Neat little presentation from Clay Parker Jones. In his own words, there are plenty of:

Stolen ideas

Screen grabs

Big fonts (I am loving DIN right now)

Real words

Or you can just read the full back-story…

As a cyclist, the opening door is one of your worst nightmares. You think you’re riding wide enough to avoid a swinging door and all of a sudden BANG! You’re flipping in the air and into the middle of the road into the path of a car.

Doors can be fatal for cyclists, and this campaign is trying to raise money in Chicago to inform motorists of the dangers their doors pose to cyclists.

Remember the old saying – “Look left, look right, look bike”? Perhaps it’s time for all motorists to remember it. Or for that fact, perhaps all motorists should be made to drive amongst peak hour traffic so that they understand what harm they often do to the commuting cyclist.

(Stolen from KTC. If you’re a cyclist, feel free to steal this content!)

And Adidas are getting in on the action with a start to the 2009 advertising campaign that is believe to be a springboard for many other avenues of content in the new year.

…and FWIW, if I had a brand that said who I was when I wasn’t at work. This would be it.

Here’s the latest TVC for Toyota Corolla in Australia. Something different from Toyota that’s for sure!

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Telecom TVC from 1984.

Another TV commercial. Not sure what I make of this one…

I’ve been on a bit of a TVC kick recently. The Gruen Transfer’s probably aided this! I do love this ad, just for the concept simplicity – even though the execution might not have been so simple. Released in 1996, it was an award winner for Y&R London.

Take a world class athlete – Carl Lewis, and get him running on all terrain, over water, steep inclines – you name it. Add Quoth by Polygon Window (aka Aphex Twin) for the abrasive soundtrack.

And you get and you get an advert that makes you stand up and take notice.

Is this simply an overreaction or an indictment on the ultra-conservative population of the USA?

From smh.com.au:

The US Dunkin’ Donuts chain has pulled an online advertisement featuring celebrity chef Rachael Ray after critics argued that a scarf she wore in the ad offers symbolic support for terrorism.

Dunkin’ Donuts said today it pulled the ad over the weekend because of what it calls a “misperception” about the scarf that detracted from its original intent to promote its iced coffee.

Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf appeared to be traditional garb worn by Arab men. The ad’s critics say such scarves have come to symbolise Muslim extremism and terrorism.

It’s quite funny, as I remember bringing back a kramah from Cambodia and wearing at as a fashion item for a while before I saw the keffiyeh in start to pick up in use. I think I may have seen it in use in a magazine somewhere at some stage. Why the discussion of the kramah? Because many thought it was a keffiyeh – and as you can see from the picture (left), there are some similarities. Yes, it’s an adornment (er.. scarf!) that can be worn around the head or neck. Yes, this is black and white. The red and white versions of the kramah also became synonymous with the Khmer Rouge. More recently, some friends came back from Berlin, sporting his and hers versions (black and red), and then the fashion item jumped the shark, appearing in low end fashion advertisments for companies like Roger David.

So, what do you think? Is it akin to wearing the Castro cap? Wearing camoflague fatigues that are similar in patternings to dictatorial nations? Or is it a storm in a teacup? It is a scarf after all.

Lastly, when it comes to Dunkin’ Donuts, you shouldn’t be eating that crap anyway! Go and eat a non-extremist carrot!

Redux to be posted in the next week. You can get the minimalistic Twitter version here.

After watching The Gruen Transfer on the ABC tonight, I hit the website and a thread asked “what ads do you think epitomise the best of the advertising art form?” Now, I’m an online guy, so it seems a little wrong for me to focus purely on TV, but I’m going to, because I do love the format. It’s powerful, it’s on a big screen dominating your living room visually and the audio can still be heard whilst you’re in the bathroom, because it’s been increased by 20dB by the broadcaster.

So, here’s part one of my favourite TVCs. I’m going to focus on one thing that I do love – meat, and Australian produce of course.

Falling in Lamb

Clever. The use of the cinema trailer format is indeed clever, and the first time I’ve seen this, for this type of ad. How do you engage and make meat interesting? Make it in a love story of course. Genius!

Dinner with Tom Cruise

Naomi Watts turns down dinner with Tom. What’s funny to think is that when this was shot, Naomi probably would dream of dinner with Tom and certainly wouldn’t turn it down. Today, she’s probably had several dining experiences with Tom, and could conceivably turn down dinner with Tom to have it with Mum. It’s memorable and says two things to me – spending time with the family is a good thing, and if you’re going to do it, sit down to some quality Australian produce, lamb and of course, a couple of bottles of Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon, or some Coopers Sparkling. Oh, I meant to say South Australian produce.

Serve Lamb on Australia Day

A cracker. I remember when I saw this I laughed. And did I laugh and I asked my friends, especially ones into AFL, “Have you seen the new lamb ad with Sam Kekovich?”. We Australians like to poke fun at ourselves, and this is what this ad does. Reminds us that eating tofu and alfalfa together is a pretty flat combination and wearing your pants showing your boxers is “Un-Australian”. Three years in the running now, we’ll be expecting number four to be released in the week preceeding Australia Day. And again, when was the last time an ad made you laugh?

Next up on my favourite TVCs – beer.