Nicklas Bendtner sells his arse with Paddy Power PR Euro2012 stunt
June 14th, 2012 • 5 Comments
Did we all see Nicklas Bendtner’s shameless Paddy Power PR stunt yesterday? Oddly, we can’t believe he a) Scored and b) Paddy Power paid him to flash his branded undercrackers on the chance he would score.
If there’s ever a call for an investigation into match fixing, Bendtner’s goals yesterday are it. No-one that lousy gets advert-pants AND happens to score two goals on the same day.
Either way, this little advertising stunt could see Bendtner being chased by UEFA as this is a clear violation of football’s rules on ambush marketing. UEFA regulations ban any advertising on players’ kits during the tournament. Remember those Dutch fans making UEFA do backflips in anger?
Ken Robertson from Paddy Power wasn’t phased, saying: “I’m truly delighted for Nicklas, what a stunning performance tonight. I’ve no doubt that the luck of the Irish thanks to our lucky underpants helped him find the back of the net twice!”
Maybe Paddy Power will pay the striker’s fine if UEFA hammer him for this little stunt? Obviously UEFA are the only people allowed to make money from advertising and damn anyone who tries to cross their path. Apart from racists. They’re not arsed about racists.
As spotted in Wythenshawe by avid Twitter user @drunkenoaf. This is well and truly the lowest moment for an incredibly worn-out old meme. Please, like the war that spawned it, LET IT END!
Here comes VoucherDigg – yet another one of the myriad of online deal brokers that are supposed to save us all £££s but which are increasingly making us weary and suspicious.
So, what are VoucherDigg doing to stand out from the crowd – plugging cheap holidays with a picture of Madeline McCann? Well, it’s, erm, different…..
Misplaced ad of the day….
April 27th, 2012 • 13 Comments
Would mobility scooter owners be Dead Happy to have secret stickers stuck on them?
April 23rd, 2012 • 17 Comments
We’ve pretty much this week’s ‘Promotional Campaign Fail Of The Week’ award already sewn up and it’s only Monday morning – so congratulations to edgy Cambridge fashion retailer Dead Happy Clothing who have recently tried and failed with a breathtaking piece of social media grimness called the Shop Mobility Challenge.
The ‘challenge’ was outlined on their Facebook page (but has since been removed) and was worded thus:
Basically, you have to target a mobility scooter and then, find something possibly rude, brightly couloured and noticable to stick somewhere on the vehicle. Once you have done this, you must photograph your achievement and post it to our Facebook. If loads of people participate, then we will create a point system e.g. extra points if the person driving the scooter is in the picture. The person who gets the most points on their picture at the end of the week, might just win a prize
‘LOL’, as we believe they say. Top ‘bants’ – well done all round. Not surprisingly, the general public didn’t take to this idea very much, what with it being a shameful exploitation of unknowing disabled folk, and there was something of a ‘backlash’ on their Facebook page.
As we said, the ‘challenge’ has now been withdrawn and all mentions of it on their Facebook page have been removed. It’s as if it never happened. But it did. Shame on you Dead Happy Clothing – let’s hope no one goes round to your shop and bungs loads of stickers on the windows, eh?
[Mr-Craig]
ASA rap BT over Infinity broadband claims
April 18th, 2012 • 13 Comments
Good old BT (we’re being sarcastic there) has had the back of its hand slapped by the tough guys and gals over at the ASA again, after four complaints about adverts for its Infinity broadband service were upheld. The ASA has said that the ads, which were featured in the press and online, should be put in a big bin and burned.
Among the complainants were Virgin Media, who kicked off mightily at BT’s claim that the ‘superfast’ Infinity package was ‘unbeatable’. As we all know, only Superman is unbeatable, and the ASA agreed that the claim could not be substantiated by BT.
Additionally, BT’s boast of their ‘unbeatable’ speed was also deemed to be a load of old baloney as the ads failed to state that it was only available within certain broadband packages. COMPLAINTS UPHELD. CASE CLOSED.
We await the results of our complaint over the use of a creepy student bastard in the latest series of BT’s telly ads. Watch this space….
Smart make smart Twitter pages as well as smart cars
April 11th, 2012 • 22 Comments
We like it when marketing and advertising types do something a bit different as they vie for attention out there in front of your eyes and Smart, the people behind the tiny cars have done just that with their sort-of-interactive Twitter account.
You’ll need to be using a desktop keyboard or laptop for it to work properly – all you have to do is go to their Twitter page and scroll down it using the ‘j’ key on your keyboard. Then watch as the adventure unfolds, albeit in a rudimentary graphical form.
Certainly beats reading Piers Morgan and Lord Sugar’s cock-waving Twitter war for a change…
Spot the inexplicable body part…
April 5th, 2012 • 23 CommentsAs noted by @graemelambmedia on the internationally-recognised Twitter service, “McDonalds, why you have penis on your Monopoly promotion poster?”
It’s a valid question.
Sainsbury’s ‘feed a family for £50′ a week is fried by the ASA
April 4th, 2012 • 16 Comments
A while ago, grocery behemoth Sainsbury’s proudly boasted how they could help you feed a family of four for £50 per week in a major advertising campaign. It was a huge leap forward for humankind, there were meal plans and Jamie Oliver’s face was seen and it was all tremendous. Anyway, turns out it was all a load of old bollocks.
The ASA has ruled on the validity of the claims in the ads and announced that they were misleading on three counts, including the crucial one that a family’s nutritional needs could be met for £50 a week. Sainsbury’s had done their maths on the basis that their meals would supply at least 75% of calories needed, with the rest made up from snacks and drinks bought outside of the £50 meal plans. So they’d actually feed 75% of a family for £50 then, we think. Or something.
The ASA also got the hump after sussing out that some consumers would need to fork out extra for additional ingredients in order to make the meals on the £50 a week plan. Which isn’t really ideal now is it?
So it’s slapped wrists for Sainsbury’s and the ASA have now BANNED the £50 a week adverts. Which is kind of pointless, as the supermarket ended the campaign ages ago and is now all about the ‘Live Well For Less’ vibe instead. But they lied to us, and we’ll never forget that.
Wifebeater takes a battering from Brown Ale…
April 3rd, 2012 • 19 CommentsUp in the north-east, they don’t stand for any sort of pretentious, fancy-pants nonsense. And it’s good to see that Stella Artois, that poncy Belgian upstart lager, has had its latest Newcastle-based ad campaign scuppered by a rival poster from the local Brown Ale. Do one, you chalice-wielding weirdos….
It’s not a Banksy, it’s just a very naughty boy…
March 31st, 2012 • 11 CommentsVirgin Media probably won’t be too happy about this ‘reimagining’ of their current billboard poster ad, which was spotted in New Cross, London yesterday. The slogan is supposed to read ‘Tim just realised his parents get HD channels at no extra cost’. We like the new version better.
[Shit London via The Poke]
The gun that your kids can happily fiddle with…
March 16th, 2012 • 4 CommentsWe brought you an alarming glimpse of the future earlier on with the Nokia mobile phone tattoo and now here’s an equally worrying look back at the future – an advert for a gun that is SO safe that even your ickle kiddies can play with it.
Of course, it’s an Iver Johnson revolver and it’s so safe that accidental discharge is impossible, so you can give it to your daughter. There’s the chance that she might know how to fire a gun and she could end up blasting the head off of her doll and then the rest of the family, but as long as you carefully explain that ‘they’re not toys’ you should be okay.
She looks pretty doesn’t she? Pretty MURDEROUS.
Are TFL for or against pickpockets?
March 10th, 2012 • 17 CommentsIf you’re a regular visitor to this country’s capital, That London, you’ll probably be aware that there’s something of a pickpocketing problem in the city. Helpfully, Transport For London have come up with this poster ad that will remind and warn us all to keep our valuables tucked away in a safe place so that the baddies can’t get their greasy fingers on them. Valuables like, say, smartphones.
There’s even one of those modern QR codes on the poster, which links to a video about pickpocketing prevention. You know – those QR codes that you have to scan using an app on your VALUABLE smartphone. Oh. Hold on….
[spotted by avid Twitter user @BryanRoberts72]
Celebrities endorsing Snickers through twitter are fine say ASA
March 7th, 2012 • 16 CommentsAre you following Rio Ferdinand, Cher Lloyd, Katie Price and Ian Botham on twitter? Jesus. You’re a monster. What kind of person follows four people like that? Anyway, have you noticed that they’ve been keen to show off their Snickers?
Well, people were getting their gruds in a bunch about it all, meaning that the Advertising Standard Authority has to wade in and make sense of it all. Were these tweets adverts? An investigation was underway! The first twitter investigation ever! How thrilling.
The ASA investigated whether the celebrities’ ‘teaser’ tweets should have indicated that they were part of an advert and whether the hashtag #spon, made it clear enough that the tweet was an advert. They said:
“We noted the first four tweets in each series served as ‘teasers’, which, due to their nature, were likely to generate additional interest in the celebrities’ postings. We also noted those tweets did not make any reference to Snickers or to Mars and were posted in relatively quick succession. In addition, we noted that the fifth ‘reveal’ tweets showed the celebrities with the product and included the text “You’re not you when you’re hungry @snickersUk #hungry #spon …”.
“We considered the combination of those elements was sufficient to make clear the tweets were advertising and that consumers would then understand each series of tweets was a marketing communication. In that particular context, and given the relevance of the first four tweets to the “You’re not you when you’re hungry …” strap line in the ‘reveal’ tweets, we considered it was acceptable that the first four tweets were not individually labelled as being part of the overall marketing communications. We therefore concluded that the ads did not breach the [advertising] Code.”
A spokesman for the ASA described this decision as a “landmark one” which will invariably open the door for celebrities to start pimping their feed to anyone who’ll listen. Thank God for the ‘block’ function, eh?
Shave money with DollarShaveClub
March 6th, 2012 • 2 CommentsNow you have no excuse for wearing your hipster scruff as some sparkling new American startup promises $1/month shave subscriptions. We hear you say it’s not the SterlingPoundShaveClub. Well it’s obvious why America gets all the good startup names now isn’t it. Anyways, forget it – all we ask is that someone get off their lazy asses in the UK and start slinging disposal razors with videos as good as this.
