In Amsterdam, a bus shelter ad for a fitness gym serves up your weight while you sit on the bench.

After Toyota pours somewhere between $8-$10M (AP) into what has become a nationally annoying commercial, the waning reputation of this ad is gaining as one antagonist launches the Facebook group “Stop Playing Toyota’s ‘Saved By Zero’ Commercial’” which has generated over 1,300 members and articles on AdAge, Google News/AP, among other top online media sites.

The notoriety of Toyota’s trying commercial is working to the favor of Facebook advertising; Online PR continues to dominate the AD sector, proving advertising free for some and $10M for others.

Please note, due to the overwhelming annoyance of this Toyota commercial, it will not be posted below.

Noteworthy for their often highly controversial ad campaigns, some previously pulled or outright banned, Dolce & Gabbana released their Fall 2008 fashion ad campaign (top right).

Much to common fashionistas’ surprise, this clean-cut campaign may just spur buzz and debate for lacking the consistent and expected high-fashion-high-controversy material (Fall 2007, bottom right).

The question is whether or not this campaign a good representation of a brand often uniquely exploitive and controversial. Do the domestic dolls hinder the brand image or behoove it? Perhaps the clothes alone hinder the brand this time.

Amidst the McCain-Obama-Paris-Britney bullying, and in effort to garnish a previous Dove “Chocolate Skin?” post, we bring you Schwan’s UGLY Pizza. Just when you caught onto “looks aren’t everything” in the dating arena, and more recently in the democratic arena, it’s gone deeper into the dining arena.

Much like Dove’s approach to “Campaign for Real Beauty” Schwan markets their latest pizza shedding light on healthy foods, in a less-than-glamorous package.

And much like McCain’s recent celeb-based mudslinging tv spot, the new product also waves a red flag to look beyond glamor and more towards substance; Advocating that natural, high quality flavors leave a lasting mark.

P.B. Loco admits they’re crazy up front with peanut butter a la curry, sun-dried tomato, and sun-ripened apricot, to name a few. Marketing themselves as the ‘Adult Peanut Butter’ P.B. Loco explores mature ways to incorporate peanut butter into a grown up diet.

Enjoy P.B. Loco in a variety of gourmet dishes like chicken satay and shrimp stirfry. These food folks were the kids in grade school who dipped their Cheetos in chocolate pudding, pretzels in yogurt, and now mix drinks while they cook. Not yet in California, P.B. Loco is inevitably bound for the SF kitchen crazies. P.B. Loco, P.B. Loco, P.B. Loco!

In recent years, street art has emerged into iconic and influential messaging as paint and concrete increasingly compete with paper and computer screens. Though much of modern street art falls short on delivering tangible consumer goods, it undoubtedly capitalizes on the consumer psyche. At the very least, dominating consumer attention.

There is subconscious branding taking place in street art, merely based on the location of the art (city, neighborhood, street, building, wall), in addition to the visual piece itself. How will marketers and ad gurus tune into this medium, and when will street art morph into recognizable advertising?

To kick things off, Vespa’s “Squareheads” is a running campaign with street art imagery of hipsters sporting square heads, a play on the signature vintage square mirrors adorning the scooter. Note to viewer, nowhere on these displays do you read a single Vespa label.

Shedding light on current street art campaigns: London’s Tate Museum wall art from a group of global masters; Berlin’s Urban Affairs booming street art festival; And the Bay Area’s very own eclectic modern street art pieces from 2004, Emeryville Utility Box Art. Each of these exhibitions display pieces to what modern advertising could potentially amount.

Solely invented to deter cats from walking across your computer keyboard, The Refined Feline furniture quite literally pushes their latest product to the edge with Kit-in Box.

Illinois bank changes their name from First State to Legence to avoid being 1 of 20 million other “First State” related hits upon web search results. Commenting on the identity crisis and strategy to regain attention with the rename, bank president Kevin Beckemeyer says, “A business needs to be top in the mind and heart of its customers, not one in millions sharing the same name or a similar name, Beckemeyer said.”

