News Snackies: Colenso BBDO gets fresh and freaky

Colenso's Fresh Up Man is hiding under your bed
Colenso BBDO gave me nightmares all weekend. Wicked bad nightmares. (You see that? So bad, so wicked bad, that even MC Grammar is hiding under the covers and is going to let that one slide.) It’s all because of their new Fresh Up ads, which are totally freaky pants with a dollop of Funny Ass Mofo Sauce. (Tastes a little like hollandaise, for the uninitiated.) One of the Fresh Up ads launched last night and the others are yet to come. But I’ve had a sneak peek and I can’t sleep. See why here. The line is “thirst is creepy” and you know what? I can’t disagree. That masseuse! He looks like he just escaped from the nut hatch with Alexander Pearce and his band of hungry mates. The other two spots are similarly odd folk in similarly suspenseful situations. I won’t ruin the gags but suffice to say if you want to sleep, don’t watch. Damn you, Colenso. Damn you. (Cue angry fist-shaking.)

Mmmmmmmmaxnet!
Barrrrrrrnes Catmur & Friends has some work out now for Maxnet. (Sorry, not sure why I felt the need to put in extra r’s but it worrrrrks, doesn’t it? Brrrrrrilliant.) Have a look-see here.

Know of any banned ads from the archives of ad history?
This week on the Ad Show we’re talking about banned ads over the years, why they get banned and what happens when you’re confronted by a dancing squirrel in a tutu in your living room. No, not really. We’re actually talking about dancing meerkats. Squirrels aren’t really a problem. Anyway if anyone in Ad Land has recollections of banned ads over the years, your thoughts are more than welcome at adhoc@nbr.co.nz. One punter remembers the Ricies ad with a David Lange voiceover that caused a stink. Also on the Ad Show agenda coming up is the history of advertising for the 50th anniversary television special. (Of TV, that is. Not the Ad Show, which is only up to episode 13.) So the Ad Show Oompa Loompas are on the case looking for old ads and old ad folk (well, not "old", but "vintage") to talk to. If you’d like to be in the studio audience any time, email Lacey: lacey@top-shelf.co.nz. We film Wednesday evening at TVNZ.

What price privacy?
Been thinking about privacy recently? Here’s some really excellent food for thought from Courtney Lambert and others (read through the comments for some healthy intelligent debate) on Facebook and privacy issues.

Fair go, Fair Go!
And also from Blog Land, Brian Edwards on the demise of Fair Go, which is getting viewers riled up: “Fair Go was transformed into little more than a glossier version of Target – trivial, insubstantial, more interested in effect than in doing its job on behalf of those not given a fair go.”

Die, lentils, die
In other news, Murder Burger is finally doing a vege burger, mostly due to angry and violent vegetarians beating down the door and demanding one. Check out their ads (aka "propaganda") here.

Funkyzeit mit Computers
Finally, just because we can, and because we know you want to: Germans and computers. You know you’re in for a good time when the word “Funk” is a regular linguistic feature. Es ist jetzt Party Zeit mit dem Computer ja!