Jezebel: Ads

McDonald's Tries to Make Egg McMuffin Catchphrase Happen

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:27:00 EST

McDonald's latest ads have sparked a minor trend on Twitter and Facebook, so don't be surprised if some tool remarks that you're the "Egg McMuffin" of something. Still confused? Basically if someone calls you the "Egg McMuffin of girlfriends," they mean they crave you mainly when they've been drinking too much and already feel shitty about themselves. And you're greasy. More »

Asshole No One Likes to Run Graphic Bloody Fetus Ads During Super Bowl

Erin Gloria Ryan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:10:00 EST

Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl this year? The Green Bay Packers? The Patriots? Tim Tebow cloned a bunch of times playing against an entire other team of Tim Tebows? Wrong, wrong and wrong. The winner of the Super Bowl this year is Randall Terry. The pro-life zealot has won the right to air graphic anti-abortion ads featuring images of fetal remains during this year's Big Game, and there's nothing you or I can do about it. More »

Awesome Political Ad Features Gleaming White Truck, Threats of Gun Violence

Erin Gloria Ryan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:15:00 EST

Any political candidate that was thinking of maybe producing the awesomest, most gif-able campaign ad of the 2012 election season better step up their game: aspiring President of the Alabama Public Service Commission Kathy Peterson has just released a show stopper of a shit show of an ad. More »

French Children's Fashion Ad Features Kids, Penis [NSFW]

Erin Gloria Ryan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:45:00 EST

Sacre bleu. Upscale French chain La Redoute is being figuratively boiled in a creamy sauce after its website featured an image of children frolicking happily on a picturesque beach... and a naked guy, wang languidly flopping against his thighs, in the background. More »

Terry Richardson Criticized For Putting Thin Models In Gym Ad

Margaret Hartmann — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:20:00 EST

New ads shot by Terry Richardson have managed to stir up some complaints despite the fact that for the most part, everyone involved in the shoot (including Richardson) remained clothed. The problem is that the campaign is meant to promote the gym Equinox, yet the images portray the women as thin and waify, not particularly strong or fit. More »

Cosmetics Companies May Be Forced To Stop Lying To Us With Photoshopped Ads

Erin Gloria Ryan — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST

Recently, CoverGirl cosmetics ran an ad for mascara that featured pictorial proof that their mascara was capable of transforming women's eyelashes from anemic to voluptuous. Except the pictorial proof of the makeup's effectiveness was actually just a photoshopped image that sort of represented what the company wanted you to think the makeup could do. CoverGirl willingly pulled the ad after deeming it misleading, and an industry watchdog group applauded the move. Could this be the beginning of the end for hyper airbrushed makeup ads? More »

The Ads Of The Future May Feature Your Face

Anna North — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:30:00 EST

A new study shows that celebrity endorsements may be a waste of money. Simply advertising a product on our personal Facebook pages could be enough to convince us we like it. More »

The Good Ol' Days, When You Weren't Fat Enough

Whitney Jefferson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:30:00 EST

"Skinny girls are not glamour girls," proclaims this old ad featured on Retronaut. Check out the whole collection and marvel at how the more things change, the more they stay the same. [Retronaut] More »

Warning: Boy Scouts May Cause Extremely Premature Beard Growth

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:52:00 EST

The Boy Scouts of America's Atlanta Council has launched a new campaign telling boys that that if they get drunk on squishee and accidentally join the Junior Campers, it won't be the end of the world. The Scouts teaches you to "Be One With The Wild," which will apparently make you the first boy in Fourth Grade with a long, healthy beard. The ads above are aimed at boys, and there's a beardless version for parents who don't want to tinker with their child's development of secondary sex characteristics. More »

Get Your Beads Away From My Vagina

Erin Gloria Ryan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EDT

A new product called CycleBeads purports to help women become the overlords of their ovaries by charting their menstrual cycles using a necklace and a rubber ring. Every which way I turn, someone company somewhere is trying to get their bead-shaped product near my vagina. Please stop this. Please get those beads away from my vagina. More »

