Here are the 30 most read stories on AdFreak in 2013:
30. Intriguing Ads Tell Young Girls: 'You're Not a Princess' and 'Life's Not a Fairytale'
By Rebecca Cullers
A tiny, all-female Catholic college-prep academy in Kentucky has created a curious ad campaign, via agency Doe-Anderson, that tells young women, "You're not a princess" and "Life's not a fairytale," and advises them: "Don't wait for a prince." The tagline is: "Prepare for real life."
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29. Low Self-Esteem Is Not a Problem in Dove's Real Beauty Sketches … for Men
By Tim Nudd
Ogilvy Brazil's "Real Beauty Sketches" campaign for Dove took the Internet by storm this week with its clever use of a forensics artist to show women that they're really more beautiful than they think. What would happen if you tried the same experiment on men?
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28. Model From Famous Photoshop Video Gets More Drastic Makeover for the Holidays
By Tim Nudd
It's agency holiday-card season, and we're going to start posting some of the more interesting and amusing examples—beginning with this one from Victors & Spoils.
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27. H&M Winning Raves for Having a Normal-Looking Woman Model Its Beachwear
By David Griner
It would be nice if we didn't live in a world where this is considered news, but for better or worse, it is. H&M has selected a swimwear model who actually has a normal human body.
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26. It's 2013, and People Are Still Getting Worked Up About Interracial Couples in Ads
By Tim Nudd
It's another one of those things that shouldn't be a story but is—an ad from a major U.S. brand featuring an interracial couple and their daughter.
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25. Did Lego Already Win Christmas With This Fantastic Father-Son Ad?
By Tim Nudd
Christmas ads are just around the corner, and Lego storms out of the gate with this wonderful TV spot from Amsterdam agency We Are Pi and director Joanna Bailey.
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24. April Fools' Day 2013: Best of the Brand Hoaxes
By Rebecca Cullers
Ah, April Fools' Day. The Super Bowl of satire. The one day when brands are free to indulge in off-brand, often hilarious communications without catastrophic repercussions. Click below to see our list of this year's pranks.
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23. Check Out the Trailer That Was Just Named the Best of the Year
By David Kiefaber
This is it: the best trailer of the year. Or at least that's the opinion of the top awards show for advertising in the cinema, TV and video game industries.
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22. IAC's PR Chief Apparently Tweeted a Bizarrely Tasteless Joke About AIDS and Africa
By David Griner
If Justine Sacco is on a flight to Africa right now, I don't envy her the notifications that will be waiting for her when she lands.
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21. Company's Amazing Reply to a Raging Customer Has Fans and Orders Pouring In
By David Griner
Every once in a while, giving a foul-tempered customer a public skewering can be good for business. At least that seems to be the lesson of Liberty Bottleworks, whose polite but eviscerating reply to a Facebook complaint has gone viral and generated vocal support for the small business.
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20. How to Totally Freak People Out Simply With the Info They Share in Social Media
By David Griner
Every once in a while, it's good to be reminded just how much information we're giving to complete strangers every day, and I'm not talking about the NSA.
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19. The Corporate States of America: A Map That Shows Each State's Most Famous Brand
By David Gianatasio
Artist and writer Steve Lovelace is getting some buzz for his "Corporate States of America" map, showing the most famous brand (as of 2012) that originated in each of the 50 states.
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18. McDonald's Won't Be Lovin' This NYC Sidewalk Art Piece by Banksy
By Tim Nudd
Anti-Ronald McDonald art has a long, proud, often vomitous history. Banksy adds to that tradition today, unveiling a menacing Ronald having his giant shoes shined as part of his "Better Out Than In" artist residency on the streets of New York.
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17. Mock Commercial for Beans Is Better Than Almost Any Real Commercial for Anything
By Tim Nudd
Visual effects studio Cinesite produced this crazy-good mock commercial as a way to show off its creature animation skills.
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16. Chuck Norris Does His Own Epic Split in This Festively Insane Holiday Video
By David Griner
How do you one-up Jean-Claude Van Damme doing splits atop two Volvo trucks? With Chuck Norris doing splits on two airplane wings, of course.
