F'd Ad Fridays: Won't somebody PLEASE think about the PAs?

This crappy anti-bootlegging PSA by the US Bureau of Justice accuses people buying pirated DVDs of supporting child labour, drug trafficking, organized crime, gang violence, and worst of all...

The laying off of Hollywood Production Assistants

Please, people. Think of the PAs.

Via BoingBoing

1 in 5 teenagers will experiment with art

An illustrator friend, Marc A., shared this on Facebook:

Hosted by the Philbrook Museum of Art

Considering how much dope gets smoked in art schools, though, the comparison may be a little too close for comfort.

F'd Ad Fridays: The Pope shills for cocaine wine

Via Cracked

19th century Pope Leo XIII was such a big fan of Mariani wine (a patent medicine made of Bordeaux and coca leaves) that he awarded a Vatican gold medal to the wine, and also appeared on a poster endorsing it.

Talk about high holiness...

F'd Ad Fridays: Throwing your own poo (it's not a good look)

Copyranter shared this one from Belfast:

'ranter points out that the URL is for the city's anti-littering site. It's actually a satirical art hack of this campaign:

Cheech & Chong's Next Next Movie

Great to see them working together again. There's a nice surprise at the end of the... umm... trailer.



Sweet.

Via Illegal Advertising

Netflix presents: How to fail at social media branding

Image via Gizmodo

Meet Jason Castillo. Thanks to Netflix's failure to secure the Twitter name for Netflix's new spinoff mail-order DVD business, he is now the unintentional brand ambassador for Qwikster:

(The profile picture is a recent change. Until yesterday it was an illustration of Sesame Street's Elmos smoking a massive joint, but Castillo got scared that the media attention would lead to a bust.)

Those of us charged with making up odd names for new brands that are both "intuitive" and twisted enough to be "ownable" generally go through a checklist of diligence before even getting trademark lawyers involved. We Google, check all top-level domains, and search all the major social media channels (Facebook and Twitter primarily) to make sure someone hasn't already claimed it. This oversight, for a brand as big as Netflix, is actually pretty astounding.

So astounding, as AdFreak's David Kiefaber quips, it is " so dumb that I'd think it was staged if there were anything for the company to gain from it."

Is it possible? I doubt it. Considering the many gaffes that Netflix has committed recently, it's not stretching credibility to think that they simple dropped the ball. And while this kind of situation is usually dealt with by a quiet negotiation and modest cheque, Castillo is so gloriously stoned that he continues to play his hopes for making "bank" on this as the slow-motion trainwreck only social media can provide.

Meanwhile, Business Insider points out that Twitter's TOS expressly forbid the selling of Twitter names. So by being so publicly greedy, Castillo could blow the whole deal.

And Netflix? Everyone hates the split anyway. It may be time to cut bait and run in a different marketing direction.

Crappy pizza ad really speaks to its daytime target market

Which, of course, is unemployed young people lying around the house all day who suddenly get an overwhelming attack of the munchies:

Via imgur

If real, this is hilarious. It reminds me of a guy I knew in the early '90s, who would delivery pizza with "extra oregano" if you asked for him by name.

Drug courts PSA is full of stoned-looking celebrities

This spot, produced for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, is bizarre. The celebs, some of whom have been known for their drug problems, look like they're the forlorn coming-down portraits you see on mugshots in The Smoking Gun:

The Reddit submitter I stole this from put it best: "Very odd anti-drug/drug court ad featuring Matthew Perry, Steven Tyler, a very beleaguered looking John C. McGinley, and a bunch of other stars who look like they're doing it as part of their community service."

This is too bad, since specialized Drug Courts are a really great idea to help addicts get appropriate treatment rather than throwing them in jail.  

The ad, though, just makes me depressed.