2010 was a very fruitful year for weird pieces of advertising throughout the world. Shock and surprise are both very powerful tools to use in advertising campaigns. They are an excellent ingredient to grab your audience’s attention, but, as everything else in the world, they must be used with caution and rationality. Otherwise you will only get weird, freaky and random pieces of oddvertising.

Here are 10 of the most freakiest adds I’ve ever seen:

Grocery Store Lady

BBDO, New York

This was Snickers’ first-ever attempt for a Halloween spot. My opinion it succeeded greatly in creeping out its audience, it looks like a serial killer fit for the next Saw movie.

Victor

Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOWhvAkkHGY&feature=player_embeddedA man with a baby’s head… I rest my case…
An Argentine spot for the PS3 aiming for the message that gamers should retain their childlike wonder as they grow older “Live in a state of play.”

The Intimate Scent of a Beautiful Woman

Germany
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DSTZbS6LvA&feature=player_embeddedThis one I’m not sure if it is the product itself or the advertising that is disconcerting.
A dude sniffing the seat of an exercise bike that’s just been ridden by a woman, seriously?

No Pressure

Director: Dougal Wilson, U.K.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSTLDel-G9k&feature=player_embeddedThe 10:10 environmental campaign, aimed at getting individuals to cut their carbon emissions by 10 percent a year starting in 2010: very good intention, but very bad advertising.

Anyone who doesn’t want to cut their carbon emissions is blown up, literally, creating a bloody mess. Poor Phillip and Tracy. Just disgusting.

Popcorn

BBH, London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiJjkNN3z5M&feature=player_embeddedIt could be the bad acting but I’m pretty sure the randomness of the commercial also helped to make this a brilliant piece of oddvertising. BBH treated a live audience of moviegoers in London to an idyllic family scene that turns ghastly when one of the daughters begins to choke on popcorn, well it’s down the road from there, but see for yourselves.

Stick Figure

McCann Erickson, Bangkok, Thailand

Well it’s an Asian ad (I don’t think they have what we call normal advertising, weird is their order of business). This one is Exceptionally odd, can’t even describe it, just keep in mind it’s a cleaning product ad.

AIDES

TBWA, Paris
[vimeo width=”594″]http://vimeo.com/16161220[/vimeo]Spot is NSFW. Not that weird, but man, they are filthy! Featuring an obscene bathroom graffiti of a penis as it tries to have a good time without a condom.

Gusher for an Eye

Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0s-MPVcgWk&feature=player_embedded90-second piece of oddvertising: the concept, the music, the kid… not sure what it is but it couldn’t get freakier. The tale of Todd, a kid with a squirting blue Fruit Gusher for an eye.

Jacuzzi

Draftfcb, Mexico City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKRXM4EsrHE&feature=player_embeddedLuftal, a gas medication that offers this unique selling proposition: It will fix your gas problem and therefore calm the gross, jacuzzi-like, fart-churned seas of your bathtub.

 Hasselhoff Baby

Digital Kitchen, New York

A&E created a reality series about David Hasselhoff and his two daughters, who are “aspiring singers.” (Update: It was canceled after two episodes.) And how we promote this? Just a cute baby with chest hair…

What other odd pieces of advertising would you add to our list?

Featured image by Jon Feinstein on Flickr.