Sounds like an adult film of dubious nature, but its two commercials for shoes by Sketchers, the Airwalk of the new millennium. Ok, that’s not fair to Airwalk. There was another Sketchers Z-Strap commercial a year or so ago. Anyway, animated ninjas and sparkly girls shoes make me want to skate.

There are two versions of this Sharpie commercial playing right now. The gist is that Sharpies help you express yourself. What if you couldn’t express yourself? There would be no protests, passion, art…. or graffiti. You’ll notice they covered over the expressions spray painted on the bowl.

Oh Icee bear, who shall remain nameless because it apparently doesn’t actually have a name other than “Polar Bear.” How I love you neo-Igloo Caps type face and your permanently retro identity. You’ve been holding out on me for so long, always on an ice surfboard, and in the past decade, an ice snowboard. Countless are the times that I’ve put a crick in my neck doing a double take while passing an Icee machine, only to find that it was still just a snowboard. I’VE GOT NOTHING AGAINST SNOWBOARDING. I imagine I’d love it if I was still doing it. Talk to me again in a year, my son is dying to go snowboarding on “Mountain Hood.”

I’m in the market for a new digital camera, specifically a Nikon because that’s what my lenses are leftover from my now defunct D70, which has suffered a fatal casualty in the memory card reading connection. Repairs cost about exactly what the body goes for used on eBay. When I went to the Nikon USA web site to price the current lineup, I noticed this skateboard shot gracing the front page of the web site. They have a randomizer selecting from a pool of images, so this one might not be prominently displayed, but you should see it flash briefly regardless. Hey Nikon, check out those nice, big new banner ads…

– Tip of the hat to Orezona, what’s up?

I happened to catch this commercial on TV about an hour after the behind the scenes Spohn Ranch footage of the shoot was pulled from YouTube. My guess it the folks at EA didn’t want it detracting from the original, or something vague like that.

– Thanks to Vince for the tip.

I swear there is more information on the web about the history of Duff Man than there is about Bud Man. This sticker dates back to the late 70’s or possibly early 80’s. I like that someone drew a cartoon character and then used a photostat to insert tiny photo realistic bud cans in his hand.

– Thanks to Scott Starr for the scan. Get a web site so I can link to it Scott!

Advertising for the Ford Fiesta disguised as street art. I wonder how little kids growing up are going to navigate through the land mines of Madison Avenue as they grow up. In a way I imagine it will roll right off their backs. Maybe it will make them more suspicious of everything.

– Thanks to Doug for the photo.

Here’s a pretty cool ad from Converse. It looks much better larger, on Ads of the World. Never actually seen it in a magazine. This isn’t even an add for Converse Skateboarding. Anybody that skates has probably worn Chuck Taylors at one point or another.

What they lack in market share, RealPlayer is willing to make up for in nostalgia by being on top of what was popular on the internet about two years ago. They’re still doing skateboarding dogs.

Steve Jobs is the most respected and admired entrepreneur amongst the teenagers in U.S. according to a survey conducted by Junior Achievement. He beat out other celebrity entrepreneurs, most notably (in our case), Tony Hawk. Don’t feel bad for Tony. The folks at Honda motors admired him enough to use him in a film talking about competition and drive, designed to promote their new FCX Clarity fuel cell powered electric vehicle. You can watch the seven minute Race against Time after the jump. Plus, it’s not as if Tony hasn’t already appeared in several advertisements for Apple.

[Source: CNet]