The Maryland/DC based burrito joint California Tortilla will be placing hundreds of $1 bills around the DC area on Thursday, March 11th with messages attached to them promoting its $5 “Fiesta Combo.”  To raise awareness of this promotion, California Tortilla is apparently going all out by: A) e-mailing me, and B) releasing the following YouTube video, which clearly must have gone the way of Avatar and run way, way over budget:

The promotion has shades of the Burger King “lost wallet” promotion, although those wallets contained anywhere from $1 to $100 as well as some “cool” paraphernalia like a drivers license for The King.  While finding a dollar with a note about a deal at California Tortilla might cause a few people to mention it to friends, I am a bit skeptical about something this small scale to generate enough word-of-mouth buzz to have a substantial impact.

What do people think? Will this promotion generate any buzz, or is this So Good post the last we’ll hear of it online?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Five Dollar Buck. Let me say that again in case you didn’t realize how stupid it sounded the first time:  Five Dollar Buck.

Not only is it asinine and repetitive, it just flat out doesn’t make sense.  Nice work Taco Bell.  Apparently only the best and the brightest make the cut for jobs in Taco Bell’s product naming and copy writing department.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In case you miss it live, the site lets you replay the footage of that day’s shower song so there is incentive to check back each day. The site also lets users help decide what song she will sing the next morning, and which bikini she will wear (see burger themed bikini above and fried egg themed bikini below).

In a time where you get used to seeing nothing but ultra skinny supermodels in ads, it is interesting to note that the woman they selected for this, while certainly attractive, falls more into the average-build, girl next door kind of look, rather than the “oh my god I’m looking at a supermodel showering” kind of look.  Oh, and one other thing, those of you that saw the site can confirm: her singing is TERRIBLE. I mean really not good at all. There will be no Britain’s Got Talent auditions for this young lady.

Now I’m certainly not the first one to report on this, as Mashable, BrandChannel and AdRants all posted about it in mid-December.  What is interesting, however, is that no one seems to have realized that this promotion/webpage was gone almost as soon as it appeared.  Fast Food Maven posted about the Shower Babe on December 26th, inviting her readers to watch the Shower Babe and share their thoughts – apparently totally unaware that by Wednesday, December 23rd, the site wasn’t even live anymore, and the previous ShowerCam URL re-directed people to a new page devoted to the Whopper and promoting the fact that at Burger King “Taste is King.”

So what’s up with the idea to promote Burger King through a girl singing in the shower? While Burger King has not been afraid to release some highly questionable and offensive sexually laced ads in the past, featuring a woman showering, live on camera, may be a new low (high?) for Burger King’s advertising strategy.  Initially, a BK spokesperson defended the website, noting:

“Our research showed that breakfast is a male-centric audience for Burger King; it doesn’t resonate as well with women – we are targeting the people who are buying breakfast.”

Oh. Wait. You are promoting Burger King Breakfast???? I didn’t realize that, I was too distracted WATCHING A WOMAN SHOWERING. Breakfast. Right. That makes sense, because you shower in the morning, then head out to get a BK breakfast sandwich. It all makes sense now. Uh, yeah.

Now your typical guy will probably be pathetically lured into this, because c’mon, we’re guys and we’re weak. We’ll watch live based on the .ooooo1% chance that something will go wrong and her bikini will accidentally burst off, exposing the BK Shower Babe for all the world to see. Sorry kiddos, but there is definitely no nudity, these videos are about as CLEAN as it gets (Haha! See what I did there? Clean? Huh? Clean? Get it? Cause it’s a shower?  Comedy GOLD).

The question to ask now is not what possessed Burger King to launch this website, but rather why did they take it down in basically two weeks time? Now I’m sure the official BK company line is that they always planned for this to be a quick promotion and it ran its course…blah, blah, blah. Bullshit. If the site was getting flooded with millions of visitors and drawing favorable coverage left and right, they would have definitely kept the site running. Furthermore, even if they only contracted the woman to do two weeks worth of showers (wow, it feels dirty just writing that…haha! get it? dirty?) wouldn’t they re-hire her for additional weeks if it proved to be a viral hit? Or even if the promotion had run its course, why not leave the site up for people to watch the old videos rather than essentially hiding its existence behind a re-direct to a new “Taste is King” promotion?

My guess? Burger King saw the consumer, online and press reaction to this and decided to pull the plug prematurely.  While Burger King doesn’t shy away from controversial advertising that gets people talking, this campaign had a notably stalker-esque and creepy feel to it. For a company that already centers so much of its marketing around a creepy, stalkerish mascot, it may have decided, in retrospect, that allowing its customers to watch a woman showering was just one small, creepy step away from drilling a Porky’s style  peep-hole in a woman’s locker room so that Burger King consumers online could feast their eyes on a bevy of Burger Shots.

