Concept Gone Very Wrong

Duncan Hines launched an advertising campaign for the its new Amazing Glazes. Driven by the tagline "Make your desserts sing," the company took things one step too far with the product's first commercial and created something racially offensive: Hip Hop Cupcakes.



The commercial was pulled from YouTube, however you can watch the original video here. It's astounding that an advertisement like this actually reached the public, like no one at Duncan Hines stopped to think what it could mean to people. Hip Hop Cupcakes definitely serves as a reminder to always consider how different audiences will perceive your work.

Lottery of Life

Save the Children recently unveiled a new ad campaign in the United Kingdom. The Lottery of Life uses the simple technique of compare and contrast, however with such powerful images this campaign is anything but simple.








It's clear that the images were very carefully selected. The photographs on the left side of each advertisement show poor living conditions and get the point of the ad across without being too overwhelming or depressing.

What do you think?

This Campaign Rocks

With video game Guitar Hero rising in popularity, guitar sales are falling. Sparrow Guitars responded to this trend with a great advertising campaign to sell guitars and remind young people that real music is made with instruments.











This campaign succeeds because it serves the needs of the company and the industry, and touches on teenagers' desires to rebel.

Show and Tell: Campaign

The following campaign from Lego is simple and effective. With all of the fancy toys available to kids these days, Lego makes it clear that imagination is really what makes toys fun, especially Legos.

South Park is...

South Park notoriously uses parody to grab viewers' attention and the show's latest ad definitely grabbed mine. In the promo for the new season, South Park takes on the iPad commercials.

I'm usually a lover of all things Apple, but some of the company's more recent advertisements feel too cutesy. Like this one. I'd take the dancing silhouette commercials back any day over these. 

The iPad ads aren't quite as cheesy, but this spoof made me laugh anyway: