Spotted in India: Coke Tree
posted by Noah at 8:00 AM
Labels: advertising, coke, recycling, soda
Labels: advertising, coke, recycling, soda
Labels: advertising, india, travel


Labels: advertising, billboards, india, travel

Labels: advertising, art, billboards, Boston, found, photography, streetart, travel
The ad reads "Vegetables are all your body needs"Labels: advertising, campaign, vegetarian
Ad Nauseam is a entertaining collection of classic articles and new material from Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky, the main voices behind the brilliantly caustic Stay Free Magazine. I actually met Carrie in the mid-90's after falling in love with the magazine (emphasis on the "zine"), which turned a critical eye to consumer culture, and more specifically the corporations and advertising that promoted it. It turned out we were both in NYC at the time, so I was delighted to help out with some photography and design (including a map of the advertising saturation of Manhattan that was handed out in Times Square and is still available online).* Since this was before the internet was the source for all information, it was a rare treat to find someone else who shared an interest in presenting a critical response to advertising and the corporatization of culture, plus it was actually funny to read. The book is a terrific reminder of what made the magazine such a treat: it deals with serious topics in clever and often hilarious ways (including multiple choice tests at the end of each section!). Where Adbusters moved away from their parody ads and Buy Nothing Day activism, Stay Free retained a gritty, street cred (and sense of humor) that sometimes involved playing pranks on unsuspecting NYC residents in Carrie's neighborhood. Having read a lot of the material in its original form it's sad to realize how much of it is still completely relevant to our current world 10 or so years later. For anyone who missed Stay Free Magazine's heyday (the magazine is no longer in print, though the blog version lives on) or needs a primer on what is so messed up about the world of advertising (and why you actually are affected by it, despite what you think) Ad Nauseam is a must read. Ask for it at your local independent bookstore.Labels: advertising, book, review
Labels: advertising, sex, video, women



Labels: advertising, animalrights, humor, photography, wwf
Dear Social Media PR Person,A. Do not send me a press release for an ad that doesn't have to do with the subject of my blog.
B. Do not send me ads that feature a girl under the age of 18 in an overtly sexual pose. I do not care whose daughter she is.
C. If you do A and/or B, expect me to point out how disgusting it is.
[UPDATE] If you want to know more about this campaign, Agency Spy does a nice job telling the rest of the story HERE.
Labels: advertising, gross, stupid, women



Labels: activism, advertising, art, billboards, condoms, design, games, investing, minigolf, photography, plastic, poster, sociallyconsious, urban, women
Labels: advertising, campaign, water



Labels: advertising, sociallyconsious, socialmarketing. marketing

Labels: advertising, books, consumerism, humor
Go figure, the plastic industry says that cloth bags are bad! via 

Labels: advertising, architecture, bags, corporations, food, gardening, greenwashing, local, plastic, printing, television
Students help Break The Jam and encourage people to Give Way in DC. (images shown)

Labels: advertising, art, education, environment, guitar, jobs, lego, links, maps, starbucks, twitter, urban, wedding


Labels: advertising, art, cancer, food, gardening, grants, insulation, links, organic, slums, tourism, urban, war, women


Labels: advertising, art, children, corporations, design, disaster, fema, green, humor, Japan, zoo
Labels: advertising, bank, equality, lgbtq, transgender
Labels: advertising, animation, video
Labels: advertising, branding, clothing, humor, obama, turkey
Growing your own food and have too much, why not trade with fellow gardeners? Thanks Scott!

Labels: advertising, community, DIY, e-waste, farming, homelessness, humor, news, recycling, water
Labels: advertising, obama, politics, video
A recent article in the local free newspaper Style Weekly tipped me off to a curious underground campaign focused at young people in Virginia. It's for a new energy drink called Syke (which is not currently available in stores), but is being hyped as an extreme beverage that is "a secret blend of awesomeness and chemically engineered ingredients to help you live life faster." But all is not right in the land of Syke, and Style reveals that the campaign is actually a creation of the Rescue Change Social Group, "which develops programs to get young people involved in healthier lifestyles". Indeed over the coming months Syke, which is sponsoring actual music concerts, will get revealed as a dangerous product and eventually the "company" that makes it will be publicly shamed as part of what is a multi-phase anti-smoking campaign aimed to get under teens radars by having Syke be a metaphorical stand-in for cigarettes. Will it work? Style is skeptical. I'm intrigued to see where it goes, but the challenge of connecting the dots for their audience does seem massive. What do you think, is Syke the future of social marketing to teens?Labels: advertising, campaign, health, smoking, teens
Obama's inclusion of "nonbelievers" in his inaugural address reminded me of a project I worked on a few years ago. My friend Andy Deemer asked me if I would help him out with My God a documentary he was making about starting a new religion. One of the two people whom he had chosen to follow in the film was Josh Boden, who had created The Church of Now (also know as Nowism), which featured such tenants as "Laughter is a MUST!" and "Everything is contextual". This punk rock styled anti-religion, which had meetings in bars, needed a graphic identity so I was hired to do some branding concepts. Playing off of the irreverance of the concept, the aesthetic of punk rock show flyers, and the language Josh was using to describe his "church" I developed a series of initial concepts (shown). They went over quite well with Josh, though sadly the church never really caught on and I don't think the designs were ever used. The film is currently in limbo as Andy works on other projects, including promoting Poultrygeist, which he produced for Troma recently, though he has plans to return to My God eventually.



Labels: advertising, branding, documentary, religion

Labels: activism, advertising, art, bicycles, bush, collective, design, links, urban, women
Labels: advertising, humor, video, women
Labels: advertising, design, links, roundup, sociallyconsious
Labels: advertising, animation, public, subway
Labels: activism, advertising, design, humanrights, illustration, international, typography, video
Labels: activism, advertising, cleancoal, greenwashing, video



Labels: activism, advertising, africa, awareness, pain, poster, sociallyconsious