Sex Sells, Even Through Viral-Advertising

It's interesting reading at least, following the debacle of the fake (?) PUMA ads, their posting on the web, the resulting reporting on the postings, the responses from PUMA lawyers, and the responses from the online sites back to PUMA.

It's also interesting to consider the source of the ads: PUMA (and/or related org) or no? Sure, some creative photographer/Photoshop user might have come up with the idea and created the images. However, they are extremely polished for the hacking community--IMO it's more likely that they were spec ads leaked from an agency bidding on a progressive campaign for PUMA. I also wouldn't put it past a large corp like PUMA to leak the ads themselves ... there's nothing like free, viral advertising.

(For various reasons I'm not reprinting the ads or many links to all the material surrounding them here. There's one link below that you can follow the fray from if you would like. Also, if you are offended by sexually suggestive material, do yourself a favor don't bother following the link below or the story. Lastly, IMO the images aren't “work safe,” especially given today's harassment-lawsuit-friendly environments. Damn, it's not like me to post this many disclaimers, is it? ;) )

On another note, who knows a good replacement for the now-pay-for-site Ad Critic? (Not that I blame them for needing a way to recoup their bandwidth costs!) I used to visit a similar site that featured a ton of spec ads in addition to the production copies, but can't find my bookmark now. Google video is good, but I prefer all-in-one sites to the surfing game.