Google Launches A Powerful TV Spot To Hype Their Chrome Browser.

A smart, moving and demonstrative new 90 second tv commercial achieves a dual purpose: introducing people to both Google's latest Chrome browser and Dan Savage's anti-bullying project, It Gets Better.

"It Gets Better" for Google Chrome:


The 90 second commercial is one spot in a new campaign for Google Chrome (another spot in the campaign is Dear Sophie) which premiered last Tuesday night during an episode of GLEE and shows people using Google Chrome’s toolbar and YouTube to record videos for the It Gets Better Project to empathize with and give hope to gay teenagers who fear bullying.

The ad shows some examples of videos uploaded to YouTube to support the project by people and celebrities:




According to the NY Times, The Google ad campaign, called “the Web is what you make of it,” is the biggest offline campaign ever for Google, which has typically shied away from advertising. It declined to disclose its spending plan.

The ads zero in on the computer screen, showing what people are typing, uploading and sharing, similar to the “Parisian Love” ad that aired during the Super Bowl in 2010, which told the story of an American exchange student who falls in love with a woman in Paris.



“We try to get rid of everything but the user and the tools and let you feel what is happening there, without a lot of commentary from Google itself,” said Andy Berndt, vice president of the Google Creative Lab, which created the campaign with the ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty.


Full Credits
Agency: Google Creative Lab
Client: Google
Executive Creative Director: Calle Sjoenell
Agency: BBH New York
Executive Creative Director: Pelle Sjoenell
Executive Creative Director: Robert Wong
Associate Creative Director: Jesse Juriga
Art Director: Steve Pack
Art Director: Caprice Yu
Copywriter: Jeff Johnson
Head of Broadcast: Lisa Setten
Project Manager: Jessica Beavers
Web Content Research: Nickerson Research
End Tag Graphic: Buck
Music Supervisor: Search Party Music
Executive Producer: Stephanie Diaz-Matos


The "It Gets Better" campaign, started in 2010 by Dan Savage, now boasts contributions from a number of high-profile names, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, as seen in this video, Woody from Toy Story." (The Advocate, 5.03.11)

You can download Google Chrome here

Absolut Opposes "Labeling" Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Minorities With Their Vodka No Label

Absolut Vodka is introducing limited edition naked bottles that do not feature the Absolut label or logo to mark the launch of its latest campaign In An ABSOLUT World There Are No Labels, an initiative which challenges prejudice against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) minorities.

Absolut wants to challenge labels and prejudice to make the world more diverse, vibrant and respectful. You will only find a discreet and easily removed sticker with the campaign manifesto on the bottle. This will encourage you to discard your labels and look beyond the obvious...




the press release:

ABSOLUT VODKA is introducing, In An ABSOLUT World, There Are No Labels, an initiative where ABSOLUT wants to challenge labels and prejudice to make the world more diverse, vibrant and respectful, and introduces a naked bottle – with no label, but with a lot of attitude. The limited edition bottle is available in selected markets starting in June 2009. At the same time ABSOLUT is launching absolut.com/nolabel where consumers from around the world are invited to discard their labels and prejudice about sexual minorities.

”For the first time we dare to face the world completely naked. We launch a bottle with no label and no logo, to manifest the idea, that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters. We do it in support of the people who spend their entire lives, stamped with label by other people, says Kristina Hagbard, Global PR Manager at The Absolut Company.

The limited edition bottle is launched at Global Travel Retail and on selected markets in June, with a global launch following in September. It is without the ABSOLUT VODKA label or logo, which makes the iconic bottle as stylish as ever before. A discrete and easily removed sticker with the campaign manifesto encourages consumers to discard their labels and look beyond the obvious, and directs them to absolut.com/nolabel, where people from around the world (and with any sexual preference) are welcome to learn more about labels and prejudice.


above: The limited-edition bottle has no label or logo. A discreet and easily removable sticker with a campaign manifesto encourages consumers to discard their prejudices and labels and look beyond the obvious.

”This limited edition is extremely stylish with its clean and naked design. The bottle visually manifests our belief in diversity and our standpoint when it comes to sexual minorities. We encourage people to think twice about their prejudice, because in an ABSOLUT world, there are no labels” Kristina Hagbard finishes.

