not loud and clear, it's not consent. It's sexual assault."

The ads were inspired by a recent regional study that found 95 percent of sexual assaults involving students occurred between acquaintances.

"We hope this campaign will be informative about everyone's responsibility to receive clear consent from their partner, without coercion, before engaging in sexual activity," Students Nova Scotia executive director Jonathan Williams said in a statement. "Seeking consent is not about avoiding a 'no,' it's about receiving an enthusiastic 'yes.' "

Check out three of the campaign's ads below. Hat tip to campaign coordinator @Allisomething on Twitter.

Prepping for a two-man luge race looks like two dudes humping, says a new PSA from a Canadian equal rights group protesting Russia's anti-gay laws ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The spot, created for the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion by agency Rethink Canada, shows a pair of spandex-clad sledders rocking back and forth before launching down the track, all to the tune of synth pop classic "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League.

"The games have always been a little gay," says the ad's copy. "Let's fight to keep them that way."

Russia's law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality and a broader environment of LGBT discrimination has drawn widespread criticism, and on Tuesday, U.S. Olympic sponsor AT&T became the first large advertiser to join in the protests.

While many will chuckle at and share the "Luge" ad, the spot is not without its glaring flaws. 

The Olympics have always been a little gay because certain sports happen to include activities that could be interpreted as homoerotic? Doesn't that joke basically just reinforce juvenile stereotypes rather than challenging them?

If you're going to talk about how The Olympics have always been a little gay, why not focus on the pioneering homosexual athletes who've competed rather than saying that it's "gay" for two men to work closely together?

The message that homosexuality has always been a reality and should be openly accepted  is definitely one worth promoting, especially at a time when the Olympic host country is explicitly sanctioning homophobia. But resorting to frat-boy humor that would be dismissed as homophobic if it came from anyone except an LGBT advocacy group? That's not going to do anyone any favors.

Next time you're caught driving in a winter storm, Nissan Canada wants you to be grateful you're only dealing with the natural elements and not a supernatural mob of malicious snowmen who are hell bent on destroying everything around them.

Unless you're driving a Nissan Rogue, in which case be happy knowing that if the evil snowmen do magically appear, you can use your all-wheel drive to plow through them like you're playing a less twisted version of Carmageddon, and save all the poor rubes driving other makes and models by letting them pile into the back of your roomy interior.

The creatures in this new spot, from TBWA Toronto, may happily remind Calvin and Hobbes fans of The Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons. More generally, it's a neat, fresh way for Nissan to dramatize the product's suitability for harsh weather conditions—full of entertaining moments like the angry snowmen beating the crap out of a snow blower with snow shovels, and the perfectly creepy head cock one offers right before getting pancaked.

Now all we want to know is where we can get one to keep as a pet.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Nissan Canada
Agency: TBWA, Toronto
Executive Creative Director: Allen Oke
Creative Director: Rodger Eyre
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Susie Lee
Copywriter: Jonah Flynn
Head of Broadcast: Nadya Macneil
Production House: Sons and Daughters
Director: Mark Zibert
Director of Photography: Chris Soos
Executive Producer: Liane Thomas
Line Producer: Neil Bartley
Editing: Poster Boy
Executive Producer: Michelle Rich
Editor: Mark Paiva
Editing Assistant: Johnny Okkerse
Transfer: Alter Ego
Colorist: Wade Odlum
Effects: Legacy Effects
Effects Technicians: Shane Mahan, Mark Killingsworth
Postproduction: The Mill
Producer: Jeremy Moore
Compositing Lead, Visual Effects Supervisor: Kyle Cody
Computer Graphics Lead: Jeff Dates
Visual Effects Supervisor: Andreas Berner
Executive Producer: Melanie Wickham
Audio House: Eggplant
Head of Production: Nicola Treadgold
Director: Adam Damelin
Engineer: Nathan Handy
 

You guys remember that blog post about that ad that did a familiar thing in a fresh way? When a creative team took a clichéd trope and offered a meta commentary illustrating how hackneyed it was, but tied it to the client anyways? When it left at least one viewer with a smile on his face, and a vague sense of unease about what it was actually saying? That's what happens with this Canadian spot, featuring a coach appealing to his players by referencing a rousing, generic locker-room speech from a movie on Netflix. It's a fun idea. Too bad it sells the product as nondescript. Then again, nobody watches a sports flick looking for anything but the same old warm and fuzzes anyways. Agency: DDB Vancouver. Director: Michael Downing of Partners Film.

The world-traveling Molson Beer Fridge became famous for being exclusive—when it visited European cities earlier this year, only people with a Canadian passport could open it. Now, the fridge is back, and being even nicer to one Canadian guy, with help from his friends.

This new spot, from agency Rethink, tells the tale of two friends who surprise a third friend—a rabid hockey fan who for some reason has fled Canada for the remote Gili Islands in Indonesia—by bringing him a red fridge of his own to keep in his little hut, which may or may not have the electricity to run it. The friends also bring a satellite system so the other guy catch the Olympic Games this winter.

It's a fine stunt, as far as it goes, though the surprise isn't quite as delightful as the premise of the earlier video (which was apparently the second most viewed commercial online in Canada this year). Plus, the emotion remains mostly bottled up. Unlike some other heartwarming ads, where people weep only, the fridge recipient here claims he's actually "sweating" and not in fact getting weepy over his buddies' thoughtful gesture.

A 30-second version of the ad will begin airing in Canada on Dec. 26.

CREDITS
Client: Molson Canadian
Title: "The Beer Fridge: Project Indonesia"

Agency: Rethink
Creative Directors: Aaron Starkman, Chris Staples, Dré Labre, Ian Grais
Art Directors: Aaron Starkman Joel Holtby, Vince Tassone, Christian Buer
Writers: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick,
Account Director: Ashley Eaton
Broadcast Producer: Dave Medlock

Production Company: Untitled Films
Director: Tyler Williams
Executive Producer: Lexy Kavluk
Line Producer: Tom Evelyn
Director of Photography: John Houtman

Postproduction: Rooster Post
Executive Producer: Melissa Kahn
Editor: Marc Langley
Assistant Editor: Nick Greaves

Postproduction: Fort York VFX
Music, Sound Design: RMW Music