Last month we pointed out the potential conspiracy to cover-up nipples in advertising. Yet another example perked up this month on an ad for Swedish lingerie brand Kroppsnara. Considering it's a full-frontal photo featuring a 1/4th cup bra, there's really no getting around this awkward lack of areola.

I'll be joining the forces with the fabulous team at Adrants and the ad:tech blog to provide coverage of the upcoming ad:tech conference in San Francisco, April 15-17.

General housekeeping of where else to find me:

• arielwaldman.com - My new blog that has more about myself and social media consulting.
• Engadget (Movie Gadget Friday columns!)
• Twitter, Pownce, and Upcoming

Oh, and I'll most likely be lobbycon-ing the Web 2.0 Expo in SF from April 22-25 with a few out-of-towners.

American advertising often makes a war on sex and clarifies the blurry lines of what may or may not be acceptable. One such recent battle is the almost conspiracy-like cover up of nipples. In their attempt to un-sexualize the male body, they've created some "solutions" that are just plain awkward. Photoshop Disasters points to a recent cloning-tool accident, while the long-running Old Spice ad above choses to oddly attempt to knock-out the nipple (watch for the hair-growing segment).

[A weekly link post of skipped over (and slightly stale) sights and stories]

• German Playboy billboard uses rain to promote wet t-shirts

• Space Invader + QR code scarf gives you that warm and geeky feeling

• Sensor-embedded bra records "vertical breast displacement"

• 20% of IMs are never sent

• Rabbit Travel Vibe is 12 volts of vroom vroom vibration

Following AdRants lead, we are left with little other comment than 'WTF?' on this recent find in advertising. With an overload of push-up, Nila Sliced Mushrooms is promoting their product by pinning up models on the side of semi's.

"[The ad is] one part come hither and stick your throbbing member between my huge breasts until you fill this can with your uncontrollable lust look. And you've got the perfect "WTF was that but it sure felt good" ad."

We're not so sure that feeling 'Fungtastic!' gets us past flaccid on this one, as we typically stray away from women associated with fungus growth.

Off of the naughty ad feed over at Trendhunter, they've compiled 67 ways sex sells (we thank them for not holding out for a 69 joke). From Apple ass-vertisements to pin-up calendars (we recommend the cupcakes) and pussy-product-placements, the ads are something to look up to other than upskirts. Some of the ads may have crossed your sight before, but even we were surprised about somehow missing the "boobs as a paintbrush" campaign.

Similar to the search engine research conducted on SWBU last month to out a viral marketing campaign connected with PayPerPost, Waxy.org uncovered a social media spamming campaign for The Times (UK).

"Since 2004, The Times retained the established SEO consulting firm Sitelynx to handle their search engine marketing. Working on behalf of The Times, a Sitelynx employee posted thousands of links to community and social news websites, including Mahalo, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Metafilter, Yahoo! Answers, Ma.gnolia, and Netscape's Propeller. His actions were done without any disclosure of his affiliation to Sitelynx or The Times and were, in some cases, posted under the assumed identity of his wife."

Waxy goes on to include a breakdown of all the found accounts and number of links dropped on each. Needless to say, link spammers should learn that the possibility of being outed on blogs for poor conduct will result higher SEO rankings with negative content than all their hours of making new accounts.

[Thx, Tantek!]

Perhaps the only thing more pervasive than flashing screens (or lack there of) at CES is advertising. Engadget points to what they found to be the best and the worst ads at CES this year. The team doesn't give a blow-by-blow review of each ad, but we can only imagine the snickering that took place behind the camera. What are your best/worst picks from the ad album?

Created by Ogilvy out of Frankfurt, this series of ads aims to nudge the naughty-minded into buying an otherwise innocent product. The ads were produced for Globus Supermarket in Germany. With tag lines like "satisfy your appetite", the play on imagery is pleasurable until you find yourself wanting to fondle mangos and feel up bananas.

Analog graffiti may be on its way out, as a new street artist does digital to make their message. Known as "The Decapitator", the artist takes advertisements and obviously enough, decapitates the main characters that appear in them. With no words and subtle changes, this graffiti style is more along the lines of last year's Broken Link as opposed to the infamous and much-hated "The Splasher". Thankfully, "The Decapitator" keeps to his digital stance by maintaining a Flickr account.

Unlike cupcake vs. muffin, toast vs. spam takes on a more creative route. Smelling of toast for days, a team created a little "toastvertising" against spam using 220 pieces of toast. Thankfully it wasn't the other way around, as the smell of spam for days is quite worse than any email selling b!g er3ct!0n_s.

Update: The agency who created the site and Garnier appear to have been unaware of any activity executed by PayPerPost. The campaign itself is a cute spoof site, but didn't have the intention of marketing without transparency. Adrants is currently investigating who was behind the PayPerPost marketing.

We're begrudgingly posting this to out Garnier's lame attempts at viral marketing and potentially another blogging blunder from PayPerPost (though, we're sure they're smiling at the idea of getting any buzz):

Shake Well Before Use received an email from deanaburke@gmail.com:
"Hey- So I saw this video on youtube- I guess Garnier pulled sponsorship of this show, the harry situation, b/c it was too sexed up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQGOZaG0kOg -deana"
Of course, any attempts to Google this email address fail.

The YouTube video shows a supposed Garnier employee telling viewers not to go to http://theharrysituation.com in a very *wink wink* manner.

The Harry Situation site is a horrid attempt at a spoof site, not naming what networks, lawyers, etc. they were working with, but somehow managing to spill out the fill name of "Ganier Frucits" at any chance. A quick WhoIS lookup gives a vague address and another un-Google-able Gmail address.

Googling the name of "Todd Gruyere" only pulls up a handful of sites where you can post for free on (mostly free blog ranking sites). The sites that do contain blurbs about the situation, are all written in a similar style with the same facts on each blurb. Interestingly, these blog posts only link to "The Harry Situation", almost always twice in one blog post, and usually one of the links is a TinyURL (not surprisingly, various blogs are linking to the same TinyURLs, but somehow not to each other, nor to where they obtained this information from), something that isn't used often for blog links.

On this particular blog post, the site is again, linked to twice (with 2 TinyURLs). One of which is supposed to go to Todd's "blog", but when you click on the link, it (surprise!) takes you to an image of the "show" hosted on PayPerPost. Also, "interestingly", the same name of the image is used on the Harry Situation blog, only this time appropriately hosted on the site. Other blogs that host the post load PayPerPost data when you visit them.

Our investigative conclusion? Not only has PayPerPost Garnier (and potentially associated ad agencies) attempted to "game" bloggers, by somehow believing that they will link to anything without credentials, but it seems that they are incredibly insatiable in making themselves and any blogger associated with them become an evil empire of ridiculousness.

Dear PayPerPost, PayPerPost bloggers, and PayPerPost clients (possibly, but not yet confirmed, Garnier), please stop lying your way to links. It's pathetic and disrespectful.

Update: Adpuppet researches Deana Burke further.

Update 2: The content creator (Kirt) left a few comments below. It appears that Kirt and Garnier were unaware of the PayPerPost efforts.

Best Buy has never been a popular brand amongst bloggers with all the buzz around their Geek Squad stealing porn. Recently, LaughingSquid received a cease and desist letter from the ruffled retailers for coverage of Improv Everywhere's trademark intrusion apparel. Apparently, Best Buy viewed blogs as promotion, rather than an authentic news source. Contrary to many Consumerist reports of bad customer service, LaughingSquid was pleasantly surprised with an apology letter and follow-up call from their PR department. However, despite the "front-of-the-house" apology, other departments within Best Buy is aggressively trying to shut down the blog, sending a DMCA notice to LaughingSquid's data center.

Update: The C&D letter was misclassified as a DMCA notice. More updates likely to come from Twitter.

[img via Scott Beale/LaughingSquid]

Sex in advertising sometimes pushes seemingly touchy subjects. Very few venture into fetishes outside of obsessing over whichever product is being promoted that week. Being a bit more bold, an ad out of Canada last year went kinky. Bringing attention to BDSM, the ad for laser hair removal displayed masked women in push-ups and panties with the tag line, "stop torturing your skin". While the ads were meant to combine the sex-and-shock sells tactics, it's unfortunate the spectrum of BDSM was tagged as torture. Some might prefer a spanking over repeatedly long laser hair removal sessions.

