Geico Makes the Perfect Ad for Hump Day Guess what day it is?!

Here is Geico's latest commercial from The Martin Agency. Uploaded on hump day, it's all about hump day. And it stars a certain mammal that hails from the Middle East and Africa. You can see where this is going. Part of the insurance company's ongoing "Happier Than" campaign. Silliness at its best. Credits below.

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Puma's Dance Dictionary Will Leave You at a Loss for Words Out of step with the brand?

The Puma Dance Dictionary, created by Grey London to push the brand's new Sync fragrances (yes, Puma makes fragrances), allows users to select words and phrases which are then translated into dance moves by freestyle performers. These "moving" messages can be shared via social media or emailed to friends. You start with various templates and then shift a few words in and out to create sentences. The pre-set "I love women with heart," for example, can be changed to "I love women with popcorn." Or "I love guys with muscles." Or even "I love women with nuts," if you're into that. Manipulating other templates yields sentiments like "Money makes me want to get naked," "Hey bro, your face is crazy" and "Will you stroke my girlfriend?" This can be amusing, but not very, as the vocabulary is too limited. I understand the dancers could interpret only so many words, and Puma naturally wants to avoid potential hate speech or outright vulgarity. But the enterprise seems hamstrung by a lack of true interaction. The dancing on display is self-consciously goofy: "Women" is signified by hip wiggles and boob gestures, and "nuts" is communicated by pointing to one's head with accompanying eye rolls. Plus, the brand message is ill defined. Maybe Puma should've sat this one out.

Samsung Presents Advertising's Most Idiotically Primitive Husband Ever But can he change?

This new ad for Samsung televisions is precipitating foul rumblings across the cyberverse for depicting men as gassy, unkempt, couch-bound louts. Sounds like truth in advertising to me. Especially the flatulence. The spot touts the Evolution Kit, which turns any Samsung television into a smart TV. A young wife saddled with a sorry spouse decides he needs a similar upgrade, and plugs the kits into his back. Suddenly the dude's cooking, cleaning and styling her hair with a vacuum. (Don't try that last one at home! But if you do, let me know how it works out.) The complaints generally follow this example from Reddit: "I find this advert quite sexist. The idea of an 'evolved man' is basically making him the stereotype of a woman. This isn't evolution rather than devolution. If this advert had the women being attached to some machine to make her better equipped to clean/cook/look after children/make her loving to her spouse/partner, there would be an outcry from feminists about equality." Sure, Samsung squeezed out some questionable material. But the clip is nearing 10 million YouTube views in just a week, and generating gobs of attention for the product, so I'd hardly call it a total stinker. Agency: To be determined; CHI & Partners, global agency for Samsung TVs, says it wasn't them.

Warren Buffett Helps Pitch Berkshire Hathaway's Dairy Queen as Barkley Airs First Ad for Chain Visits Omaha DQ with CEO

Warren Buffett is helping to pitch Dairy Queen just as Kansas City, Mo.-based agency Barkley is airing its first TV ad for the chain, five months after it landed the creative account. The godfather of DQ parent Berkshire Hathaway does not appear in the spot—although a lookalike does pop up in the middle of it. (Buffett has done ads before, as you'll surely recall his cringe-worthy star turn as Axl Rose in this crazy 2010 Geico video.) The DQ voiceover explains, "Here's to our fans. The local heroes … and local legends. The next in line … and the next generation. At DQ, we don't make fast food. We make fan food." Buffett is doing his part beyond the advertising, though. On Monday night, he and DQ CEO John Gainor visited an Omaha, Neb., DQ to test the first S'Mores Blizzard of the summer.

Nutella Thanks Its Biggest Fan, Founder of World Nutella Day, by Sending Her a Cease and Desist That's nuts!

Most brand marketers can only dream of having a superfan who organizes a global holiday dedicated to their product. And then there's Nutella. The chocolate-hazelnut spread's parent company, Italy-based Ferrero has sent a cease-and-desist letter to World Nutella Day founder and organizer Sara Rosso. This Saturday, she plans to deactivate NutellaDay.com and the 7-year-old event's social-media channels in response to the legal notice from the company. "I've seen the event grow from a few hundred food bloggers posting recipes to thousands of people tweeting about it, pinning recipes on Pinterest, and posting their own contributions on Facebook," Rosso writes in a blog post about the cease and desist. "There have been songs sung about it, short films created for it, poems written for it, recipes tested for it, and photos taken for it. The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I've had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA, and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants." So far, the parent company has not responded to several media requests for comment and clarification. Via Consumerist and Neatorama. Photo via chaojikazu.

