The downward spiral that is Evony, a web based multi-player game, advertising. Also: The Best Worst Ads by 1UP and fake in-game ads by Something Awful.
posted by Foci for Analysis on Jul 11, 2009 - 41 comments

A man marries a woman because he loves her. So instead of blaming him if married love begins to cool, she should question herself. Vintage sexist ads. (Disclaimer: posted by Neil Gaiman on Twitter and shamelessly stolen.)
posted by misha on May 27, 2009 - 60 comments

"How do black women fight crime? They have abortions." "How do you stop a poofter from drowning? You take your foot off his head." These and other 'jokes' featured in an advertisement on The Gruen Transfer, an Australian television program focusing on advertising. The ad, part of a segment called 'The Pitch' which usually produces humorous ads, was banned by the ABC, but the national broadcaster has still allowed it to be viewed online, and hundreds have now seen it. The ad was designed to sell "fat pride", with creator Adam Hunt explaining his motivation behind the ad being to say "if you discriminate against somebody on the basis of their shape then you are no different to someone who is racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic." Debate has raged online if the ad is offensive and discriminatory, as the ABC has declared, and whether or not it was effective. Watch the ad and judge for yourself.
posted by Effigy2000 on May 15, 2009 - 157 comments

Ever secretly harbor a dream to create slick promos for pharmaceutical companies? Have at it, both in TV and print form. (Via Adfreaks)
posted by Weebot on Aug 14, 2008 - 25 comments

Vintage ads galore.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jul 12, 2008 - 25 comments

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 by jonson on Dec 15, 2005 - 26 comments

Tim Yang's TV Commercial Blog is sweet, sweet succor for those of you who miss the heyday of AdCritic.
posted by grrarrgh00 on Dec 13, 2005 - 7 comments

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 by jonson on Nov 29, 2005 - 7 comments

Freedomads.org is sponsoring a contest that challenges visitors to create video, print, or audio ads that "inspire people with an advertisement for freedom." How would you sell freedom?
posted by pjdoland on Jan 28, 2003 - 22 comments

Few Advertisers Use Pop-Ups (or do they?) "Though they seem to be everywhere on the Internet, pop-up advertisements are used by less than 10 percent of all companies that advertise online, according to a report from Nielsen//NetRatings." Do you buy this? Is this industry propaganda or a true description of what is out there? The sites I visit regularly all seem to have pop-ups (e.g. nytimes, espn, slate, theatlantic.com). For the last 1 month or so, ESPN seems to launch two pop-ups when I first visit them, in fact. What has your experience been?
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy on Sep 16, 2002 - 28 comments

This ad was banned in the UK. Did anyone see it? Sounds cool to me. In a time when advertisers are struggling to capture people's attention and dull advertising reigns supreme, why haven't we gotten over this fear of offending those with 'delicate' sensibilities?
posted by eas98 on Jun 6, 2002 - 53 comments

I want my MTV. There was a time when the only ads MTV showed were ads for the network itself. These are some of them. (from the U.K. so they might differ from the slate of ads run in the U.S.) Brings back many fond memories of the animated letters M, T, and V. (link courtesy of Saima)

Please proceed directly to "MTV used to show videos!" and then continue to more forced commiseration and remembrances of media conglomerate advertising as a substitute for a rich shared cultural heritage.
posted by anildash on Apr 5, 2001 - 10 comments