The global launch will follow in September.

ABSOLUT VODKA was one of the first consumer brands to embrace the gay community, and its ads have appeared in gay media since 1981.

The Absolut No Label blog

So, where can you get it?

It was available at select stores in sweden and starting Monday, July 13th it will be available at Selfridges . I do not know where in the US you can find it, but I'd check premium liquor stores and ebay.

Celebrating Hairy Men; A Beautiful Book And A Backlash To Waxed Men Everywhere

Hairy, Photographs by: Robert Greene


This latest book is categorized by powerHouse books as "Gay Interest/Nudity" but it's so much more than that. At a time when waxed chests and smooth bodies are all the rage (note my previous post on Gillette's manscaping site, Norelco's Bodygroom Manalogues and the Mangroomer), I am so pleased to see someone celebrating the masculinity of a hairy body. All hail the hirsute!

Not that I want a fur rug to spoon with, or that a hairy hiney turns me on, but because the natural beauty of a testosterone-laden male form is far preferable to me than that of a man who looks and feels like a dolphin- or a 12 year old. Or whose legs are smoother than mine. I even had some exes who were handsomely hirsute and went to the trouble to painfully wax themselves. Yuck.

That said, let me introduce you to the latest book of photographs by artist Robert Greene, Hairy which will be followed by a gallery of Hairy Hotties.

images from the book:



The following text is courtesy of powerHouse books:

Painterly rhythms have seeped their way into Robert Greene’s world of photography in Hairy, a collection of Greene’s images taken over many years, in many places, of many dogs, and many hairy men. An undercurrent of über-masculinity and its sexiness is revealed, yet not in the familiar form of muscular, hard-jawed, clean-cut youth. Instead, Greene celebrates a more restrained and naturalistic virility.

Greene’s photographic eye is full of adoration for his subjects and their environments. There is a very intimate, personal feeling here; one not posed, but observed and captured. Greene shifts from long-range portraiture, to close-up shots where specific textures, shapes, and tones become the subject of the image. This abstraction weaves a visual spell, such that even those without a predilection for hirsute men will be enthralled. The photographs provide the space for longing, imagination, and adventure. Hairy is an unusually quintessential book—portraying an incredibly focused and fleshed-out vision of a very beautiful, hairy world where man, dog, and nature swirl together.

Images from the book:



Hairy will be released in conjunction with an exhibition at Robert Miller Gallery in New York City. Pssst... if you pre-order it from amazon as shown below it will cost you less.


Hardcover, 9.25 x 12 inches, 96 pages, 85 tritone photographs
ISBN: 978-1-57687-527-8


About the artist/author:
Robert Greene was born in New York City in 1953. He attended Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, before receiving his Bachelor of Industrial Design degree from Pratt Institute in 1976. Greene is both a fine-art photographer and painter, and is currently represented by Robert Miller Gallery in New York City. His painting was included in the 1987 Whitney Biennial, and his work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.


Be sure to see Robert's work at the Robert Miller Gallery online here.

See Robert Greene on Artnet here.

Some Hairy Hotties For You:

above: Clive Owen

above: Jon Hamm

above: Peter Saarsgard

above: English rugby star Ben Cohen

above: Paul Rudd

above: Matt Lauer

above: Simon Cowell

above: Sam Elliott

above: Alec Baldwin

above: Hugh Jackman

above: Sean Connery

above images of Shawn Christian courtesy of squarehippies.com

above: Tom Selleck

I'm not alone in my predilection for hairy men, there are tons of sites that feature hirsute men or focus on hairy chests:
Square Hippies has a great gallery of chests both hairy and smooth (A shirtless vault) and a Guess This Chest game.
Bearotic
The Hairy Chest Celebrity Pool on flickr
Hairy Chests of The Rich and Famous
The Return Of the Chest Hair (gallery) on Daily Beast.

and check this out...

above: the shirt reproduces his actual chest hair in a stretch fit t-shirt. The work, entitled “Finally Chest Hair” was created in 1997, but it was recently featured in an exhibition entitled “Vreemde Dingen” (Strange Things) at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Amazon's Guide to Famous Hairy Chests