The Euro Court of Justice threw out a case by Germany to which wanted to allow tobacco advertising in the country. The current law had outlawed tobacco advertising throughout the European Union but Germany had sought to overthrow that EU-wide ruling on tobacco sponsorships and advertising.

“I was always confident that this directive would be upheld by the court,” said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. “We now expect Germany to finalize the adoption in its national law as soon as possible, just as other member states have done.”

Smoking kills over 6.5 million people a year in the European Union. You’d think after World War II the Germans would wise up.

Pedigree has made some pretty amazing billboards with dogs on them to promote their dog food. The new outdoor ad campaign were placed in special locations throughout the city for public viewing in high traffic areas. Although the ads themself are not that impressive of innovative, I cannot help but adore a picture of a puppy sleeping on top of a billboard with the words “Dogs rule”.

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Scarlett Johansson has recently appeared in these advertisements for the Louis Vuitton print and billboard campaign for the second time. Back in 2004 she made an appearance in a different series of ads for the company. The ad campaign is slated for release in Spring 2007.

In this photo shoot, Johansson appeared on a pink background with a very 1960s theme and clothing choice. She looks truely beautiful in the adverts and the super model is also going to appear in other ad campaigns later in the year.

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This is the latest installment of print ads from crappy car audio speaker producer Sony for the “Xplod”s which will defenitely explode if you turn the volume up just a tad. The new ads are supposed to depict the powerful sound the speakers provide and the intensity on the listener. I have personally had Sony Xplod’s in my 1995 Monte Carlo years back and the things ‘exploded’ after only 2 weeks. After that, I always bought the Best Buy warranty.

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Phishing scams will frequently occur as more and more people begin shopping online this holiday season. What you might not know is that Adage is reporting that phishers are starting to use nonfinancial consumer brands such as Coke and McDonalds as bait - giving away sweepstakes, promotions, and other giveaways are luring devices.

The threat of phishers blasting the one-on-one relationships that businesses are trying to build with consumers online is affecting the trustworthiness of online purchases. This soft of scam needs to be addressed by marketers and programmers immediately if something can be done to thwart e-criminals.

“That red Coke logo is a shiny lure to get you to go through the load-in on your inbox, open up and then click through,” said John Roberts, VP-product, OpenDNS, a year-old domain-name-system service platform. “Anything which can take decades of brand promise and put it to use for criminal activity is going to be tried.”

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Ertach Wireless Internet recently launched this advertising campaign to promote its’ services. Sony fought back with a similar campaign to promote its’ laptop and built in internet system. The concept of the ad is really not that appealing or innovative. In the simplest words, ‘it’s been done before’. There is no copy to the print ads.

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“I’ll take a Mini with everything on it!” Developed by D’Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli, BBDO Milan. The photographer was Piero Perfetto.

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FHM, infamous for their big butt and large breast picture shoots is finally closing down. Emap, which publishes the 1.25 million circulation title announced the movie this morning. “The decision is consistent with the group’s strategy of focusing resources on faster growth platforms and has been taken in light of the difficult trading conditions in the U.S. market,” says a release from the company, which sold its other U.S. titles to Primedia in 2001. “The U.S. online site … which forms an important part of the brand’s ongoing and increasing international presence, will continue to operate.”

The magazine has operated as the Number 1 selling magazine amongst teens in the United Kingdom but Maxim has continued to dominate the market in the United States.

Can you help Mister Reach solve the mystery? Like something out of a Scooby Doo movie, Johnson and Johnson and Reach Toothbrush have a new online interactive website ‘mystery game’ with Mr. Reach. The game is called ‘The Mouth of Mystery’. You can play the game at the Fuel Games website.

By the way, what the hell is with Mr. Reach’s tounge? Is my tounge really going to get the freaking big from brushing my teeth? What are these advertisers trying to convey. Is there a ’sexual implication’ behind the Mr. Reach character?

This was the winning commercial for Cannes 2006 developed by the JWT Agency in Milan.

If you think those Volkswagen “oh-shit” commercials were instense then you haven’t seen anything yet. This new commercial for ’seatbelt-safety’ or “shit-my-pants-shocking” cream in my mind, try to push you over the edge of safety concern.

The ad features a guy and his girlfriend messing around while driving (we’ve all been there) and all happy. Thinking it’s a commercial for Axe, I am instantly pulled back in my chair when a small car with four people drifts over the center divider and hits the kids head on.

Slate: A man with a thick Eastern European accent describes different ways to earn points with a Citi credit card. Boasting that he gets points “tiger fast,” he says, “For speed enhancement, I wear this striped pants.” (Here he shows off a burgundy jumpsuit with embroidered gold accents.) The man is accompanied by an odd younger fellow named Victor, who wears bicycle gloves. As the ad ends and the Citi logo comes up, the accented man delivers his tag line: “Rewarding. Veddy, veddy, veddy rewarding.” (Click here to watch the ads.)

I really hate these new Citi Bank Credit Card flying rewards program. Why is this “Borat-Wanna-Be” always blind folded in the majority of the new commercials? They’re really not funny and only offensive to the people of wherever-the-hell this guy is supposed to be from.

In 2006 out-of-home advertising has become the second fastest advertising medium behind online adverts. Mediapost reports that revenue rose 8.6% in the first 9 months of 2006 and now tops $5.1 billion for the industry. That growth for the year is well above the average across the board. As Stephen Freitas, president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, notes: “Out-of-home remains the second-fastest-growing ad segment behind the Internet.”

Local advertising services and amusements top the leaders in outdoor advertising this year with a 24.7% growth over the first nine months of 2006. Insurance and real estate shot up a staggering 25.4% while communications came up a little behind at 24%.

When NBC debuts the new season of ‘The Apprentice’ with Donald Trump you can expect to see this massive list of product placements.

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It’s been noted that Lou Dobbs‘ climb through the cable news ratings has taken a page from the Fox News playbook — that is, a crusading arrogance under the guise of “fair and balanced.” So it’s not terribly surprising that CNN would cough up some loose ad change to tout Dobbs to part of Fox News’ Post-reading audience. Still, it’s an unusual alliance between News Corp. and CNN.