Advertising: The Good, Bad & Ugly 2005

Yesterday the Advertising Women of New York’s (AWNY) 8th Annual Good, Bad & Ugly (GBU) Awards honored the good and worst of advertising aimed at women.

The "They Get It Award" went to Dove and Ogilvy & Mather for its integrated "Campaign for Real Beauty." The "Bad" and "Ugly" went to adverts that "relied on outdated stereotypes for cheap gags."

From the AWNY press release:

"With the GBU now in its 8th year, I initially thought that all we’d see would be empowering, positive images of women today," explained Sallie Mars, Chairman of this years GBU and Director of Creative Services at McCann Erickson. "I was surprised at the volume of really bad and ugly advertising we had to select from, which reinforces the importance and role this award show plays in continuing to raise the consciousness of how women are depicted in advertising."

[...snip...]

One of the big losers of the evening, advertising for Troeg’s Beer – which won two, a "grand ugly" and a "bad," was submitted by its agency The Neiman Group with the hopes that it would win a bad or ugly, giving them an opportunity for press exposure.

"This event has always looked at advertising with a sense of humor and honesty" said Carol Evans, President of AWNY. "We know many of the beer ads that continue to be losers are directed at men, but nonetheless, they reinforce images and stereotypes that continue to show women in demeaning roles. It’s important that marketers understand that using women as props just for a laugh is not acceptable."

Here are the winners and losers:

Good, Bad & Ugly Winners

They Get It Award
+ Dove Campaign for Real Beauty – Ogilvy & Mather
Embracing Real Beauty

Grand Good TV
+ L’Oreal "Beyonce"- McCann Erickson

+ Curves - Publicis Dallas

Good TV
+ L’Oreal "Andie" - McCann Erickson

+ Ad Council Girl Scouts - Kaplan Thaler

+ Light of Life Foundation - Lowe
+ &J - Lowe
+ Whirlpool – Publicis NY

Grand Ugly TV

+ Troegs - "Burp" Neiman Group, PA

Ugly TV
+ Budweiser "Ref"—DDB Chicago

+ Bud Light "Fantasy" – DDB Chicago

Bad TV
+ Troeg’s "Trogenator" - Neiman Group, Harrisburg, PA
+ TWIX - Nitro, NY

+ VISA - BBDO

Grand Good Print
+ MasterCard – McCann Erickson

Good Print
+ Dove – Ogilvy Chicago

See more from the print campaign here.

+ Light of Life Foundation - Lowe
+ Ryka – Kelliher Samets Volk (in VT)
+ Curves – Publicis Dallas
+ Oil of Olay "Total Effects" - Saatchi NY
+ Oil of Olay "Body Wash" – Saatchi NY

Grand Ugly Print
+ BH Boxers
+ Skechers – inhouse

Check out Christina Aguilera is naughty in Skechers ad campaign for the whole campaign.

Ugly Print
+ Three Olives Vodka – Swardlick Marketing Group, Portland, ME
+ Guess ?
This ran as two pages with the left opening up into a spread of the second image.

Bad Print
+ National Geographic
+ Cooper Tires - Fahlgren
+ Fortunoff