I can't stop looking at it. But in a bad way.

I used to like a lot of lululemon's ads. They were just different enough from the fuzzy, squishy clarity/balance/peace ads directed at Yoga Journal readers that they stood out to me. They were a little aggressive, a little punchy. But then they got weird back in January with their creepy Ombama ad and it's been all downhill from there.

Speaking of fuzzy, this offering is plenty of that. Naked shopping (how, um, yogic?) aside, why connect the letters up top? Why take this leggy yet readable font and cram it against itself? The S is now isolated, and the UDE is cast adrift.

Really, though, the thing I can't stop looking at is the bad Photoshop job on this guy's chest. Were they trying to fuzz out some of his hair? Soften it up? And girlfriends, let's not even get started on what's wrong with the man's nips.


Spotted: Yoga Journal

I can't stop looking at it. But in a bad way.

Cheesy

(click for monster-sized image)

I don't read Vanity Fair to see ads like this. When I want to see ads like this, which is never, I would read Good Housekeeping or Family Circle. Seriously, an ad for cheddar in Vanity Fair? Without any breasts or pouty 15-year-old-looking boys in it? That's not why I'm here, VF!

I'm guessing rates might have fallen a bit, and outfits like the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board can get in the juicy half-dressed action right next to Bulgari and Ralph Lauren. I pulled that guess right out of my ass, though, so don't go thinking you can put an ad in VF yourself.

In any case, if you're going to put an ad in a classy-looking mag like VF, please make sure it at least makes some sense. If you're going to write about a piece of cheese as if it were a burly man (um, ew?), why use a squirmy, kittenish font? And why put an avocado, arguably one of the least-macho pieces of produce available, next to a piece of cheese compared to the guy who always has a truck when you're ready to move a couch? This ad baffles and annoys me, and the typeface is a big reason why.

Spotted: Vanity Fair

Cheesy