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15. The Most Stunning Ad Ever Made for a Used Car With 128,000 Miles That's Been Puked In Twice
By Tim Nudd
"You're going to need an abacus to keep track of all the ass you'll be getting in this thing!" That's one of dozens of stellar lines in this homemade ad—a truly astonishing collage posted to Craigslist by one Nate Walsh.
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14. Star Wars Imperial Forces Invade Thomas Kinkade Paintings
By David Griner
Artist Jeff Bennett has invaded the cloying world of Thomas Kinkade with the full might of the Galactic Empire.
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13. Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa Stump for Unicef in Extremely Virtuous Holiday Ads
By David Gianatasio
Forget about those famous Internet felines in Friskies' Christmas spot. The real holiday supergroup is in this campaign from Forsman & Bodenfors for Unicef Sweden.
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12. The 25 Biggest Brand Fails of 2013
By Tim Nudd
Arrogant, intolerant, sexist, disgusting, cheesy, tasteless, just plain stupid. Brand fails come in all kinds of off-putting shapes and sizes, though one thing remains constant—the guilty adrenaline rush of ad-enfreude that onlookers feel while watching brands implode for everyone to see.
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11. 3 Girls Smash Gender Roles to Smithereens in Toy Company's Glorious Debut Ad
By David Griner
One of the most anti-feminist songs of the 1980s, "Girls" by the Beastie Boys, is recast as an empowering theme for young women in a new toy ad looking to break gender stereotypes.
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10. Famous Photos Reimagined as Selfies in Newspaper's Wonderful Print Ads
By David Kiefaber
Lowe South Africa developed a campaign for the Cape Times newspaper last spring in which famous photographs—the wartime kiss, Beyers Naude and Desmond Tutu, Winston Churchill smoking, etc.—were reimagined as selfies.
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9. Ron Burgundy's Hilariously Stupid Dodge Durango Campaign Is Destined for Greatness
By Tim Nudd
The only thing better than Will Ferrell doing brilliantly stupid ads as Will Ferrell? Will Ferrell doing brilliantly stupid ads as Ron Burgundy.
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8. Burger King's Name Change to Fries King Is Making People Hungry and Confused
By Tim Nudd
Between the French Fry Burger and the new Satisfries, Burger King has been really into fries lately. Now, the chain is taking this obsession a step further by pretending to change its name to Fries King—and posting a load of photos to Facebook showing the unveiling of a new corporate identity.
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7. Watch the Thai Commercial That Has Half the World Sobbing Uncontrollably
By Rebecca Cullers
Looking for a tear-jerker today? Thai mobile company TrueMove has got you covered with this story of a noodle seller whose generous act toward a young boy with a sick mother brings unexpected rewards 30 years later.
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6. Amazing Pantene Ad Defiantly Tackles How Women in the Workplace Are Labeled
By Roo Ciambriello
Pantene Philippines has launched a powerful campaign pointing out how identical behavior often earns men and women different labels in the workplace.
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5. Bertolli Makes the Most of Barilla Chairman's Anti-Gay Comments
By Tim Nudd
Barilla is struggling enough this week without its competitors piling on. But Bertolli doesn't care.
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4. Watch the Most Bafflingly Awesome New-Product Demo of 2013 So Far
By David Kiefaber
Everyone is raving about NeverWet, a spray-on waterproof coating that Rust-Oleum is manufacturing and distributing in North America in return for royalty payments. I didn't get what all the fuss was about, but then I saw this product demonstration video.
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3. Dove Hires Criminal Sketch Artist to Draw Women as They See Themselves and as Others See Them
By Rebecca Cullers
Gil Zamora is an FBI-trained forensics artist with over 3,000 criminal sketches under his belt. Dove (through Unilever's U.K. office) and Ogilvy Brazil hired him to interview and draw seven different women—two sketches of each.
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2. Powerful Ads Use Real Google Searches to Show the Scope of Sexism Worldwide
By David Griner
Here's a simple and powerful campaign idea from UN Women using real suggested search terms from Google's autocomplete feature.
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1. Kmart Hunks Play 'Jingle Bells' With Their Junk in Crazy Christmas Ad
By Tim Nudd
Check out the Kmart studs in the retailer's crazy Christmas cross-promotion with Joe Boxer via Draftfcb in Chicago—swaying their sacks to chime out their own impressive version of the holiday standard.
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