Beckham's China debacle was so bad that even Xinhua wondered if it all wasn't just "some sort of publicity stunt." It's not a good sign when China can't even get its own state-run news service on board with a publicity stunt put on by China to help its ailing soccer industry.

On the bright side for China, the west may remember this trip as the one during which Beckham flopped onto his bum while placing a kick.* But in China, they'll remember this trip as the one in which Beckham lifted his shirt to show off his Chinese tattoo just before the whole nation photoshopped it.

As the World Ambassador for Chinese Football, Beckham is tasked with making everyone in China forget that A) their national team is a longstanding disgrace with a single World Cup appearance ever (2002); and B) China's national soccer scene is so corrupt that numerous players and even the nation's soccer association head were sent to prison last year bringing the total count of the convicted to somewhere north of 50.Continue reading...

In a day where digital design renders face-lifts, tummy-tucks and general tune-ups de rigueur, Dove remains an innovative stand-out as they extend their "Real Beauty" campaign beyond advertising. 

33 million women made over advertising that highlighted their insecurities and impacted their self-esteem as part of the Dove Ad Makeover campaign last year, and in honor of International Women's Day, the brand is reprising the campaign and taking it global.

The Dove Ad Makeover invites women to send positive messages to other women through a Facebook application. "Dove has always listened to women and we feel that International Women's Day is the perfect time to once again inspire them by bringing our Ad Makeover Facebook app to America and to 18 countries around the world," said Rob Candelino, VP Unilever Skincare, in a press release.

The Unilever-owned brand is refreshing its long-running, and highly acclaimed "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty"—which fights unrealistic portrayals of women while pushing for realistic, positive ad messaging—with a social media-promoted Photoshop Action that works like a Trojan Horse by leveraging the element of surprise on those responsible for "unreal beauty" images in advertising.Continue reading...

"This commercial isn't real, neither are society's standards of beauty." Fotoshop by Adobé, posted on Vimeo only four days ago, now boasts over 2.3 million views (and more than 900,000 on Rosten's YouTube channel). 

The fake infomercial, created by California-based filmmaker Jesse Rosten, advertises a high end cosmetic beauty product, the so-called Fotoshop by Adobé, that purports to erase wrinkles and such with Photoshop-like results.

An ingenious spoof on those FTC-riling claims by some overly zealous beauty marketers, it pokes fun at the transforming of models into someone completely unrecognizable.Continue reading...