It’s only 15 seconds long, but the brevity of this Lucky Charms spot only seems to intensify the “Whoa, what the hell just happened?” effect.

The commercial, which mixes footage from both current and vintage ads for the “magically delicious” cereal, is an explosion of colors, shapes and sparkles, all set to the tune of the classic jingle, which has been auto-tuned almost beyond the point of recognition.

The ad aired during big TV shows this week like the season finales of American Idol and The Voice. So in the event that people were watching those programs high off their gourds, we’re confident this spot either inspired them to eat nothing but pots of gold and rainbows throughout the duration of their trips, or sent them spiraling into a really, really bad place inhabited by T-Pain-sounding leprechauns.

As fans of “The Office” prepare to say a fond farewell to their beloved Scranton-dwelling characters on tonight’s series finale, the real-life Dunder Mifflin paper company, launched in 2011 via a licensing deal between Quill.com and NBC Universal, is preparing to ramp up business with a well-placed ad.

The spot, created by PR agency Olson and crowdsourcing platform Tongal, will run tonight in five Dunder Mifflin “branch” markets (Scranton, Utica, Akron, Albany, Syracuse).

While back in 2011 some thought that the concept of reverse product placement in the form of an entire company was sure to be a failure, the real-world Dunder Mifflin has grown into a multi-million dollar brand that is now among the best-selling brands in the office-supply category. We guess having sales geniuses like Dwight in your corner can make all the difference, especially when he delivers nuggets of marketing gold like, “To me, success is simply the opposite of failure.” Indeed.

Princess Merida, the young Scottish girl who broke tradition and took a decidedly feminist stand against being married off to the winner of an archery competition in Disney’s “Brave” (by using her kick-ass marksmanship skills to win her own hand) has officially been inducted into the sacred sisterhood of the Disney Princesses, taking her place alongside the likes of Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel.

But before Merida could join the ranks of her more mature counterparts, she had to undergo quite a makeover. First, her dress — a functional frock, suitable for her outdoor adventures, was replaced by a much brighter, frillier, more low-cut number, reminding young girls that looks trump comfort. And because there’s nothing feminine or damsel-like about packing heat, her beloved bow and arrows were apparently confiscated.

Equally disturbing were the changes that were made to her previously young-girl-like figure: her waist had clearly been cinched and her bust noticeably increased, she was given flirtatious lashes and rosier cheeks, and her adventurous, slightly defiant-looking smile gave way to a sultry smirk. After critics lambasted the made-over Merida for over-sexualizing what was supposed to be a young girl to whom real young girls could relate, Disney quietly pulled the image from their website and replaced it with the Pixar original.

We’re not surprised the backlash was so intense, because while we agree that the over-sexualization was a major problem, we think it went beyond that. Read more

We told you last week about Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries only wanting his brand’s clothing worn by “cool kids” — i.e. no one that falls outside the stereotypical “All American” standards of beauty, including girls over a size 10. “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong,” Jeffries once said in an interview. “Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

To make matters worse, it seems that less-than-cool kids aren’t the only people who don’t “belong” in A&F clothing — when garments are damaged and/or cannot be sold, rather than donating the clothes to people who need them, the company reportedly burns them. Why? Because homeless people aren’t the sort of brand representation A&F wants. So basically, Abercrombie has sent this branding message into the universe: “Six-pack abs and chiseled jaw required. Soul optional”.

In response, Greg Karber decided to give Abercrombie a brand makeover. After sifting through the “douchebag section” of his local Goodwill thrift shop for donated A&F clothing, Karber headed to LA’s Skid Row to hand out the clothes to the homeless, who, after displaying initial reluctance to accept the clothing (which Karber attributes to a fear of looking like “narcissistic date rapists”), eventually accepted the A&F clothes, completing phase one of Karber’s mission.

However, in the video below, Karber says that he can’t “clothe the homeless or transform a brand” all by his lonesome, and urges viewers to get involved. A grassroots re-branding campaign to teach a company to grow a soul? Like we said before: we sense a Glee episode coming on…

Coke has long associated its brand with happiness — even dedicating entire websites to the philosophical meaning of the word, and calling the contents of a can of cola “140 happy calories.”

Now, the company is taking advantage of a happy coincidence — the fact that part of its logo happens to look like the Danish flag — to welcome people to Denmark, recently voted the “happiest country in the world” by the United Nations.

In honor of the Danish tradition of greeting arriving visitors by waving flags, Coke’s local agency, McCann Copenhagen, created an interactive airport ad that dispenses flags. Coke says it’s purpose is to “let Coca-Cola and Denmark spread happiness together.” The below video of a case study shows people’s reactions to the machine.

Little kids and elderly people jubilantly waving flags as loved ones rush to greet them, all made possible by Coke. We’d categorize this as a highly creative branding win.

Well, we’re happy to report that our ears are working just fine today. How do we know? Because we couldn’t make it through a few seconds of the below ad without scrambling for the “mute” button.

The clever spot, created by Draftfcb Toronto for the Union Hearing Aid Centre, actually appears to be a vision test, displaying letters in ever-shrinking fonts. When viewers reach the end of the commercial, they are informed that if they can read the final tiny line of print, then their “eyesight is fine”, but that (surprise!) they may want to invest in a hearing test at Union, as a “really annoying, really loud high-frequency sound” has been playing throughout the ad; those with good hearing would have likely found the sound too intolerable to make it through to the end.

