Displaying 1 - 36 of 506 results
Supermarket wars have been with us for as long as there have been supermarkets. But the intensity of the competition has never been so keenly felt as it is today. Tesco has had a thoroughly miserable year, which cost them one Chief Executive, a mass...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Last week, I posted one of my most successful blogs this year. "Top 10 worst corporate phrases" was for all you folk out there who hate ugly jargon such as “reach out”, “touch base” and “push the envelope”. You...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
By virtue of the fact that you're reading this blog, you almost certainly know what trolling is. For those of you that don't, it's when people with absolutely no penis (and whatever the female equivalent is) leave nasty comments on blogs, online...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
Last week, Jeremy Clarkson was forced to apologise for having said a bad thing. A very bad thing. It is the only word in the whole English language that I can think of that is 100%, totally and utterly off limits. The word is “n****r”....
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
People love to complain, especially about things they can't control. Maybe we're all deeply unfulfilled individuals shouting desperately into the void? Maybe we naively think our words of dissent will actually make a difference? Or maybe (more...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
The most uninspired and offensive campaigns ever created for the LGBTQ+ community. It is always great to see a brand showing support towards the LGBTQ+ community. Representation in the creative industry is certainly on the rise, though there are...
Posted by: Antonino Lupo
WARNING: CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE* *Unless you don’t get offended by words like ‘fuck’. In which case, the warning should read: contains language. “Daddy, when are you going to teach me how to cut with a sharp knife and...
Posted by: Matt Batten
Full disclosure here; I'm not a vegetarian and have no intention of ever becoming a vegetarian. Now that doesn't mean I am unfamiliar or unsympathetic with the plight of the average vegetarian, but it does mean that some of you might assume that this...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
You are a creative young receptionist working for a small advertising agency. And you have a dream. Ever since you were little you’ve had an ardent passion for creativity. You remember playing with your mother with cardboard and colours,...
Posted by: Antonino Lupo
In these supposedly enlightened times, it's rare for an ad to provoke a significant moral outcry, at least to the extent that it gets pulled from existence. It happened earlier this year, of course, with the woeful ad that saw Kendall Jenner solve a...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
This year, there has been decidedly more attention cast on International Women's Day, which is important, as, even in these enlightened times, many women across the world are still being made to feel as if they are somehow 'less than' their male...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
So, tell me honestly, does that title offend you? It's a serious question - I put it there deliberately. The reason being that, last week, Asda paid £25,000 to mental health charity Mind for advertising what was deemed to be a completely...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
Facebook claims to have cracked its rather awkward 'ads on offensive pages' problem. This week the social network's Director of Policy announced the site has completed the task of 'narrowing down the number of pages where ads will be shown'. Which...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
by Ashley Morrison But not just any sort of fight. LinkedIn doesn't provide a sort of Brad Pitt / Edward Norton-inspired forum or portal where the first rule about Online Fight Club is that you don't talk about Online Fight Club. (Sorry if you...
Posted by: Creativepool
Stereotypes, inconsistencies, hypocrisy - some campaigns have them all, others just a few. The LGBT+ community can’t afford the privilege to say they are loved everywhere they go, and it’s perfectly fine for brands and campaigns to try...
Posted by: Antonino Lupo
by Ashley Morrison. The last thing anyone wanted to see at the Academy Awards ceremony last night was another Kate Winslet or Halle Berry sobbing through an acceptance speech. At least Adele had the good sense to dash off stage before the leak in...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw. Perhaps surprisingly, I've only ever worked on a couple of campaigns which have attracted public complaints. One was a press piece for a now defunct cable TV network. At the time, it was the only service carrying the Disney Channel...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Jessica Hazel. Damien Hirst is one of Britain's richest people. In 1992 his pickled shark entitled 'The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Someone Living' was commissioned by Charles Saatchi for £50,000 and then sold in 2005 for...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw Kentucky Fried Chicken may well be an assault on the digestion and troubling to the waistband, but it seems its advertising is also offensive to a cross section of the viewing public. The Advertising Standards Authority has announced...
Posted by: Creativepool
This week Channel 4 has attracted considerable attention. Its high-profile, much discussed ‘documentary’ strand Big Fat Gypsy Weddings has returned to a big fat viewing audience and water-cooler debate over the style merits of pineapple...
Posted by: Creativepool
On 21st October 2008 a completely original advertising campaign was launched. Positioned on the sides of buses it carried the simple headline: 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. This was the first time a marketing...
Posted by: Creativepool
As much as we'd all like to believe that we've all moved on from the dark ages of the 1960s and 1970s into an age of genuine enlightenment, the sad fact remains that, for the most part, adland is still a bit of a boys club. This is thanks in no small...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Sexual harassment is a shared responsibility, not the burden of those who have been harassed. Whether it’s in an office, online, at a client meeting or at an industry event such Cannes, no one should have to work in an environment that allows...
Posted by: NABS
Facebook confirms testing of downvote button Facebook will now allow users to downvote comments to eventually hide them. The social media giant is testing the ‘down-vote’ button, making it first available for a small set of users and...
Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
Donald Trump has built his political career on saying the things that no other candidate would say, and most normal Americans wouldn’t say either. So a new set of campaign ads from EMILY’s List and Priorities USA, asks why would we let...
Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
There are few words as cutting and divisive in 2024 as “cancelled.” It’s a term you’d once only have heard in relation to your favourite TV series or perhaps an unwise Amazon order but today, it’s something that happens...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Brits abroad can be a lot. I’ll be the first to admit it. Indeed, who amongst us hasn’t felt their souls wither a little at the sight of a shirtless drunken brawl instigated by pasty ‘lads’ while enjoying a family holiday on...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Bryony Beynon is a senior trainer at timeTo, an initiative set up by NABS, The AA and WACL to tackle sexual harassment in advertising that offers ground breaking interactive training for companies and individuals on how to recognise and tackle sexual...
Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
It was 2003 when DOTA (Defence of the Ancients), the first true Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), hit the shelves of PC gaming. Since then, esports have been on a constant and steady rise, leading to widespread popularisation for a new kind of...
Posted by: Antonino Lupo
BBH Labs - Justice4Grenfell The community-led organisation, Justice4Grenfell, paraded three billboards through central London on the way to Grenfell Tower on Thursday, February 15th, to highlight the lack of progress being made in the wake of the...
Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
Last weekend, an internal memo from a Google software engineer with an incendiary title and even more incendiary content, went viral. Yesterday, it was confirmed that the employee who birthed the memo had been fired. The real question on everyone's...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
UPDATE: Since this article was first posted, Pepsi have decided (wisely in my opinion) to pull the ad from YouTube. A Pepsi spokesperson said in a press release: "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
It might have been Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK yesterday (be honest, how many of you spent it either nursing the mother of all hangovers or doing the gardening?), and the royal birth might have been the news story with the most traction, but...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
If you’re a freelancer who’s got a steady stream of work coming your way - either from the same loyal clients who know you and trust you, or from referrals from said loyal clients, or you’re very good at selling yourself and you...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
by Magnus Shaw In the early hours of this morning Dorset police arrested a 17-year-old boy. It's alleged he sent a tweet to Olympic diver Tom Daly which read "You let your dad down I hope you know that." Daly had finished fourth in the Men's...
Posted by: Creativepool
For any brand, identity is everything and while a part of that identity is always going to be decided by the public, a great deal of it is cultivated by a branding team who set out to guide the opinions of the population. However, not all rebranding...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns