Penguin kids' classic audiobook ads

Malaysia's Y&R agency created these fantastic "ear worm" ads for a line of Penguin kids' classic audiobooks. I love the combination of kids' book illustration with anatomical detail and a Penguin-Classic-esque layout and colour scheme. That said, I'd avoid the digital download versions of these audiobooks like infectious material, as they appear to be poisoned with some species of DRM requiring you to use "Ingram Audio Manager," a bit of proprietary crashware. I'll stick with buying and ripping the CDs.

Penguin Books: The Wizard Of Oz

Penguin Books: The Jungle Book

Penguin Books: The Pied Piper Of Hamelin

(via Street Anatomy)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

I had (I suspect) exactly the same mental image. Clearly the ad agency is staffed entirely with pure-minded individuals.
PaulR

..or D/L for free (if you don’t mind the sometimes amateuring readings) from Librivox.
https://catalog.librivox.org/search.php?title=wizard&author=&status=all&action=Search

(Don’t give the “The Book of A Thousand Nights and a Night” to your kids. It’s NOT the Disney version.)
Gilly

I might have found this charming had I not just read about the kid with the moth stuck in his ear…
Mr Bobo

Maybe the tag line for the covers should be…”What’s in your penis?”… Dorothy is definitely NOT in Kansas anymore…and really?!, the Pied Piper leading children down the length?…
Ratio

they appear to be poisoned with some species of DRM requiring you to use “Ingram Audio Manager,” a bit of proprietary crashware

Proprietary? Yes.
DRM? Yeah.

Crashware?

I did a bit of contract work with Ingram — unrelated to the Media Manager — about a year ago that involved me working with the team that built this.

These guys are professionals who don’t often have the luxury of choosing projects, because they’re in Tennessee, which is not exactly silicon valley.

Look, Cory, I get what you’re saying and I wouldn’t use this app either. But by calling it “crashware” you’re disrespecting the work and effort of one of the finest development and QA teams I’ve ever worked with.
- Cory Doctorow
  
  I just tried to run it under WINE and bang, crashola. I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.
Anonymous

It was the little ribbon tied to the end that threw me right off.
_nemo_

It’s obviously an ear and an ear canal. If the illustration looks like an accurate anatomical drawing of your penis, you should:

1) Check to make sure you’re not in a Cronenberg movie.

2) See a doctor immediately.
- Brainspore
  
  It doesn’t look like a penis, but it does bear some resemblance to a cross-section of an anatomical structure that might accommodate a penis, if you get our drift. Until my eye made it to the right side of the diagram I thought those tangly bits on the left were poorly drawn fallopian tubes.
  
  If ear canals were really that wide we’d likely have a whole new genre of pornography and another leading cause of hearing loss.
coop

With respect Cory, the fault may lie with WINE, rather than the DRM system. I suspect that the DRM system was tested to run on a ‘real copy’ of Windows, rather than what is essentially an emulator (even a good one).

coop
- Anonymous
  
  The program is doing something distasteful, unnatural (preventing copies in a digital environment) and contrary to the best interests of users. It crashes in WINE, which is a good, solid and respected implementation of standard Windows interfaces, which suggests the devs either did a bad job or cheated a bit (i.e. used hackey workarounds instead of standard interfaces).
  
  In the best case, this software hurts the user. In any other case, it hurts the user more, quite possibly denying them access to media they purchased legitimately.
  
  I think crashware is a legitimate label.
- Cory Doctorow
  
  WINE: “Wine is Not an Emulator”
Ratio

I just tried to run it under WINE and bang, crashola. I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.

Or, in this case, perhaps you called it before you saw it?

OK, it crashes on a platform that it wasn’t designed to run on. WINE users probably represent such a small segment of the user base that it simply wasn’t practical or cost-effective to develop for it.

Still, the “crashware” comment stings, coming from you, because you’ve worked in those kinds of organizations. I know you weren’t being deliberately disrespectful. These guys (and gals) are talented and smart (and probably fans of your books).
- Cory Doctorow
  
  I think it’s more accurate to say, “This is DRM software that is designed to detect when it’s running in environments that give users more control that rightsholders have been promised, and fail to perform when that happens.” That is to say, crashware.
  - Ratio
    “This is DRM software that is designed to detect when it’s running in environments that give users more control that rightsholders have been promised, and fail to perform when that happens.” That is to say, crashware.
    
    Call it shackleware or lockware or jailware if you like. If it is running as designed, then it is not crashware.
    
    more control that rightsholders have been promised
    
    From the support page:
    
    “The copyright holders decide whether they will allow their audiobook to be:
    
    freely distributed (meaning anyone can copy it and listen to it) or
    
    encrypted for only one person to listen to (sometimes referred to as Digital Rights Management or DRM)
    Ingramâ€™s digital audiobooks are sold for use by one consumer on a variety of devices. Titles can be downloaded multiple times, and transferred to multiple devices owned by the consumer.
    
    In some cases, the publisher has DRM-free content. In this case, the audiobook can be converted into MP3 files for use on any device.”
    
    [Emphasis mine.]
    
    WINE: “Wine is Not an Emulator”
    
    It’s also not Windows XP or MacOS, which are the minimum requirements for running the software.
kib

Most of those animals are fine in an aural canal, but you don’t need the pachyderm. It’s ear-elephant.

Thank you.
Avram / Moderator

Shere Khan, wilt thou drink again?
With the liquor and drugs,
And the flesh machine.
I am alone on the grazing-grounds.
Gray Brother, where’d you get
That lotion? Come to me, for
There’s big game afoot!
Bring up the buffaloes,
Yeah the blue-skinned bulls.
Kaa likes hypnotizing chickens.
Well I am just a jungle guy;
Of course I’ve had it in the ear before.
‘Cause of a lust for life.
‘Cause of a lust for life.
facetedjewel

Now I’m the king of the swingers
Oh, the jungle VIP
I’ve reached the top and had to stop
And that’s what botherin’ me
I wanna be a man, mancub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men
I’m tired of monkeyin’ around!

Oh, oobee doo
I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you, too
You’ll see it’s true
An ape like me
Can learn to be human too

Gee, cousin Louie
You’re doin’ real good

Now here’s your part of the deal, cuz
Lay the secret on me of man’s red fire

But I don’t know how to make fire

Now don’t try to kid me, mancub
I made a deal with you
What I desire is man’s red fire
To make my dream come true
Give me the secret, mancub
Clue me what to do
Give me the power of man’s red flower
So I can be like you

You!
I wanna be like you
I wanna talk like you
Walk like you, too
You’ll see it’s true
Someone like me
Can learn to be
Like someone like me
Can learn to be
Like someone like you
Can learn to be
Like someone like me!
Anonymous

Great scott! When I first saw the picture I didn’t think that was an EAR they were crawling into. haha
jeligula

I swear, doc. It feels like I have Shere Khan in my auditory canal and an elephant is trying to squeeze its way in.
Halloween Jack

You don’t want to know the mental picture I had until I realized that it was an ear that they were crawling into.
- Culturedropout
  
  You and me both, buddy. You and me both. XD
- facetedjewel
  
  Yep, right there with you, but I was really having a problem with the left side of the illustration and was forced to read the text. Oooooooooohhh.
  
  Although the word ‘kid’s’ should have been a big clue. I live in such an adult world. I’m not claiming to be an adult, just the context around me.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes well. You’re *not* the only one…
  :o)
  Large scale medical illustrations of Human intercourse are hardly the most obvious choice for children’s books.
  - And once you’ve had that mental picture. It stays.
  Sorry about that…