Add "Watch TV" to the pantheon of commands Burger King's Subservient Chicken obeys. On Nov. 7, viewers of Fox's The Simpsons and Arrested Development were treated to Subservient Chicken bumpers—five-second spots showing the bird's Web site with copy such as "Watch Arrested Development" in the box where people type in commands. Since BK promoted Fox TV shows in-store, "[Fox was] willing to embrace Subservient Chicken," says Gillian Smith, BK senior director of media and global collaboration. "We're blurring those lines between content and advertising in a way that feels like an effective messaging vehicle." BK's media shop, MindShare, worked with Fox's promotions group on the cross-promotion with creative from Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami.
Sex Acts Exposed
Hip-hop clothier Akademiks outraged the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority earlier this month with city-bus ads showing scantily clad women with books and the copy, "Read books. Get brain." ("Get brain" is a euphemism for a sex act.) But they were just following in the long tradition of coded sex language in ads. Those with a locker-room sense of humor may recall Arnell Group's 2002 Terry Tate Reebok ad featuring "Felcher & Sons," with Felcher also slang for a sex act. Maybe advertisers should take a cue from the most overt example, the FCUK campaign in London: TBWA put the acronym on hiatus in September.
In Brief
The International Advertising Festival in Cannes last week named two more jury chairmen to preside over its advertising competitions next year: P.J. Pereira, 31, cd of AgenciaClick in São Paulo, Brazil, will be the Cyber Lions jury president; and Fred Koblinger, 50, CEO of BBDO Holding Austria and managing director of Palla Koblinger Proximity in Vienna, Austria, will be the Lions Direct jury president. They join John Hunt, 50, worldwide cd of TBWA, who earlier was named film, press and outdoor jury president.