I don’t expect Burger King to admit this of course, but that’s my theory.

Farewell BK Shower Babe, we hardly knew you.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Domino’s Pizza, a client of mine, is behind this innovative new campaign.  GreenGraffiti is a tactic/company that began in Europe in 2006 and Domino’s is one of the first companies to use GreenGraffiti logos in America.  Below is a leaked image of the first of these logos to appear on a sidewalk in a U.S. city.  But it doesn’t stop with this one: 220 more of these Domino’s “American Legends” logo’s will soon be placed around New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

There is a cool twist to this campaign.  As I mentioned, in addition to placing these logos in three different cities, Domino’s has created a bit of a scavenger hunt for their customers. According to Domino’s:

The first 250 people to email pr@dominos.com and submit a photo of them with a Green Graffiti® sidewalk Domino’s logo will receive a $15 Domino’s gift card, good for a Domino’s American Legends pizza.

Click HERE for full details on the contest/giveaway.

For those of you wondering how the  logos like the one above get made, the GreenGraffiti website explains:

With the help of a template and a high pressure water sprayer an advertising message is cleaned out of the dirt. The result is a high impact message and a cleaner street.

Unlike traditional advertising, no trees will be killed, paper printed or ink used.  GreenGraffiti is not just carbon neutral, they are actually carbon NEGATIVE, compensating for 150% of their carbon footprint.  They even invest in a water harvesting project for each liter of water they use.

Pretty cool marketing tactic huh? What do people think of this idea?

Update: Domino’s has uploaded some video of the GreenGraffiti teams putting the logos in place:

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

So what is a Biscuit Hole? Hardee’s describes it as:

A bit of biscuit dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar and served with icing for dipping.

So where does the “Name Our Holes” stuff come into play? In a press release, Brad Haley, Hardee’s exec VP of marketing, states:

“They really are irresistible, and it’s almost impossible to eat just one.  But what to call them was a big challenge. One of my favorite options was ‘Biznuts,’ a cross between ‘biscuits’ and ‘donuts’.”

Playing off of Hardee’s alleged confusion over what to call them, they have created a website called Name Our Holes and luckily were able to secure the rights to that URL, which was miraculously not already in use by a porn site. The website lets you submit suggested names as well as see the entries of others.

Some of you may be thinking, “hey, there is nothing lewd about this, they just want help re-naming their biscuit holes. Maybe you are finding sexual inneundo where it doesn’t exist.” For those thinking that, I would like to note exhibit A: the slogan is, “They sound wrong, but taste so right.”  Also, exhibits B & C: two early commercials for the product.  In this first one, the announcer solicits ideas for product names, even suggesting himself that a good name would be “bisticules.”

This second ad is actually quite funny. Taste testers are asked to try donut holes and biscuit holes, and report on which one they like better. The plates are labeled “A” and “B”, leading to many remarks about what people do, or do not like about “the A holes.”

So on the one hand we have Hardee’s ads that were basically written by a bunch of frat guys, and contain multiple testicle jokes. On the other hand, I found myself laughing at some of the commercials, and even though I’d never eat this product, I found myself compelled to write about the product launch and marketing campaign. Is the idea and promotion behind this product launch a bit juvenile and tasteless? Yes. But it seems like this was done in a way that makes people scoff, snicker and remember the ads. Unlike the BK blow job ad, which elicited few snickers, just reactions of bafflement at how over the line it was.

I’m not saying I love this product launch or anything, but in juxtaposition to the blow job ad, it does remind you that you can play around the line without blatently crossing it.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Unbeknownst to me until a short time ago, National Doughnut Day is tomorrow, June 5.  In celebration of this holiday and people getting fatter, the two titans of the industry, Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme, are giving away a free doughnut to all customers.  The only difference is that you have to buy something to drink to get your freebie from DD.  Freeloaders, start forming those lines!  It has always amazed me what people will do for free food – in this case wait for possibly hours for a $3 item. Ahh, America.

It also begs the question – if you had to go to one place – which would it be, Dunkin’ or KK?  Make your case in the comments.

H/t to Pop Candy for the tip.  And who can forget this?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Oh, and not only are the bars called “fingers” but Mars invites you to “pleasure yourself.” I think you can see the direction this is heading in. Check out the first ad below:

After noting a quote from a woman who points out that marketers seem to take the link women have between chocolate and sensuality TOO literally, AdGabber sums up their analysis of the new product by noting:

For the record, confections that invite associations to masturbating aren’t exactly items we’re eager to put in our mouths.

