UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has deemed Diesel’s award winning Get Stupid campaign as unacceptable for public viewing.  They seemed to think the campaign was a-OK for magazines like Grazia and Dazed & Confused, but not for the streets of the UK.

The funniest thing is this: the woman taking photos of her junk wasn’t deemed to create ‘antisocial behavior’, but the woman flashing the security camera on the ladder was.

I sense a bit of tea time hypocrisy!

It appears that American Apparel‘s roaring twenties are over, and they’re growing up and buckling down.  This isn’t a negative thing; on the contrary it marks a gradual maturity from the AMAP we’ve loved for the last five years.  Instead of concentrating only on their trademark hoodies and spandex, the new American Apparel is clearly focusing on design and style rather than coasting on their older styles.

Where before we would only think of v-neck tees, hoodies or leggings when it comes to AMAP, we now have statement products like the reversible petticoat, summer blazers such as the Ottoman rib and Sailor Stripe and their expanded selection of shoes.

Now we have more art inspired fashion shots in black and white; while they are a classic look, these still echo true to American Apparel’s soul.  One can’t help but love what the top brains are doing with the brand, and one can only imagine what they’re going to release next. In the meantime, check out AMAP’s coming soon section, which is complete with photos and descriptions of new pieces!

It’s an advert’s job to annoy, get in your head and never allow you to forget about the advertised product.  A well produced ad will have a gimmick, nearly annoying but relateable.

TJ Maxx has hired some ad head to do all of this, and because they’ve somehow found the ingredients to the special spot sauce, we’re stuck with the Maxxinista campaign.

It’s catchy.  It’s in my head.  And I hate it.

While I’m not opposed to TJ Maxx (I’ve found a few gems there over the years), I’m against Maxxinistas.

Let’s pray after Lucy Sykes’ painful British annunciation and the mother-daughter blind brand glee, we’ll finally be put out of our misery.

The only thing more blatant in the Telephone music video than the designer clothing was the product placement. I’m not talking oh, there’s a glance of a Coke can; this is one of the most blatant product branding I’ve seen since Snapple bought off Seinfeld in the 90s.

While one can expect that Gaga’s own products will be featured, the video surprisingly took us to products we never would have associated her with; take Wonderbread for example. It’s rather clever; by expressing her Fame Monster vision she is gaining cred by selling out.

Within the Gaga Video Epics, we are ramped up to soak in the products. While Paparazzi, has only “Dior” letter rings at 2:04, Bad Romance is where the true brand assault begins;

0:13 – Parrot Bluetooth
0:17 – Nemiroff vodka
0:43 – Heartbeats earphones
1:13 – Heartbeats earphones
1:24 – Heartbeats earphones
2:27 – Nemiroff vodka
2:45 – HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Editon’ laptop from Monster
3:46 – Carrera sunglasses
3:58 – Carrera sunglasses

Bad Romance is a training session; we have fewer products for digestion and they are repeated, often from one scene to the very next. The audience is being trained to look for the headphones, vodka and even the sunglasses; and though this video is the shortest of the group at 5:08 and has a high concentration of product, we aren’t bothered because the products fit within the scenes of the video.

In Telephone Gaga’s own products don’t even run the show.  Only 3 out of 11 products (roughly 27%) in the near 10 minute video are products she is affiliated with; those being Heartbeats by Dr. Dre, a Heartbeats HP laptop and Polaroid (Gaga is the current creative director).

Take a look at the time placement of each products; they are spaced no more than 2 minutes [or less] between each other. This allows the consumer to identify only with the product shown, and gives time to process that product before introducing the next one.

1:34 – Heartbeats earphones
2:06 – Virgin Mobile
2:17 – Diet Coke
4:15 – Virgin Mobile
4:24 – HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Editon’ laptop from Monster
4:28 – Plenty Of Fish dating site
4:44 – Chevrolet
5:37 – Polaroid
6:24 – Wonderbread
6:36 – Miracle Whip
8:31 – Polaroid

Notice how we have been conditioned to see the placement, and eventually accept that Miracle Whip works in a Lady Gaga pop music video.  The beauty of Gaga’s Redic Factor is we’re expecting the visuals to make no sense, and therefore do make sense to the viewing public.

This could quite possibly be the most entertaining brain drain humans have ever been exposed to.

There’s something about the Hermès illustrations that warms the heart, gives you a bit of a laugh and is satisfying because they’re not insulting your intelligence.

Effective minimalism..  there’s nothing quite like it.

No matter what a company may be hawking, whether it may be fur boots or pencil skirts, the lookbook is an extremely important customer and editor launch point. When a house has an embarrassing lookbook, it not only shames themselves but degrades their product.

Recently I came upon Capelta boots; apparently they’ve been featured within magazines and the like. I was curious about the brand so I explored further, and what a sight awaited!

Capelta appears to be catering to the club skank crowd, but this was too much. The photos looked like half the pages of Hustler were scanned and the boots digitally added. My personal favorites include one lady looking like she farted right before the camera went off, and another doing her best feral Gollum impression.

This kind of trailer trash implied sex image assault is best left to some back alley published gentleman’s magazine, not product advertisements.  If a company is shooting for lowbrow imagery, they could at least acquire a model that can do her job; this girl looks like a constipated escort.

If you wish to endure a flash based gallery and more of these images, don’t come crying to me when you’re sorry you did so.

Here it is – the first ad peek for the new H&M x Jimmy Choo collection.

I’m not really in shock or awe here; these ads take the exact same road H&M chose with Cavalli. I was hoping their ads would give more of a clean product shot as they with Comme des Garçons.

I’m not thrilled at the look of the new collection… I’m hoping that it looks more incredible in store.