Christina Hendricks celebrates Christmas with a product placement

I assume it's a "double"

According to Celebuzz: "Christina Hendricks celebrates with Johnnie Walker at her annual holiday party at a private residence on December 10, 2011 in Los Angeles, California."

No subtlety here. But it's also the perfect storm of booze, boobs and branding.

Buzzfeeder Gavon Laessig said, "It's as though two examples of perfection were dropped into the Large Hadron Collider and smooshed into one giant wad of perfection. We've discovered the Higgs Bosom. Why, yes, Christina Hendricks…I would love some scotch."

Me, I just can't wait for Mad Men to come back. But perhaps a stiff drink would get me through...

More pics here.

Motörhead Vödka

Lemmy at it!

Via Dangerous Minds.

F'd Ad Fridays: Champale

Enough said.

F'd Ad Fridays: White kosher wine makes you see double

Rarely has booze advertising been so honest. I found this ad in a Google Books scan of a 1973 Ebony magazine.

Luck is an attitude... a very Italian attitude

It's a cute ad, part of the new "Luck is an Attitude" campaign to push Martini on a younger generation. The aggressively flirtatious nature of Italian culture may rub some the wrong way, but it's actually pretty common there. I like the way Gianni keeps re-syching with his more passive self so that the day never really diverges except in sexiness and fun. And the vintage Italian film style and music certainly fit the brand.



What do you think?

Via Buzzfeed

In Lorem Ipsum Veritas

This French wine has been Greeked... in Latin.

Vince shared this hilarious labelling gaffe. (via)

It's about as meaningful as any of the puffery they put on those things — "Hints of chocolate, ripe plums, tobacco and barnyard..."

It's national drunk driving night in the USA

According to Gawker, tonight (Thanksgiving Eve) is the night most Americans drink and drive. There's not much point in me saying "don't do it". Those of you without access to decent cab or public transit services will have to face the prospect of having to find, or be, a designated driver. Why would anyone want to do that?

1) You can still perform when you finally get a chance to hook up with that high school regret.
2) Tomorrow, you can be thankful that you don't have to stuff a turkey while blindingly hung over.
3) You will survive the night.
4) That old lady down the road who walks her dog in the dark will survive the night.
5) The loved ones you spend the next few days with will not be your new besties in jail.

Be safe.

A Jewish joke? Really?

And it's in Manhattan, too.

This is part of an ongoing campaign to sell cheap vodka by insulting everyone.

But unlike sex workers, Jewish people are not likely to take it lying down. Nor should anyone else.

Update: It's going down.

Amber Rose for gross flavoured vodka

Amber Rose is a model who has dated Kanye West and done ads for Louis Vuitton. Whatever you think those two facts say about her taste, this current campaign for flavoured vodka really makes me question it.

Marshmallow? Whipped Cream? While I realize that flavouring vodka is an old tradition (or so says Absolut), I'm not sure that these kid-friendly flavours are what the old country forefathers had in mind.

At least she didn't front for Nut Liquor.

Via Jezebel

Stiffy's Vodka forced to change its name to something less penile

According to The Drum, a UK brand of flavoured booze Stiffy's Vodka has had to re-brand in response to a complaint by competitor Molson Coors Brewing Company that the drink’s name was “overtly sexual reference, or a comment about the alcoholic strength of the drink”. They made this complaint to The Portman Group, which is the self-regulating body for alcohol producers.

The report is kind of fun reading:

"In considering the complaint, the Panel noted that ‘stiffy’ was a common slang term for an erection and considered that the brand name therefore had strong sexual connotations.  The company, Stiffy’s Shots Ltd (trading as VC2) maintained that the brand name had been chosen because ‘Stiffy’ was the nickname of a person involved in the development of the drink; it had not been chosen for its sexual connotations.  The Panel acknowledged that while the company may not have deliberately set out to link the product with sexuality, the brand name alluded to sexual success and accordingly found the product in breach of the responsibility Code."

Molson-Coors also complained that the candy-themed flavours "Jaffa Cake" and "Kola Kubez" were aimed at minors, but that was not upheld. The company, in consultation with Portman Group’s Advisory Service, has agreed to change the brand name to "Stivy’s".