UPDATE: Rosso emailed AdFreak to tell us there's been a resolution in the matter. As reported this afternoon in Italy, Ferrero has stopped legal action against her, saying it was "a routine procedure in defense of trademarks." The company furthermore "would like to express its sincere gratitude to Sara Rosso for her passion for Nutella, which extends gratitude to all the fans of the World Nutella Day" and considers itself "lucky to have a fan of Nutella so devoted and loyal as Sara Rosso."

Diaper-Buying, Sex-Starved, Death-Obsessed Lonely Island Guys Promote New Album Life of a 'grown-ass man'

Are the guys from Lonely Island trying to say that marriage and kids are shortcuts to the grave? They sure don't seem too happy to be "grown-ass"  men, maybe because they're starving for sex, wiping baby bums and visiting their own funeral plots in "Diaper Money," posted below. The video, released as part of YouTube's Comedy Week, also promotes the trio's latest musical effort, The Wack Album, due June 11. Look for more promos in the coming weeks.

Video is NSFW (language).

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Jack Link's Will Never Get Tired of Messin' With Sasquatch Three more hairy situations

Just when you thought you ran out of ways to mess with Sasquatch, someone comes along with lipstick and press-on nails. And as you'd guess, Sasquatch does not care for his glam makeover. In the ongoing saga for Jack Link's beef jerky, the hirsute man-beast gets punked yet again—three times, in fact, in new TV spots from longtime agency Carmichael Lynch. He's just come out of hibernation, so his back story goes, and roams too close to civilization, where he's an easy target for public humiliation. He gets "beautified," doused with slop and hosed. Who could resist? Retaliation, which has become a hallmark and creative flourish of these ads, ensues. Those folks will never learn. More spots and credits below.

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Introducing Beardvertising: Tiny Billboards That Clip on to Your Beard This could work, right?

I'm not sure which is more disturbing—the hirsute images that adorn the Beardvertising site from Kentucky ad agency Cornett-IMS, or creative Whit Hiler's use of the work "mancessory" to describe such facial hair. You might recall Hiler from past wacky ventures such as conquering Reddit with fake fliers (including a meetup to recreate scenes from Human Centipede—"Guys only") and crafting a tourism campaign that was presumably too "kick-ass" for the Bluegrass State. Here's his latest pitch: "Do you wanna get paid for having an epic beard? Of course you do. Join the world's first Beardvertising network. Get paid. It's simple—turn your beard into a business. Just like Duck Dynasty. Hang a BeardBoard (Patent Pending) in your beard. Sit back and get paid up to $5 per day." So far, A&W Restaurants and Eagle One Automotive have slapped their messages on Beardvertising mini-billboard clips. Maybe Schick, Gillette, Old Spice and DollarShaveClub.com should join in to cut through the clutter and carve out some unique ad space.

Advertising Student Ships His Pants to Kmart's Agency, Lands Internship Alf Zapata shows Draftfcb the goods

If you can ship your pants skillfully and creatively, you have a good chance of working at Kmart's ad agency, Draftfcb. The agency said today that it has brought in a new intern in large part because of his pants-shipping abilities. Alf Zapata shipped his actual pants and résumé to Draftfcb's recruiting department. That got him an interview; his "portfolio, witty humor and enthusiasm" got him the internship, the agency says. This raises the possibility that you could get an internship at Y&R in New York simply by apologizing and then acting superior. More images below.

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Girl Barfs Up Her Own Dad in Baffling Anti-Drinking Ad From Spain Something's making her sick

"Every time you get drunk, you separate yourself from the things that matter most. Like your family." That's the voiceover in this weird anti-drinking ad from Spain, aimed at young adults. The girl in the ad is seen vomiting up what is apparently her father. The sound effects are nasty, and the metaphor isn't much better. Second spot after the jump, in which a guy gets "separated" from his girlfriend—by upchucking her on a bathroom floor. Agency: Bungalow 25. Via Ads of the World.

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