THIS is scary shit!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Space rock 'on collision course'

And we all thought Armegeddon and Deep Impact were just movies...

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Oh...and to Get More Hits on This Blog...

From DM News May 20, 2002

"Abercrombie and Fitch defends its carrying of thong underwear in children's sizes from criticism by parents, a spokesman said. An Associated Press story Friday quoted parents accusing the New Albany, OH, cataloger of being "Fredrick's of Hollywood for pre-teens and teen-agers." However, A&F spokesman Hampton Carney said the products have not generated significant numbers of complaints.
The thong underwear comes in sizes for ages 10 to 14 and does not come in small sizes, he said. "It's just a fun fashion accessory," Carney said. "It's been very well received by our customers."

Abercrombie & Fitch has a history of controversy with its products and catalogs. In April, it removed a line of T-shirts and apologized after Asian groups claimed the products reinforced negative stereotypes. In June 2001, A&F fended off calls by the lieutenant governor of Illinois to boycott the company to protest sexual content in one of its magalogs."

You have to wonder if it's the marketing perverts or market demand that drives stuff like this. Hey, I'm all for thongs but I don't want to be caught leering at a girl in a thong only to find out she's 10!

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Worth Repeating

Finally, we can ditch all that "edgy" and overly "cool" creative that basically just took up space and time with not much additional benefit.

Guess what? Kids are smarter! Bring on the No Bullshit approach. Ads that actually mention and describe what the product is. Good God, not in the advertising world! We can NEVER be too upfront about what we're selling. It might be too boring! Well, time to change. Yup, according to a survey done by YouthStream Media Networks as reported in Media Post, the next generation wants a practical, no nonsense approach to marketing. Check out these stats:

- Students rated practical advertising messages as "extremely" or "very" important, with "honesty" (90%), "product information" (86%) and "description of actual pricing" (71%) getting the strongest responses.

- The more superficial issues traditionally considered vital to this demographic group received far fewer positive ratings, with "celebrity endorsements/models" (6%), "irreverence" (14%) and "coolness/edginess" (31%) among the least favored qualities.

- When it came to personal finances, 47% said they are "more likely" to save money in the current economic climate, and 31% are "more likely" to put off major purchases.

- When students were asked how they would use a hypothetical $10,000 gift, the most popular response was "pay off credit card debt or student loans" (36%), followed by "put it in the bank" (26%).

Oh, and don't worry, I still believe in building a brand :-)

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At Last...Some Good News About Online Media

Some good news about the online advertising world to counter yesterday's grim look :-)

Marsha Geller of MediaPost discusses a study done by DoubleClick stating that the top three Internet sites deliver more reach then the top three broadcast outlets.

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Just an Online Minute... Thursday, July 25, 2002
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While the most exciting topic of conversation this week may
be the blurred line between online content and advertising,
DoubleClick released the results of its Cross Media Reach
Study earlier this week, which are much more valuable.
Click below to read the rest of Just an Online Minute...
http://www.mediapost.com/eNewsletters.cfm?Nid=1882&s=163021

Masha E. Geller
Editor in Chief
MediaPost Communications
masha@mediapost.com
www.mediapost.com

Now that's news I like to read about!

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