Hasta La Creative!

Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel, is not one to shy away from controversy. In fact, he actively pursues it, as his bordering on porn ad campaigns have well established. But now, Charney is going political in this political season.

According to The New York Times, Mr. Charney said American Apparel’s customers appreciate the company’s views on immigration. He said his customers were “borderless.” He named the company American Apparel, rather than “USA Apparel,” he said, on purpose.

“I think my Latino workers are American workers,” he said. “They’re from the Americas. We’re all here together.”

LONDON – Cal Ledward, managing director of Golley Slater’s promotional marketing division, has left the company.

The technology featured in these old computer ads is funnier than most of the ads themselves. Half the computers look like televisions giving birth to adding machines, and if you’d shown these people a Pentium chip, their heads would have exploded, if their reaction to “electronic mail” is any indication. This ad collection is also notable for its celebrity roster, which includes Issac Asimov’s sideburns, Elvira’s cleavage, Bill Gates’s impeccable style, and Jackson Browne’s haircut.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Pop Quiz hot shot. You’ve been briefed by Adidas to do a stunt sure to grab the attention of the 11,000 runners of the Auckland Marathon. Adidas wants you to give the runners hope, remind them that nothing is impossible even when there’s 42 kilometers left, and do it in that kick-ass over the top Adidas way.
What do you do? What do you do?

Why, it’s a given that build a custom made gianormous hurricane fan that’ll give runner 50 knots worth of second wind at 17 km mark if they opt to run in the adiBOOST lane. A massive gust of wind will cool, push and amuse and leave the runners thinking “yeah, what the heck, nothing is impossible”. Or at least thinking: “Weeeeeeee!” which is just as good, really.

Hell, even Darth Vader and other fans of the dark side opted to use the fan. Go adiBOOST! See film of the contraption in action inside (super adgrunts).

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It’s a good thing Austin Powers made all those Swedish stewardess jokes when he did, because they’re none too fond of that kind of talk these days—in fact, Sweden is considering a ban on ads that feature sexist content. Anything “with a commercial aim” that’s “construed as offensive to women or men” falls under the ban, which would go into effect in early 2009 if passed into law. I almost hope they go for it. Sure, it would effectively end all sex-based marketing in the country, but 2008 will be way more fun for us, with every Swedish ad firm flocking to get it out of their systems this year. They can start with this Posh/Becks story as inspiration.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

LONDON – Associated Newspapers has appointed Quiet Storm to handle London Lite’s marketing on a project basis.

LONDON – Jheni Osman has been appointed editor of the BBC’s flagship science and technology magazine Focus.

LONDON – Acxiom has appointed John Meyer, president of the global services group of Alcatel-Lucent, as its chief executive officer and president.

LONDON – Motivation house Grass Roots has announced a management shake-up of its customer strategy division, Grass Roots BDR.

LONDON – Independent News & Media has acquired the remaining 50% stake in African outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Independent from its venture partner Clear Channel Outdoor for €86.6m (£64.7m).