I have no idea when this ad was created or where it ran (though recently in South Africa is a reasonable guess), but since the BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster began over a month ago, chances are good that images from the Gulf influenced the art direction. Then again, who knows? Apart from the number of fingers and the direction they’re pointing, maybe all oil leaks look alike.

I’m a little confused about the message, though. I know kids are supposed to hate being laughed at, because that means they’re different, and kids going through puberty, dealing with spontaneous erections and sudden boob growth really just want to hide in the crowd. But don’t kids also like aliens? I mean, Disney tells us they do, and would Disney lie? So are readers of National Geographic Kids meant to groove on the alien coolness, or are they supposed to wanna meet them after school and show them who’s boss?

Anyway, the credits: