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Bus ads are big business in LA: “wrap” ads, as they call them, often cover every available inch of surface save the windshield. But I’ve yet to see anything quite as fun on a bus side as the following innovative ads, courtesy inventorspot. Read on as we explore how the coolest advertisements are hitching a ride on the least cool form of transportation.
Japanese Canon bus ad
How cool is that? I’d buy a camera with a spinning lens.
McDonald’s SkateBus
Makes me glad it’s just his feet: a 200-foot Ronald McDonald skateboarding down the street would be give me a lot more than a Big Mac attack.
National Geographic Shark Attack Bus
Land Shark hates bus-riders! This ad makes me want to watch sharks on TV — it does not make me want to climb aboard that bus.
“Just in one bite!”
Maybe they didn’t think this one out completely. Sure, it looks like he’s eating the candy bar when the bus doors open, but when they close …
NZDating.com
Aww, the buses are in love.
That shark attack one is awesome.
posted by Dusty on 9-6-2007 at 8:06 am
Yeah, the shark attack one would be enough to get me off my high horse/car at least once to brave the bus system. As for the dating one, I wonder how frequently the right buses are side-by-side. It seems like it would just be pretty confusing to see a bus alone or in the wrong order with another bus (though, confusing doesn’t necessarily mean forgettable to the ad people, I suppose).
posted by Cynthia on 9-6-2007 at 8:43 am
cynthia, look closer at the bus on the left… the “your” obviously wraps around the other side… so each bus has a complete message, it just wraps around the corner on each, most likely - a double concept, as the corner wrap breaks the sentence one way conceptually that allows two buses together to make a unique message delivery.
posted by look closer on 9-6-2007 at 9:36 am
But I don’t see “Find” and “Perfect” on the right-hand bus’ driver’s side.
Plus if you notice, the “Y” in “Your” is actually cut off a little, which looks like it would match up perfectly with the sliver that’s seen on the left bus.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 9-6-2007 at 9:42 am
Oh, and, yeah, the shark one is easily the coolest thing I’ve seen today.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 9-6-2007 at 9:43 am
Actually, I think that camera ad is for Nikon. I don’t read Japanese, but the camera body looks like a Nikon.
posted by Lucas on 9-6-2007 at 11:43 am
That IS a Nikon. See the red stripe on the grip side of the body? Plus Canon’s cameras aren’t named like that in Japan.
posted by Suzanne on 9-6-2007 at 1:32 pm
That Camera is a Nikon - Canon’s have their power toggles on the back, Nikon’s have theirs around the shutter button
posted by Khamel on 9-6-2007 at 3:55 pm
The Japanese camera ad actually says “Yodobashi Kamera,” which is a camera and electronic shop.
posted by Elsa on 9-6-2007 at 6:03 pm
The camera, intentionally generic, is part of an ad for Yodobashi Camera (that’s what’s written above the lens), a store that sells photographic equipment. And by the way, though models sometimes may differ, Canon cameras look the same in Japan as they do elsewhere.
posted by Bill on 9-6-2007 at 11:12 pm
In this Norwegian ad for a nicotine gum (the text translates as “Ready to quit?”) the tailpipe of the bus is the smoking end of a cigarette.
posted by Cy Guy on 9-8-2007 at 3:15 am
the camera and the shark one are good ones…it would definitely get me to take a double take…
posted by Dial-Up Princess on 9-17-2007 at 1:05 pm