Morning Update: Sad grandpa transformed in Pornhub Xmas ad; Youtube star: buying clicks ‘lying to yourself’; Bad boy of pharma hits back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb32Ego033o
AdWeek: A Dirty Old Man Gets the Perfect Gift in Pornhub’s Weird, Uncomfortable Christmas Ad
Pornhub is the latest advertiser to feature a sad old man in its Christmas commercial—an oddly common theme this year. But instead of getting a telescope or faking his own death, what bring a smile to this old geezer’s face is—spoiler alert—free pornography.
The spot, by Madrid agency Officer & Gentleman, pushes the provocative comedy as far as it can by making it a family scenario. Grandpa is sitting around glumly on the couch, wasting time with his loved ones when he could be watching strangers getting it on. Luckily, one of his family members recognizes his melancholy, and has the perfect solution.
“This Christmas, give the most touching gift,” says the merrily juvenile tagline.
DigiDay: Copyranter: What the hell is going on with toilet paper advertising?
Toilet paper advertising peaked with Mr. Whipple, one of the most successful icons in ad history who starred in hundreds of commercials from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. Never has the benefit of “softness” been better executed, and the campaign sold, well, a crap-ton of Charmin for P&G.
Dick Wilson (who was paid $300,000 a year according to Wikipedia), the actor who played Mr. Whipple, died in 2001. That was about the time that Charmin and its ad agency Publicis introduced the Defecating Bear family. This was a bad idea. (Ellen DeGeneres famously dubbed them “the overshare bears.”)
The ursine poopers have starred in many rather disturbing commercials since then, including one where the daughter admits to reading Kafka on the crapper.
Mumbrella Asia: Brands buying views to boost content is like ‘lying to yourself, like plastic surgery’ says YouTuber
A trio of YouTube creators aired their frustrations about working with brands in a Digital Matters session on the dos and don’ts of brand partnerships today, with clients interfering with the creative process and the commoditisation of their audiences the main grievances.
Talking on a panel moderated by the head of international content at Disney’s Maker Studios, Luke Hyams, Malaysian video maker Jim Lim, whose channel JinnyBoyTV has 580,000 subscribers, recounted a recent case when a client had requested that a part of a video skit on the different types of people who play popular online battle game Dota 2 was removed for fear it would be seen as racist.
The Guardian: Can broadcast TV match streaming’s big budget shows?
American on-demand services are spending huge amounts per hour to poach viewers from the BBC, ITV and Sky – and, increasingly, they are spraying that money at the UK’s producers. First to these shores came Netflix, spending a reported £3m an episode for its epic royal drama The Crown. Amazon wasn’t far behind, hoovering up Jeremy Clarkson and his team for a reported £160m. And only last week, Amazon commissioned its first original UK drama, with an eight-episode order for haute-couture period piece The Collection. These are big plays, with potentially far-reaching consequences for Britain’s traditional channels and their traditionally scrawnier budgets.
“We have to provide something that is not normal telly – something that is going to surprise and delight our customers, and very often it’s different because it’s bigger,” says Chris Bird, film and TV strategy director for Amazon Video UK. “It’s bigger and it’s better and that’s going to cost you.” The Collection – a potboiler set in a Paris fashion house, soon after the second world war – will, says Bird, be “very, very ambitious in its scope – it’s going to look very prestigious, very glamorous”.
NY Times: Martin Shkreli, the Bad Boy of Pharmaceuticals, Hits Back
Martin Shkreli was trying to explain himself, so he turned to YouTube.
In the conference room at Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company he heads, his fingers flew across a laptop keyboard, and up popped a YouTube video on a large wall screen. It was a heartfelt appeal from three young brothers in North Dakota who suffer from a degenerative and often fatal brain condition. “Only 300 people in the country have this disease,” Mr. Shkreli said.
Why show the video? “I invented a new drug,” to treat the disease, he said, shrugging nonchalantly. “But it’s hard to sell a drug for 300 people, to go through the process. You have to charge a lot per person to make it a viable product.”
AdAge: Chipotle Says Sales Plunged Due to E. coli Outbreak
Chipotle Mexican Grill said the E. coli outbreak has taken a major bite out of its sales, leading it to project steep sales declines at existing locations and rescind its 2016 sales forecast.
“In light of recent sales trends and additional uncertainty related to the E. coli incident, we cannot reasonably estimate 2016 comparable restaurant sales at this time,” Chipotle said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.
I’m quite disturbed by the typecasting on that Pornhub ad. The gift would be as equally welcomed by grandma.
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