• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, March 3, 2010

Colorado restaurant chain Hapa Sushi launched its first TV campaign in five years. Three chefs insult unknowing customers in Japanese. "Did she find those clothes in a ditch," says a chef in the first ad. "Hello ditch-lady. You're so smelly," continues his cohort. Watch it here. It gets worse, aside from the obvious racial stereotypes. Three women are mistaken as men in lady clothes in another ad, shown here. A man dining alone on a Friday night gets the brunt of insults like, "No girl eat with captain of ugly team" and "Say hello to your computer, virgin." See it here. Each ad ends with, "If we insult you, it will be in English." How refreshing. TDA Advertising & Design created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Country pride proves to be time-consuming for a pair of Canadians crossing the border into the United States. A U.S. border patrolman thoroughly inspects a couple's car in "Border Crossing." And by thoroughly inspect, I mean he takes the entire car apart."You folks weren't in a rush, were you?" says the patrolman to the couple, both wearing Team Canada hockey jerseys. The ad supports the Canadian sporting goods store Sport Chek. Watch the ad here, created by Bos, Toronto and directed by Wayne Craig of Holiday Films.

Tropicana brought edible and absorbable Vitamin D to residents of Inuvik, located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The town's 3,500 residents live in darkness for weeks each winter. Tropicana paid a visit 31 days into the darkness, coinciding with Inuvik's annual Sunrise Festival. "Artic Sun" chronicles the visit, as the brand brought 1,200 cartons of orange juice and a 36-foot wide helium balloon that emitted 100,000 lumens of light. The sun rose in Inuvik, to the delight or workers and schoolchildren alike. The balloon gave off almost the same amount of illumination almost provided by the sun. Incredible. Watch it here. The "Brighter Mornings for Brighter Days" campaign is running in English and French throughout Canada. BBDO Toronto created the spot, directed by Samir Mallal and produced by Film Group and Radke Film Group.

The Special Olympics launched a great PSA educating viewers to "See the athlete first." "Skeleton" begins simply with a set of CG-animated skeletons playing basketball. With each dribble, organs, veins and muscles begin to form. An athlete makes a basket. It's Mario Ogunbowale, a 21-year-old Special Olympics athlete from Milwaukee. BBDO New York created the ad, seen here.

Knock me over with a feather. There's a woman voiceover in two of the three latest iPhone ads. Proof positive that yes, women own and use iPhones. I've only been hoping for this day since 2007. This is big. A woman videos her son's first steps, sends it to the family, then has a conference call to discuss the video. See it here. Another mother is able to feed and entertain her kids prior to a flight... and turn off the living room lights. Watch it here. A male iPhone owner tolerates being on hold because he's able to check email, pay bills and play games. See it here. TBWA/Media Arts Lab created the campaign and handled the media buy.

New York City is hosting a weeklong, official Academy Awards celebration that culminates with an Oscar viewing cocktail party at Alice Tully Hall. Proceeds from the event benefit the NYC & Company Cultural Foundation. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is playing NYC-themed Oscar-winning films like "Annie Hall," "Raging Bull," "The Godfather," "West Side Story" and "Dog Day Afternoon." Bus shelter, newsstand, phone kiosk and taxi cab ads support the events, showing Oscar, Manhattan's skyline and classic movie quotes such as "I'll have what she's having" from "When Harry Met Sally," and "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli," from "The Godfather." See ads here, here and here, created by NYC & Company.

The Super Bowl had Mancrunch and The Academy Awards has Ashley Madison. These are inexpensive ads, created in-house, rejected by CBS and ABC, respectively. The infidelity dating site (these things exist?) submitted the ad, a poor spoof on "Avatar," to ABC, which rejected it. The ad will, however, air during the Academy Awards in Australia. A man is getting cozy with a sexy female from a different species. "This couple is married. But not to each other," flashes onto the screen. The man's wife catches him in the act, with his secretary. "You should have used AshleyMadison.com," concludes the ad, seen here.

In the world of medical marketing, this ad was initially deemed too racy to run. Yet ads talking about erections lasting for more than 4 hours faze no one at this point. Go figure. MicroMass Communications created a self-promotional campaign using the slogan, "the way to engage." The ad features a seated, naked woman peppered with smaller photos of a child on a swing, two women hugging and a woman in red lingerie. See the ad here. Would you deem it racy? 

Random iPhone App of the week: Movie Gallery launched DidjaC, a free app that helps indecisive movie-watchers choose a film. An instant recommendation appears before an iPhone users' eyes by shaking the phone. Sure, you can also select a specific genre, but where's the fun in that? Users can get full movie details, find out information on upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and watch high-resolution trailers for more than 10,000 movies. Download the app here.