Good news for Britain’s thieves: Despite what you may have heard in a new ad, police aren’t really spending 80 percent of time “on the beat in your area.” The ad, part of a campaign by the U.K.’s top policing organization, the Home Office, has been ordered off the air by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority. Always a persnickety bunch, the watchdog group says the ad’s 80 percent figure makes it sound like the nation’s 140,000 police are constantly on the streets, when in fact the number applies only to the department’s 13,500 neighborhood constables and 16,000 community support officers. I’d say the Home Office is right to question this ruling. Is there really anyone out there who thinks every police officer walks the beat—even the officers, lab techs and evidence librarians? At the very least, the folks at Home Office can feel they’re in good company. They can go have a commiserative beer with the porn promoters, knife wielders and Marmite makers.

—Posted by David Griner

There’s some really funky camerwork going on in these two new Fallon ads for European telecom Orange, posted after the jump. Combined with the fluid editing and sharp writing, they’re pleasingly goofy without losing sight of the selling points. (And you’ll catch lots of fun details on repeat viewings.) The characters sure are odd, though. The actor in the first spot looks like he should be playing bass in Spinal Tap. He’s killing what few brain cells he has left by trying to figure out who to invite to the movies, now that he’s taking advantage of Orange’s 2-for-1 ticket deal. The gal in the second spot decides who to add to her calling plan by playing spin the bottle—with a giant bottle! No one would ever kissed me when I played that game. Maybe my bottle just wasn’t big enough.

—Posted by David Gianatasio