Dumb Ads Predictably Hurt Dr. Pepper's Approval Ratings

Anna North — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:10:00 EDT

Comments on Dr. Pepper's Facebook page seemed to indicate that men and women alike were grossed out by commercials proclaiming that Dr. Pepper Ten is for dudes only. And now there are numbers to back that up. More »

Vibrators Are Good For What Ails You

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Have you been feeling too rundown to slow dance with you partner or frolick through a field of wildflowers? You could grab a few handfuls of whatever drug Pfizer is currently pushing, but the sex-toy company Jimmyjane recommends you start masturbating like a mad woman instead. More »

JCPenney Goes For Broke With Remarkably Dumb, Sexist Ad

Cassie Murdoch — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:15:00 EDT

Oh, J.C. Penney, you need some help, don't you? First, with that ridiculous "Too Pretty for Homework" t-shirt and now with this insanely misguided commercial. It might—might—be excusable to use a bikini-clad Phoebe Cates (from 1982, wtf?!) to sell your men's dress shirts if it made ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER. But it doesn't! Are you using computers to come up with your concepts now? Did this ad result from some sort of ad algorithm gone wrong: lady in bikini + sports personality = middle-aged men buy things. Beep bop boop. Yeah, the problem with that equation is this: in these modern times, if you insist on playing off of broad stereotypes, an ad has to be clever and funny. More »

French Kitties Work The 9-To-5

Whitney Jefferson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:10:00 EDT

Oh, France, je t'aime: Cats at the workplace! Cats in space! Perhaps most importantly, cats in tiny hats!! Whatever this commercial is selling, I'm buying. More »

Tampons Were A Lot Classier In The '50s

Whitney Jefferson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:50:00 EDT

World of Wonder uncovered two vintage ads for Modess tampons from the 1950s. I mean, just look at 'em: These graceful women dressed in beautiful, flowy gowns — it's like Scarlett O'Hara is hawking the tampons herself. A far cry from the talking vagina bullshit we're stuck with today. More »

The Little Girl Who's Becoming The Republicans' Poster Child

Irin Carmon — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:50:08 EDT

When in doubt about the best way to fearmonger, seek an adorable little girl. That, at least, is the message from two Republican ads, released on the same day, featuring the same young actress. More »

Should Math Be Taught In Schools?

Irin Carmon — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:35:45 EDT

There are really two sides to every story, and children should have the right to decide on the math story just like the evolution one the Miss USA contestants grappled with. Funny how cultural relativism suddenly gets appealing to conservatives when it comes to science. More »

"Hubby's Coming Home" Is One Of The Worst Ads We've Ever Seen

Sadie Stein — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:23:00 EDT

The Hindu is a respected Indian daily. In a recent issue, front-page stories included the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections; Indian-Chinese relations; and...this ad. More »

Rich Ladies Sure Do Love Their Greek Yogurt

Sadie Stein — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:02:00 EDT

And us penurious ones dig it, too — so much so that, whether we were aware of it or not, most of us have found ourselves inexorably drawn to the squat plastic tubs with their vaguely Hellenic lettering and high prices-tags. Because, see, it's yogurt, so it's for women. But it's also Greek — and like Zorba it's somehow lusty, filling, sophisticated. How can you resist? More »

An Attempt To Make Marriage Look Badass

Anna North — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:21:00 EST

This British ad was apparently created "to make people reappraise marriage as the number of British people marrying drops to its lowest level since 1862." Can advertisers really re-brand marriage as rebellious? More »

Swiffer Reaches Out To The Filthy, Lonely Ladies

Sadie Stein — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:25:00 EST

Two women, both decked out to resemble filth, lie together on a floor. More »

Domestic Violence Wallpaper Will Spruce up Your Drab Dining Room

Lauri Apple — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:45:10 EST

This German ad against domestic violence has good intentions and delivers a sobering statistic (25% of German women are survivors), but seems "off." The design's too clever, maybe? At least it's not this bad, though. (Image via Copyranter.) More »

She Needs the Binoculars to See Her Toes

Lauri Apple — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 13:20:26 EST

[Thanks to magical camera tricks, Anja Rubik looks even taller than she usually does in this new Giuseppe Zanotti Design Spring Summer 2011 campaign ad. Image via Bloginity.]

