Rush Limbaugh Ad Gets Spoof Treatment

With Rush Limbaugh, you either love him or hate him. Those that hate him have created a parody of a recent ad changing the headline from "America's Anchorman" to "UnAmerican Ranchorman the the tagline from "The Nation Trusts Rush" to "The Nation Trusts Rush to Make Shit Up." Here's the spoof. Here's the original.

Katrina Yields Untimely Ad Placement

Adrants reader Ted Karlen thought we'd be interested in an example of yet another unfortunate ad/context placement. And he was right. He tells us, "Starting on page 72 of the October issue of Stuff magazine, there's an ad for Southern Comfort liquor. The first part offers a chance to win a free trip to the company's "Voodoo Music Fest," in, um, New Orleans on October 29-30. Worse, the next page introduces Southern Comfort's now-incredibly inappropriate slogan: "Born in New Orleans (where anything can happen)." Oops.

Google Sells Magazine Ads

In a move that seems counter to the online advertising giant's genesis, Google has purchased print ads in technology magazines including PC Magazine and Maximum PC and has resold portions of full page ads to online AdWord advertisers. The ads, which contain five to six advertisers contains a URL which points to an online version of the ad page. The ads do not contain a Google logo but only the descriptive copy on the top of the ad, "Ads by Google" and "Google advertisers offer these products and services" at the bottom.

'Country Home' Celebrates City-Style

Country Home magazine will promote its upcoming October 2005 "Creativity Issue" with its first annual Be Creative! New York, a day-long, outdoor festival combining live performances and interactive seminars to "inspire creativity, passion and self expression." Country Home Editor-in-Chief Carol Sheehan and Creative Director Mary Emmerling will host the event, and Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will perform songs from her acclaimed latest album, Between Here and Gone, as well as classics spanning her career. We can't think of a better place to celebrate Country than in the middle of the world's biggest City.

The event is open to the public and will be held in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield on Saturday, October 1st from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. More info here.

Time Inc. Tightens T&E Expenses

The clearing house for internal media conglomerate memos, otherwise known as Gawker, reports Time Inc is tightening the old Travel & Entertainment budget across all properties. This intercepted memo to Sports Illustrated employees urges them to "adopt a heightened awareness with regard to spending and be as frugal with the company's money as you would with your own." Staffers are urged to take Yellow cabs versus, we assume, limos; to fly only in cattle-class; to limit submitted entertainment expenses to story subjects and source - as opposed to, oh, friends, aunts, girlfriends; and staff meeting may not be catered. Oh, the horror of it all!

Playboy to Go Digital

Placing jokes about digits aside for a moment, lad-mag granddaddy Playboy will launch a digital addition of the magazine with its October issue on September 13th. The digital addition will be powered by Zinio Systems. As with the print edition, the digital version will be available for subscription and single copy sale. While Playboy does have a website with some of the magazine's content, Zinio systems will reproduce the magazine online exactly as it appears in print. Playboy's Lingerie is already produced digitally by Zinio.

Hoping for further worldwide reach, the move is more likely in reaction to the publication's declining numbers. Year-to-date ad pages are down 15 percent, the magazine missed its 3.15 million rate base by 35,002 and newsstand sales are down 23.2 percent. Zino says circulation of digital editions, on average, amount to five percent of print circulation. All other variable being equal, that brings an additional 157,500 readers though, likely, a considerable percentage of digital subscribers will come from canceled print subscriptions lessening the increase.

Radar Pays Big For Tom Cruise, No Money Left For Promotion

It's rumored Radar magazine paid $300,000 for insider info on the Tom Cruise Scientology feature which appeared in its September issue. That, perhaps, explains the apparent lack of funds available to support any street marketing beyond a couple of lame stickers shown in this image taken by our street shot snapper Bucky Turco.

Four Pound Vogue Beast Makes Its Thump

Tipping the scale at four pounds, the September issue of Vogue contains 691 ad pages beating last years record of 651. While Vogue Publisher Thomas Florio is lovin' it, we have to wonder what it's like as an advertiser to have a one in 691 chance of your ad being seen. Can you say ego buy?

Maxim Extends Brand to Nightclubs

Ever the proliferator of female hotness, Maxim magazine is now proliferating itself, as it has a few times before, beyond the confines of the printed page and in to the dark, inner world of the nightclub. Dennis Publishing has signed a deal with nightclub developers Rande and Scott Gerber to create a nationwide chain of Maxim-branded nightclubs. We hope it's more than just plastering the walls of nightclubs with Maxim cover shots.

Nike Likes Big Butts...and Thighs...And Knees

With the launch of a new campaign, Nike has made official the mini-trend towards celebrating less than stick figure sized woman. Following Dove's much talked about campaign, Nike has launched a series of print ads that celebrates big butts, thunder thighs and tomboy knees. The big 'ol booty is pushing aside the anorexic runway model and Ms. Magazine Founder Gloria Steinem is very happy about it telling Ad Age, "It is a change that women and some men, too have been agitating for 35 years. I spent 15 years of my life pleading for ads that reflected our readers by age, race and ethnicity. We could demonstrate that women responded better to ads that were more inclusive of them, but they just weren't coming." The campaign comes from Wieden & Kennedy