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Metaphors, shock tactics and Photoshop tricks all have their place in advertising. These environmental ads from Ads of the World use these techniques, as well as old fashioned brain-powered creativity, to produce ads that make you stop and think. Some are quite powerful and are likely to get even those who don’t care about the environment to at least take pause.

In an oh-so-not-subtle move, Bund, a German environmental and nature conservation group, shows the effects of too much CO2 in the environment (below). Of course, cars produce carbon dioxide, but not as much as cows do when they fart. Are they going to attach these balloons to cows’ butts as well? I’m not trying to downplay this idea – it’s a great one, very creative – I’m just saying if they’re going to point out one originator, they should point out the other big one. And the image of a balloon on a cow is pretty funny, and funny almost always leads to a great ad! 

Shock tactics work well too. I have to admit I was slightly appalled that anyone would put a spin on the 9/11 tragedy, but this ad definitely made me look twice.

I didn’t realize how much I knew about the images of 9/11 until I saw this ad and thought about the placement of the fire and smoke. Then I read the fine print which reads “For nature, every day is 9/11” and I thought “Whoa!” Someone’s got guts here! This ad has enough shock value that I want to show other people – which is exactly the point. A good ad gets passed around and gets attention.

The next ad is great because it has two meanings. Take a look:

To me, the first thing I thought was “if a monkey can put in a low-watt light bulb, so can I.” But the text says “If you don’t preserve nature by using low-wattage bulbs, who will?” which is definitely less insulting than what I thought the ad was saying. I wonder if anyone else thought the same way I did. It makes for a brilliant ad – people insulting themselves without the advertiser having to do it.

And of course, Photoshop magic is still alive and well, as seen in the next ad.

At first glance, you might not even notice that the “fish” are bottles and trash floating in the sea. The colors of the ad are beautiful and reflect what people normally think of the sea. But then seeing the bottles makes you do a double-take. The text also hits home since people supposedly respect the sea and the wonderment it can bring. It’s a bit of a punch in the mouth, huh?

These ads are inspirational in that they make me want to do something for the environment, and they all made me stop and think. Beautiful colors were used and Photoshop was adeptly applied to create new images from the norm. The environment can be a hard thing to sell, and these ads do it very well. How inspiring is that for those of us with actual products to sell?