Hasta La Creative!

How do you get beach bums to take a break from the sun? If you’re one nonprofit, by luring them into the shade with free WiFi.

The Peruvian League Against Cancer has built a special tower on the Playa Agua Dulce, which offers wireless internet connectivity—but only to people standing in the tower’s shadow.

On top of the structure, a directional antenna attached to a sensor limits the scope of the signal and rotates with the sun. The login page for the network, which supports some 250 users at a time, includes prevention information about skin cancer. Agency Happiness Brussels helped set up the rig and is planning similar installations in partnership with local organizations in San Francisco and New Zealand.

It’s pretty clever to capitalize on the fact that pretty much everyone these days will follow their smartphones around blindly, even if the beach seems like one of those places WiFi is least essential. Then again, why not have your cake and eat it, too — catch some rays, then catch up on your latest Netflix binge while you take a break from spending time doing something other than having your face glued to a mini computer.

Via psfk.

Behold Coca-Cola’s newest happiness machine: the Bio Cooler, a soft-drink dispenser that doesn’t need electricity or batteries to run.

The unit, developed by Leo Burnett Colombia and the International Physics Centre in Bogota, uses two cooling methods based on ancient technology. Watering the plants atop the device produces evaporation, and a mirror at the top is used to convert gas into liquid inside the cooler. Coke claims the cooler works better the hotter it gets, and the brand chose to demonstrate in Aipir, Colombia, where temperatures can approach 115 degrees Fahrenheit and residents travel 12 hours to fetch ice.

Some commenters have questioned whether it’s crass to provide a thirsty population with a fridge that dispenses Coca-Cola, which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly the healthiest beverage choice. That point would apply if this were a purely altruistic endeavor. Since it’s a promotional exercise, however, such arguments don’t really hold water.

True to its marketing mantra, Coke’s peddling a feel-good vibe—just as it did with those sharable cans that split in half and friendly bottles (also from Burnett Colombia) that can only be opened when joined with other bottles.

Via Ads of the World.

We've seen #nomakeupselfies and #cockinasock, all in the name of cancer awareness, but the latest in viral activist hashtags is #EuNaoMereçoSerEstrupada, which translates to #IDontDeserveToBeRaped.

In a survey done by Brazil's Institute of Applied Economic Research, an astonishing 65.1 percent partly agreed with the statement that if a women is provocatively dressed, she deserves to be sexually assaulted. The results were met with public outcry—spearheaded by Brazilian journalist Nana Queiroz (shown above), and since, women have been posting photos of themselves partially nude with signs stating "I don't deserved to be raped," and, "No women deserved to be raped."

The survey results revealed other shocking information: 58.5 percent of people surveyed in Brazil agreed with the statement "If women knew how to behave, there would be less rape." In case you think the survey is an indictment of Brazilian men, it's worth noting that two-thirds of the respondents were women.

(Translation: "No woman deserves to be raped. I am ashamed of being a man and having to say something so obvious.")

It's 2014, which means the World Cup is back—and back in Brazil for the first time since 1950. To get fans excited (as if they needed help), ESPN has released a nearly two-minute anthem for the FIFA World Cup, which the network will be broadcasting live.

It intercuts recognizable victories with abstract visions of Brazilian culture. Best of all, it makes sure to juxtapose the famous players with the street kids of today whose love of soccer is fueling the next generation of players in what is one of the world's most accessible sports. There are no words in the spot because no words are needed. Soccer is coming back to its spiritual home. Let's hope Brazil's special riot force of 10,000 troops will be able to contain all the excitement that ESPN drums up.

Your grandpa was a svelte boss. You, by comparison, are a junk-gobbling slob, according to a slick new split-screen ad for Coca-Cola from agency David in Buenos Aires. The spot, part of a larger effort to position Coke as anti-obesity, is meant to compare granddad's modest approach to life with today's steady diet of too much everything: oversized sandwiches, lattes and pre-TV-dinner hot dogs. Don't cut out Coca-Cola, though. Sugar water is cool, so long as you're riding your bike to work and taking the stairs. Because no matter what, it's important to enjoy life, and sugar water—or maybe aspartame water—is clearly the key to happiness. 

Coca Cola, invented in the late 19th century and marketed as a “cure-all” for diseases like morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence has come a long way in a century. A friend once told me that Coke’s special formula used cocaine. Which is true, although at the time I called him a “lying pooh-pooh head.” In fact, a single glass of Coke contained nine milligrams of blow. The nice thing? No crusty white boogers or mirror checks before going outside. ‘Cola’ was spawned from the Kola nut, which added caffeine to the mix. It’s a wonder Ritalin wasn’t invented sooner.

One thing fair to assume in a company the size of Coke; upper management probably doesn’t have a clue about work in the trenches. So, when a plant worker at a Coke bottling plant in Columbia was gunned down for trying to unionize, no one upstairs was any wiser. (It was actually seven murders…). Well, this week that all changes.

Activist organization “The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” plans a negative PR blitz in Atlanta against the beverage giant. The group, which claims Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is guilty of labor, human rights and environmental abuses, will have this week a mobile billboard truck on metro Atlanta streets campaigning against Coke’s alleged abuses. One billboard says “Unthinkable! Undrinkable! Murders in Colombia, Child Labor in El Salvador, Stealing and Polluting Water in India, El Salvador and Mexico.” A second billboard says “Killer-Cola: The Drink that Represses!”

Coca Cola’s response, stunned that a PR blitz consists of a single billboard, has called an agency review.

Jeff Louis is a Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: www.linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or on twitter @jlo0312.