Finding new, exciting, and creative ways to tell men that they shouldn’t hit women is tough, ain’t it? Which is probably why a Danish anti-domestic violence group came up with this ill-advised “Hit The Bitch” web campaign, in which users are encouraged to repeatedly punch a woman’s face until, eventually, they’re admonished for being “100% Idiot.” Really? “Idiot” is the best anti-domestic violence finger-wagging insult they could come up with? And really, what’s the point? To make the user feel guilty for punching this innocent woman’s face, just to see what would happen? I didn’t go to Advertising Douchebag University, but something tells me that the first thing you learn there is that if an ad campaign is at all confusing, you have totally effing failed. [Ad Week]

Don’t you just wish Don Draper would step out of the TV screen and teach some advertisers a thing or two? This weird cougar mom ad for Halls cough drops (cough drops?!) is a case in point. It gets your attention, but the cougar mom/cough drops connection just doesn’t make any sense. And not in a good, absurdist, this-could-be-an-“SNL” skit way.

Memo to advertisers: just because cougars are “hot” right now doesn’t mean jokes about older women and sex can be made to sell any thing.

Uniqlo just opened a new store in Paris, France, and clearly knows how to target Parisians—by putting ads on the baguette wrappers at your local boulangerie. [Paris, 10/9/09]

Another totally genius “Target: Women” vid from Sarah Haskins. This time she points out how many commercials try and sell products based on their ability to attract hot women, specifically through the power of smell—the smell of clean laundry, gum, deodorant, mini-burgers, the list goes on and on.

Yes, foot cream. Those shapely curves may hint at an ample rump, but they’re actually a pair of heels, as Samantha’s Foot Cream soothes cracked and dry feet. Sex literally sells everything these days, doesn’t it? [copyranter]

These government-sponsored condom ads have been causing a bang in Paris (heh, heh). Translation of the dog-themed slogans: “Man’s best friend.” And because France is so egalitarian: “Woman’s best friend” too. OK, boy, now lie down!

Chairlift is a band we love. Marc Jacobs is a designer we adore. Yet, we’re a bit puzzled by the promotional videos they worked on together for Saks Fifth Avenue. The videos feature the three members of Chairlift clad in Marc Jacobs’ fall collection, wandering around Williamsburg, Brooklyn like drugged-out hipsters. In each montage, set to Chairlift tunes, the sequences are clearly meant to look ironically low-budget with cheesy, porno-like close-ups on handbags and washed-out lighting. The effect comes off as completely bizarre. In the first, “Making an Entrance,” the gang wanders around a warehouse block doing yoga poses and attempting handstands. In “Drawing Attention,” the band heads to the roof of a building to look cool while drawing on the walls and taking pictures of each other to post on their blogs and MySpace pages. The craziest one, however, has to be “For the Love of Tacos,” above, where the Marc Jacobs-chic crowd goes to this, like, divey bodega for tacos that, of course, was totally rad before all the hipsters came and made it a party spot. Oh, the irony is killing us. Watch it and can we please discuss!?! [SaksFifthAvenue.com]

Mariah Carey’s next album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, hits shelves on September 15th. And it’ll be a lot bigger than your traditional CD. The album will come bundled with a 34-page magazine made by the folks at Elle. The ad section of the book, which covered the costs for this endeavor, will be home to lifestyle ads that reflect Mariah’s taste—Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté, and the Bahamas Board of Tourism. A second section of the magazine will contain articles all about Mariah, with “VIP Access to Her Sexy Love Life,” “Amazing Closet,” and “Recording Rituals.” The third part of the book will be your traditional liner notes, full of lyrics and images. The entire booklet will also be available in digital form, and an abridged version will be tucked into 500,000 copies of Elle’s October issue.

Sure, this is the first cross-platform collaboration of its kind. But isn’t this shill-fest taking things way too far?

Here’s how cereal brand Special K wants to motivate the French: “After my bikini challenge with Special K, the hardest thing is deciding.” Apparently, however, you only get four choices. [Mademoiselleaparis.com]

Don’t get me wrong. I like a hirsute fellow as much as the next girl, but it could be that this advertisement waxed into some dude’s back hair goes a little too far. Far enough to give me a hairball. Copyranter calls it “diametrically un-hot,” and he’s got a point there. Body hair removal company Parissa thought it would be clever to have this poor, furry soul wander up and down a beach looking like this, handing out free samples of Parissa product. People liked it, says one report, and some chicks even asked to have their photo taken with the Hairy Backed One. But does it make me want to buy Parissa? Eh, not really. A fur coat, maybe. [Copyranter]

In this Italian ad for a female enhancement cream (“O Gel”) made by Durex, a woman is having such an intense orgasm that she’s somehow managed to rake trails into her nightstand with her nails (girl clearly has acrylics).

Lord knows the Italians find entertainment in characterizing women as devilish evil-doers, a prime example being the “Foxy Knoxy” case that gave Italy’s tabloids a field day.

Here again we see a woman who has been cast as a vixen with a violent edge. What do you think? Does this Durex ad lend an animalistic/too violent quality to the image of women? Or does something about it ring true for the crowd who likes rough sex? Leave your response in the comments below!

