Agency party planning? AND PONIES??

So this is one of the sillier posts I've seen. The Canadian ad agency, John st. decided to make a parody 'disruption' video of sorts. The mission? Advertising agencies planning kid's birthday parties. With lines like "research shows that eight year old Chelsey likes the color pink, and ponies." I think I just about died when the "traditional techniques" (pin the tail on the pony) was thrown out.
So what is the message behind this birthday movement? Is it a message of how out of hand this industry is and how deep we have infiltrated the culture? Or is this simply a silly video to pass the time when procrastinating around the office? Many interpretations are out there. Personally, this reminds me of a video that our marketing professor made us watch about a year ago titled Consuming Children. A sick film, really. It did help open my eyes to what a glutinous monster marketing can be. I suppose this is slightly better because there were no Barbie logos anywhere to be seen.. Or maybe this video was worse because the J.B name was dropped.

I'm still left wondering why the mini pony at the end of the video wasn't pink... I guess dying a pony the color pink for Chelsey's eighth birthday party theme would be a little sick.

Puppy Love

(My ads for the week were done by Jung von Matt/Neckar Advertising Agency, Stuttgart, Germany.)

This is a campaign produced for the international lifestyle, Deutsch magazine. The images used really sparked a questioning of German taboos and where the line between attention grabbing and immorality lies.
The campaign shows scenes that "could" be understood as a German Shepherd 'loving his owner'. The quality and style of the shots are as you would see in any Glamor or Vogue magazine. The ads were meant to be as eye catching and disruptive as possible.

The actual magazine, from what I have read about it, is quite far from how the ad actually portrays the "international lifestyle". The layout is super classy! They are riding on pure shock factor here. According to the Jung von Matt agency, "the images seem to be inspired by the photographs of Helmut Newton, taken in 1984. The German Shepherd dog is a symbol of Germany's culture"(10 ad and marketing journal).


(Did i mention that the campaign was produced and executed by females.)

There are advertisements that are created with the aim of arousing controversy. We all know what they say, negative publicity counts for something too; at least your name is getting out there! This ad was most definitely a product of this sort of state of mind.



Link Here