As if the holidays weren't hard enough on the down-and-date-less, flipping through in-flight magazines offer no relief for travelers lacking relationships. Gadling takes to the skies to summarize their recent findings from a Continental flight magazine:

"...their headlines read: 1. Eligible? 2. We have all been there. All your life you wonder if you'll find her. Does she even exist? 3. The more you have to offer the more difficult it seems to find the person who is right for you. ... The main question is: does extensive traveling make you lonely OR is it loneliness that makes you want to travel more."

The answer is yes. Services like AirTroductions offer more relevant ways to spark matchmaking in the sky for those seeking someone to share their experiences with. That being said, traveling alone can always be titillating with a pleasurable combination of people and/or places.

[A weekly link post of skipped over (and slightly stale) sights and stories]

• Getting dressed inside-out: Mobius dress

• More cringe-worthy than white after Labor Day: MySpace users recruited to help fashion marketers

• An entire book dedicated to s'mores with marshmallow-y food porn goodness

• Chopsticks + spoon = choon?

• Carpet alarm clock makes you get out of bed

Trying to tempt the viral nature of interweb videos, a few new ads from Elle Macpherson Intimates feature bored ladies in lingerie. The ads may also be an attempt at commercializing the increasing number of Justin.tv webcam girls that seemingly only sit bored in front of their computers as men boys unwilling to pay for PG-rated pr0n dare them to do silly things around the house. Attention-loving aside, the lingerie certainly doesn't go without notice. Adverbox points to other ads in the series.

Going off of Leeroy Jenkins invading advertising, it was only a matter of time until advertising invaded LOLcats. Yes, advertising has now penetrated and confused LOLcat lovers, the cute cuddly trend that confuses serious cat lovers around the globe. Dubbing this LOLvertising, advertisers have successfulled 1-up-ed ICanHasCheezBurger commenters with their Cingular txt commercial reference. Prepare yourself, it's only a matter of time before KFC runs spots for "where's mah bukket?"

Leeroy Jenkins invades advertising.

[via]

Dressed up in drag, GM a couple months ago gave into an unusual team building experience. Mary Spies, a vehicle line director took her male team out to "learn" about what women "have to go through":

""We dressed him in a garbage bag to simulate a tight skirt. We gave him rubber gloves with press on nails, a purse, a baby, and a baby stroller and some chores like loading groceries." With all female handicaps in place, the men were then required to go through what women do routinely every day."

A bit shocked that there isn't more negative publicity about this, here's a heap of criticism. Firstly, "female handicaps" can't quite be seen as anything but an offensive phrase. The entire article tries to spin that this exercise at GM was to make their vehicles less male focused. By the article stating that babies and purses are "female handicaps", that alone already makes GM that much more discreditable. However, the most irritating idea in the entire scheme is the fact that GM comes off as so insulting of a company that they choose to dress the men in drag to gain female "insight" instead of, say, oh, hiring *female engineers*.

Advertising gets violent with a recent accident. The blogosphere had a hayday with headlines about the giant RAZR that crashed into a Mercedes. From "RAZR 2 Makes a Big Impact in Russia" to "Using Phone While Driving Kills You Big Time", we can only wait until the phone/driving jokes quiet down. Motorola may be setting the pace for future marketing with this kind of coverage. Don't be surprised to see massive PSPs crashing into planes as advertisements try to aggressively take back electronic product banning.

Always delightful, Dita von Teese poses for PETA. It seems as though PETA aims to be the new Playboy these days, as attractive naked women are their solution to any situation. Dolled up in thigh highs and heels, Teese teaches the importance of animal birth control in the 50's-esque photo. The burlesque beauty is far from the first to grace the gaze of the "naked for a cause" PETA porn. Pam Anderson, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and most recently Alicia Silverstone have all stripped for PETA's SLR. Surely, there's no shortage of women who will use a good cause as an excuse to bare all of their beauty with class.

Virgin Mobile attempts to take innocence away from a fellow (we're guessing) virgin. An American family is suing the ironically named company for unauthorized use of their teen daughter's photo in an ad campaign.