As a side note, the blog Copyranter suggests that the ad would have been more effective and interesting without the woman’s arm, and just the scratched table. [Copyranter.blogspot.com]

In America, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are well known for their shock-tactic ads, but they’re not the only pro-animal rights organization willing to go overboard with advertising in order to bring attention to the cause. Wakker Dier, which means “Animal Awake,” is a Dutch organization that’s Europe’s PETA counterpart. For their campaign, they hired Dutch Playmate and fetish model Ancilla Tilia to play the part of a stripper who gets clubbed and stripped like an animal. Watch it, after the jump, but be forewarned it’s fairly graphic.

While PETA’s ads have a tendency to be more silly than shocking, this ad is a real eye-opener. But does the video get across the organization’s mission? Does watching a fetish model get “clubbed” and “stripped” make people more sensitive to animal rights? Or does the viral path this ad will take mean more people will be thinking about animal rights than they were yesterday? [ANIMAL via Copyranter]

Sex may sell, but how does one sell sex? Since the ‘80s, prostitutes in London have been using “tart cards” to advertise their services. Tart Cards, a new graphic (in both meanings of the word) book, takes a look at how the art form has evolved from discreet illustrated pocket papers with text like “Charming Italian Model”, to the explicit pornographic photos posted in red telephone booths. Showcasing over 350 cards, the tome may shed some serious academic light on the history of a subculture, but it’s better as an amusing coffee table book, especially for the additional glossary of coded prostitute language. [$24.95 at Amazon.com]

Oh Axe, will your sexist ads know no bounds? This time around, the male product line is shilling its tire-shaped “Detailer Shower Tool” (that’s the manly name for a loofah, FYI) by implying the user is washing off the perfume scene left by a chick (on his ear) and her mother (on his knees). Because he was doin’ them at the same time, get it?! As Context.org asks, have threesomes become so commonplace that companies like Axe need to take it up a notch by titillating their audience with mother-daughter sex?

Sirens siren Heather Wood Rudulph has written a piece for Huffington Post about five reasons we still need feminism, including the recent murder of abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, and the propensity of pop culture to make women look like marriage-crazy loons.

Her five reasons are just dandy, but why limit ourselves to only five? It was depressingly easy to think of five more reasons we need more of the F-word.

Historically, if that’s a word that can be used in relationship to blogging, Gawker Media ladyblog Jezebel has dedicated much its blog’s space to pointing out sexism in advertising—or what they deem “badvertising.” So, if the Jezebels are the self-proclaimed policewomen of what they perceive to be rampant advertising industry misogyny, what’s up with today’s ad campaign? Brought to you by the makers of Belvedere booze, the ads blanket the site from sidebar to marquee to mid-page. What’s the campaign’s theme? Masturbation! Or a liquor-and-sex-laden play on “maceration,” anyway. The copy: “maceration should never be rushed,” “maceration is all about technique,” “maceration is perfectly natural.” The ads feature a rotating red raspberry that’s decidedly clitoral paired with a throbbing “touch” message. The mid-page version features a woman—only her head is cut off, so you can’t see much of her but, well, her tits. The funny thing about Jezebel’s take on ads is that you can never quite tell what they’re going to declare misogynist. So far as I can tell, pretty much anything a) sexual and b) targeting women is TOTALLY MISOGYNIST and COMPLETELY SEXIST. Not quite sure how that works, but I guess it’s different when they’re taking the advertiser’s money. Then, bring on the decapitated women and rotating clitoris, by all means. After the jump, check out the decapitated lady paired with a post pointing to purportedly sexist marketing.

It’s an ad, but that doesn’t make it any less appallingly adorable. Check out this awesomely happy-happy-joy-joy Coca-Cola summer ad that’s running in Europe. Starring a freaky dude on top of a hill who plays a magical organ, a cast of furry beasts who warble and dance charmingly when injected with arcing streams of soda, and a bunch of freaky, gyrating hippies running around like it’s the summer of ‘68, and you’ve got advertising viral gold. They call them Coke Creatures. I call them beasts so cute I want to squeeze them until their heads pop off. Shot in New Zealand, the supercute spot features the happy tunes of Scottish singer-songwriter Calvin Harris.

#1 SCHICK QUATRO Trimstyle Razor & Bikini Trimmer (Euro Version)
This commercial for Schick Quattro’s Trimstyle Razor & Bikini Trimmer has been causing quite a stir in the U.S. since it was released in Europe and found its way onto YouTube. Its double entendres aren’t at all subtle; they’re totally hilarious. The best line in the jingle: “All that’s left for me to see are tulips on the mound.”

The Museo Tamayo in Mexico City has created some shock-advertising that has left some viewers scratching their heads and some suggesting misogyny. In the ad, a woman stands in what one can assume is the museum, her finger on her chin as if contemplating a work of art hanging on the wall in front of her. In response to whatever it is she sees, her heart is exploding out of her chest in the shape of a gory fist. Shocking? You bet. Misogynist. I’m not so sure. Jossip seems to think the violent image is woman-hating: “Because nothing says modern art like a bloody fist violently ripping out of a woman’s chest.” Copyranter, on the other hand, just thinks it’s obnoxious. So, what do you think? To find out, check out the full graphic image after the jump.