Fun search facts:

• Total Google Search results for First State Bank 22,500,00
• Total Google Search results for Legence Bank 184

How memorable is a name like Legence for a bank, especially being a name close to “Legend” where search results for ‘Legend Bank’ round off at 21 million hits? Or is it pronounced “Leg-ence”, as in “leg essence”? A bank willing to Show a Little Leg? A Leg Up on the competition? Or just another case of Restless Legence Syndrome?

Does your child suffer from mass confusion?

Wrangler is about to rope you in with their latest wild ride of a TV spot, out to change the way they represent their jeans. Paris-based ad agency FFL delivers the new message behind Wrangler’s jeans “We Are Animals” as a quasi-erotic-thriller-for-hippies.

WARNING: This content may contain similar visual styles to the works of Natural Born Killers, The Blaire Witch Project, Dazed and Confused,and Jenna Jameson with roots buried deep beneath High Noon.

Fewer Starbucks. With respect to those baristas on the butcher block, the downsizing of monolithic Starbucks is rather celebratory. With a plan to delete 600 stores, Starbucks will begin cuts this summer and carry through to spring 2009. Expect an increase in caffeine headaches.

PROS:

• Less litter and a decrease in plastic and paper production
• Beggars will be less commercialized, however, igniting a potential surge in Dixie
• More money for the silver screen as entertainment not advertisement
• Cut back on headsets, dairy, green and brown ink, aprons, sugar, straws…
• Less haunting images of Britney and her venti mocha frappuccino with whipped cream
• People Magazine will have to find more substantial material to cover
• If you forget your scone when you buy your coffee, you may have to walk back as opposed to grabbing it at the Starbucks 2 doors down. You will be walking more. You will shed more pounds. Or be too lazy to go back for the scone, therefore, omitting the extra calories. And shedding more pounds (aim towards fighting obesity in America).
• Longer lines at other neighborhood cafes, permitting you to stop, take a breath, think about life, your pace, and your health. Wherein, you decide near the front that the coffee is not worth the wait and opt to run across the street to McDonalds for a breakfast Happy Meal instead.
• Decrease in seat puddles on public transportation

Think about all the advances that await America upon the downsizing of Starbucks. Now I need a latte….

Dove. Smooth, creamy, soft, nourishing Dove. Good for you. Makes you feel good. Which Dove? The chocolate or the soap? Maybe you are a bit frazzled by a flash of thought that you’ve been in the dark about Dove being both skin care and chocolate? Only now, years after the products hit the market, you’ve had this revelation. Don’t be fooled. It’s simply a perfect example of how two polar products/companies, both high profile, co-exist within the same market venue. From a naming standpoint, we pose the question, is this naming affair a healthy risk or flat out confusing? And how will it effect the overall brand identity of each product?

The Dove (skin care) campaign for “Real Beauty” has certainly not gone awry. Since the campaign broke ground in 2004, promoting a healthy, realistic female physique, emerging skin care products have been launched under the same campaign, keeping Dove among household must-haves.

Tiptoeing in the steps of Dove skincare, comes “Dove Beautiful” for healthy skin (that’s Dove chocolate, not Dove skincare). Oh really? (In marches the editorial portion of the SN post) So did Dove and Dove team up? …Now promoting more average bodies, (aka not skinny) we ought to force feed some chocolate onto all these beautiful ‘real’ bodies and see how real Dove skin care holds up their end. Funny, Dove chocolates are a product manufactured by Mars, who by the way is pushing the ‘healthy lifestyle’ aspect of Dove Chocolates, and all of their chocolates; the same. I can’t wait for Hostess to come out with a line of ‘healthy lifestyle Ho Hos’ followed Suave’s shampoo campaign supporting frizzy hair because it’s natural and real beauty.

There are several arguments here. Although a few digs are being passed at both ‘healthy lifestyle’ campaigns, the debate is really about how both Dove and Dove intend to speak to the same audience, essentially conveying the same message, with very similar identity, and oh, one more thing, the same exact name. Ladies, eat the chocolate, and apply the lotions. As gluttons for beauty it’s a win-win situation.