9 Strangest Ad Campaigns

Celebrity endorsements for beauty products is apparently nothing new, as “showcased” in this first poster ad. Max Factor in the 40’s released this poster ad to convert the masses to using their products by putting a strange Hannibal lecter-ish contraption on a woman’s face! The device was supposed to highlight any facial discrepancies in the woman’s face (that were not visible to the naked eye!?) so a creepy looking “pro” could hide those imperfections with make up. And off-course the celebrities in Hollywood use it! So you gotta try? The “Micrometer” from max factor was definitely a victim of bad marketing; instead of showing a beautiful confident woman some geniuses put a monster-ish looking thing on a poster selling a beauty product! Really?

After looking at this strange poster ad we were a bit dumbfounded. How to react to this image of a woman dressed as a Jack in the Box jumping out in exhilaration over a new bra! And that’s not all, the copy reads that with her new Maidenform Bra this women is an envy of all the other “dolls!!!” hmmm… A woman in her bra jumping out a box; an idea surely hatched at a bachelor party! The ad is creepy on so many levels yet unbelievably funny.

This selection is more on the ridiculous spectrum of the ad world rainbow. How two sumo wrestlers painted green and yellow colliding into one another supposed to make us pick up a bottle of sprite is frankly beyond our imagination. In slow motion two Sumo wrestlers collide/merge into one another and squish the head of a sprite drinker for orgasmic pleasure! Don’t believe us? Watch this utter ridiculousness unfold below…

This viral advertisement campaign from Microsoft is pretty damp even for Microsoft’s unimaginative standards. The ad titled “F.O.M.S.” or Fear.Of.Missing.Something is aimed at, what seems like demented Microsoft users! Microsoft might be right in assuming that only the mentally un-stable will upgrade its widely unpopular IE to its IE – 8… so the campaign might not be a total bust but it should make any remaining IE users question, “who” Microsoft is selling this to? Either a desperate attempt at humor or a seriously bad marketing team this commercial is definitely a weird turn.

We think it our civic duty to warn you that this ad is definitely not for kids or for the weak hearted. The creators of this web-based campaign seem to think that beheading Santa can reverse the decrease in advertising investments. We realize that the tag line, “Don’t cut a dream” resonates with the image of a beheaded Santa but really? This is one of the most disturbing if not the most disturbing advert we came across. Definitely a step too far!

Sticking your head up your uterus! At least that is the answer a Thai ad agency came up with. The poster ad seems to either suggest that their pregnancy tests are only second to actually putting your head up your ass or that this pregnancy test is like putting your head up to see for yourself. Maybe, its typical of the Thai culture but it definitely is showcasing the strange!

With ad budgets for politicians reaching new highs there is now a lot of creativity involved in defaming one’s political rival; this ad is definitely creative! Carly Fiorina released this Demon Sheep Ad for the GOP primaries in California, making her opponent a demon sheep disguised amongst regular sheep – where the regular sheep are fiscally conservative and the Demon Sheep aka Tom Campbell is only pretending to be… Don’t try and make sense of it; there is none! This three minute video will at best get a well-deserved, “wtf” from its target audience.

For the launch of a German based “Ultra Thin” condom producers an outdoor campaign was launched. Seems like a good idea to put together an installation to showcase both the product and the protection it provides against aids. Until you look at the end product of this marketing gem, a giant “ultra thin” condom laid out on a street filled with 230 people, who are (symbolically) being protected against AIDS by being inside the giant condom! This plastic bubble filed with people is now touring through Europe with its 230 people crowd – dubbed the “mob crowd”. If this isn’t strange we don’t know what is.

Sony has launch more than a few bizarre ad campaigns for its PS3 like the PS3 baby commercial (creepy) but this deranged ad takes the cake. A commercial titled “This is Living”, shows a naked Russian man in a bathtub, telling the PS3 enthusiasts to rethink their acceptance of mediocrity in life by belittling their gaming experience and laughing at them before manically pulling a gun at the audience! Disturbing is the only way to describe this video, telling customers not to buy PS3? Reverse psychology is failing big tobacco, Sony really thinks it will work here?