TheSpunker - by Ben Popken. Published by Gattaca, Inc.

Now, Nothing comes between *You* and *Your* AK

AK-47's are for sale on the Home Shopping Network in this funny viral from Mother London. The video promotes Amnesty International's cell-phone petition protesting arms treaty loopholes. It's certainly a sight better than those uppity ladies who get annoyed when you slam the door on their foot. via.

Milkmaids gone Wild!

Milk Gone Wild. Uncensored video (NSFW). It's like girls gone wild but... Let's just say you see udders and it's a new spot by PETA to get people to their Milk Gone Wild site... Bonus Link: Peta never passes up an opportunity to hammer their message into your brain. To wit, their 404 "File Not Found" page,  "3. You may have made a mistake while typing the address, or we may have made a mistake when creating the link. Mistakes can be corrected. When Anna Wintour got a dead raccoon dumped on her lap by an angry anti-fur protester, she should have learned that wearing the pelts of animals who were cruelly gassed, strangled, or electrocuted is a big mistake. Yet the creepy Cruella continues to push fur in the pages of Vogue."

Nice Cancer Videos

A good PSA is hard to find. Maybe this Postal Service business is making me all emo and gooey inside but I like these cancer videos. Cancer 1 & Cancer 2. Touching, honest and earnest. via. Andre writes in that the line for the first vid reads, "It´s necessary to believe in the cure of cancer. We believe" and the second, "Everybody needs some help to deal with cancer. We too."

Ms. Subways is a Scab

In light of the transit strike forcing millions of New Yorkers to work from home - oh! the horror! - here are some parody ads of Ms. Caroline Sanchez-Bernat a.k.a. Ms. Subways. As the elected face of the MTA, Ms. Bernat urges us to be courteous and kind when packed neck to neck in a meat-wagon hurtling down a rickety rail. All ads by Jim Hanas.

Interview: Inside the Foie Gras

This anti-foie gras PSA campaign [2nd image here] by the Duval Guillaume agency was rejected by the Belgian railroad as being "too shocking." Agency spokesman Matthias Dubois gave The Spunker the inside story. But first, what's foie gras?

Matthias Dubois: Foie gras - or “fatty liver” - is still a very popular Christmas and year end dinner dish in Belgium. Because most people don’t know it’s made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of ducks and geese, the result of force-feeding.

TS: Are you going to explore alternate media buys?

MD: We're still figuring it out. Now the tube stations in Brussels have refused the campaign, but we're looking at alternatives.

TS: Any in particular?

MD: Yup, some progressive newspapers offered big reductions. In Belgium we have a network of postcards that are freely distributed in in bars and restaurants, they offer media space for free, so there's still hope.

TS: And of course, play to be had from leveraging the railroad's rejection. Knowing their position, did you at all anticipate this reaction?

MD: No, we were in the naive assumption that they would see that the campaign isn't shocking at all. If you look at the peta campaigns and other campaigns on this theme, this one is very soft. That was one of the briefing elements at the start, we wanted to avoid that people would react "hey, another cheap bloody shocking campaign of an animal rights group." -The Spunker.

There you have it. Gimp gear you could see on Catwoman or Aeon Flux is more shocking than animal cruelty. Not that we're big geese huggers, engorged duck liver just sounds gross - as does lily-livered censorship. Note: interview conducted via email and tweaked for palatability.

Propaganda Collection

A small collection of propaganda by the Free Information Society containing sometimes  laughable/maudlin, other times frightening selections of "on-the-nose" communication. Possible sources of inspiration for your next PSA or if you just feel like going for that little extra piece of the jugular. Nice touch with the stunted Nazi goblin paw. Via.

Amnesty International Duct Tape

Amnesty International, Poland. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Poland. Translation? Via.

Don't Discriminate

If you didn't get a chance to celebrate World Aids day, here's an excellent entry by Arvind R. of India for  Zonta Club of Madras. Not discriminating against  HIV  victims  seems to  be a theme this year but I feel this  execution is more  effective than the "We  All  Have AIDS"  Kenneth Cole initiative. Maybe because this metaphor doesn't break down and KC's does once you remember you don't have AIDS.

World Aids Day Video

This fantastic piece of 3D animation is in commemoration of today, World Aids Day. Released by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and made by the Belgian advertising agency Duval Guillaume Brussels. Moving, effectual. Thanks to Matthias for the send. Website.

Soccermoms Go Boom

People decry the use of shock tactics in advertising but while lambasting banal beer ads they neglect to mention the most fiendish manipulator: Public Service Announcements. Take this UN sponsored ad for StopLandMines.org. It involves a nice white soccer game and their moms. Do the math. Hi-bandwith. Low-bandwith. Via Werbeblogger.