You're a Nameless Troll. What Do You Need Rights For?

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Yesterday AgencySpy reposted an op-ed by Alan Wolk that generated a shit-ton of loose-cannon commentary.

There's a lot to be said about the culture of anonymous commenting -- that it lets people say things they wouldn't normally, which can be both good and bad.

But imagine a world where everybody who ever wanted to talk to you had to reveal all his name and contact information first. Sure it'd minimize a few random acts of verbal cruelty, but is a full-disclosure world one you'd want to live in? And can the ideal be scaled to the 'net in a practical way?

We went over other grays in this discourse last week while Wolk's post was still hot, but the topic's so milkable we figure this merits a poll.

Should anonymous comments be banned from the 'net?
  
pollcode.com free polls
by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Online, Opinion, Trends and Culture



Kaiser Hits Creative Bargain Bin to Stretch 'Thrive' into '09

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Kaiser Permanente continues its insufferable five-year-old "Thrive" campaign with two new ads, Kabuki and Mural.

The latter targets Spanish speakers without trying too hard (Latin music + "Viva bien." Way to go). Meanwhile, Kabuki features a Kaiser employee performing "Kabuki" with an electric guitar and selective gravity. He is later joined by a bunch of grinning people that tear off their clothes to reveal medical gear.

Campbell-Ewald (with help from Miami-based sister agency Accentmarketing) came up with this and the tagline du jour: "You and your Kaiser Permanente team. Together, you rock."

Fucking kill us. The campaign cost $50 million, and we apologize to the inhabitants of California, Oregon, Washington, Southern Colorado, Hawaii and Georgia, which will have to see it all over their daytime TV.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Socials Party, Ludacris Presents, Recession Bridged, Fiesta Moves

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- If you attended ad:tech (or didn't), here are the pictures from The Media Social party held at Roe in San Francisco. If you were there, see if you can find yourself.

- Famed hip hop superstar and Hollywood film star Chris "Ludacris" Bridges will present The One Club's first-ever "Green Pencil" award honoring excellence in the field of environmentally conscious advertising at "The 34th Annual One Show" on May 6th.

- Eric Karjaluoto of smashLAB wrote an insightful article offering up a Bridge Over Troubled Water for the low point we're all in (but don't have to be) right now.

- The Smartphone, Smart Marketing study sponsored by Platform-A concluded that 53% of Smartphone users are clicking on advertisements, 35% request more information and 24% make purchases via their smart phone.

- Jill Hanner tweets, "my goal is to get on the @jimmyfallon show and talk about the ford fiesta! we both tweet and i live in nyc! lets do it!! #fiestamovement"

by Steve Hall    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Industry Events, Research, Social



Why Pay Clear Channel When There's Fuzzy Bob on 5th and Market?*

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There's a lot you can say about dot-coms in general, but you'd be hard-pressed to accuse them of being too scrupulous.

Because it's your industry too, beam with pride while observing how easy it is to place your outdoor work in high-traffic areas for 1/16th of the price. That's right! -- ride the homeless!

Bumvertising.com was developed by Front Door Enterprises, whose founder Benjamin Rogovy recognized the "enormous potential in wasted homeless labor." He also thinks bums "will incur higher revenues from donations" if it seems like they're at least flirting with joining the labor force.

See Bumvertising mini-drama below.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Outdoor, Strange, Video



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Sasquatch is Back For Jack Link's Beef Jerky

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Three years ago, Sasquatch wandered the woods for Jack Link's Beef Jerky. Now he's dancing atop an iPhone for Living Sasquatch, a site on which you can make your own Sasquatch movie. Somehow this sell beef jerky. We're not quite sure how though.

by Steve Hall    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Online, Strange, Video



Pfizer Defends Merits of Dead Rat with (Over)Informative Making-Of

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A few months ago Pfizer released an ad meant to discourage people from buying prescription drugs from unregulated sources like the 'net.

In the moralistic, painfully allegorical tone cause spots sometimes adopt, it featured a man checking his mail, popping a pill and bemusedly pulling a dead rat out of his throat.

The ad naturally generated flak for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which regulates ads in the UK and has, based on X number of adamant letters, banned ads for a wide variety of reasons -- from claims to increase eyelash length to, well, heresy.

The ASA ultimately decided Pfizer's counterfeit medicine ad didn't breach code, which means it can still run in the UK. But in some warped knee-jerk effort to clear the public mind of any wrongdoing on its part, the pharma decided to produce a making-of.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Brands, Cause, Video



Subway Does Singing Auditions Thing for $5 Footlongs.

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Subway's whoring for musical auditions to promote its $5 footlongs over the interwebs. And while the topic matter makes every entry cheesy by default, that's not to say all them are bad.

Vote for favourites or unlock "bonus exclusive bloopers."* There's a line fresh out of the buzzword generator. =P

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Online, Video



Students Urged to Take Action For Darfur

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JWT Toronto has created a new commercial for STAND (Students Take Action Now Darfur) which follows a boy and his family as his village is attacked and the boy is killed while his brother looks on. The commercial closes with the boy stating his name and the tags, "Every death has a name. Every name has a story."

The spot points to Stand For the Dead where visitors can be "assigned an individual who has been killed in the genocide and carry on their fight now they are no longer able."

The commercial is oddly soothing for something that's supposed to call attention to a horrific situation. However, it's accessible as opposed to an in-your-face live action commercial that would just come off like some action movie with no meaning. This commercial draws you in and gives personality to the issue.

by Steve Hall    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Cause, Commercials



Because Sending a Package Shouldn't Feel Like the Temple of Doom.

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There's something ballsy about the UPS Store comparing itself to complex acrobatics or death by amphitheater. So, props for being flagrant.

But while the cardboard animation is fun to watch -- enchanting, even -- we could've done without the Universal Studios soundtrack, the extra-extra voiceover and the trite ending ("Hey, we do more than shipping!").

Apart from all that, pretty work by agency Doner and production firm Psyop.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Cool Tobacco Peeps Publish Nikoteen For Young Hipsters

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Kelliher Samets Volk has launched Nikoteen, an online magazine to help the Vermont Department of Health expose the apparently deceptive marketing practices of tobacco companies. Nikoteen mimics popular youth-oriented Web sites for music, celebrities, sports and horoscopes.

The Nikoteen site is accessible via the Web site for Our Voices Xposed. The OVX site includes information on tobacco companies as well as the opportunity to enter OVX Studios where visitors can cast actors, choose scenes and select products to place in their own movies. OVX is a youth-led, youth-run movement in Vermont that is focused on exposing the truth about the deceptive marketing practices of tobacco companies.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Cause