10 Ads That Bared It All

Sex sells. It’s the oldest truism of marketing. But is it true? Not always. Here’s the 10 most eye-popping campaigns: the ads so likable and clever that they make even a reserved feminist laugh, or the ads so demeaning they make even the goofiest frat boy cringe. [CAUTION! Several racy photos, including some bare backsides follow.]

1. PETA

Alicia Silverstone and Eva Mendes
When Alicia Silverstone stepped naked out of a swimming pool for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, to boast in 2007 that sheâ€™d given up meat, Comcast Cable in Houston declined to run the 30-second spot. Eva Mendes also went nude for PETA that year, with a moony campaign of her own: “Fur? I’d rather go naked.”

2. Nike

“Bear Butte” Running Camp
A funny spot for Nike’s Free 5.0 running shoes, featuring buff runners wearing nothing but Nikes, was a viral smash this year. (Butts were visible; naughtier bits were digitally blurred.) One advertising critic did a double-take, saying, “The company isnâ€™t as humorless as many of us thought.”

3. Air New Zealand

Body Paint
If an airline asked its baggage handlers and flight attendants to appear on TV with their clothing painted on their bare bodies, would that be exploitative? Not if the CEO gets naked too. Air New Zealand shows off a sense of humor (and “nothing to hide”) in its latest campaign. DailyFinance critic Sarah Gilbert gives it high marks for being catchy and sweet.

4. Chevrolet

The Naked Cowboy
Why was Chevroletâ€™s Super Bowl spot for its HHR wagon so lame? Was it the pointless nude-male car wash? Or not enough of Times Squareâ€™s delightful Naked Cowboy? Or maybe the fact that Chevy was hoping to excite viewers about a car that nobody cared about then, and that nobodyâ€™s heard of since? Weâ€™ll check D, for “all of the above.”

5. Starbucks

The Original Mermaid Logo
Back in the Age of Aquarius, Starbucks was a hole-in-the-wall coffeehouse, and its mermaid mascot might as well have been a hippie, flopping around a Woodstock mud puddle. By 2008, Starbucks was a flailing global corporation, and reintroducing its vintage mascot was met with indifference by some and hostility by others.

6. Lush

Employees’ Aprons-only Attire
Hip British cosmetics chain Lush prides itself on the fact that its soap has no packaging. And neither, apparently, do its employees, who are encouraged periodically to show they have nothing to lose but their aprons. As effective a sales tool as a bare bottom might be, itâ€™s an even more effective way to promote your brand.

7. Calvin Klein

Obsession Billboards
Long before unveiling this month’s startling threesome — or is it foursome? — above a Manhattan intersection (not shown), the bad-boy designer was notorious for stylish, salacious outdoor and magazine campaigns for Obsession cologne. That the images are of women (clearly depicted in the throes of passion for Obsession-scented men) reveals a target largely comprising young single men. But its appeal is objectifying and humorless. It’s about sex, and nothing else.

8. JCPenney

Dress Rehearsal
Two sweaty, horny teens in their respective bedrooms, wrestling into their clothes as fast as they could, to practice getting caught in the act? It didnâ€™t look like a JCPenney ad — and, as it turns out, it wasnâ€™t. The spot that got the Cannes critics hot and heavy was created by a renegade producer who (in a not-so-shocking turn of events), is no longer working for Penneyâ€™s ad agency.

9. Burger King

Flame Body Spray
As its increasingly creepy ad campaign tried pushing barriers, Burger King blurred the lines between real life and satire by marketing a cheap scent, claiming (falsely) that it smelled like their flagship brand. The presence of the eerie mascot was even more unappealing than usual, no thanks to a lack of either clothes or inhibitions. A Web site called “A Hamburger Today” reviewed the fragrance and reports that it smells nothing like a hamburger.

10. Burton Snowboards

Going Downhill Fast
Young men looking at pictures of nude women? Traditional. Young men standing on pictures of nude women while they bellow and slalom down a freshly powdered mountainside? Not so traditional — and not too tasteful, either. But Vermont-based snowboard company Burton remains unapologetic for its softcore boards and plans to make more.

source: 10 Eye-Popping Ad Campaigns [wallet pop]

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10 Ads That Bared It All

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