Category: Cool Ad Watch

From a big collection of NYE-themed ads:

Google Analytics captures the irritation that often results from online shopping:

Moving the common mistakes and bad practices that online merchants make to a real life grocery store, the videos shows how alienating bad web design and marketing can be for potential customers by ruining the experience of shopping on the internet.  For instance, one of the videos highlights—with a regular check-out counter at the supermarket—how frustrating it could be to check out online when there are too many security measures and hidden costs for customers to get through.

Another Mayan apocalypse is slated for Friday. NASA is doing its best to debunk the myth:

Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then — just as your calendar begins again on January 1 — another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Luckily only 2% of Americans believe it will happen:

To put this in context, if you went to small-town high school with 500 kids, two percent would mean 10 of your classmates actually believe they have only eight days left to live before the world goes up in a ball of flames as foretold by ancient Mayans. Chances are you would know those 10 kids, and you would think they were all nuts. 10 kids would probably seem like more at your school than you’d expect.

On the other hand, 15% of those surveyed—the equivalent to 47 million Americans—think that the world will end with Jesus returning for the rapture as told by the bible’s Book of Revelation in their lifetime. So there’s that.

Update from a reader:

I know I can't be the only person pointing out that if the world's ending, you're not using a condom.

(Hat tip: Copyranter)

Creative Review claps:

South African paper Cape Times claims that "You can't get closer to the news" in a cheeky new ad campaign that turns famous news pictures into smartphone-style self-portraits. Agency Lowe Cape Town took a selection of classic news shots and reimagined them as 'selfies' – the arms-length cameraphone snaps so familiar from Facebook and the like.

It might take a second:

More cartoon characters here. Copyranter adds:

Hamburg's Jung von Matt last week flooded the Internet with this admittedly very appealing campaign for Lego. But, was the idea was ripped right from a Google Image search? Who cares, right? That's what we do: appropriate, and call it our own.

Ironing as art:

(Hat tip: Likecool)

Tim Nudd provides the necessary context:

A week ago, a man named Richard Neill posted a rant on Bodyform's Facebook wall, humorously calling out the brand for false advertising—saying his girlfriend doesn't have happy periods like those depicted in the ads, but instead becomes "the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin." The post has gotten more than 84,000 likes. Rather than ignore it, Bodyform one-upped Mr. Neill with the video [above], in which it pretends to fess up about its pathological lying. … It's an inspired bit of writing and performance, capped off by a hilarious ending. And it's brave to admit, even in the context of the joke, that your ads don't tell the whole story. Not every brand would feel comfortable doing this, or more to the point, have the skill to pull it off.

Copyranter captions:

The AIDS Council of Finland draws you in with sex, and then jars you using Facebook "Places" as a creative linchpin (Penis-pin? [Sorry]). The spots are quite effective, I think. This is the TV execution of a print campaign (here's one of the print ads, NSFW) from earlier this year. The TV is more powerful.

Copyranter calls the anti-littering ad "the best since the crying Native American spot from the 1970s":

It's so simple, and so stupid—just like littering. If this job ever materializes in NYC, I will do it for free.

A long but entertaining appeal to naive but well-meaning liberals concerned about the rain forest:

Update from a reader:

Actually, my wife and I pretty much did exactly what that guy did (minus the Avatar-style rebellion).  Well-intentioned, rainforest-loving individuals should be aware that there are many volunteer opportunities to engage in conservation and biological field research in the rain forests.  Many require no previous experience or specialized knowledge.  We quit our jobs in 2010 and spent 4.5 months helping out with ornithological projects in the Peruvian Amazon and the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica. There are many programs out there, just a Google search away. Examples are here and here.