Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The 8 Worst Print Ads of 2011.





(click ads)
In no particular order, top to bottom, left to right:
1. Goodby Silverstein & Partners' Got Milk PMS campaign got absolutely nuked by women online. They pulled it almost immediately. See three more executions here.
2. Ogilvy Atlanta tried to get a nation to adopt a made-up ad word for Durex condoms. A nation said: Go fist yourself, Durex. Second print ad here.
3. Simply the dumbest Photoshopped ad I've ever seen, for a Portuguese bookseller. READING IS IRRIGATION FOR THE BRAIN.
4. Dull, Homophobic diagram sells the national drink of Brazil.
5. Cannes Lion-winning Kia ad with some clever pedophilia messaging. Kia America was forced to respond (their comment here).
6. No comment. Second ad in the campaign here.
7. Maybe the most iconic race protest photo in history is used to sell...toilet cleaning gloves.
8. Canadian hair salon playfully employs wife-beating imagery. Edgy.
Honorable Mention: this racist Nivea ad • this French eyeglasses ad that lamely mocked the Hells Angels • This Burger King print ad via Germany • and this "Snatch" gym ad.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

:-) their awl winners! :-)

I-)

1:00 PM  
Blogger Vinnie said...

I like number 4. Number 6 doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you. In fact, I don't care about it. I neither like it nor hate it.

Strangely, some really dumb ads are missing, specifically:

This one is seriously stupid.
http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2011/07/no-wait-these-are-dumbest-ad-agency.html

One of the worst headlines of the year.
http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2011/07/newspaper-association-of-america.html

http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2011/09/and-now-dumbest-ad-of-week.html

And in my opinion, the award for the dumbest dumbest print campaign of the year goes to:

http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2011/10/are-these-some-of-dumbest-ads-ive-ever.html

Of course, I can think of many other dumb(er) ads, but I limited my selection to what you've posted throughout the year.

2:15 PM  
Blogger Jay said...

Not completely related but here's "I'm an Art Director" lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5joO4EvH1PA

2:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

While the bulk of the campaign involved broadcast and digital, Hail to the V from Summer's Eve did feature a few print ads. The concept definitely deserves to be included in your list.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/how-summers-eve-learned-stop-insulting-people-and-love-vagina-133476

3:05 PM  
Blogger copyranter said...

Vinnie: I purposely excluded agency promo ads, and I tried to eliminate possible scam ads, like those Ducati ones.

Anon: the worst part of that Summer's Eve campaign was far and away the racist videos, which I will include in my worst TV/video ads of 2011 post.

4:42 PM  
Blogger Bock McMillan said...

I agree with all your choices, copyranter!

Have a great new year, I am looking forward to following your blog in 2012 also. ;)

7:08 PM  
Anonymous syed nayab said...

i dont think China Times ad is that bad!

11:38 PM  
Blogger Linda Magid said...

The one where domestic violence is made okay if she looks good and gets big jewelry turned my stomach and will bother me the rest of the day. Just when I think society gets that beating on women isn't love or just something that happens, this kind of thing turns up. Depressing.

9:38 AM  
Anonymous inka said...

i agree with @syed china town ad isnt that bad ....sometime you just love pulling people leg..dont you?

8:22 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home