Horror movie or pasta sauce commercials? (The company web site is a little odd, too.) [via]
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - View this thread

Duke University has three image collections of old U.S. and Canadian advertisements. Ad*Access a database of over 7000 print ads from 1911 to 1956. Emergence of Advertising in America has 9000 images of ads from 1850-1920. Medicine and Madison Avenue has 600 medical ads and documents from 1911 to 1958. You can browse the collections by product, company, subject, year and categories or you can use the search function. Here are some of my favorites: Miss Clairol, They're Both in the Swim Today, Fancy Goods and Toy Bazaar, Sky Blue Pink, SAS Makes Airline History, A Montgomery Ward Hat that Becomes Nearly Every Woman, Radiant Peony and Hitler's Death Warrant.
posted on Apr 14, 2008 - View this thread

Gun for the whole family. A Scanning Around With Gene article about historic gun ads. More fun with Gene Gable: Cigarettes, diving, winter fonts, red white and blue, and so much more.
posted on Jan 10, 2008 - View this thread

Osocio is a blog that covers some of the best social marketing and non-profit advertising worldwide - whether it be through a careers fair, a "beauty" ad, or even through sex education.
posted on Dec 4, 2007 - View this thread

Fashion ads from Ebony Magazine, 1970 - '76
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - View this thread

Make your own attack ad. The Democratic party is uploading all its "tracker" videos of the top Republican candidates out on the campaign trail, for use by anyone for anything. "The party hopes that thousands of eyes might find something the mainstream media has missed, or that a new way of juxtaposing the video with something else will be revealing about the candidates," says the NYT. Gimmick or political sea change?
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - View this thread

Please enjoy vintage video propaganda:
Don't Be A Sucker
The Enemy Agent & You
Your Job in Germany
So They Tell Me and
Propaganda Techniques

posted on Nov 20, 2007 - View this thread

The latest All-Bran commercial really pushes out the product's virtues, although not without making a stink. Personally, I still prefer a heaping bowl of Colon Blow.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread

The Condom Song is a charmingly bizarre safe-sex message from India. Music and humor are often used to promote safe sex and pregnancy prevention, alternatives to shock tactics. Bangkok's safe sex theme restaurants represent a slightly more novel approach, a chain called Cabbages and Condoms. Whatever the style, condom promotion is much more mainstream than when the Golden Girls' had their first awkward encounter and British comedians tackled uncomfortable condom language. NSFW
posted on Oct 28, 2007 - View this thread

drawnline: The commercial and personal work of Andrew Bell.
posted on Oct 14, 2007 - View this thread

"My dad started crying, I started crying, my brother started crying," says Carl Nolet Jr., who sounds on the phone like he's not kidding. "It was exactly what we wanted to say. It was simple, it was black and white, it was genuine."

Dear Ketel One Drinker
Don't You Like Our New Oh So Minimalist Ads?
posted on Oct 3, 2007 - View this thread

"You've reached this page because the site you were trying to visit now blocks the FireFox browser". Because Firefox has endorsed and allowed the Ad Block Plus plug-in, which is "is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers," some folks aren't too happy. With links to How to Block Firefox, Firefox Myths, and The Firefox Cult.
posted on Aug 16, 2007 - View this thread

Ad juxipositions. Just a very quickie link to oddly placed ads.
posted on Jul 19, 2007 - View this thread

These women are supposed to disgust you into buying low-fat yogurt.
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread

An amazing collection of classic American television commercials. Sorted by category: Eat, Drink, Smoke, Clean, Groom, Shop and Travel. Includes descriptions and historical background. The commercials can be viewed in either RealPlayer or MediaPlayer format, and newer ones will work in both IE and Firefox.
posted on Apr 10, 2007 - View this thread

2007 Super Bowl ads (note the multiple pages). And be sure to post your fav (mine = the Coke GTA spot).
posted on Feb 4, 2007 - View this thread

Light Criticism is the newest project by Graffiti Research Lab and the Anti-Advertising Agency.
posted on Jan 25, 2007 - View this thread

Advertising in India (thanks to this post by NickySkye) More ads here and here
posted on Jan 24, 2007 - View this thread

BestAdsonTV.com Browse TV spots from around the world at this industry site highlighting new creative work. Highly rated ads include this one for Carlton beer, this sober PSA, this lovely one for the California lottery and a fun take on evolution for Guinness. And then there's this, um, sausage ad. Browse the controversies (mostly complaints about copycats), ads from Romania and Iceland and Belgium, or last year's best ads. Many of the most amusing seem to be for beer.
posted on Dec 23, 2006 - View this thread

Suddenly, you feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. According to Wired, the Active Denial System has been certified for use in Iraq.
posted on Dec 8, 2006 - View this thread

PermaPuppies - they never get big. Spoof commercial biotech site is just viral advertizing for Michael Crichton's new book, but some of the ads are fun.
posted on Nov 30, 2006 - View this thread

How Advertising Spoiled Me is a blog showcasing mainly magazine & billboard advertising from around the world, with pieces selected based on their inventiveness/cleverness. If you're offended by advertising, you might want to skip this post.
posted on Oct 20, 2006 - View this thread

Top 10 ad-tricks in Tokyo’s train stations
posted on Oct 20, 2006 - View this thread

1950's US Print Advertisements Click thumbnails for larger versions. via.
posted on Oct 13, 2006 - View this thread

With nothing to lose but more of his own money, former convenience store magnate (kinda), local businessman, and independent candidate Christy Mihos has produced the 'cheekiest' political ad (so far) in the current Massachusetts gubernatorial race.
posted on Sep 25, 2006 - View this thread

1970s toy commercials. From an era when things were more fun, cool, and fresh. Whether you were a hipster or a genius type, there was some creative and smart toy to be had. Many toys were educational and prepared you for the vicissitudes of adulthood. (YouTube alert!)
posted on Sep 10, 2006 - View this thread

