Miami Ad School Shows You Just How Gloriously Stupid an Advertising Career Can Be

If you work on the creative side of advertising, you'll earn a paycheck for, among other things, crafting ads where sloths and hairdos sing and piano players caress keys with 30 fingers on a half-dozen hands.

That's the gist of F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Brazil's humorous spots for the Miami Ad School of São Paulo. Each of three videos shows a "wacky" ad being shot for consumer goods like shampoo (the hair), an energy drink (the sloths) and deodorant (the pianist). Ultimately, the camera pulls back to reveal a sign assuring potential students: "Yes. You will get paid for doing this."

The print component includes spoofs for toothpaste (don't cry, gigantic extra-sensitive molar!) and calcium-rich milk (rad bones, Super-Skeleton!)

According to the agency, the campaign illustrates that "advertising can still be fun despite all the surveys, focus groups and animatics," and that "it is still possible to build brands using good ideas, humor and irreverence."

Wait, focus groups and surveys can be fun. Right?

The campaign feels like an attempt to recapture the spirit of the industry from the long-gone Mad Men era when creative was king. And do I detect a hint of desperation, a need to prove that agency jobs are still cool in a climate of increased competition from sectors like Silicon Valley—where talent often gets paid more than they would on Madison Avenue?

Ah well, at least if you make ads, your parents will understand what you do for a living.