Redditors interested in advertising had a lot to talk about this year, and mining their top posts reveals what they consider the biggest stories in the industry. The advertising subreddit shared some obvious obsessions that captured everyone's attention, but also some more obscure moments that many may have missed.
The advertising subreddit, r/advertising, is a small community of about 37,000 subscribers discussing the ad world, and posts are ranked according to how many people vote them to the top, or downvote them to obscurity. Here is what made it to the top of r/advertising in 2017 (minus redundant topics and one Pringles post that slid in technically in 2016):
Not neutral on neutrality
Along with the rest of Reddit, r/advertising also took up the fight to save net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission and its chairman Ajit Pai were the villains of many hardcore internet advocates, who saw the recent push to end net neutrality as an attack on their favorite websites -- like Reddit. Under the rules that were eventually adopted, internet providers can limit some websites with slower speeds and data capacities and favor others, thus ending the practice of giving all websites the same treatment. Reddit was among the internet communities most vocal against the new rules, and this post made it high up in most communities' discussion boards.
Creative use of negative space
The advertising forum is always one to reward innovative creative, and this animal adoption poster was the most popular post all year featuring a unique creative execution that turned the white space into furry pets.
In need of a graphic designer
Not all creative executions need to be so visually stunning. This help wanted ad seeking a graphic designer received a lot of Reddit love for its honesty, even though it's just a sheet of paper with some large text, which was kind of the point.
That Pepsi ad
It wouldn't be an advertising community if it didn't at least discuss the biggest moments in the industry, and the Kendall Jenner/Pepsi ad made it near the top for the year here, too. It wasn't the most upvoted post at No. 5, but it sure generated the most discussion. The top comment was a subtle jab: "Millennials love to protest, right?"
That John Denver … is so right with "Rocky Mountain High"
This Denver billboard earned respect for Totino's, which has become quite the marketing phenomenon with its social game and clearly its print game, too. "Totino's knows its audience," says the headline to the Reddit post with a picture of the Denver bus stop and poster for Totino's saying, "It's high time for some pizza rolls. #betterwhenbaked."
Skittles does creepy right
This ad from Skittles was disturbing to say the least, but unlike the Pepsi ad, it won the praise of many on Reddit. Sure, the umbilical cord was disgusting, but "you gotta be brave to put your brand out there like that," one Reddit user commented.
Who is Joe Coleman?
He's a copywriter and he nailed his resume, that's who. Just look for yourself to see why it won r/advertising's heart.
Getting with the program
It's not all jokes and bad ads on the thread, some of the posts can be quite useful. One helpful r/advertising visitor put together a guide for advertisers to learn programming. The internet guide teaches the basic of computer coding, a skill to help people in advertising get ahead. "Awesome," as more than one Reddit commenter said.
Heineken's answer to Pepsi
This commercial could have been another disaster like Pepsi's. But it was praised as handling a sensitive issue with respect.
Cards Against Advertising
Ads Against Humanity was a joke from True[X], playing on the Cards Against Humanity party game "created for horrible people." The jokes on these cards would only be gotten by a true ad geek crowd, and that's probably why r/advertising loved them. True[X] is the ad tech platform owned by 21st Century Fox.