just add maple syrup

The UK Advertising Standards Authority recently released the ten ads that received the most complaints from the public in 2009. Included in the list is the unabashedly insulting Oven Pride TV commercial, which states that Oven Pride is 'so easy to use, even a man can do it.' Ha. See the full list of ads here.

Once again Nike gets it right. This time for the 2010 World Cup. I haven't seen a sports ad that truly captures the impact of a game like this in years. The last campaign I can think of that comes close is the Sports Illustrated 'You may not get it, but our 6 millions subscribers do' campaign. That campaign may get an edge as it was a print campaign that managed to capture all the suspense and drama of sports without any live action, but you still have to give full credit to the way this ad covers every imaginable impact that the World Cup could have, even if it's a tad exaggerated, which is part of its charm. Still, I don't think Rooney will be living in a trailer if all goes awry in a month's time, but considering that the English love their footie like Canadians love our hockey, it's not completely impossible, unlike England winning the World Cup. Oops.

Wieden + Kennedy do it again. Love the technique. What a creative way to meet the brief (which I imagine was along the lines of 'show our entire range of products, focusing on the Civic') while producing a music video that you have to see again and again to take it all in. Great track selection (supposedly it's a remix of 'Atlas' by Battles) and mix of SFX. My faith in creative advertising is restored.

Orange Mobile is most famous for their Orange Wednesday promotion in this country, which entitles any Orange subscriber to bring a friend to a movie for free. Every Wednesday around the mydeco office, you can hear non-Orangers on bended knee, beseeching their Orange friends to take them along to the latest movie screening. Now it looks like Orange is hoping to get people sharing music too. While only available to Orange subscribers, the new Monkey tariff allows you to download free music onto your mobile and share it through playlists. To get the word out about Monkey, Fallon has created this mock TV weather forecast in which a rather bland weatherwoman describes the shifting trends in music and what to expect for the weekend. As campaign longevity goes, this one could last forever. Checkmark for that. Also, I like how they contrast the staid weatherwoman with the cheeky writing; the spot sneaks up on you - kind of like the weather in this country, although this gave me a smile. Can...