Artist Dan Bergeron likes to muck around with billboard adverts. His recent doctoring of a billboard featuring Bush in Toronto has earned him some press in the Globe and Mail.
posted on Aug 11, 2006 - View this thread

Ad Supported Software It started with email, and now it's everything from IM, maps and photo galleries. But, free network management software? Can this work?
posted on Jul 28, 2006 - View this thread

craigslist could make $500 million a year. Why not?
posted on Jun 17, 2006 - View this thread

Black , the final entry in Adidas' Adicolor short film campaign., is seriously messed up, with a fish and a panda playing russian roulette. Also featuring Pink, Red, Blue, White, and Yellow. (via)
posted on May 12, 2006 - View this thread

AdAge reports that Apple is adding ads to iTunes. The ads will only appear if you're listening to a podcast and not while listening to your own music, according to the article. I suspect this will be greeted with the same enthusiasm as was the mini store that was included with iTunes 6.
posted on Apr 24, 2006 - View this thread

You might be a redneck if ... you enjoy Jeff Foxworthy Jerky. Or maybe you'd prefer some NASCAR brand meat. Remember when sports food tie-ins were simpler? Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? via spofi
posted on Mar 30, 2006 - View this thread

King Mike for Monarch NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg stars in a political ad parody. From the Inner Circle, via YouTube.
posted on Mar 14, 2006 - View this thread

New Republican backed ads say our troops should be used as flypaper
and attempt to advance the iraq/al queda link. More on the Progress for America Voter Fund and their links to the swift boaters here. Are they airing these to counter the Bush administrations own admissions that the things are actually worse on most fronts in Iraq than before the war?
posted on Feb 10, 2006 - View this thread

Is is just me, or have Superbowl ads gotten way too predictable. Here's hoping this year offers something new. 2006 brings Fabio sinking a gondola, an approved(!) GoDaddy ad, the first ever bilingual ad, and the commercials being offered on DVD and PodCast. Also keep an eye out for muppets, macgyver and machetes.

I hate linking to heavy, but they have all the banned ads, some of which are funny (especially the anti-mac one) and some were just made to be banned. You can see previous years' ads at iFilm.
posted on Feb 2, 2006 - View this thread

“Poor Lois, See How Old She's Growing! Too bad she’s doesn't try to remain the girl her husband fell in love with. The change is so gradual you never see it but your friends do."

Vintage Beauty Adverts at Duke University's Rare Book and Manuscript Collection.
posted on Jan 30, 2006 - View this thread

This Spanish commercial for Madrid's Metro system uses a cool visual device, making the ground transparent and showing the view from the subway, like a glass bottom boat in reverse. note: link contains embedded wmv
posted on Dec 15, 2005 - View this thread

Tim Yang's TV Commercial Blog is sweet, sweet succor for those of you who miss the heyday of AdCritic.
posted on Dec 13, 2005 - View this thread

sony tries counter culture to sell playstations - and gets beat down
or was it all part of the plan?
posted on Dec 8, 2005 - View this thread

Rabbit's animated journey through the history of (mostly American) cinema is a wonderful cartoon and, unfortunately, an ad for Motorola. Link goes to embedded quicktime, very slow loading.
posted on Nov 29, 2005 - View this thread

Nice Beer Ad from Down Under a 1000 Auzzies in gowns crossing over the sheep strewn plains of Australia. Ahh..foreign ads..perhaps this indeed the next form of cultural worms? I can see those soulless bastards on Madison Ave.."Yes..lets push hard on the foreign angle and prey/pray some poor sod on MeFi picks it up..we'll be rich I tell ya RICH!!!" Forgive me MeFiers.
posted on Nov 3, 2005 - View this thread

The Best Banned Advertising, from the publishers of the Best Rejected Advertising books, is a collection highlighting quality ads that received numerous consumer complaints and in some cases government bans. Most aren't your typical "too hot for tv" commercials; some are fantastic.
posted on Oct 28, 2005 - View this thread

An ad stressing the importance of good translation, and various other animations, ads and announcements. Flash, in Russian, but generally funny & self-explanatory.
posted on Aug 27, 2005 - View this thread

Post No Bills. At the intersection of life and advertising one may unexpectedly find art, or at least humor. Henry Ho shines a light on it. (42 pages. Or view all thumbnails together)
posted on Jul 29, 2005 - View this thread

Real Ads of Genius. Horrible "beer", great commercials. Here they are, all the Bud Light Real Men of Genius and Real American Heroes radio spots on one site ready to laugh with on mp3.
posted on Jul 25, 2005 - View this thread

Scary Sci-fi inspired riot control being discussed in the New Scientist. I did check to see if this had been posted before...
posted on Jul 21, 2005 - View this thread

Beach Billboards "5,000 of your beach sponsoring ads coupled with "Please Don't Litter" are impressed during early morning cleaning leaving the beach manicured with your message all over it". Support-A-Beach Programs - Do you want to stroll on such clean beaches?
posted on Jun 28, 2005 - View this thread

Willworkforawife.org He's been getting some play in the MSM, and he's easily as entertaining as Tom & Katie. He owns a bitchin' Corvette.
posted on Jun 17, 2005 - View this thread

Wonderful Town... Director Ryan McFaul (whose music video for Gay Boyfriend was previously seen in this MeFi thread ) is back with a dizzying MGM-meets-digital-compositing advert for a Broadway production of Wonderful Town. (Slightly less dazzling, but still worth seeing, is his ad for a San Francisco production of White Christmas.) Somebody give this man a feature film!
posted on May 2, 2005 - View this thread

adflip - "world's largest archive of classic print ads"
posted on Apr 15, 2005 - View this thread