Volkswagen Golf: Saviour of hedgehogs

Hedgehogs are the common roadkill of Europe. The poor little bastards have the unfortunate habit of rolling into a prickly ball instead of running from danger — hardly a match for an oncoming car.



It's extremely cute, and a smart way to promote the new Golf's various safety features.

And in racially-charged Europe, it's even pro-immigrant! Because those cute little guys they show in close-up are actually African hedgehogs. I know, I used to have one.

This is a European hog.

Orangina's serial tackler is unbearably annoying

Video via Adland (Flash):

Orangia - L'Ours Orangina vs La Bimbo - SERIAL PLAQUEUR - (2011) :30 (France)

This is part of a rugby-themed promotion on Orangina's French Facebook page. Apparently, users get to choose the next victim.

I'm wondering how many people are going to be offended by watching a bear jump a woman on the street for the crime of appearing shallow. And the sexualization of the whole scenario. Not sensitive to assault victims, even as a joke. And it's cheap humour.

Her screaming is also disturbing.

And then there's that awful "Yeahhhhh!" noise it makes.

Awful.

Starbucks falsely accused of racism?

This poster, via Gawker, appeared recently in Starbucks locations in France to remind customers to watch their valuables. A group called SOS Racisme complained that it was racist, because they saw the man portrayed as a brown-skinned  stereotype of a pickpocket. Starbucks took them down.


A simple case of successful activism?


Depends how you look at it. And whether or not you have seen the other poster in the series:

Do you read this illustration of a smiling woman as a portrayal of a criminal? Or do you see her as a potential victim?


Here's the problem. France, like many other once-homogeneous nations becoming increasingly multicultural, has a serious racism problem. It's so bad that apparently groups who specialize in speaking out against it see even an innocent portrayal of a brown person through a racist lens.


These people are both, obviously, supposed to be customers. The man is presumably a student or a young worker, with his casual attire, backpack, smartphone, wallet and laptop. The woman is perhaps a little older, carrying a purse (although that may be my prejudice peeking through).


There is nothing to see here, really. In context, it is clear that the illustrator, agency and client were just trying to reflect France's modern diversity in positive portrayals of customers. And it backfired horribly.


Should Starbucks have tried to defend itself? Or is this kind of discussion best avoided by PR-vulnerable brands?

Digital Love, for safer sex

If you have headphones and a private screen, or are otherwise in a liberated work or home environment, try out this new interactive safe sex experience by Buzzman, Paris:

Digital Love (new window)

The video allows you to choose a partner by sex and geographical population group (with non-Arab Africa conspicuously absent) and then sets you up for hot cybering.

This incredible online experience is brought to you by Digital Love Corporation, who are on a mission to give people everywhere an opportunity to experience safer orgasms.

Yeah, of course it's an ad. For Durex. Although watching attractive people get all hot and bothered on a computer screen will probably lead to a much lower tech (and even safer) version of "digital love" — if you know what I mean.

F'd Ad Fridays: Android Freud determines whether your son is gay

According to RFl, French Android smartphone users can download an app that will let them know if their son is gay.

It costs less than 2 Euro, and uses just 20 questions to robotically determine who your child really is:

The questions range over a variety of subjects that are supposed to indicate their son's sexual preferences. They include his attitude to personal grooming and dress sense, whether he likes football and reads sports papers and whether he likes musicals and/or divas such as Mylène Farmer.

The questionnaire also puts the parents under the spotlight.

“Are you divorced?” it asks, going on to suggest that there might be “a certain absence of the father” or, alternatively, that the progenitor might be “very authoritarian”.

While mothers whose sons are judged to be gay are told to “ACCEPT IT”, mothers of supposed heterosexuals receive a message that appears to take a much less indulgent attitude to homosexuality.

“You have nothing to worry about, your son is not gay,” it reads. “So you have a very good chance of being a grandmother with all the joys that brings.”

It's hard to count all the kinds of wrong this is, including all the stereotypes and the obsolete Freudian idea that parental conditions made people gay. (Although it should be noted that Freud was otherwise relatively progressive in his attitudes on that front.)

Not to mention the fundamental problem of assuming gayness is some kind of problem. Equality group All Out has a petition to Google to remove the app. As of this writing, it has 34.227 signatures.

F'd Ad Fridays: Team France bringing back the original Olympic uniforms

As an antidote to the chauvinist one-sidedness to that last post, here is nudity done right (IMHO).

It's an online video for Athena, a popular men's underwear brand. It's a fake "making of" for EURO RSCG 360's upcoming Athena campaign for the Olympics, featuring members of Team France in very traditional Olympic uniforms. To make the subjects more comfortable, the entire crew and agency staff are compelled to join in.



See? Playful nudity can be fun for everyone. (And hilarious, when you see the doughy CDs standing beside the Olympians.)

And then there's this line...

Via Ads of The World

How is flavoured instant coffee just like adultery?

They're both a really bad idea.

These Publicis Conseil ads for Nescafé's "Dolce Gusto" line of flavoured hot beverages seem a little subtle and sophisticated for people who don't like the taste of coffee. But perhaps it's a French thing.

Via Ads of The World