Origami Bras and Oprahs Jeans

By virture of the fact that I'm not supposed to be procrastinating, I bring you one of the most brilliant forms of procrastination: Internet advertising. Next to shopping for e-cards, it's hella distracting. The Barely There bra ad is the new tops on my list. First of all, I love it when the advertising world takes its collective heads out of you-know-where and clues into what's really going on in the world rather than what they and their clients fantacize is going on in the world. Like Cover Girl choosing Drew Barrymore as the next "it" girl. Yes! Hero is the woman who doesn't need the mirror or the media to tell her she's beautiful. She just knows it. No regrets, man. And no stinkin' critics with their stinkin' Hollywood formulas for success. Victoria Secret, on the other hand: it ain't bras they're selling and it ain't women they're selling to.

Well, The Martin Agency nailed it with the Barely There Bra ads. You can see for yourself on the Barely There website (I tried to make a link out of the photo to the left, but it didn't work. Just as well. We'd be an altogether different kind of website, having you point your cursor to the pepper stems and such.) My favorite implementation of the ad is on an archive page of Oprah's website (Finger on the pulse, baby. Finger on the pulse.)

According to Reveries Magazine (which believes in parentheses, apparently) "The campaign sends its message using a “before-and-after” construct, “with two bras side-by-side that illustrate the result of an ill-chosen bra. On the left is a bra that is bumpy or misshapen (labeled ‘There’). On the right, a bra with a monochromatic background (”Barely There.”) The ‘There’ bras are adorned with objects that signify bumps, ridges and other bra-related problems. (The objects the Martin Agency … dreamed up include headlights, Jiffy Pop, pine cones and pointy pink-drink umbrellas).”

Anyway, on the Oprah site, you get to see some of the better iterations of the bra that aren't on the company's website. Like snow falling on pinecone cups. Or my favorite, the origami bra. (You might have to click the refresh button on Oprah's site a few times, but eventually the origami bra pops up, if you will.) The origami bra's cups are made of kootie catchers -those little paper puzzles we made as kids. You know, the ones where you stick your fingers in the points of the puzzle, open and close it to a rhyme that reveals a color, then a number, then eventually some folk wisdom, a fortune, or juvenile namecalling on the inner folds? The ad uses a flash player to manipulate the puzzle, but again, different website genre. Let's continue.

Jeans, Jeans, They're Good for Your Arse

Speaking of Oprah's website (Really, finger on the pulse): if you seriously need more excuses to procrastinate, you'll feel almost productive (if you are a girl) when you check this link out. Oprah found someone who expertly helps you pick out the best jean for your body type. It's on my bookmark list. Confession: I care and I shop. As you probably have guessed, being a screaming lady means show, don't tell. Bookmark This! is a feature on my blog where I show (and in cases like this, confess) my bookmarks, a collection of the many ways I've found to procrastinate all these years. Join me, won't you? You have to promise not to judge, but if you do, at least have the decency to comment on my blog. I'll want to bookmark it.