If you Axe me, this spot is a little different

Feel free to call me a loony tune on this one, but I find this Axe spot for its new "Bullet" spray, which you can see here, to be a departure from the norm. (All things being relative, that is.) As you'll see, it involves a young guy mentally undressing women he sees walking down the street, in the grocery store, and so forth, but it lacks the in-your-face-ocity of earlier Axe ads like the whole "Boom Chicka Wah Wah" series. The guy doing the "undressing" appears embarrassed about where his mind is going, sheepish. The ad's punchline is also a departure from the testosterone-fueled norm of a typical Axe commercial. The resolution is for the guy to give himself a quick spray of Bullet, to finally get one of the women to do to him what he does to them—mentally undress him. But he looks kinda stupid in leopard briefs.

Wells is well and living in cyberspace

And here I thought Mary Wells (not the Motown singer but the advertising legend) was just hanging out in the south of France, reading a good book. Maybe she is, but she's also one of the founders of a site that's launching next week called Wowowow (a play on women on the Web), with a bunch of other high-powered females of a certain age, such as Lesley Stahl, Liz Smith and Joni Evans. A picture of the founders included in a lengthy story about the site in the Times makes it look as though having a certain tone of bleach-blonde was a prerequisite. Anyway, Wells is quoted as saying, when there was discussion of naming the site something with the word "broad" in it, "“I went through a period where I really thought ‘After all we have done in our lives and accomplished—to call ourselves broads?’”

This All-Bran ad is bugging me

Print ad from what appears to be a Middle Eastern country celebrating the, um, joys of All-Bran. But what's it supposed to mean, that you play Origami with the toilet paper while you're waiting to go? Via Funnyplace.org.

Is Drew Barrymore good for Mac?

How come whenever I come across the topic of Drew Barrymore's relationship with Justin Long (aka Mac), I get just a little uneasy, like, suddenly, he's turning into some kind of dweeb. Maybe it's because he's been saying thinks like,"She smells good," to Oprah Winfrey, or, because when asked by a reporter from Vogue about what comes to mind when he thinks of her, he says, "Beauty and light, and she shines it on everybody who comes into contact with her." The couple also says they make each others' cheeks hurt. Wonder what PC thinks of all of this gush-ery. Long is pictured looking on adoringly during an Oprah show earlier this week.

Jane Fonda (kinda) shills for Cheetos

OK, so sticking Cheetos up someone's nose isn't exactly appetizing, but this Cheetos "Orange Underground" campaign has its charms. Of course, there's also an orangeunderground.com site in which people can post their random acts involving Cheetos online and a YouTube OrangeUnderground channel, which featured various videos, including this one featuring Jane Fonda and Meredith Vieira.

Mohegan Sun spot isn't totally funkadelic

Commercial for Mohegan Sun just posted by AgencySpy. It features a relatively bland version of "Superfreak" which is perfect for all the yuppies in the spot desperately trying to get their groove on. Via Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners.

Literally, God finally gives us a sign

I wonder if this is another execution in the long-running God billboard campaign, or just a takeoff on that campaign. Either way, pretty funny. Via Billboardom.

Turns out commercials aren't content, or good content anyway

Just saw at nytimes.com that Firebrand, the commercials-only Web site, will no longer be funded. The site, which was financed by NBC Universal and its Peacock Equity Fund, Microsoft and Ion Television. Musta been clear pretty quickly that this idea was a non-starter--particularly when there are lots of other sites doing similar things. UPDATE: Adweek is reporting that the fate will be ultimately decided at a board meeting this afternoon. ANOTHER UPDATE: It's a goner.

Kohl's spot hits the Target

A little surprising to hear that the singer/songwriter Ben Lee is the voice behind this Kohl's spot, if for no other reason than he's a staple on my favorite radio station WFUV, which is entirely non-commercial. The commercial is pretty charming, but, except for its conspicuous lack of the color red, couldn't it just as well be a Target commercial?

