The Week on AdFreak, April 25-29, 2011 Anti-drug ads, Aflac's new quack, clever outdoor work and more
Out-of-home advertising was hot this week, just as springtime got in full swing. We also got a new Aflac duck, a possibly gay military spot from Budweiser and a remarkably sexist poster from Dos Equis. Check out all the AdFreak highlights from the week below.
Rebecca Cullers put together a great collection of anti-drug ads that might have had the opposite effect on the target market than they intended. Lots of great '80s stuff in here. Just say whoa! 10 Anti-Drug Ads That Make You Want to Take Drugs
It doesn't look like a duck, but it quacks like a duck. After a monthlong search, Aflac found its new feathered mascot—36-year-old Dan McKeague of Hugo, Minn. Yes, his quack is nearly as annoying as Gilbert Gottfried's. Meet the New Voice of the Aflac Duck
A TV spot featuring a gay U.S. soldier from Bud, that prototypical Americana marketer? Maybe, maybe not. You be the judge. Is This Budweiser Ad Gay?
A street ad from Holland for a local aquarium appears on the sidewalk only when it rains. "Sea Life never lets you go" it reads. Aquarium's Sidewalk Ad Visible Only When It Rains
TBWA\Chiat\Day smoked out the New York Auto Show with a Nissan Leaf billboard that spewed acrid (though actually not) exhaust into the air. Copy: "The auto show has over 1,000 of these. But only one 100 percent electric, zero-tailpipe Nissan Leaf." Nissan Leaf Billboard Smokes Out New York Auto Show
Immersive Labs showed off its billboards that use facial-recognition software to determine the age and gender of people looking at them. Keep your privacy concerns to yourself. Billboards Starting to Learn Who You Are
Serve Marketing flipped billboard images in Wisconsin to make the point that life is turned upside down for foster childen. The ads will be flipped back over on Monday, with copy added that reads, "Turn a life around." Foster-Care Billboards See Lives Turned Upside Down
- Crazy Two-for-One Ad Parody: Carl's Jr. and Nyquil Be careful what you eat, day or night
- It Is the Most Interesting Horn Solo in the World Dos Equis icon turns to music
- Art-School Ads Brilliantly Parody Anti-Drug PSAs 'Talk to your kids about art school'
- Israel Uses Facebook Timeline to Show an Addict's Descent Over Time A year on drugs, versus a year clean
AdFreak is your daily digest of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd. Updated every weekday, with a weekly recap on Saturdays.