When checking out the Fling website, I was invited to “join” the community. Deciding to take one for the team (my readers) I registered to see what estrogen fueled craziness the site was all about. Sadly it appears they just collected my e-mail in order to make me an early applicant for whatever community they might soon develop.  Too bad. I was hoping the U.S. website was going to be as ridiculous as the site they used when launching the candy bar in New Zealand. There, a website was created where women could “have a fling” with their choice of a foreign billionaire or a bad boy on the run (really ladies? is that how limited your fantasies are? What about the comedian/food blogger/marketing executive fling?).  The site also lets women engage in other hilarious marriage threatening activities such as creating an alibi. All in good fun of course.

There’s actually a YouTube video which shows you the features of this website in New Zealand if you don’t have to be anywhere for two minutes:

Fling is currently available in stores in California and online. Sorry ladies in the other 49 states!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The Sara Lee suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, says the ad is false and misleading because in large type it implies one Oscar Mayer dog bested the taste of all Ball Park dogs. But the footnote, “in very small type,” says that Oscar Mayer compared its hot dogs to “the leading beef franks” of its main rivals.

H/t to Peta2 for the photo above of someone you will not find on OM’s YouTube channel.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

“In tough economic times, more people than ever are turning to fast food options as a way to stretch their paycheck.  Playboy.com has taken note of this trend with its own ‘video salute’ to lunchtime. The site’s editors recognized that Quiznos seems to have a good sense of humor about their brand, and didn’t hesitate in selecting them as one of the best bargains out there.”

When pressed with specific questions about if Quiznos had knowledge of the video’s release or gave tacit approval of the video, Playboy did not directly address my question, but simply replied with this statement:

“Playboy.com is responsible for the video and put it together as its ’salute to lunchtime’.”

Does the mystery continue?

Update: Confusion is swirling online as to whether or not Quiznos had any involvement in making this video.  We knew all along that it was produced by Playboy, but the assumption from most seemed to be that the prominent featuring of a Quiznos sub made clear Quiznos was part of it. AdAge reports that they have spoken with Quiznos, and the company has denied any involvement in the ad. However, many bloggers seem skeptical.

Jezebel:

“It seems unlikely that Playboy independently produced a viral video advertising their sandwiches.”

The Denver Egotist:

“We’re calling bullshit, especially after watching that creepy sex-addled talking oven spot they’ve been running.”

Adrants:

“We can’t help but wonder just how many people over at Quiznos are loving (even hoping) this thing gets as much exposure as it’s getting. We still think there’s some shenanigans going on here.”

Cafe Society:

“We say bullshit. We’ve seen those creepy mutant hamster commercials and “Put it in me” talking-oven spots, so we know for a fact that the folks at Quiznos are sick enough to make this ad happen.”

Original Post:

Oh. My. God. I cannot believe that Quiznos made this ad.  First off, for those of you unfamiliar, this ad title/concept is based off the popular viral internet video “2 girls, 1 cup.” If you haven’t seen the video before, don’t bother looking it up. I can’t even begin to describe it to you in any level of detail without losing half my readers, but lets just say that it involves 2 women, eating, a cup, human excrement, and vomit. Enough. I don’t even want to say more.

Well some marketing genius over at Quiznos decided that a phrase (2 girls, 1 cup) that most users of the internet associate with one of the most disgusting, revolting and abhorrent things they have ever seen in their lives, should also be associated with the Quiznos brand name! Yay! Think Quiznos! Think human feces and vomit!

The execution of the ad is no less appalling than the fact that some moron even thought up this idea in the first place.  Two months ago, we asked in good fun if the new Padma Lakshmi Hardee’s commercial was “Soft Core Porn.” Ha! We were just joshing you. Compared to that ad, this one is like Deep Throat 7 – Tonsil’s Revenge. We also wondered if the Stacker 2 “6 hour power” ad was the most sexually explicit ad ever. Ha! That ad might as well have featured bunny rabbits and snowflakes compared to this one.

A YouTube video of the commercial is below the fold. I will tell you that while there is no nudity, this ad is about as NSFW as it can possibly be short of nudity or actual sexual intercourse – pay attention to those headphones people, there is plenty of sound! Be sure to keep reading on for my full thoughts on why this is such a horrendously awful ad.

So we have a few problems here. For starters, readers of this blog know that I think Quiznos sandwiches taste disgusting. I was already associating them with excrement and vomit. Now Quiznos has basically taken the next step and formalized my suspicions: even people in their marketing department can see the link between the taste of human excrement and vomit and the taste of their sandwiches! Otherwise, how would they have thought up this ad?

The next issue, of course, is that the two models, 21 year old Kari Nautique, and Playboy playmate Hiromi Oshima, are making noises, and writhing around, as if they are mid-orgasm while eating the sandwich. Not to mention deliberately allowing the “mayo” to become smeared all over their faces from their messy eating. I don’t even think we need to broach the subject of the phallic shape of Quizno’s sandwiches.  Oh yeah, and of course, they are sitting on a bench wearing bikinis while eating the sandwich, because why wouldn’t they be?

