Skype Rips Into Twitter and Facebook in New Ads

It's a familiar gripe: Technology makes communication more efficient, but less personal. Now, Skype is looking to leverage consumer anxiety about alienation with a $12 million campaign that frames its service as the more human of modern ways to stay in touch. Launched yesterday at U.K. transportation hubs like Heathrow Airport (which explains the travel-related nature of many of the headlines), a series of ads from Pereira & O'Dell takes shots at the superficiality of text-based tech—Facebook, Twitter, SMS—while playing up the value of the face-time video chats provide travelers looking to stay connected.