Like we said — clever. We just wouldn’t recommend playing it at full volume at work…or a dog park.

While many companies may reward employees’ loyalty, New York City real estate company Rapid Realty is asking for a lifelong commitment in exchange for a bump in pay; any employee willing to tattoo the company’s logo on their body will automatically receive a fifteen percent raise.

Selling your own skin as billboard space? Crazy, right? That’s what we thought, but apparently at least forty Rapid Realty employees have already deemed the bribe worth the body art.

Stephanie Barry justified her decision with hard-to-deny simplicity, telling CBS: “I was like, why am I throwing my money away when I could give myself from $25,000 to $40,000 for the same amount of work?” And she’s not alone. Since there are no size or location restrictions, workers have gotten creative, one person getting inked stealthily behind her ear.

Not everyone is buying in, though. When CBS asked non-Rapid Realty-employees if they would do the same thing at their jobs, responses ranged from “[the reward] would have to be extraordinary” and “It’s a scar for life. I have enough of those.”

What about you, readers? Would you be a walking billboard for a hefty pay raise? Tell us in the comments section.

For the second time this month, a company is apologizing for making light of suicide in their advertizing. While these unapproved McDonald’s posters were distasteful and insensitive, Hynudai’s “Pipe Job” spot, which actually depicts a failed suicide attempt, takes the decidedly un-funny joke to an entirely different level.

The ad shows a man attempting to end his life with carbon monoxide poisoning by breathing the exhaust of a new Hyundai. The joke’s on him, though; the car’s emissions are so clean, he lives to see another day.

Yeah. We’re not laughing, either.

In fact, because some of us have immediate family members who have suffered with depression and have attempted suicide, we just can’t muster our usual “lighten up” attitude for this one — it’s just plain offensive (and potentially harmful). There is ample data showing that careless depictions of suicide can actually cause more suicides to occur. And this ad not only depicts a pretty detailed blue-print for how to kill yourself, but it also neglects to show any evidence of the impact that this man’s actions would have on others, or suggest that there is any kind of help available to him.

A spokesman for Hyundai told Forbes via email that the video was created in Europe by a European agency (Innocean Europe), and said that Hyundai Motor North America was not involved in any way in its production or posting. He also passed on the following statement from Hyundai Europe:

“We understand that some people may have found the iX35 video offensive.  We are very sorry if we have offended anyone.  We have taken the video down and have no intention of using it in any of our advertising or marketing.”

Hyundai North America has since publicly issued the following statement:

We at Hyundai Motor America are shocked and saddened by the depiction of a suicide attempt in an inappropriate UK video featuring a Hyundai. Suicide merits thoughtful discussion, not this type of treatment.

While we do feel that this apology and the decision to pull the ad were appropriate damage-control responses, we are a little surprised the ad made it that far in the first place without someone somewhere along the line saying, “gee, guys, it’s clever and all, but this goes quite a bit too far”. Mental illness is still a fairly taboo subject in many respects, and those suffering from it often feel too ashamed to talk openly about what they are going through or to seek help. We don’t see ads making light of other life-threatening disabilities, so why is depression any different?

On principle, we weren’t honestly sure we even wanted to include the video in this post, but realized readers would likely want to see what we’re talking about. The ad is below the jump, but we personally found it disturbing enough to suggest you use discretion before viewing.

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If you, like us, were tuned in to Saturday’s Red Sox game (yes, this PRNewser writer is from MA and is a Sox fan — can’t we still be friends, New Yorkers?), you likely saw the rousing speech that David Ortiz gave to a shaken but strengthened Boston crowd. Just one day after the manhunt for the surviving suspect of last week’s bombings at the Boston Marathon shut down the majority of the city, Big Papi had this to say: ““This is our f—ing city! Nobody’s gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong.” (Note: Video contains explicit language…obviously)

While the crowd roared its approval and the clip went viral on social media, many wondered whether the FCC would be as thrilled with such strong language gracing the airwaves during a family-friendly program. But in response, outgoing head of the FCC Julius Genachowski tweeted the following statement: “David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today’s Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston.”

And we, too, speak from the heart when we cheer: Damn f—ing straight! Three cheers for “the fellas at the freakin’ FCC“!

We told you earlier this week about Dove’s latest installment of its Real Beauty Campaign, an ad spot in which a forensic sketch artist helps prove that women really are more beautiful than they think. The powerful commercial culminates with the emotional reactions of these women when they are shown two sketches of themselves — one based on their own self-descriptions, and one based on how others described them. The drawings based on how others saw them were consistently more accurate and more flattering.

Now, the New Feelings Time Comedy group has created a pitch-perfect parody that shows how the same experiment might have gone had the subjects been men. Sure, they also suffer from skewed self image, but not in quite the same way as Dove’s ladies. (Hint: one guy describes himself as “a white Denzel Washington” while a woman says he looked “like he smelled really bad.”)

While we’re sure real-world dudes deal with their fair share of self-consciousness, we do know and love some guys who may have been a perfect fit in this parody, if for no other reason than they deal with said self-consciousness with outward displays of arrogance. But enough “being fair analysis” — we needed a good laugh this morning, and this certainly delivered. Enjoy!

And, for comparison, here’s the original again: Read more