We’re about to conclude Women’s Month, which means an end to 31 days of offensive targeted advertising that over-utilises the colour pink.

While August is an example of how advertising can go horribly wrong, the print adverts celebrated at this year’s Loerie Awards are proof that we have some brilliantly clever and creative minds out there.

Then again, we knew that from our story earlier in the week on the television adverts that took the top prizes at the Loeries, hosted in Durban this past weekend.

From more than 130 print adverts, two South African contributions walked away with gold awards, and four with silver awards.

Business Insider has more on the event:

The Loeries received 2,500 entries from 646 brands represented by 281 agencies in 15 countries across Africa and the Middle East.

296 entries received awards, including 5 Grands Prix, 32 Golds, 72 Silvers, 116 Bronzes, 18 Craft Golds and 53 Craft Certificates.

The six adverts that follow were named the best print adverts in South Africa.

‘Abuse Disguised as Love – Uncle, Father, Husband’ – People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA)

These POWA adverts in Sotho were designed to create awareness around abusive relationships. The text translates as “show uncle that you’re now a woman” with the tagline ‘abuse is often disguised as love’.

‘Never let the two meet – Meat & Vegan, Toothpaste & Orange Juice, Socks & Sandals’ – Volkswagen South Africa

I included two of the ads from this campaign because people need to know that socks and sandals should not now, nor ever have been, a thing. It’s just not right.

The advert was designed to promote Volkswagen’s Automatic Emergency Braking system.

‘Afrikaans’ – Independent Media

This print campaign covered an entire page of one of South Africa’s largest isiZulu newspapers – Isolezwe. It was printed in Afrikaans to commemorate the June 16, 1976, student protests against Afrikaans instruction in schools.

The tagline was “without the youth of 1976 even your news would be different”.

‘Think before you friend – Sugar Daddy, Pervert, Bad Influence’ – Cell C 

Cell C commissioned this advert as part of a corporate responsibility campaign. It’s designed to warn internet users about the dangers of meeting strangers on social media.

‘Never Lets Go – Recipe, Crown, Nuke, Ring’ – BBL Locks

Yep, that’s Colonel Sanders hanging onto that KFC secret recipe like there’s no tomorrow. The ad is one of three, and the other two show Queen Elizabeth hanging onto her crown and Kim Jong Un hanging onto his nuclear weapons.

It’s a clever way to emphasise the strength of the lock advertised. It snatched a gold award at the Loeries.

‘Don’t Search. Discover – Snow, Echo, Moss, Skunk, Puddle’ – National Geographic

This ad for National Geographic was designed to encourage younger readers to explore nature. It was one of two print adverts awarded gold.

Always good to see South Africa’s finest creative minds being honoured for their work, and hopefully this serves as an inspiration to other agencies to up their games.

[source:businessinsider]