Now as a 28 year-old male, I’m not complaining about a hot 21 year-old in a bikini. Besides, sex sells. I get it, and I don’t have a problem with that. But who is the target market for this ad? Obviously not women. Probably not old people.   I’m guessing 18 – 34 year old males is the exact target demographic they are going for.  Well, I fall into that demographic.  When I’m watching an ad that is trying to sell me something using sex, I should either be turned on by it or excited by the idea of watching it. Watching this ad, I felt neither of those things. I felt gross, icky and uncomfortable just watching it from the privacy of my own desk and computer screen.  That’s me, a 28 year-old male. Imagine how offended/uncomfortable a woman of any age or a parent might be when they see this? Oh, and I never even mentioned the fact that Quiznos made this ad in collaboration with Playboy.

Now I could make some bold proclaimation like “I will never eat at Quizno’s again!” but that would be meaningless, because I never eat at Quizno’s anyways, because their food is horrid.  But if you are a parent, and you ever take your kid to Quizno’s, stop doing so immediately. Seriously. I’m not into drawing lines for how far advertising should go, but this ad makes anti-line-drawers suddenly realize that yep, now that I’ve seen this, I know the definition of crossing the line, and this is it.

So just to re-cap the stupidity of Quizno’s on this:

• Name our ad after the most disgusting viral video ever? Check.
• Offend anyone over the age of 35 and probably almost any female? Check.
• Make even your target demo of 18-34 year old males feel uncomfortable? Check.

and finally……

• Associate your food with BOTH human excrement AND vomit? CHECK.

Well, you did it Quiznos. You made possibly the most appaling, offensive commercial possible. Now thousands, if not millions, of people who weren’t already doing so will begin to associate your food with vomit and shit. Reapeat after me: Quiznos = vomit & shit, vomit & shit, vomit & shit. Well done Quiznos marketing department, well done.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

So why wouldn’t KFC just accept this coupon on Mother’s Day? Well maybe they didn’t want to lose business? According to a post on Business Insider, Mother’s Day is, “one of their busiest days of the year.”

I’m going to say something that I imagine will not be at all controversial:  if you take your mom to KFC for Mother’s Day, you are a shitty son/daughter.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This has all the makings of an all-out chicken war, as El Pollo Loco attempts to prevent KFC’s new grilled chicken from cutting into their business.

El Pollo Loco Chief Executive Officer Steve Carley has even challenged KFC to a public, side-by-side taste test:

“Let’s see if our opponent is too chicken to go at it toe-to-toe — or rather leg-to-leg — in a taste test.”

Let the chicken wars begin.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The website features an image of a big bucket of the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken with a button that says “Try it Free April 27. Click for Coupon.” But when you click the button for the free coupon, instead of taking you to a page to get a free coupon, it instead gives you this message:

LOL indeed! Oh KFC. You are the living end!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

As a promotion for Cheeto’s newest product,  Giant Cheetos, Gizmodo was sent “the world’s largest Cheeto.” So what did they do with it? What else? They made a member of their team eat it over the worlds most expensive keyboard. Check out the video below:

H/T Gizmodo and Scandalist.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

the BA-K-47, a 1:1 scale AK-47 made out of bacon. It took a total of eight hours to create, a lot of bacon, and a blowtorch… oh yeah, and our good friend beer helped too.

Damn. That’s quite the weekend bacon project. Check it out below, and head over to their site to see additional pictures.

H/T to Slanch Report.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

But then something weird happened.  The Tropicana website CONTINUED to promote the new packaging. For weeks. Odd huh? The NY Times story announcing the change back to the old labels came out February 23rd, but the Tropicana website kept promoting the new packaging for a full month, only finally getting re-designed this week.  The re-designed website looks great:

Still, it’s odd that a company would make such a big media splash announcing the change back to their classic cartons, only to allow their website to keep promoting a label/packaging they had  publicly disavowed. Did they not feel comfortable going back to their old website design or throwing up a quick-fix graphic showing the old logos? Why no announcement on the website about the switch back to the classic packaging?

So is the Tropicana transition back to the old labels complete now that the website has finally been updated? Not exactly.  The website is currently advertising Tropicana’s new “Trop 50″, which features half the calories of normal orange juice.  The Trop 50 packaging being advertised on the website looks suspiciously like the new (now old) packaging that Tropicana announced they were switching away from:

Odd. Tropicana’s new (now old) packaging just won’t die!

Disclaimer:  Although I personally have no involvement in any Tropicana related campaign, they are a client of the company I work for.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites