European Viral

I recently read an article in AdAge that featured this video, which has been a huge viral success but I had ignored up until now. It's a commercial for Cadbury, and although the concept really has no visual connection to custom chocolate, it's still delightful. I'm sort of mesmerized by what they can do with their eyebrows! Plus I enjoy the cameo by the promotional balloon.

SWINE FLU!

This is a PSA that ran in Britain to help prevent the spread of germs, specifically related to swine flu. Their slogan "catch it [in a tissue], bin it, kill it," must not be working too well because the main actor in the PSA has himself come down with swine flu. The PSA should advocate carrying around promotional hand sanitizer because apprently occasionally washing with ordinary soap is not doing the trick.

Use Only What You Need

Denver, a city long known for its eco-friendly tendencies, is encouraging its residents to conserve less water and become a little greener. I really enjoy this campaign, entitled "Grass is Dumb", saying it won't miss being watered a few minutes less each day. One spot features what appears to be a car but is really a lawn mower, while another features an unpleasant visit from a dog. Overall, I think it's a cute campaign with an innovative approach to trying to get people to conserve.

American Family Insurance

This commercial for American Family Insurance highlights every teen's worst nightmare: cameras being installed in cars. While it may be better for safety, I can see this causes a lot of parent-teen fights in the future. Hopefully it really will curtail the amount of people who do dangerous activities while driving, like talking on cell phones and texting.

Hyperize

This tribute to bad 90's hip-hop by W+K for Nike is entertaining. It features several pro basketball stars from the NBA sporting some really sweet promotional apparel, which features Nike's shoes. My favorite part is the festive happy face mug on the mix table.

Miley Cyrus + Wal-Mart= New Axis of Evil?

Dear God, no. Miley Cyrus has paired up with Wal-Mart to produce a line of promotional apparel for young tweens. As if her music wasn't irritating enough, she's now going to start infiltrating fashion as well. She must be stopped! When will it end? I swear, she's going to figure out a way for all of those Hannah Montana toys to come alive so she'll have an army to take over the world.

Absolut-ly Ridiculous

Via AdFreak

Oh, Absolut. I miss when you just had simple print ads with uncomplicated copy. "Doing things differently leads to something exceptional" as your new tagline? Do you have any idea what kind of product you're selling? People just pour it into shot glasses and get hammered; from Grey Goose to Aristocrat, it all tastes like rubbing alcohol. The use of balloons and lanterns does NOT make a vodka (or vodka commercial) "exceptional". Major fail, Absolut.

Creepy Palm Pre

THIS.COMMERCIAL.IS.SO.CREEPY. It's for Palm Pre, Sprint's newest smart phone, although they might as well call it a creepy phone based off this commercial. It's not very clear how this commercial relates to a phone until the end, and only when the Palm Pre logo gets splashed up on the screen. She talks about jugglers juggling tons of balls and deja vu, but never discusses the phone or what it does. It's creepy. And no one likes it.