AdNausea

This is going to be a mix and match post with some interesting news in the advertising world!

• So, it looks like Vince Shlomi has been arrested for getting into a fist fight with a prostitute last week. Don’t know who that is? You sure do - he’s ShamWow’s spokesperson! Did you get that, camera guy? The charges have since been dropped, but it still looks like his future with this product might a little uncertain right now. Although, the company can always choose to go in a different direction and have fun with this - “ShamWow cleans up water, coke, grapejuice and hooker blood! Just watch it disappear!” Of course, you’d need a very concise disclaimer stating that ShamWow does not condone hooker beating behavior. (The mugshot is courtesy of The Smoking Gun , where you can read the whole story, as well.)

• Next, sadly, JWT Chicago is closing its doors. They aren’t the first and they definitely won’t be the last, but it’s quite an eye-opener. Two years ago, in 2007, the Chicago office lost it’s biggest account, Kraft, when they moved eight of their major brands (including Oscar Mayer, Ritz and Kraft Singles)to other smaller agencies. This was probably the beginning of the end for this office. The office closing will affect bout 50 staffers and will be completed within 60 days. The office first opened in 1891.

• This new PSA is airing in the UK before R-Rated movies and circulating the web in America, via YouTube. Actress Kiera Knightly and director Joe Wright (who worked together on Atonement) donated their time, free of charge, to make this 2 minute long commercial raising awareness for domestic violence on behalf of Women’s Aid. I respect both of them for doing it pro-bono and the quality is obviously higher than that of other PSAs. You can tell they took a cinematic style on the idea and I think it pays off greatly.

•  What an unusual marketing effort from dog food company Cesar’s. BBDO San Francisco created a newspaper, meant solely for your little lap dog, titled the West Highland Herald . Now your faithful, little dog can enjoy a newspaper while you do the same on a Sunday morning (or any day).  The paper, as you’ll see, features articles about how having an owner will increase a dog’s life, crazy catnip pyramid schemes and probably my favorite - a dog, Fritz, who is 2 years old and is outraged at his owner for posting belittling pictures of him online as a puppy. This proves to be an interesting read for anyone who has the joy of a dog in their life. (And hey, at least someone is still reading newspapers, right?)

• In the same vein as the domestic abuse commercial, this is an Australlian anti-smoking PSA. I’ll not explain the ad, but will say this: Apparently, the commercial has provoked many people to complain to the Department of Health and they are a bit outraged. Isn’t the point of a good advertisement (or movie, or book or whatever) to make someone FEEL something? You feel scared and heart broken after this commercial and that will make you think twice about lighting up again. That’s the damn point. The only thing I do question in this, as do quite a few other people, is whether the child is acting or not. To me, he seems a bit young to get the finer points of how to act realistically and I’m hoping they didn’t just dump him in the middle of all of these people on the set and let him react naturally. Either way, I feel like it’s a powerful ad.