"The family of Alison Chang claim that Virgin Mobile (or its advertising agency) took a copy of a photo which had been uploaded to the photo sharing website, Flickr - edited it and reused it in their poster campaigns.

The photo had apparently been released by the photographer - who is Alison's youth counselor - under the Creative Commons copyright policy which permits reuse, subject to attribution to the photographer - which was included in the Virgin Mobile adverts. However, Australian codes also require a model release form to be signed where a persons image is being used in an advert, and the family say that they never gave such a permission."

Adrants reminds us that this is SO 3 months ago.

[img via]

Trendhunter rounds up the "16 Brands of Drinks Using Sex to Make You Thirsty". From Pimp Juice to Monster Energy, to a you've-got-to-be-joking energy drink called Who's Your Daddy?, the list covers off on quite a few. The 16 sex-obsessed still leave out a few notables, though. Most recently, Heineken's "Draughtkeg" commercial left a misogynistic taste in some viewers' mouths, while others creamed their pants over a cyborg-like, beer-dispensing, techno-dancing, short-shorts-wearing woman.

AdAge jokes, "The perfect woman: a mute nymphomaniac whose father owns a brewery." However, AdAge adds that the joke "manages to [not] trivialize the essence of femininity quite as egregiously as Heineken. And why don't they?

Because they don't portray a woman's uterus as a beer keg."

In so obviously a shot at shock advertising, a New Zealand pizza chain successfully crossed the line. Named Hell, the chain stated that they did not set out to offend anyone with their sieg heil to pizza, despite large community complaints.

"We thought that people would be able to see a funny side to a guy doing a 'sieg heil' salute with a piece of pizza in his hand," stated Kirk MacGibbon of Cinderella advertising agency.

Apparently, this wasn't the first controversial ad from Hell, as they had mailed out condoms a year prior to promote their "Lust" pizza. After 685 complaints, you'd think they'd stop their Crispin-Porter-wannabe antics.

Bras and panties are often made to look pretty by someone slaving over a hot desktop for hours on end. Based out of Portland, a lingerie boutique refuses to Photoshop. Presenting their wearables and women in unedited allure, Lille Boutique takes a diamond in the rough approach to displaying products. In addition to their untouched techniques, they sell each of their store items online. Goes to show, a little unmufflered marketing can go a long way in the sale of unmentionables.

Trying to compensate for their petite privates, a group of chumps created an ad for reliable servers. While advertising, sex and technology typically shake mix well, Qsol took the unfortunate oh-so-middle-school approach to market their manhood. With lines like "Don't feel bad - Our servers won't go down on you either", it's hard to tell if the horridly over-used, most-likely-stolen stock photography is worse than the copywriting. A commenter on Copyranter adds that Qsol's logo is quite precarious as well.

One could only wish there was more than just hot air to fill this float. A 40-meter-high floating condom to promote safe fucking pitched a tent in the sky over a recent Dutch festival.

"This is a playful way of asking for attention to the problem of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS," said director of public health services, Laurent de Vries.

The airy erection took 3 months to build, with the hopes of submission into the Guinness Book of World Records as the "biggest condom". Despite the months of hard work, unsurprisingly, it only took 10-15 minutes to get it off... the ground.

Playing in pixels on the streets of Italy, Nintendo launched a new marketing effort for the Wii. Equipped with office supplies and a bit of spunk, classic characters were cut and pasted in post-it note form. Link, Mario, and Donkey Kong made the list, though somehow Duck Hunt got the chump. Kotaku elaborates:

"These aren't regular Post-It Notes, mind you, as they're adorned with custom "Wii'll Not Forget" advertising on the back, which not only delivers the Wii elevator pitch, but also probably inspires current Wii owners to compulsively purchase Virtual Console titles."

Previously: Pixelated walflowers and interactive post-it notes.

As annoying as the classic AOL "You've Got Mail!" voice of obviousness, GMail has decided to kick off an attempt at everyone's loathed beloved acronym CGM. Asking for submissions in spirit of the one above, GMail wants you to print out and pass the "M-velope" on video. Thankfully the pain doesn't last long, as videos are asked to be 10 seconds or less. Entries are due by August 13, in case you want to try out for being not internet famous.