Hasta La Creative!

At a time when young people have a conflicted relationship with police, it’s good to know there’s one reliable voice of unity: Zack Morris, circa 1991.

The Philadelphia Police Department, which is no stranger to odd, retro memes and callbacks, has resurrected an anti-drugs PSA from the George H.W. Bush years. The clip replaces NBC exec Brandon Tartikoff with the poorly Photoshopped head of Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who also dubs in his own somber name drop. 

The whole thing is so weird and lazy and baffling, it’s quickly generated national attention.

The department’s social media director, Sgt. Eric Gripp, told the Daily News that his original idea was to replace each cast member’s head with someone from the police department, but when schedules didn’t allow for that much customization, he just dropped in the commissioner and called it a day. 

“I showed [the video] to him and he laughed,” Gripp told the Daily News. “Fortunately for me the boss is very down-to-earth and has a great sense of humor.”

Of course, one would hope the police department got the appropriate copyright permissions from NBC to use the clip. We’ve asked the department about that aspect and will update if we hear back.

While many are charmed by the spot’s low-budget quirk value, a skeptical AV Club asks some valid questions about the clip’s audience and message: “Who is this appealing to—people in their 30s and 40s who have probably already determined their feelings on pot? And if they are so stringent on marijuana laws, why are they not as strict about copyright infringement?”

Here’s another retro, repurposed clip the department posted earlier this year:

As Twitter was erupting this afternoon with outrage over a grand jury’s decision not to indict the NYPD officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner, Netflix made a rather odd marketing decision.

The streaming service posted a Peaky Blinders promo featuring hard-boiled Irish cop Chester Campbell, played by Sam Neill. The tweet message—”Just because you’re law enforcement doesn’t mean you’re law abiding.”—seemed especially topical when paired with the photo’s quote, “God help those who stand in our way.”

While the tweet didn’t spark much real anger at Netflix, it did draw a mixed reaction from those who felt the company was siding (intentionally or not) with protesters and others who felt it was simply insensitive.

@netflix I love you guys, but you really need to work on your timing with that tag line.

— Kate Kirby (@uncanny_kate) December 3, 2014

Spot on, netflix. “@netflix: Just because you’re law enforcement doesn’t mean you’re law abiding. #PeakyBlinders pic.twitter.com/5q52fwU7ch”

— Lianne Fitz (@lianne_fitz) December 3, 2014

@netflix Perfect timing with that tweet.

— cantona’s kick ? (@disney_doctrine) December 3, 2014

.@netflix EXCELLENT marketing. Synergizing with today’s horrific news about failure of justice system to indict murdering police. BRILLIANT

— Soylent Alan (@PennStateGuy) December 3, 2014

Shame on you @netflix! Are you really using the #FergusonDecision and #EricGarner‘s death to promote your show!? WTF! pic.twitter.com/c49k3Aj0Cn

— Katie Carman-Lehach (@katiecarman) December 3, 2014

@netflix Boy aint that appropriate.

— Scott Wyllie (@TheWyllieScott) December 3, 2014

Their intentions were good, but this ad about real police stopping motorists to give them free ice cream has left some critics saying the feel-good attempt is little more than a corporate-sponsored abuse of power.

Opinions are clearly mixed on the commercial for Unilever-owned Wall's Ice Cream, known in America under brand names like Eskimo and Good Humor. With 500,000 views and 1,266 thumbs-up votes (compared to just 96 thumbs down) on YouTube, the spot seems to be a winner. But the video's comments are awash in negative feedback.

"Oh great, make me late for an appointment so you can play a joke on me," notes one commenter. "I'm sorry, but this is an unacceptable use of government resources.?"

"Apparently abuse of power and playing on people's fear of arbitrary prosecution is cute now," says another.

This isn't exactly an easy time to be building social media goodwill around police officers. The recent #MyNYPD initiative meant to encourage positive photos of cops in the community instead led to a deluge of images of police beating and wrongfully detaining suspects. So it's understandable that some viewers wouldn't enjoy seeing police (or in this case California's Plumas County Sheriff's deputies) pulling over innocent people on a corporation's dime.

But the ad also has its share of fans, several of whom laughably dismissed the haters by pointing out that the ad ends with the comment, "People need to lighten up a little bit."

Sure, they're homicidal, but do zombies also make good petty criminals? Apparently they do, swarming the Los Angeles suburbs and snatching anything not nailed down from careless residents' vehicles.

That's according to this intentionally cheesy video from one of the Los Angeles Police Department's San Fernando Valley divisions. Cops, many of them doing double duty as makeup artists, directors, writers and actors, created the seven-minute PSA to tell people to lock their cars and hide their valuables. There are some 400 vehicle break-ins a week in the area, a number that usually jumps during the holidays. What better way to capture attention than using zombies to prove the point?

Capt. Jeffrey Bert described the video to the L.A. Times as an attempt to coattail The Walking Dead in a "G-rated comic style." The undead thieves, for instance, drink 40-ouncers out of brown paper bags and shed their limbs at crime scenes. Talk about being caught red handed. The good guys don't even have to drop their donuts or use their department-issued chain saws to solve these cases.

Mumbai police arrested one man and identified four others for Thursday evening’s gang rape of a photojournalist in Lower Parel in Mumbai.

A Massachusetts State Police sergeant released images from the capture of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Reporters found themselves in a complex relationship with the authorities, being thanked and chastised at the same time.

Regional Occupy the Midwest summit broken up by police in prelude to May uprising.

From Adbusters Blog

Get ready for #OccupyChicago.

From Adbusters Blog