You know how Saturday Night Live commercial parodies have that certain feel to them? Overly sincere music plays as a testimonial begins, then the audience starts to laugh as they’re let in on the joke.
Well this bizarre ad for Pine Brothers throat drops, starring Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame, has that exact vibe—though you’ll have to supply the laughs.
The smoke-infused spot aired during last night’s American Music Awards, and it was possibly the show’s most buzzworthy moment (other than Taylor Swift staging a murder). As an aficionado of a well-rolled blunt, Waka Flocka uses no small amount of innuendo to make it clear that these lozenges are there when you need throat relief “for whatever reason.”
L’artiste Sara Landeta vient de se plonger dans une nouvelle série d’illustrations d’oiseaux sur des boites de médicaments étalées à plat. De très belles illustrations d’oiseaux perchés sur des branches de fleurs contrastent avec le verso au design clinique et froid de la boite de médicaments. A découvrir.
Here's one from the warm-and-fuzzies school of advertising.
Jack Andraka, barely a teenager, decided to develop an early-detection test for pancreatic cancer after his uncle died from the disease. He asked 200 researchers and other experts for help. Only one, a doctor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, provided him with lab space to use after school. At age 15, Andraka succeeded in developing a test that is 168 times faster, 400 times more sensitive, and 26,000 times less expensive than the medical standard.
Intel tells Andraka's story in the ad below. What does a computer-chip manufacturer have to do with his invention? Not much, but Intel is the headlining sponsor—and has been since 1997—of the International Science and Engineering Fair, which gave Andraka its $75,000 grand prize for his work.
The spot, from Venables Bell & Partners (and director Britton Caillouette of Farm League, himself a bone-cancer survivor), is a little self-congratulatory on Intel's part. But it's clever, too. The ad, which proceeds in reverse chronology, might make you feel the same sort of skepticism about Andraka that his idea met—but then you'll feel like a fool when you realize how quite amazing his accomplishment is. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Intel Spot: "Look Inside. Jack A." Agency: Venables Bell & Partners Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables and Will McGinness Creative Director: Tom Scharpf Associate Creative Director: Eric Boyd Art Director: Ezra Paulekas Copywriter: Rob Calabro Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen Agency Producer: Emily Moore Production Company: Farm League Director: Britton Caillouette Director of Photography: Devin Whetstone Executive Producers: Tim Lynch/Tieneke Pavesic Producer: David Burden Editing Company: Farm League Editor: Dana Shaw Sound Design: One Union SF Sound Designers: Joaby Deal Music: Elias/Michael Fraumeni Mix: Joaby Deal/One Union SF VFX/End Treatment: Brand New School VFX Producer: Amy Russo
Don't believe everything you see and hear in Draftfcb Toronto's deceptively clever TV and interactive poster campaign for Union Hearing Aid Centre. Known for its tricky advertising, the client's new "vision tests" display letters in successively smaller fonts in typical eye-chart fashion—but there's quite a surprise in store. Those who can read the final line of tiny type on the poster and in the commercial are told that there's probably nothing wrong with their eyesight. But they might want to visit Union and get their hearing checked, because a "really annoying, really loud high-frequency sound" has been playing throughout the test, and those with sharp ears would've reacted to it and likely sought relief before they'd finish the exam. (The hearing center ran similar spots last year.) During the eye-test phase of the TV spot, I couldn't hear the high-pitched sound; but at the end, with the ruse revealed and the tone cranked way up, making it detectable to just about everyone, the message got through loud and clear. And given how many YouTube commenters mention being annoyed by the tone through the whole spot, I suppose I probably should book an appointment. Via Media in Canada.
Here’s a creative way to highlight an issue as mundane as cramped working conditions. Instead of using computer-generated special effects, agency Dare creates optical illusions through custom set design in new ads for the British Columbia Children's Hospital Foundation. The skewed perspectives and furniture are properly disorienting (it's like they put a hospital in Willy Wonka's house), and the spots illustrate the hospital's current space issues in a way that might have proven too distracting with digital effects. Check out one ad below, watch another after the jump, and read more about the effort over at Adrants.
As if the current economic state in most parts of the world are not enough, this ad by Benylin, “Take a Benylin Day“, is surely not helping. With most workers now on the crossroads since they would never know if they would be included in the recession bug, giving them excuses and ideas on how to call in sick is certainly not any business owner would want to see advertised.
Benylin’s website says the product is there to “take the guilt out of calling in sick when you need time off to rest and recover”.
“We urge employers and employees alike to take a stand against cold and flu by staying at home, rather than going into work,” it continues.
A word to the employees though. If they are found to be fibbing, their job is theirs to lose. At the rate the people are being laid off these days, the last thing you would want is to slack off.
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