:: adgruntie :: Hump Day Ad News

+ Lastminute.com ad complaints upheld by ASA. Complaints received were for two posters, "one showed the legs and bottom of a woman wearing bikini shorts and used the strapline "go where the sun does shine", while the other showed a close-up of a woman's breasts in a white bikini, with the line "forget sandcastles, play in the dunes". Sexist and demeaning to women were just some of the reasons complainees found the ads offensive. "In its ruling, the ASA said that it was upholding the complaints not because it agreed the campaign would cause serious or widespread offence, but because it was "concerned by the advertiser's lack of response and apparent disregard for the code"."

+ Major League Baseball will be having open casting calls for real fans to appear in their next installment of the "I live for this" ad campaign. There will be six new spots for the 2005 season. The "six teams that participated in the 2004 postseason, including the Red Sox, Cardinals, Astros, Yankees, Angels and Dodgers. The representative fans from each team will be selected from open casting calls scheduled in each market between January 22 and February 2."
If you're interested check the link for dates, times and locations. The MLB site as well as individual team sites will have more information on the casting calls as well. Finalists will be flown to Miami, Florida to shoot the ads in mid February.

+ Probably the most controversial ad of the moment is the viral ad for VW Polo. Check out the link to AdLand where you'll find all the poop on the story. Over at MediaBulletin they state "the campaign is the work of a duo known for their spoof advertising, called Lee and Dan. "

They have worked on a string of legitimate ads including Ford SportKa, BP and Casio G-Shock, among others.
Dan, from Lee and Dan, said: "The ad got out accidentally and has spread like wildfire. It wasn't meant for public consumption.
"We think the spot reflects what people see in the news everyday, and in this instance the car is the hero that protects innocent people from someone with very bad intentions. We're sorry if the ad has caused any offence."

The ad is awfully polished to be just some joke that they created. Plus, if it wasn't meant for public consumption, then who was supposed to be consuming it? Hmm? You'd think people might have learned something from the Ford SportKa Cat ad. But apparently not.

+ Some what related- BBC Magazine lists 10 things that make people foward emails and viral ads.

+ Lewis Lazare reviews Snapple's latest campaign by Cliff Freeman & Partners/ New York.