Jessica Biel Misled Me About This Lip Stain Business

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:13:00 EST

So yeah. I watched the Revlon Just Bitten commercial in which Jessica Biel promised me a "light flush of color." And I bought it. That's not what I got. More »

Women Urged To Get In The Kitchen And Have A Whiskey

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:36:00 EST

Though whiskey is usually marketed as the manliest of drinks, there's a new Jack Daniels campaign that targets the ladies. Apparently it's now okay for women to ingest hard liquor, but only if they're using it to bake cookies. More »

Australians Offended By Sight Of Wife Standing On Penis

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:18:00 EST

In this Aussie erectile dysfunction ad, a wife uses her husband's penis as a step stool. It's received 220 complaints, plus it's ineffective — what dude wants someone to step on his junk? More »

Vibrators No Longer Too Hot For TV

Anna North — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:17:00 EST

As long as you call them "personal massagers," that is. This ad for Trojan's Tri-Phoria "massager" has run on VH1 — but without mentioning the function for which most ladies will actually use it. More »

Things Happened When Men Wore Eleganza

Lauri Apple — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:20:13 EST

Ooh, what kinds of things? Well, sometimes women would kneel down at their feet and worship you. Neat! But not always—sometimes the ladies would just stand behind you, or touch your shoulder (maybe after women's lib took hold?) More »

Watch The Most Heartwarming Road Safety Ad Ever

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:35:00 EST

Last week Sussex Safer Roads Partnership's PSA was named YouTube's first Ad of the Year. In addition to being beautifully shot, the ad manages to discuss the importance of seat belts without any screaming or horrifying crash footage. More »

Voting Is Your Friend, With Benefits

Lauri Apple — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 10:55:00 EST

A new Spanish commercial shows what happens when you vote: hot flashes! The tingles, down there! Ecstasy! It's just like having sex—except with exit polling instead of pillow talk. More »

Alec Baldwin's Shockingly Bad Grocery Store Commercials

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:59:00 EST

Though it seems like Alec Baldwin could make anything amusing, his new holiday ads for Wegmans prove otherwise. His earnest and totally humorless declaration of love for the grocery store would make Jack Donaghy cringe. More »

Brut's Slapping Game Calls Old Spice Guy's Masculinity Into Question

Gwen Sharp, Ph.D. — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:31:00 EDT

Reader Stephanie V. let us know about Brut's new feature on their website, Some Men Just Need to be Slapped. The…game (?) presents Man in a Towel, clearly meant as a parody of the Old Spice character: More »

Moroccans Angered By Eva Longoria's Breasts

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:40:00 EDT

On ten real estate billboards in Morocco, Eva Longoria's breasts were covered in spray paint; showing cleavage is considered offensive. The billboards were revised to give her a less-revealing top, but someone ripped them down anyway. Too little, too late! More »

Calvin Klein Billboard Banned For Suggesting "Violence And Rape"

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:23:00 EDT

Australia's Advertising Standards Bureau has ordered that Calvin Klein billboards featuring Lara Stone be removed because they're "suggestive of violence and rape." The Bureau found the image is, "demeaning to women by suggesting that she's a plaything of these men." More »

Bing Crosby Beatboxes In U.K. Ad

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:25:00 EDT

Argos' new commercial is troubling, and not just because it's a holiday ad released in October! The U.K. retailer has taken footage from Bing Crosby's '70s Christmas specials and used CGI to make the late crooner look like he's beatboxing. More »

Target Ad Bashes Homemade Halloween Costumes

Margaret Hartmann — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:59:00 EDT

Why trick of treat in the creative costume your mom spent hours slaving over when you could wear a plastic outfit from Target and look the same as all the other Iron Mans? More »

Pretzel Crisps Add Boobs To Their Skinny Strategy

Katy Kelleher — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:50:00 EDT

And here we thought the thinspirational pretzel crisp ads couldn't get any worse. Boy, were we wrong. More »