Consumerist
nigerian 419
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retro
Are You Ready For The UHF TV Transition?
Before DTV, before cable even, another transmission standard transistion rocked boob tubes across America - the groundbreaking introduction of UHF signals! More » -
ad wizardry
UPDATED: Sony Was Not Responsible For Chilean Ad With Nazi Imagery
Copyranter spotted this insensitive — to put it mildly — Chilean PS3 Ad that shows a gamer giving a blood transfusion to German field marshal Erwin Rommel while laying in beds whose headboards are adorned with swastikas. More » -
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badvertising
Microsoft Goes After Malicious Ad Suppliers
If you visited the New York Times website last week, you may have been surprised to have your browsing interrupted by one of those scammy "we're scanning your computer for viruses OH NO YOU HAVE A VIRUS!" ads that overtake your window. Now Microsoft has filed 5 lawsuits in an attempt to fight back against the jerks who may have been responsible for it, and certainly for other ads like it all over the web. More » -
weird
Play Doh Ads Make Crying Out For Help Fun
These Play Doh ads from Singapore don't seem to be aimed at kids. Then again, the message "safe no matter what you make" seems to be aimed directly at parents of kids who play with Play Doh, which leads us back to our initial thought, which is wtf kind of kid requiring parental supervision is shaping eerily realistic looking bottles of pills and razor blades for fun? Play Doh, the fun sad toy that tastes like tears!
"A Campaign With an Edge" [UglyDoggy via AgencySpy]
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media whoring
Chris Walters On BBC Tomorrow
Consumerist's Chris Walters is slated to be a live guest on the BBC's "World News Today" tomorrow morning at 7:30 am Eastern, shown on the BBC America and BBC World News cable channels. He'll be talking about those talking ads in the Sept 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly which combine singing greeting card technology with tiny LCD screens. Set your DVRs, and bust out the tea and crumpets.
PREVIOUSLY: Gird Yourself, Video Advertising Is Coming To Print Magazines
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funny
Will Anyone Buy My 1300 Chinese Pope Hats?
One of the fun side-effects of Craigslist is that the lack of an editorial gatekeeper means it lets the crazy blossom. The newspaper Telegraph has assembled 20 of what they consider the wackiest Craigslist ads, including over 1300 Pope hats (sorry, they're just replicas), diapers for incontinent dogs, and 300 stuffed penguins. Naturally we assume every one of them is really about sex, but maybe we're being too jaded about Craigslisters. More » -
propaganda
Chamber Of Commerce Attacks Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Maybe you forgot about the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency in all the health care sound and fury, but it's still out there, and financial companies are still very much against it. Now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching an ad campaign that shifts the focus from credit card companies to smaller businesses that they insist will be affected, although the scope of the proposed agency is still kind of unclear. More » -
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bankruptcy watch
Samsonite Files For Bankruptcy
Yesterday, a gorilla* stormed through the offices of Samsonite Corp, the "world's top luggage maker," and jumped up and down on their financial status. Their retail unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will close approximately half of their 173 stores. More » -
how to
Shut Out The Worst Ad Offenders With These Firefox Tricks
If advertisers and websites would play fair with their readers, we wouldn't need to apply various filters and blocks to them. But when you're trying to read an article and every sixth word is hotlinked with a pop-up ad, while the FavIcon in the browser window blinks at you like a traffic light, while loud video clips start auto-playing when the page loads—well, it's time to shut it all down. Lifehacker has put together a great list of all the ways to reclaim your sanity when you're online.
"Use Firefox to Fix the Web's Biggest Annoyances" [Lifehacker]
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misleading
$10 XSport Fitness Upgrade Really Costs $20
Cache asked about the $10 "Super Power Pass" add-on at his local XSport Fitness club today—the sign in the window says "work out where you want, when you want with a Super Power Pass for just $10 more*," and lists "Chicago - New York - Washington" across the top. We don't know what's linked via that asterisk, because the fine print on the ad is so small that it's unreadable in the photo Cache took, but as you might expect there's no such thing as a $10 add-on that lets you use any XSport Fitness. More » -
marketing gimmicks
Gird Yourself, Video Advertising Is Coming To Print Magazines
Here's one horrible thought about the steady advance in display technology: there could be a future where a noisy, hyperkinetic commercial plays as you turn the page of your magazine, and your Tivo remote will not be able to save you. More » -
ask the consumerists
Poll: Does A Company Pulling Ads Off A Show Affect Your Opinion?
We mentioned last week that some companies have pulled their ads off Fox News host Glenn Beck's show in response to comments Beck made and the controversy that followed. Now there are reports that even more companies are pulling their ads from the show. We're curious whether any of this actually affects consumer opinion of a company, so we made a poll. Take it! More » -
restless congressmen syndrome
Congress Tries To Bottle Up Prescription Drug Ads
One reason health care is so expensive is pharmaceutical companies spend so much money buying TV and magazine ads to teach us about our health problems we weren't even aware of (restless leg syndrome, anyone?) then provide the wonderdrugs to cure the maladies. More » -
backlash
Type The Wrong URL? Comcast Redirects You To An Advertising Page
According to PCWorld, Comcast is testing a program called "Domain Helper" that will redirect you to an advertising page if you type the wrong URL. More » -
Apparently, if you put in a "tragedy" word for every 167 words in your email message, Gmail's servers won't display ads out of some robotic simulacrum of empathy. You'll also freak out or depress your friends, but hey, no ads! [BoingBoing] (Photo: solidariat)
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badvertising
Hardee's Biggest Franchisee Refuses To Show Anus Spot On TV
Remember Hardee's anal-centric "a-hole" ads? Even if they never aired in your area, they've been floating around online for a few weeks at least. Ben Mayo Boddie, who operates 350 Hardee's restaurants from his home in North Carolina, has had enough of a-hole this, ball muncher that, and he's refusing to air the spots. More » -
walmart
Walmart Seeks Incredible Deals On Suppliers' Advertising
In hard times, with shrinking advertising budgets, who can blame retailers for trying to get the most for their money by convincing their suppliers to promote stores by co-branding? When Walmart is involved...pretty much everyone blames the retailer. See, everyone's favorite retail juggernaut is threatening to take shelf space away from vendors that do not use part of their ad budget to promote Walmart. More »
