Newsflash! Jeep Secretly Landed on Moon With Astronauts

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Brent Terrazas has provided us with an analysis of the new Cutwater-created campaign for Jeep, part of which includes a :60 spot called Heritage that shows us the 66 year history of by digitally manipulating images of past Jeep models with historical images from the time of the model. You'll see Jane Goodall, Elvis, Godzilla, lunar landings, Woodstock, the Road Runner, Devo, Lost, and more. The effects, courtesy of PLANK and The Mill, are just as eye tricking as Cutwater's recent Rayban work. We like.

by Steve Hall    Aug- 3-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Opinion



JWT Sydney's Cannes 2007 Winner 'Borrowed' From Student?

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Oh look. Yet another ad campaign has "borrowed" from a student spec campaign. In this case, it's a JWT Sydney-created campaign for Cannes 2007 Lion winner Science Diet dog food which, oops, looks a lot like this Advertising Education Foundation 2005 print winner (scroll down) Streamlight created by an Academy of Art University student.

Coincidence? Maybe but shining a light out a dog's ass isn't something your average creative conceptualizes every day. You decide.

by Steve Hall    Jul-26-07    
Topic: Agencies, Bad, Industry Events, Magazine, Opinion



Food Maker's Self-Regulation Nothing More Than Foolish Fuckery

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Proving there's no such thing as meaningful self-regulation in any for-profit industry, food manufacturers, following their recently introduced guidelines for advertising food with too much sugar to kids, have simply played games serving sizes to limit per-serving sugar content to the agreed upon 12 grams thereby loopoling their way past the very junk food guidelines they created for themselves.

As an example, the U.S. Food Policy blog took a look at the nutrition labels for Cocoa Puffs and Trix and determined Cocoa Puffs, the cereal with more sugar than Trix based on the government's standard 30g serving size, will be able to advertise while Trix will not. This is possible courtesy of the foolish fuckery food manufacturers deploy when it comes to serving size. At a serving size of 27g and 12g of sugar, Cocoa Puffs meets guidelines while Trix, with a 32g serving size and 13g of sugar does not.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-23-07    
Topic: Brands, Opinion, Policy, Worst



Memories of Youth, Age Elitism Factors in Effective Youth Marketing

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After attending the Ypulse conference in San Francisco earlier this week, we've come to realize a few things about teens, tweens and the marketers who want them in their back pocket. Sometimes it seems like today's marketers are falling into the same potholes our predecessors did: trying to deconstruct cool, relying too heavily on surveys, and forgetting that before we're marketers, we're consumers. We've been consumers all our lives. That experience is our biggest trump card.

Another thing we don't realize is that generations of kids, teens and adults also fall for the same potholes their predecessors did. What we need to remember is, no matter what age we are, we all suffer from a bit of age elitism.

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by Angela Natividad    Jul-20-07    
Topic: Events, Opinion, Trends and Culture



'Mad Men' Not so Different From Today's Mad Men

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While it might have been a bit less than imaginative to begin Mad Men focusing so heavily on the impending doom of tobacco marketers, the AMC debut was quite good in our eyes and illustrates things haven't changed since "the good 'ol days." In an early scene talking with his boss about pitching a Jewish department store account and how it would be nice to have someone Jewish in the pitch, series's star Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, offers, "you want me to run down to the deli and grab somebody."

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by Steve Hall    Jul-20-07    
Topic: Cable, Opinion, Trends and Culture



The Internet Makes Morons of Us All

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Acknowledging China's recent statement nearly half of pregnant teens met their impregnator online, George Simpson notes several other not so great things about the internet such as Narcicism Gigantus, Video or the "delusional condition leading the infected to believe that their stupid skateboard trick or baby upsetting her food dish or dog farts deserve a worldwide audience." And Infantile Anger Syndrome symptomized by "vitriolic anonymous postings to message boards and community forums using racist or scatological language that, if said out loud in a crowd, would result in enthusiastic resurrection of ancient art of stoning to death."

And our Favorite, Jargonamania (which, unfortunately, has been around well prior to the internet), defined as "an attempt to hide lack of knowledge by using words that everyone else does even if you aren't exactly sure what they mean, such as "long tail," "granular," "monetize," and, god forbid, "engagement." Check them all out here. You will be guilty of at least three.

by Steve Hall    Jul-20-07    
Topic: Opinion



ad:tech Miami Closes, Opens Eyes to Differences, Similarities.

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The inaugural Miami ad:tech show, held at the Miami Beach Convention Center June 26-27 was a success by my metrics. It was well attended. It offered content not found at other ad:tech conferences and it opened the eyes of many to the burgeoning Latin American and Hispanic marketplaces. While many of the panelists and speakers agreed definitive research on the space is lacking, there is no doubt each demographic group has left its minority status behind and are fast becoming a major influence on the American scene. And "they" isn't even the proper word. After all, there's really no "we" and "they." There's just "us." Americans. The people that live together on this soil, fuel its multi-faceted culture and buy a lot of stuff.

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by Steve Hall    Jul- 7-07    
Topic: Industry Events, Opinion, Trends and Culture



Sex For Sale Ads Unlikely to Be Policed by Magazines Which Accept Them

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This is a tough one. We were fully loaded to tear Lenore Skenazy's smile off her face for an article she just wrote in Advertising Age condemning publications that accept escort service ads that straddle the legal/illegal line but this isn't a black and white issue so we can't. On one hand, if these ads weren't accepted, the businesses behind them would exist anyway but would likely be even less upstanding (a bad thing) then they already are because, let's face it, sex is a powerful need and one that will never go away. On the other hand, if publications do accept the ads then, perhaps, the businesses are in the public eye a bit more and under its scrutiny (a good thing) for their debatable practices and, one would hope, more receptive to maintaining a positive image.

In either case, the girls that work for these companies are recruited under nefarious (another bad thing) circumstances and forced to perform sex when they otherwise might choose not to. Might public vigilance do more to help here than to ignore it completely? It's a conundrum.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-29-07    
Topic: Opinion



Yawn. Blogosphere Up In Arms Over Microsoft Federated Media Campaign

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Oh, the horror! Here we go again. It seems the blogosphere - that square, internally mirrored box in which opinionated blowhards spew forth mindless drivel, their commentary ricocheting off the inner wails of the enclosed box for every other blogger to see and respond to while everyone else outside the box ignores it like children in a sandbox at a backyard cookout - is up in arms...up in arms, we say, over...over...wait for it...comments bloggers have made about - and as part of - Microsoft's new "people-ready" slogan.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-23-07    
Topic: Opinion, Social, Weblogs



Double Standard Alive And Well With Les Shoppeneboys

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Wouldn't it be nice if, when you walked in to Victoria's Secret (as a guy) and hot, lingerie-clad models where there to help you choose the perfect thing and cleavage-revealing bra for the women in your life? Of course, that's never going to happen because some cause group would get all pissy accusing Victoria's Secret of treating women like sex objects. Oh, and the fact shopping would be the last thing a man would be thinking about in a situation like that.

But, it's perfectly OK for (sort of) hot looking men to dress up in red boxers to help women shop for the man in their life as French clothing store Celio does. No double standard here, right? Oh wait, their French. They have an entirely different set of rules when it comes to the perfectly normal attraction each sex has for the other. In fact, rather than hiding, they celebrate it.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-21-07    
Topic: Brands, Opinion, Point of Purchase, Racy, Trends and Culture, Video