la comunidad Gives Virgin Mobile An Irritable Colon.

Just in time to generate some holiday cheer, talk on the radio may soon be turning to irritable colons, gastric juices, prostates and fallopian tubes, thanks to Virgin Mobile and its new Hispanic ad agency la comunidad.

Launching last week on Spanish and Spanglish-language radio stations in key Hispanic markets across the country, la comunidad’s “Bad Words” campaign is a provocatively humorous series of spots capturing typical teen conversations often riddled with expletives.

But in this campaign, the expletives are replaced, as suggested by the opening announcer: “In the spirit of the holidays, Virgin Mobile has replaced all the bad words that adolescents often use and replaced them with more politically correct ones.” That soon proves to be a bit of a misdirect, as the “bad words” are replaced by unexpected ones descriptive of body parts.

“It’s a smart campaign that manages to be really juvenile,” said Bob Stohrer, Virgin Mobile USA VP of Brand and Communications. “That’s not easy to pull off, but it’s critical for us to be true to our younger audience, let them speak in their own language, and never underestimate their intelligence or humor. And facing traditional holiday advertising clutter, it’s work that’s un-holidayish to say the least, something to help it break through that ad clutter.”

The campaign represents Virgin Mobile’s first concerted effort in the Hispanic market since selecting its first Hispanic agency of record in late August.

la comunidad was selected by Virgin Mobile as its first Hispanic agency in late August after a pitch involving The Vidal Partnership, Dieste, Lapiz and Bromley. The agency currently is working with Virgin Mobile on brand research to be employed in the development of a more fully comprehensive Hispanic marketing program in 2005.

“Virgin is a brand that represents an attitude towards life,” said Jose Mollá, Creative Director and founding partner of la comunidad. “That comes through when you interact with the people who work there. There’s great chemistry between our companies, and that’s something that’ll help us produce great work together.”