The Bad Ads

My Awful First Jab at Advertising

Agency: None. And it shows.

At the wee age of 19, When I decided I wanted to pursue a career in Creative Advertising, I didn’t want to have to wait until my first portfolio class to start making ads. I decided, with no experience or Advertising knowledge whatsoever, I was going to make a groundbreaking campaign about a cause I was passionate about. Milk.

I sent this “campaign” to my dream agencies, hoping to score an internship my junior year of college. I oddly didn’t hear back from any of them! The emails must’ve gotten lost.

Milk Gives You More!

So here is the first print ad. For this campaign, I decided on the tagline “milk gives you more.” “More what,” you may ask? Protein, vitamin D, and calcium. That I so expertly highlighted on my home-made Photoshop milk carton.

I also chose a nice illegible typeface for my headline. Cleverly, I challenged the viewer: “If “non” makes it better, how ‘bout “non” non-dairy?” That’ll show them that they need to start drinking “non non-dairy milk.” Genius.

The Same Ad, now in Purple!

Now for the second print ad – the same exact image, but in purple! This time, however, I decided on another ambiguous and illegible headline: cut out the “cutting out.” 

Yes there’s another! This time it’s green.

Last but certainly not least, “give up the giving up.” This one truly gives me chills. I should’ve become a copywriter.

Needless to say, I love this ‘work.’ The potential was there (arguably?) and with a little guidance, experience, and some incredible mentors, it now gets to be a marker of how much I’ve learned. And because of that, I’ve made a promise to myself to never remove it from my book.

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