It was bound to happen. As you may not know, Unilever (the company responsible for making Dove products) is a huge buyer of palm oil - one of the essential ingredients in some of Dove's skin care products. Problem is, palm oil suppliers in Indonesia (Dove's main palm oil supplier) have little (if no) respect at all for equitable practices in cutting down palm trees inside Indonesia's rainforest. Simply said, it's pure forest slaughter. By supporting these suppliers and buying palm oil from them, Dove directly contributes to killing this precious ecosystem, menacing its rare animal and flower species and accelerating the climate change.

Wow, how about a little "evolution", Dove?

Greenpeace has launched an aggressive viral campaign aimed at having Dove upgrade its environment politics and stop rainforest slaughter. "Aggressive" in that, in pure Greenpeace tradition, it parodies Dove's recent "Onslaught" commercial against the commercialised vision of beauty.

First, you can visit the webpage and sign the petition here.

Then watch the Dove ad,




And then watch the Greenpeace ad. Draw your own conclusions.

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This is simply amazing. Santa Monica-based Image Metrics proposes an incredibly flexible -- so to speak -- kind of facial animation technology that captures an actor's live performance an translates it onto a digital actor's face - in real time.

You probably never heard about them, but these guys have been around for awhile. They boast an impressive client portfolio, featuring work for major video game companies (EA, Eidos, Rockstar and Capcom among others) and feature film-related companies (Sony Imageworks, The Mill production house). You can see their engine at work in the latest Rockstar Grand Theft Auto IV game.


Check out Image Metrics's web site.

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I salute you, JWT Argentina and production house Gizmo, for coming up with these ingenious and very furry concepts for Ford Ka.

(Amigos, yo gusto mucho todos esos TV spots. Muchas gracias a elmaaltshift blog).

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Here's a scrumptious video contrrraption devised by machiavelicious studios Three Legged Legs (one of my fave post-production houses) and brrrilliant agency 72andsunny for Microsoft's Zune. It features zombie puppets and breakdance, which is a damn good thing in my book.

You can check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette at Zune Arts.

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New Axe scent: Chocolate. Look at the guy's face. Priceless.
Kudos to agency VegaOlmosPonce, Buenos Aires and (do they need presenting),post-production powerhouse The Mill.

(Thanks, Stellart Média!)

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Benetton's global communications platform for 2008 promotes the Birima Micro-Credit program in Senegal, and features billboards showing senegalese workers who have used loans to build their own small businesses.



Photographer James Mollison portrays the workers in a most simple and effective manner, showing them carrying tools of their trade. A powerful image that promotes a multi-layered message: sustainable development, the fight against poverty, and the notion that people of Africa are personally taking matters in hand to work for Africa's future.

Benetton's own research center in communications Fabrica is responsible for developping the creative platform and the Microcredit Africa Works slogan, and also produced this video with world-reknowned singer Youssou N'Dour, titled Birima.




Alessandro Benetton, Executive Deputy Chairman of Benetton Group explains the conviction with which Benetton has backed the project: "We chose to support and promote this important project because, unlike traditional acts of solidarity, it offers tangible support to small local entrepreneurs through the efficient use of micro-credit. Precisely because it is based on entrepreneurial talent, hard work, optimism and interest for the future, this project effectively promotes the new face of Africa."

Read more about Benetton's campaign here.

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Here's a test that elite members of Special Forces pass to see if they could last inside a multi-layered situation. The test is also presented to advertising creative directors, to see how long they can last before being annoyed by distraught account service members. One way or another, average human beings can last up to 12 seconds. Can you beat your own time?

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