Me, I would have complained about false advertising. Because if there's anything that won't give you a stiffy, it's too many sweet teenybopper wobble pops.

And for the love of God, never do a Google Image Search for "Stiffy's"...

F'd Ad Fridays: Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing...

...Bestial Hangover?

Via Adrants, who says he got it in an e-mail with the pitch "In short, it's high quality like an escort, low cost like a prostitute... but drunk college girls are free!"

Which prompted a commenter claiming to be from either the client or agency responsible to respond, "I guarantee you that no one from our team sent this to you with the comment about college girls - our culture is fun and irreverent, not sexist and lowbrow."

Ummm... good luck with that.

F'd Ad Fridays: NutLiquor was named that way on purpose

Never, ever, put a 12-year-old boy in charge of your brand.

Its site claims it tastes "like the center of a peanut butter cup, with no harsh aftertaste".

It's produced By Pandora Spirits L.L.C. in Temperance, Michigan USA. (Yes, "temperance")

Via Gawker

Putting out cooking fires in urinals

I've heard of this "drinking and frying" issue before, but it was in Wales. Guys were going home wasted, putting bacon, sausage or eggs on the stove, then passing out and allowing the grease to ignite.

I guess Kiwi men have the same weakness for late-night eggs'n'bake. So this campaign by the NZ government uses heat-reactive urinal stickers to remind men — while they're peeing out that last pint — to grab some takeout on the way home instead. (How appetizing!)

Via Creative Criminals

I think late-night junk food takeout joints here in Canada should take advantage of this issue in their POP marketing: "poutine saves lives"

In the short term, anyway...

A smarter way to stop drunk driving

Copyranter just featured this NZ anti drunk driving spot, and I'm reblogging it because I really love it:



Here are all the things it gets right:

• It accepts that teens like to get drunk
• It recognizes the social pressure not to take a stand
• It's funny and culturally relevant
• The language, characters and setting realistic

Here are things it didn't do:

• Guilt
• Preach
• Shock
• Tell youth not to drink

Through my work with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation I've come to understand that positive reinforcement is the only way to really get through to anyone. To completely denormalize drunk driving, you've got to normalize the culture of refusing to participate in it.

This isn't the first time New Zealand has taken a more progressive approach to encouraging responsibility. The "4 Mates" series, aimed at men, also showed that being a designated driver for your drunken friends sucks, but is sometimes necessary.



(There is something wrong with the vid, though. It shakes.)

F'd Ad Fridays: Danish energy booze hates your boobs

According to Adland, Danish energy drink/alcopop Cult Shaker has been shut down by Denmark's ad authority over an online contest that invited drunk and overstimulated fans to upload pictures of their breasts and be rated for winning free breast implants.

Shaker apparently has built its entire brand around showing nude female (and now male) torsos in its ads. Voting actually ended in the summer, but now the company has been forced to offer a cash equivalent instead of surgery. (They also offered free drinks to anyone willing to flash the bartender.)

What a weird contest. Not just the sexist exploitation, but also the idea of asking people to rate the breasts "most deserving" of enhancement. Not exactly a compliment, is it?

Nice homemade bar ad

Spotted on Buzzfeed:

Everyone's a Copywriter these days.

If You Want Brand Over-Extension (You've Got It)

Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon, Hells Bells Sauvignon Blanc and You Shook Me All Night Long Muscat. Seriously?

Oh, God...

BBC reports that AC/DC is launching its own range of Australian wines, to be sold in Woolworths stores across the country starting Thursday.

It's been a long time since Bon Scott drank himself to death in the back of a car. In the 21st century, AC/DC is a brand as the aging rockers continue to perform heavily-merchandised world tours. So from a business perspective, the wines are just one more way to appeal to the band's base of settled-down baby boomers and gen-Xers. But is it just a touch too much?

The AC/DC brand won't be hurt, in the long run, because it has so much established power. But it's still disappointing to see such a cynical move into the middlebrow.

(Plus, where's the "Whole Lotta Rosé"?)