No Letters to Santa
Removing any last vestige of hope for disillusioned children, the South African Advertising Standards Authority has banned an advertisement for the country's Post Office that gave children an address to write to Santa Claus with their Christmas wishes. In a ruling this week the Authority said the Post Office was selfishly "profiting from the natural credulity of children" rather then providing a bit of uplifting hope.
"It creates the impression, in the mind of the credulous child, that by writing to the given address she/he will be writing to Santa Claus, who, according to the Santa Claus myth, will then bring him/her the requested presents," it said.
The Authority banned the advertisement, upholding a complaint from the self esteem police which said it encouraged "a falsehood that could break the fragile spirits of the already disillusioned youth of South Africa."
We've added a couple of posts called "AdBriefs" to the site. They are the same type of news stories that we list under the "Advertising Headlines" section over to the right of the site. They are quick summaries of advertising stories on other web sites. Question: Would you prefer they stay where they are under the "Advertising Headlines" or would you like to see them integrated into the main section of this site? Let us know in the comments section. Thanks.
Indigo Palms, a division of Tommy Bahama, has selected Interpublic Group of Cos.' Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, to handle the launch of its new clothing line and associated stores
America Online yesterday laid off 450 employees, mostly software engineers and developers. The job cuts are the second largest this year by the Time Warner unit, which had laid off 420 call-center employees this past spring and shifted the jobs to India
Mark Glaser, writing in the Online Journalism Review, explores the much maligned pop up ad and it's pending death due to the adding of a pop up blocker in the next version of Internet Explorer. Adrants couldn't agree more and was thusly quoted generously in the article.
"I think there will be a dramatic decline in the use of pop-ups and hence, the revenue they generate,' Adrants' Steve Hall said via e-mail. 'Already, there is backlash in the advertising community against the format in that the use of pop-ups is perceived to give the advertiser a bad name by association with all the other sleazy companies that still use pop-ups. With the growth of rich media ad formats (expanding banner, page takeovers, etc.) and other more effective forms of online advertising, I am quite sure the pop-up is on its last legs."
So take that you lame-assed, sleazy piece of shit ad format!
Men are getting a lot of attention these days. First with the whole metrosexual thing and now with shopping. Gawker covers the New York Times article about the next new magazine niche: men's shopping mags. Following the success of female focused shopping magazine "Lucky," men will now have "Cargo" and "Vitals," the former published by condo Naste, the latter published by Fairchild.
"Vitals" grew out of a "Details" insert and will become a standalone publication in September 2004. "Cargo," which launches in April 2004, has begun an ad campaign that consist, in part, of outdoor boards and posters that get to the heart of the shopping man: Men just want their shit without all the other crap that goes into shopping.
Paris Hilton's sister, Nicky, who turned down a co-starring role with Paris on "The Simple Life" is developing her own talk show. On Access Hollywood, Nicky said, "It's a talk show. It's pop culture, music, sports, fashion, a little bit of everything. We have a network in mind, but I can't say it yet." Seems we'll have another person basking in the glory of stardom for no apparent reason. Oh, and in a "I don't want to be Paris move," she's brunette now. Not sure that's a good move.
