Before & After

The web is indeed a many-splendored thing. You only have to type the words "Before and After" into Google to be treated to a truly eye-popping selection of images, brought to you mostly by either "satirical" cultural comment sites, or spare-room enterprises peddling wonder-drugs and software tutorials.* Behold the jaw-dropping results of...

Weight loss:

Athletic weight gain:

Ageing:

Ill-advised plastic surgery:

Retouching:

Property development:

Crack:
And, my favourite, being turned into a weird little orange man:

*I am neither of these, honest.

VW archives

Volkswagen's advertising of the 1950s and 60s was ahead of its time in promoting affordability, practical solutions for large families, and low fuel consumption. Minimal, and characteristically deadpan, the ads still look fresh today.
Roy's VW Ad Archive compiles printed adverts, postcards, billboards, calendars, and even stamps, from 1952 up to the present day (or thereabouts), and features examples from the US, Europe, Canada, Brazil, and Australia. The site may look a bit unsophisticated, but the content is well organised and extensive. Nice one, Roy!

Now, I'm certainly no Beetle-geek, but there seems to be no shortage of VW-related online resources provided by people who are. VW Postcards and Found VW Postcards are, perhaps unsuprisingly, collections of postcards of the 1950s and 60s which feature the eponymous vehicles. Although some were obviously produced by VW for promotional reasons, many are simply scenes in which the photographer just happened to capture the image of VW in the landscape. This indicates the VW's popularity at that time, as well as the broader importance played by the automobile in leasure and hoiliday activities of the time - postcard of a carpark, anyone? I find the images fascinating not for the vehicles featured within them, but for the colour, tone, and architecture of the landscapes, which provoke such a distinctive nostalgia for post-war America.
Finally, for the kids, there's a Spot the VW game. Happy hunting.

Jazz Hamsters

Did you know hamsters could play jazz? Neither did I, until I came across a post on the Creative Review blog, about Infinity Productions' new campaign for mineral water manufacturer (can you manufacture mineral water?) Drench. Their strapline Perform At Your Best. Stay Drenched. taps the whole your-brain-is-75%-water-so-without-enough-water-you're-a-goggling-idiot argument, using it to suggest that well-hydrated hamsters will display unexpectedly high standards of improvisational musicianship. Obviously i don't care about any of that, but look at those hamsters go!

While common wisdom suggests that working with animals is generally a bad idea, I think this ad proves that if you can find a way to let animals just do what they do (like drag their bum across the carpet, or, er, hibernate), then you can save a packet on your budget.

Mr. W

Nordpol + Hamburg won a Gold Lion Award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Awards for this film promoting the use of wind-power for German company Epuron. Well done Nordpol + Hamburg!

Cheestrings

Spot the difference:

The recent news of Cadbury's recent rejection of Kraft's hostile takeover bid reminded me of the bus stop ads that came out a while ago to promote the rebranding of freakish children's dairy product Cheestrings. The ads bore an uncanny resemblance to the long-established Cadbury's Dairy Milk branding, both in the purple and white colour scheme, and the "glass of real milk" imagery.

Now, consider that the people behind the Cheestrings rebrand are advertising golden boys Fallon, who also produced the recent Cadbury's Glass And A Half Full Productions, featuring the gorilla, the kiddie eyebrows, and the airport trucks. Although there's nothing much yet to promote the Cheestrings-connection on their slightly creepy rustling flash website, I get the distinct impression that Fallon are operating above the law here.

And weirdly, although the Cheestrings product is unrelated to Kraft, there has been speculation that Cheestring producers Kerry foods may benefit from the current buy-out wrangling with an opportunity to consolidate their own portfolio of cheese-based products...

...this is too much, my head is hurting. Here's an Eastenders remix of Fallon's Cadbury Gorilla ad: