ABOUT ADS OF THE WEIRD

With Ads of the Weird, MSNBC.com takes a look at some of the oddest, most eye-catching, controversial and just plain interesting advertising out there today. Primary writer Allison Linn covers the retail and advertising industries for MSNBC.com. The Ads of the Weird team is always interested in hearing what ads have caught your attention, whether it's online, on television or in print.


The walk of no shame

Posted: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:00 AM by Allison Linn
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So you went out for a few drinks with friends and ended up in a stranger’s bed. The makers of the AMP Energy drink want you to know that there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, they feel so strongly about it that they’ve gone ahead and written a song for you. It goes, in part:

"Oh I will not be ashamed/be ashamed/to walk the crowded streets alone/in yesterday’s outfit and cologne."

Image: TV ad
AMP Energy

AMP knows it takes two to tango, so "Walk of No Shame" also includes a few anecdotes that women can relate to. For example:

"Oh how I’ll push through the day/ through the day/ in my tiny ruffled miniskirt/and some guy’s extra-large T-shirt/oh I will not be ashamed."

If you think this commercial is headed for sleazeville -- or, worse yet, the great abyss of cheesy, tasteless commercials -- you might be surprised.

With "Walk of No Shame," the commercial’s creators manage to pull off something kind of remarkable: they’ve written an ode to an often regrettable experience that is actually pretty cute, and a lot catchier than you might imagine.

Also, unlike a lot of commercials, which feel like they were rushed out to make someone’s lean budget demands, this one takes time to get the humorous details right: the comic sigh from the other party in the one-night stand, the woman limping proudly down the street with only one shoe, even the hint of flirtation between two walk-of-no-shamers who meet up at the end of the commercial.

The entire commercial plays like a mini-musical, enacting little dramas as each slightly disheveled character appears to offer a pithy comment on their mental and physical state after a night of debauchery.

One can argue about whether this ad is very effective at selling energy drinks -- shuffling home with fuzzy memories of the night before, no one seems very energized, or even inclined to be energized. Still, we’ll take that over the ridiculous, testosterone-laden goofiness that is the hallmark of most energy drink ads, including others produced for AMP Energy itself.

Click here to watch the made-for-TV version of "Walk of No Shame" or click here to watch the slightly racier, Web-only version.

 

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Comments

I think this commercial is quite funny. Very well done.

Norma, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:41 AM)

Just goes to show...few people even know what it means to have class and integrity, and fewer still care that our society has lost both. When sleeping with strangers becomes the basis of a "quite funny" commercial, I think our moral compass is beyond repair.  Of course, no one gets AIDS or any other STD in a commercial, right?

Jane Sutton, Knoxville TN (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:55 AM)

Jane - Calm Down!  It's just a commercial.  I guess you and your Holier Than Thou Attitude never made that walk while in college.  Many of us did, and we turned out just fine.

I thought the commercail was well done.

Brian, Kettering, Ohio (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:09 AM)

What use to be called sluttish is now chic;  the whore monger is now known as a stud; and the one night stand which was once an embarrassment, to be confessed only in the most secretive places has become comic relief to hawk a drink.  Perhaps a sequel to the commercial might be in order, one where the consenting partners meet in the doctor's office after being told they have contracted AIDS, or venereal disease, etc.  The real shame is.....some actually think there is no shame in such things anymore.  

LEROY BANDURRAGA, BOISE, IDAHO (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:46 AM)

They're just trying to sell you their crappy drink instead of having you buy someone else's crappy drink. You can be sure the writers and producers of this spot think it's cutting and brilliantly witty. Of course if you met them, you'd know how lame they are. Excuse my venting.

Rudy, Los Angeles CA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:14 PM)

Yes, "shame" is such a burden, an outdated Puritan concept our progressive society is surely evolving beyond... let's throw out the whole notion, and simply chug an energy drink to lift our wrongly-shamed spirits!  Walk proud, oh ye promiscuous ones!  Witty! Clever! Amoral!

jesuguru (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:40 PM)

It's S A T I R E people.  Just satire.  WOW

Now go back to school and enjoy the difference in people.  

Willy, Texas (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 2:49 PM)

I only have one question for all you that find this commercial so immoral and disgusting: How were you able to type and thump your bibles at the same time?

You people don't need an energy drink, you need a beer. Loosen up!

DC, OC, CA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:10 PM)

Man, I guess we can tell who the cool kids around here are. "The walk of shame" has been staple of city life since like forever. It's not a bellweather for the collapse of our society - just normal human behavior. Now you may all go back to your bibles.

Bruce W, SinCity, Florida (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:13 PM)

This commercial is yet another reason I dread the day when my kids are too old for lovely commercial-free preschool TV like Noggin or PBS Kids, and will be smacked across the face with messages like this -- hey, boys and girls, it's okay to have indiscriminate sex with strangers! Everybody does it!

Hmm... maybe if I hide the remote...?

Gah, I'm just waiting for the episode where one of the Doodlebops comes home with syphilis! Imagine the fun little ditty they could write about that?

Venus Doom, NJ (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:22 PM)

Ironically, I, from a very big city never got as much action as I have since living down in the bible belt. All I hear is hypocrisy, and usually, I find that it's those who could'nt get any that looked down their noses at those that could.
More alcohol and knockin' boots happensin smaller cities/towns than does in big cities. You need to have alot more :game" to get freaky in the big city.
Anyone who went to college has done this - those who haven't are just jealous.

Andrew G. Nashville, TN (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:32 PM)

People that complain that commercial’s send the wrong message to kids need to take the time to be good parents and educate their kids!!! See little Johnny, and that’s how mommy contracted gonorrhea. So learn from my mistakes and wrap your jimmy like a good boy.

JT, Orlando (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 4:58 PM)

All those who say that people have become too apathetic are wrong.  Many simply find it a better use of time to complain about energy drink marketing instead of less important issues like economics and disaster relief.  Either take it for what it is or just dont watch it.

JS, Madtown, WI (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 5:13 PM)

Hilarious!!  Proud or not, it is human nature to 'hook up', after all we are still animals despite whatever layer of "society" or "culture" you lay on top of us. If you have resisted the urges, good for you but don't pass judgment on those who choose to live a different life because that would just make you a more basic, unsophisticated animal than someone who says live and let live.

Jay Pete, Seattle, WA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 6:26 PM)

Maybe they should show loser guys mixing the AMP drink with some alchohol at the bar the night before, and the next morning show them all waking up with satisfied 10s lying next to them. Heck show a dude with two or three 10s in the sack- (so, lessee, that would be twenty or thirty.)  THAT would move some product.

Mike N (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 6:58 PM)

So very funny! And true.

Did I read that someone's kid is going from watching PBS to this commercial? Sheesh, maybe you shouldn't have married the person and just did the Walk of Shame instead.

Oh and going home after staying the night somewhere doesn't mean they necessarily had sex. Where are the bible-thumpers praising the drunkard who stayed off the road?

DS (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:05 PM)

I thought it was very clever and very well done.  

To all of you who are upset because you think that a little commercial will corrupt your kids and society.
Get over yourselves.  The walk of shame has been happening since way before this commercial and it will continue long after we have all forgotten about it.
Maybe you should try it, then you might not be so uptight.

If you don't like it don't watch it!

Elsie, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:07 PM)

“...just normal behavior”... Interesting. Anyone responding with an opinion other than amusement or apathy is slammed. The comments suggest more of an intolerance for the people disliking the ad than the ad itself.  So many "Holier Than Thou" and "thump your bibles" type comments yet I don’t recall anyone mentioning God. Yet the attention diverts to bashing the Bible rather than addressing the cavalier depiction of a drunk, who doesn't remember (or care) who they've just slept with, doesn’t know where they are, and are smelling like a bar. Being a Health Professional, I promise you that people we see who, in reality, have woke up in that situation with one of the many life-changing clinical infectious diseases and unwanted pregnancies are not thinking what they did was funny or entertaining...  nor were they unashamed. Only the opposite is true; they are quite ashamed. I think this Ad is irresponsible at best.

L.M.R., Chicago. IL (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:22 PM)

ok "jt" learn whow to write correctly, AND if you were actually reading the comments correctly you would see that you dont understand what the other people commented about children. Everyone has their own opinion. Eventhough obviously everyone has given their own. i did not like the commercial. seriously get one that has not been used before. changing the words to the song?? how original.....

Melissa, BP CA (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:43 PM)

Jane, have you met Leroy?  You two crazy puritanical kids sounds like a love match if ever I saw one!  

Hey, you could do what I did, and get rid of your TV.  My daughter read Tolstoy last year, but hey, she'll probably just hook up with some other well-read intellectual freak when she goes to college...<sigh>

Nicole (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 8:31 PM)

The stocky guy in a thong was funny. Too bad he's not in the TV version. I guess America is not ready for sumoerotic imagery.

JMP, Elmwood Park, NJ (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:39 PM)

I do think this mainstream commercial is a reflection of the declining morals in this country, but find it pretty darn amusing in a SNL kind of way...

Janet (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:27 AM)

I don’t really understand why when someone stands up against the degradation of society, then they automatically become "Bible Thumpers." I’ve done that walk before and I find this commercial disturbing. Does that make me a Bible Thumper? I think not. As said before, in the posts above mine, its about the spread of diseases and unwanted pregnancy and what not. Seems to me that sleeping around is how these diseases became rampant in the first place. Huh. Keeping a child’s mind a child’s mind is also thumping. My children know WAY too much about sex just from watching children’s programming. When your 6 year old passes a scantily clad girl on the street and says, "Now she’s hot!" It makes you die a little inside. Trust me.

Coinage, Littletinytown, Illinois (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:07 AM)

It depends on whether you view something in a humorous or serious context.

When you watch America's Funniest Videos or some other blooper show and people fall down stairs or get hit in the junk with a wiffle, do you laugh at it because it's funny, or do you ponder what injuries resulted?

When you watch cartoons like Road Runner, do you laugh at the coyote for always getting caught by his own contraptions, or do you soberly view these exploits as animal cruelty?

Personally, I've had a lot of fun nights with no debauchery involved.  We just drank a lot, played videogames or cards, whatever, and then I crashed on somebody's couch because I had too much to drive.  Then I woke up feeling sick, put on my clothes from the day before, and worked my way home.  If you think stumbling with a hangover automatically implies something sexual, then maybe your mind is in the gutter.

Carl, Kalamazoo Michigan (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:17 AM)

It's sweet that I've had numerous day-after walks in various areas of the bible belt.  But I know the girls were probably the ones who didn't want to be accountable.  My favorite statement said by more than one subject:  "I'm such a good girl--I NEVER do anything like this."  By "NEVER", does that really mean you get so blackout drunk that you don't remember the recent occasions when you did the SAME THING?  How many of the self-righteous comments come from a person with a file worth of their own transgressions?

Jon E, Nashville, TN (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:26 AM)

If you don't like the commercial, I have a suggestion--turn the channel.  

Quit trying to force morality!  *blows a raspberry*

Kat, Isla Mujeres, Mexico (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:29 AM)

Not a big fan of the ad. That kind of behavior happens. I'm a bible thumper so to speak, but I've been in that situation in my college years. I don't regret it, but it's not the way I've chosen to live my life now. I think the ad is inappropriate for children and minors. I don't find it funny, but realistic. I think you folks should lay off the name calling. We're all brothers and sisters. We should act like it.

Tyronne Kuala, Kalamazoo, MI (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:35 AM)

"Imagine all the people sharing all the world."

John L, Pearly Gates, HVN (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:45 AM)

No where in the commercial does it imply that the people who cross ships in the night are doing so unprotected.

People who sit high upon thier ivory thrones always seem to find fault with others while hiding or running from thier own misgivings.

I don't want to return to the old ways where wife beaters, child abusers, etc... got to walk the streets without public ridicule because it all happened behind closed doors.

Steve (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:54 AM)

Shielding your kids from sex won't make them any less likely to try it. I was always open with my children, from the time they could talk, about sexuality and explained to them that different people have different ideas about what is right for them. I taught them to respect their bodies but also that sex is a wonderful thing between two people who want to share intimacy. I also taught them NOT to wait until marriage but also not to give it away without thought. I now have two teenage daughters who will know when the time is right but who are not uptight about their sexuality. And they were allowed to watch Sex and the City and they understood all the jokes! They both have boyfriends for many years and are still virgins! So much for the idea that the media is corrupting our youth! I was one of those who walked the walk of shame many times; by actually talking to my girls about this, I didn't pretend it doesn't happen but hopefully taught them to treat themselves better.

Mom of 2 Girls, Northwest Indiana (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:14 PM)

Does no one else think the style of this add is quite similar to the current series of Dunkin Donuts ads? The execution of the ad is quite similar to the DD one, with quick cuts to ramdom people singing a catchy little jingle. And the implied idea that you need the liquid energy to get you though an unplesent day. Infact, when i first saw this commercial, I thought it was for DD until the part where they show the drink. Not the best branding effort....

Elaine (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:30 PM)

I've noticed, that many things go unnoticed, until put right in front of them...Just about EVERYONE has done Walk of Shame, some more than others, and they remember how tired they were trying to get to the subway, and at the same time look presentable to the outside world that stayed home the night before. Experiences like that are for you to laugh at years later. It's life, and all AMP is saying is, "we been there".

Now, to digress a little bit. I've had many close women to me become pregnant unexpectedly, but none of them were from club hook-ups, they were from dating losers. I won't say people run to the bible, but they sure do go off the deep end.

Mario Boston, MA (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:41 PM)

The day my 5yr old son stops on the street and says "Hey dad, look at that, she's HOT" is the day that I become the proudest father in the world.  And if his saying that gets me a hookup when she turns and says "oh, how cute" I'll be even better.

Happydad, Knoxville, TN (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:47 PM)

Ok, but what does it have to do with Amp?  If I've had a one night stand, I'm not going to be reaching for the Amp first thing in the morning and whether or not I feel ashamed, my beverage of choice won't have anything to do with it. It's not that funny a commercial but even if it's vaguely entertaining, I don't get how it's a commercial and not an SNL spoof.

Mary, Texas (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:49 PM)

Pft. People are very tetchy about this..."ooh don't tell me how to live my life"..."sex is BAD"

Bottom line, is it a clever commercial, yes, is it something that has happened to a goodly number of people, yes. Is it an example of how our society has relaxed in terms of sex? Also, yes. Whether you view this as a positive or a negative is up to you.

I agree that i don't much see what this has to do with Amp, but seriously people. Telling someone to be tolerant when they don't express your own viewpoint just makes you look, well, intolerant! As long as they aren't saying burn the oversexed heretics or something equally inflammatory, don't insult them just cause they, to you, appear to be riding a morality high horse. It's wrong to them, and that's ok. It's alright with you, and that's also ok.

Freedom of expression, enjoy it while you still can.

Donna, Kentucky (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:40 PM)

As soon as I saw that ad, I had an uncontrollable urge to go to the bar, get loaded, and take home the first person who would agree to it.  Yep.  That's effective advertising.  I better pick up an Amp on my way to the bar.  This is going to be fun.  See y'all there.

Tyronne, Kalamazoo, MI (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:48 PM)

I like Carl's comment:

" If you think stumbling with a hangover automatically implies something sexual, then maybe your mind is in the gutter."

If someone is terribly drunk, wouldn't that prevent or at least inhibit effective sexual activity?

My personal impression of the ad is that AMP helps with a hangover.  The depiction of the people is an outer expression of an inward reality.

I find the ad offensive, and AM something of a Bible-thumper (let's capitalize Bible, folks - I'm also a proofreader!).  BUT I also have to admit, the ad does make me laugh in a gosh-I-hope-the-neighbors-can't-see-in-the-windows-and-see-what-I'm-watching kind of way.

Let's not only embrace each other's differences, but our own very human foibles.

Elaine Minneapolis, MN (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:25 PM)

I guess this advertisement is too risqué for you Yanks.  It was genuinely funny and makes me wish I had a beverage like that during my younger days.

Robert, Toronto, ON (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:30 PM)

Hey I'm all for people doing what they want, but glorifying one night stands on TV is just not classy. I don't give a hoot about people's morality, or about whatever the Bible has to say about it...it's tacky. Sad day when the meaning of "sexual liberation" in this country is equated with "sexual promiscuity."

Marion, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:33 PM)

Marion? Uh "sexual liberation" is equated with "sexual promiscuity." It's the same thing. One leads to the other and visa versa.  Some who become liberated are swayed to promiscuity. Others find promiscuity liberating. It's a viscious cycle of self-indulgence.

Tyronne, Kalamazoo, MI (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:48 PM)

Nicole - may I refer you to an article in the Onion -

'Area man never misses opportunity to tell others that he doesn't own a TV'

Wow, you don't own a TV - should I mail you your Nobel Peace Prize or do you want to come and pick it up?

Devon, VA (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:04 PM)

Sheesh! and these are Voters!. Cute.

Jacob (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:19 PM)

There have been whores and whoremongers from time immemorial. We like to enjoy such behaviour, but keep it from our kids and our parents. Doesn't that make it hypocritical? Doesn't that make such behaviour suspect on the moral plane?
What makes it interesting is that the loose-living eventually has to be paid for, emotionally, financially, morally, etc.
So now the divorce rate is at 60% in the USA. The near-divorce rate (just narrowly avoided) must be up in the 80%.
But, we want to keep our loose morals and encourage others to do the same - that way we will never know what shame is. However, no arguing with human psychology, physiology and disease. Those will never change.
We are hard-wired people, for moral behaviour, be it God-derived, Allah, Buddha, etc. We navigate our little paths ignoring our built-in moral compass with consequence of great danger to our souls, to our loved ones, to our colleagues and friends.
Our grandparents stayed together out of duty and love.
Duty comes first. Our time on earth is to support, love and help one another.
Uselessly using up our short time is as senseless as driving our big SUVs. Eventually the piper must be paid, the antibiotics have to be found, the tears have to be shed and shed and shed.
Take each little sin and multiply it by 6 billion - we have such glorious chaos.
Well, what's all the fuss, I haven't murdered anyone, but we have, we have killed our own souls - they should be kept spotless for that is our Only task

Brian Cawley, Yelm, WA (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:22 PM)

I find it ironic how quickly some people dismiss such flagrant disregard of morals.  In fact, even if you don't find a one night stand morally repugnant (I do), the dangers of going home with a stranger are outrageous.  If you are fortunate enough to avoid the outrageous number of people already transporting STD's from bed to bed, you may still find yourself in an immediately dangerous situation.  Worse, there is little way to avoid children seeing this movie and getting the impression it is "ok" to wake up in a stranger's bed.  Certainly we all feel ashamed at moments in our lives when we shouldn't, but in this case, the shame is the result of an appropriate moral compass.  

Dan, TX (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:25 PM)

I never needed an energy drink to sneak away froma one nighter, just another beer.

Kane Doe (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:28 PM)

I would have to agree with Marion.  It is tacky and not classy.  This has nothing to do with God; it has everything to do with simple morality.

From a biological point of view, sexual promiscuity increases your chances of getting an STI or becoming pregnant by leaps and bounds.

Being drunk decreases one's inhibitions and thus increases the chance that protection from such unwanted circumstances will not be used.

So, bottom line, if you are going to sleep around, stay sober and use protection.

Julie, Richmond, VA (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:32 PM)

Was this written by former president W.J. Clinton?

Opus (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:33 PM)

I think this ad is actually clever. Now, I don't have the experience of a One night stand and I still find it funny. I'm fairly young and yet I still don't think one nighters are the best way to go. This commercial didn't convince me otherwise. The people in the commercial look like hell the next day for a reason. They say they have no shame which is great. It shows that even if you do have a one night stand that you regret, there's no reason to let it hang over you the rest of your life. As to the moral degredation of our youth (well at least those younger than me) I think the key to resisting that degredation is for parents to be open about it. My parents were open about sex, drugs, and alcohol. Therefore, none of those things have what I think is the "appeal of the unknown."

Far be it from me to tell people how to feel about an ad. But in my personal opinion this ad is brilliant. Not only will people watch it but it has sparked controversy to get people talking about it which leads to other people watching it. It may also do some good for parents to have to explain what a one night stand is to younger kids.

KP, Montana (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:45 PM)

Sorry folks, I just thought it was a boring ad.

Bill, Minnesota (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:57 PM)

Entertaining, yes. Does it drive profitable sales -- that remains the question. Does indirect, entertaining advertising work? Sure it'll drive recall. Sure, it may give some validation to the hungover and slighly ashamed who went out just looking to douse their lonliness.

But ... will it sell enough product to make a profit?

Jeff Small - Radio Advertising Executive (Sent Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:58 PM)



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