F'd Ad Fridays: Nude Modelling Camp (sounds totally legit)

Photographer Beau Picasso is keeping the dream alive for short, creepy men everywhere. He has apparently found a way to convince women to pay him to take them to isolated locations where they strip naked and pose for his camera.

And it's not even a professional camera.

"Models are whisked from the airport to a reception at the roof top pool of the five-star Elysée Palace hotel, where they meet the other models from around the world. They are assigned to shared apartments (three models fit quite comfortably) and they start to get excited about the next morning’s shoot at Coco Beach. 

A relaxed photo shoot with Beau and his female assistants (who are also photographers) is sometimes interrupted by swims in the Mediterranean and sun tanning. Then, perhaps, a sunset picnic on the beach and an excited conversation about the next day’s shoot. 

Our camps provide shared apartment style accommodations with complete kitchen, wifi access and 24-hour security. We are only steps away from the beach, food, culture, and shopping. A 50% deposit is required upon registration and the balance is due before camp begins."

Here's one of Beau's softcore porn infomercials. It contains nudity and sleaze:


Beau Picasso Models: On the French Riviera from James Anthony on Vimeo.

Shamed be he who thinks evil of it?

Yes, I cover a lot of fashion advertising and marketing here. Because it's so sexually-charged, attention-hungry and pretentious, it usually provides interesting fodder.

Take this campaign from The Lake & Stars:

The anonymous models are mother and daughter. The younger one is 19. And the fashion brand has been accused of promoting incest with this pictorial.

Maayan Zilberman, co-owner of the New York-based lingerie and swimwear label, described it this way:

"...for our viewer to see these photographs, you're confronted with this feeling of 'who's the sexy one?' Because there's always someone who's sexier and there's always some kind of competition going on; there's always a tenderness going on; there's always a tension," she said. 

"We're opening it up to think about: Is it OK for a mother and daughter to feel tender toward each other? And what happens when they're in sexy clothing?"

Which is actually the creepiest thing about the pictures — the way she describes them. That aside, you can see these pictures in many ways: as a non-sexual intimacy between a mother and a daughter, as two stages of womanly beauty presenting themselves in a sexual context to titillate you, or as OMG HOT LESBIAN COUGAR INCEST NYMPHOS.

I really think it's up to where your mind is at in the first place. Where's yours?

Many snakes were harmed in the making of this fashion spread

Apparently snakeskin is a thing in fashion this year. I'm not morally opposed to the wearing of animal skin, but I find this spread by Giampaolo Sgura in Antidote unsetting. The wild harvest of pythons just for their skins seems wasteful and irresponsible to me. And naked Ashley Smith letting a live one slither over her sultry nude form as she wears the hides of its brethren is also a little ick.

Via Animal NY, where you can see the rest of the pics.

F'd Ad Fridays: "Occupy", the #OWS colouring book, is amazingly bizarre

If it were just a bunch of spittle-frothed Tea Party rhetoric it wouldn't be of much interest. But this colouring book of the Occupy movement is so many kinds of bizarre all at once, it's actually kind of awesome.

  It even gives you an official get-out-of-guilt-free card if you're one wealthiest 1% of Americans.

From the publisher:

Occupy an American cultural phenomena reflecting who we are as a people and a nation! Great for the holidays, a fantastic commemorative book that makes an excellent gift for parents and children!

With millions of people around the globe watching "Occupy" unfold daily, parents, teachers, educators and simply "interested people" have asked for an educational piece that captures this culture defining event and moment in history. Accurately depicted in detailed line art and conversation the book includes modern and historical figures with quotations from Plato to O'Reilly, Hannity to Maddow, Obama to Boehner. There are pages dating back to the Robin Hood era, drawings of various parks, political views from every angle and a few surprises with imaginative satirical pages. Included are newly written "Occupy" songs, poems and games and a true to life "Guilt Relief Donation Form" for the overburdened 1%!
This is a coloring book novel designed around the "Occupy" event that reflects who we are as a people and a nation, including what the national media is saying and information on the event itself. The Occupy book is for parents and their children alike. Our company is grateful and happy to publish this new book. Inside you will find varying opinions and statements. On the Occupy event we are simply reflecting the nation in colorable pictures based on information and feedback we obtained from citizens around the country.
The high quality 36 page book has enough reading and coloring to last many hours. It's available at major book sellers Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks and always at ColoringBook.com. The book makes a wonderful conversation starter, a fantastic gift and it's a historical commemorative piece that will be around for many years to come. The retail price is $6.99.

Via Animal NY

F'd Ad Fridays: A very scary FEMEN Halloween protest (nudity)

Wasn't this a scene in Heavy Metal?

What's scarier than having FEMEN show up bare-chested and screaming to protest your mistreatment of animals? How about FEMEN showing up bare-chested and screaming, wearing animal masks, covered in blood and flinging raw meat at you?


ZooMorgue from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.


That's what happened to the keepers at Kiev’s ZooPark, where Animal NY reports the animals have been dying from inadequate feeding, shelter from the cold, and vet care.

It's in Ukrainian, as usual, but I'm sure you'll still get their points.

Cool and creepy stop-motion felt animation

It's made by Spike Jonze for Olympia Le-Tan, who makes clutch purses with felt that look like old book covers.


Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side) from Veronica Christina on Vimeo.

"Mourir Auprès de Toi" (To Die By Your Side) is a fun and oddly sexy little fantasy that is well worth a few minutes of your time. Plus, the woman is the brave hero for once.

The heroine is voiced by SoKo and the skeleton by Spike. Cute couple.

Here's a making of:


Making Mourir Auprès De Toi from simon cahn on Vimeo.

Via Animal NY

Truth in branding (and packaging) of cereal for kids

This is a guerrilla art installation by Ron English, who stocked the spoof cereal boxes in Venice Beach.

He calls it "subvertising".  Reminds me of Wacky Packages.

Via Animal NY

Agent Provocateur provokes... the 99%?

I haven't really touched on the Occupy Wall Street movement in here, because its politics are complicated and many others do a better job of covering it than I would.

But as the civil disobedience continues to mount, and the wealthy themselves are being directly blamed, you can leave it to the fashion industry to continue marketing luxury goods using ultra-decadence as an aspirational branding strategy.

This Agent Provocateur video [contains sexualized nudity, via Animal NY] is a perfect example.


AGENT PROVOCATEUR 'SOIREE' COMMERCIAL from LoveHate Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

Pretentious, debauched and out-of-touch with reality, it makes me wonder if this was what it felt like to be a Roman noble during the bread riots.

"Satyri...what? I thought we were doing Kubrick!"

Lou Reed/Metallica poster banned from London Underground

It must feel like the good old days for Lou, being banned for being too "street".

Animal's Marina Galperina reports that posters depicting the cover of the new Lou/Metallica album, Lulu, have been banished from the Tube. Not for the armless and nippless bust, mind you, but for featuring lettering that looks too much like graffiti.

This can be nothing but good publicity for the album, to be released this Halloween.

So far, I'm not sure it's sounding like a great combination of talents:

F'd Ad Fridays: Bondage, torture, humiliation and suicide are what it takes to sell underwear these days?

I skipped through parts of this video. Not because of the disturbing content, but because it was just so goddamned pretentious.  (Note to self: beware of ads with credits that start "A Film By...")



Either I, or the makers of this video, completely misunderstand what people find "sexy".

I thought it was an awful, more than occasionally offensive, waste of time. What do you think?

Via Animal New York