Checking in with fake Bob Garfield

I'll know I've made it when someone starts a fake blog pretending to be me. Like that's ever gonna happen. However, you may have noticed that Ad Age's Bob Garfield recently entered that realm at NewsGroper.com, where he started "posting" late last month. His "bio," which is sandwiched on the site next to other "bloggers" named Bob Dylan and Bono, explains, "He may never have worked in advertising, but he can fillet an ad faster than anyone on either side of the Mississippi while at the same time railing against Comcast." Of course, I argue that you don't have to work in advertising to be a critic (aren't we all ad critics?), but some of the bombast (Bob-bast?) is dead on. His first "post," about why you should read his blog, states the following: "I am extremely attentive to every strategic, creative and production detail and if you can’t understand why that is important then you are particularly obtuse." I actually like Bob, but c'mon, it's funny.

First Robert Jarvik, and now this

I'm just getting over the news that Robert Jarvik, is in fact, not a champion rower, when I saw this story in The New York Post late last night informing me that some of the kids featured in hospital beds in yet another of New York's hard-hitting anti-smoking ads might not have gotten their ailments from secondhand smoke. Says Jan Wicks, who is billed in the story as an "expert in advertising ethics," added, "I would have tried to find children who actually did have illnesses due to secondhand smoke." Ya think? BTW, love the subhead on the Pfizer release I linked to above saying the company had voluntarily pulled the Jarvik ads: "Company Commits to Ensuring Greater Clarity Regarding Spokespeople."

Broken links exactly as bad as kids with guns

No. I don't think this ad is as bad as this one, but don't you think it's a little over-the-top to compare broken links with a three-year-old packing a 9 millimeter? This postcard ad is for a product called LinkFixerPlus made by LinkTek, a Clearwater, Florida-based company which counts UBS, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as its clients. (Maybe this is appealing to the military- contractor demographic.) Turn the postcard over, and there's an attempt to turn this stupid/offensive ad into a concept. It says: "You wouldn't let your kids play with guns. So don't pull the trigger on your data migration project without LinkFixerPlus!" Sheesh.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 03.03.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to (sorry a little late this morning):

From Advertising Age:

—Starcom is Ad Age's media agency of the year.
—Who's the most ethical of them all: Unilever? Or Procter & Gamble?
—A feature that focuses more on Paul Tilley's life and death than ad blogs.
—Jonah Bloom on why last week's ugliness surrounding Paul Tilley's death is the industry at its lowest.
—So, last Thursday night was the "Media Battle of the Bands" to benefit CityMeals on Wheels. Yeah, it's really great people are going to get fed and all, but who won?
—Why the media agency business is where it's at.
—Vote for John McCain because his ad spending has the best ROI.
—Can Crispin make Microsoft hip?
—Bob Garfield on Hillary's alleged fear-mongering ad.

From Adweek (I'd put up the cover but can't find it online):

—Breaking with media agency of the year orthodoxy, Adweek picks Mediaedge:cia.
—Microsoft never would've hired a small shop like Crispin five years ago.
—Joseph Jaffe on why so many big campaigns, sizzle, then fizzle.
—Barbara Lippert on the product defects of Brand Hillary.
—Tap water rules.
—Data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus (go to the home page and scroll down).
—And you thought Doc Martens were the only shoe brand that trafficked in dead celebrities (from Friday).
—Bud.TV, still in purgatory (from Friday).

From Brandweek:

—Many, including the FTC, are part of a green backlash.
—Going beyond the last click.
—Presidential candidates love Dunkin' Donuts.
—The Premio Lo Nuestro Latin Music Awards are the Super Bowl of Hispanic TV.
—Dockers are no longer just for slightly paunchy guys.

From Mediapost:

—All-State campaign features Kasey Kahne.
—A men's fragrance from Coty and Playboy.
—Social network providers Mzinga and Prospero merge.
—Timex uses podcasts to launch its iPod-friendly Ironman iControl watch.
—WPP Group predicts a global slowdown in 2009.

From The New York Post:

—Shocker! Not. Martin Sorrell thinks Microsoft buying Yahoo is a good idea.

From The New York Times:

—The Times weighs in on 'Blogs of Death.'
—Sears and Hearst cozy up in a new campaign.
—Wal-Mart buyers blog about products they don't like. Here's the site.

From The Wall Street Journal:

—Ad buyers and network execs see a strong upfront (not because it's been such a blockbuster TV season). Free.
—Toshiba's chief on HD DVD RIP. Free.

A link to that Beckham/Sharpie commercial

OK, so I didn't find an embeddable copy so far of the David Beckham/Sharpie commercial, but at least I found a link to it. Hard to tell if they really are his hands. Via Boxspots.