Last Saturday I decided to seek refuge from the bitter cold in the Tate Modern. I love visiting galleries as I enjoy many forms of art; sculpture, architecture, portrait, abstract, installations etc. In short, I am open minded to all methods of creativity and expression. I haven’t been to the Tate Modern for years so I was dubious because I know what can pass for art these days. Here are some examples of pieces that had people crowding around, staring, analysing and debating…. Captivating Genius Inspiring  Mona who? Stunning (my favourite) I’m not going to go on about this because you can probably sense my prickly sarcasm already and I have spoken about my hatred for pretentious art in a previous post , but come on! You can either be drawn into it, which many people were, or can you see things for what they are and laugh. I love abstract art and subliminal messages as much as the next person, but don’t paint a blue square and tell me it’s about the s...

Charlie Brooker’s exceptional ‘Be Right Back’, the first episode in the new ‘Black Mirror’ series, aired last night. If you haven’t watched it yet, I suggest you do . Ash and Martha are a normal couple; one minute laughing, next minute arguing, rounding off with some below average sex. She is an illustrator working on a large interactive touch screen, and his head is always in his phone; tweeting, posting videos, updating statuses – nothing unusual there. When Ash dies, Martha is beyond devastated, and worsens when she finds out she is pregnant. Her friend signs her up for some sort of online grievance programme which collects all social media and online interaction of the deceased and combines it to mimic that person via instant messenger. ‘ Hi it’s Ash’ , is the first pop up message on Martha’s screen, and quite rightly she freaks the fuck out. Her overwhelming grief makes it too hard to resist; she talks back to him. It's therapeutic, but she wants more. " The more it...

Usually my friends tell me exactly what they want for their birthdays. After a few years it got a bit boring; no element of surprise or excitement, no childlike joy. So a year ago, my friend had asked for Ray-Bans. I pretended we were not getting her Ray-Bans and we were in fact getting her a swan. Obviously this was a really lame joke but I thought I should at least follow through in a way, so I wrapped her Ray-Bans up to look like a swan. This turned out to be quite amusing and brought a bit of fun to the predictable present opening. So I continued.... Make up and creams in a baby for my pregnant friend   Perfume in a wine bottle   A sat nav in a giant cupcake

I can just about feign interest in the football matches of my own country, let alone America's version of the sport. However, I'm known to succumb to a little Super Bowl spirit by way of eating fried stuff with cheese on the Sunday, then after a good 8 hours sleep I YouTube the half time performance and the ads. No one can say I don't care about the Super Bowl. Now, you can probably tell from this post's title what I thought of the ads that were shown during the match. They weren't awful really... just thought they were pretty average. A 30 second ad shown at the Super Bowl will cost the brand a cool $4million; so forgive me for thinking they would knock my socks off, but these ads could have been shown during the break of Corrie and I wouldn't have known the difference. I won't go through them all, there are  plenty of other writers  who have got there before me making higher standard jokes and put downs, but I will go through some I like and dislik...

"Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is okay. You are okay."

I saw an ad at the weekend that I love. Dancing baby + Gangnam Style = My attention What an unexpected and poignant turn.  “What are you missing?” I’m sure many smokers have felt this way – when they have to pop out for a quick smoke and miss a part of a film, a hilarious conversation, or in this case, something far more important. I like how the slogan fits perfectly with the comical exaggeration, but also has a far more evocative meaning; what else will you miss apart from your grandchild’s first steps if you keep smoking? Your grandchild’s future? E-Lites are an electronic cigarette. They look like cigs, they taste like cigs, but actually have no tar, tobacco or carbon monoxide. You can legally smoke them indoors or at work without effecting or harming anyone around you. It just has a bit of nicotine in it, similar to a patch or gum – the perfect way to ween yourself off and makes giving up smoking a hell of a lot easier. For the first cigarette ad ...

So, I was driving around the one-way system the other day and nearly crashed my car when I saw this Times Square-sized poster lit up like a Christmas tree - 'Pussy: The drink's pure, it's your mind that's the problem' Oh, is it my mind that is dirty? Because I'm pretty sure the tagline is what made it into a sexual innuendo, so it automatically makes it more shocking to see 'Pussy' so boldly emblazoned. I doubt I'd have thought anything dirty if there were a picture of a cat or the suggestive name wasn't so central to the ad. It feels like a bunch of horny teenage boys made this ad, guffawing and high-fiving over the fact they got away with putting a naughty word in public and making people say it when ordering a drink. Well, that's how it kind of started out... Pussy founder, Jonnie Shearer, created the brand at college and says he got his inspiration for the name from Richard Branson's 'Virgin' brand and, as he was t...

I don’t know who first came up with the phrase, ‘ Timing is Everything ’, but it’s a damn good phrase. You can relate it to pretty much everything in life; especially if your job is in PR, stand up comedy, cooking or, as I have just realised, advertising. An ice cold drink ad in the summer, a pizza ad when you’re hungover, a double glazing ad in October, or a Thomas Cook ad on payday… all these coincidental timings are crucial to the success of an advert and the sale of a product. If ads are lucky, they will pop up at the right time when the audience is in the mood to watch them and be affected by them. But if you have a product that can be placed in the right spot, at the right time, then you should take advantage of that. Here is my personal example. The other day at 7.45am I was at my bus stop en route to work - it was Monday, it was raining, and it was cold. For those who don’t know me, I hate the cold more than world famine or war or crocs. I was miserab...

This year has seen a variation of memorable ads; Vinnie Jones’ British Heart Foundation, Inferno’s Listen to the Kids, Skittles Midas touch, Guardian’s Three Little Pigs, and the ever-irritating Go Compare and Wowcher ads. However, I felt I needed to write a post on my favourite one of 2012. Not just an ad but the whole campaign by AMV BBDO that has been running since 2010; Snickers – You’re Not You When You’re Hungry. The ads are still shown today and I think they have remained the best of the year. The message that you’re not yourself when you’re hungry is massively relatable on a global scale. I know for a fact that I turn into a diva/zombie/monster when I’m starving, and it’s something that everyone has experienced. This is why I believe it works so well. Message aside, the idea of using celebrities who have played notoriously evil characters, or those who have exaggerated their negative stereotype, is genius. The most popular one in the UK is the football locker room ad c...

(Other cool stuff from the place I found this:  http://chicquero.com/  )