• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, June 10, 2009

Electronic Arts bowed two TV spots promoting the release of The Sims 3 videogame. Players can now choose personality traits for characters, such as flirty, kleptomaniac, pyromaniac, lewd and randy. Clothing is also optional. In the first ad, seen here, Sims characters unleash havoc on a quiet town, setting fires, robbing houses and inappropriately touching innocent passersby. There's sex and candy found in the second spot, "Lollipop." A young boy receives a lollipop, and an elderly woman takes it away; a man and woman get frisky in a hotel room while her naked lover stands perched on an outer ledge. Watch the ad here. Wieden + Kennedy Portland created the ads.

The new iPhone records video. It has other new features, but video is the key function highlighted in "Break In," launching June 15. The ad broke Monday online at Apple.com. The iPhone is kept under tight wraps at the Apple lab. Not so tight, as a cat burglar drops down a small video camera to snap shots of the device from all angles. "I think it's the same," he tells his accomplice. An Apple employee enters the vault, picks up the iPhone and replays video of the rogue camera sizing up the iPhone. The employee doesn't look the least bit unnerved; he merely glances at the ceiling. See the ad here. TBWA/Media Arts Lab created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Happy ChinChilli Day. The next time you need a three-day weekend in Vegas, use ChinChilli day as an excuse. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority launched an interesting TV spot showcasing an employee's impressive knack for storytelling and weasling his way into a three-day weekend. The man regales his boss with the story of the chinchilla revolution, when pet chinchillas revolted against their owners, using shotguns, bites to the jugular and dynamite. The humans defeated the chinchillas -- and what better way to celebrate than a long weekend in Vegas? Watch the ad here, created by R&R Partners.

Dunkin' Donuts launched a TV, radio and outdoor campaign introducing consumers to the Wake-up Wrap, a breakfast tortilla that costs 99 cents. Each wrap contains a ½ scrambled egg and a slice of American cheese. A slice of cherrywood smoked bacon can be added for 50 cents. The campaign uses the tag line, "Breakfast NOT Brokefast." My wallet might be heavy, but my stomach would be empty. I'd probably need four of these to quiet the rumbling. The TV spot shows a woman conversing with her co-worker on the elevator ride up to work. She's carrying her iced coffee and wake-up wrap, which he's ogling. He also has a waist that Scarlett O'Hara would envy, because he's physically tightening his belt in order to save money. See the ad here. Consumers attempt to save money by pushing their cars to work and paying a lesser fee for a toll ride in radio ads, heard here and here. In addition, if you live in New York, Chicago or Boston, be on the lookout for strange displays in public fountains. Khaki-clad legs are sticking out of the water next to a sign that reads: "Please Do Not Remove Change for 99¢ Breakfast Items at Dunkin' Donuts." See it here. Hill Holliday created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Grocery shoppers needn't hunt for great prices if they shop at Food Lion. Elsewhere, it's a jungle. A group of differently priced shopping carts roam the jungle in the first ad. A family sets their sights on the cart within their budget and hunts it down. Watch the ad here. Cheddar cheese is the missing item, still to be checked off a grocery list, in the second ad. A piece of cheedar is spotted -- on sale -- and a bargain-happy family quickly surrounds it. See the ad here. Ames Scullin O'Haire created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Wawa's Hoagiefest began June 1. Now in its second year, Hoagiefest is a summer-long celebration of Wawa hoagies. Creative has a '60s vibe. Check out this beachy, psychedelic spot promoting Wawa's Italian shorti. There's also a microsite where users can upload a video to be played along with an existing Hoagiefest song, create an original song or create both an original song and video. There will be a winner for each category. The existing songs are cheesy funny. They're worth a visit to the site. The Richards Group created the radio, television and print elements and The Archer Group handled the online components.

Animal Planet promoted the upcoming season of "Whale Wars" last week by wrapping delivery trucks in New York so it appeared they were delivering canned whale meat, similar to what is actually sold in Japan. In addition, street teams handed out cans of faux whale meat at the South Street Seaport, Washington Square Park, Union Square and Madison Square Park, among other locales. The cans contained red licorice, but only enough to line the bottom of the cans. Fail Whale. See creative here and here. IntranMedia wrapped the trucks and Discovery Creative designed the cans of whale meat.

Dr Dre plays a better fake doctor than Gene Simmons, aka Dr Love, in the latest ad for Dr Pepper. Dre shows up at a party where the DJ is spinning fast-paced techno music. The rapper takes over for the DJ and plays a slowed-down version of a song off his upcoming album. And he's wearing his own Dr Dre brand of headphones in the spot. Who got the better deal from this collaboration? The spot ends with "Trust me. I'm a doctor," the campaign's tag line. See the ad here, created by Deutsch LA.

Corona ads make me happy that summer is just around the corner. Two refreshed spots launched June 8 on network and cable TV. The headlines of a newspaper's financial section are shown in "Kite." As the camera pans out, viewers realize the paper has been crafted into a kite, being helmed by a couple drinking Coronas on the beach. Watch the ad here. A man is skimming stones into a crystal-clear ocean in "Lagoon." His BlackBerry starts to vibrate the same time he's about to skim another stone. You know what happens. The Blackberry sleeps with the fishes. See the ad here. Cramer-Krasselt refreshed the ads and handled the 2009 media buy. "Kite" aired in 1992 and was originally created by Campbell Mithun/Chicago. "Lagoon" aired in 1998 and was originally created by The Richards Group.