For further reading, the Dec. 1962 Popular Mechanics article, "Here Comes UHF-TV" explains the hows whys and costs of UHF-TV transition.

The technology may be new, but but the struggles with communicating and adapting to the change are fresh each time.

(Thanks to Lee!)

From Engadget:

The Nazi in question is supposed to be Erwin Rommel, a highly decorated and respected German field marshal, but it's not like Sony's really riffing on that here, and making an ad with a swastika in it that relies on your audience to know the subtle nuances of WWII history just isn't the smartest move in the world.

There's also another ad that shows a gamer giving a heart transplant to Joan of Arc.

This sort of weird, pseudo-artsy miscalculation is reminiscent of Sony's 2006 Dutch ads for the white PSP.

Update: The Chilean agency says Sony did not approve of the ad campaign:

This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This "mock campaign" was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.

Cristián Lehuedé B.
Presidente Ejecutivo
BBDO Chile

Chilean PS3 ads show gamer giving blood transfusion to a Nazi [Copyranter via Endgadget]

In the ad, a corporate rumor-squasher (read: PR spokesbot) responds to a rumor-mongrel's (read: pudgy gadget blogger) request for comment about a tip he got about a PS3 price-drop. "You can't believe everything you read on the Internet. Otherwise I'd be a Nigerian millionaire by now."

In response to this false, defamatory and confidential claim, Nigeria demanded an immediate recant. "Nigeria also demands an unconditional apology from Sony Corporation for this deliberate negative campaign against the country's image and reputation," said a spokesman for the Nigerian government.

Sony Corporation portrayed Nigeria as home of fraud [Vanguard NR via The Raw Feed]

If you didn't visit nytimes.com over the weekend, here's what happened: the paper reported on Monday that they'd essentially been tricked, by someone who knew how to game their oversight policies, into displaying malicious ads to some users who visited the site.

The creator of the malicious ads posed as Vonage, the Internet telephone company, and persuaded NYTimes.com to run ads that initially appeared as real ads for Vonage. At some point, possibly late Friday, the campaign switched to displaying the virus warnings.

Because The Times thought the campaign came straight from Vonage, which has advertised on the site before, it allowed the advertiser to use an outside vendor that it had not vetted to actually deliver the ads, Ms. McNulty said. That allowed the switch to take place. "In the future, we will not allow any advertiser to use unfamiliar third-party vendors," she said.

Security consultant Dancho Danchev thinks that a particular, sophisticated crime group was behind the ad, which happens to be the same group that Microsoft filed 5 lawsuits against in Seattle's King County Superior Court earlier this week.

The lawsuits allege that an unknown number of individuals using various business names distributed malicious software through Microsoft AdManager, the company's online advertising platform.

[...]

Click Forensics, a company that tracks click fraud, on Thursday said that it had discovered a 200,000 computer botnet — a group of compromised computers harnessed to work in unison — linked to the Microsoft lawsuits. In a blog post, Steve O'Brien, VP of sales and marketing at Click Forensics called it "one of the most advanced sources of click fraud we've seen."

The botnet, known as the "Bahama botnet" because it at one time directed online traffic through computers in the Bahamas, is believed to be linked to the malicious advertising that appeared on the New York Times Web site several days ago, according to O'Brien.

Although O'Brien suggests that the cyber crime group believed to be responsible is located in Ukraine, Richard Boscovich, senior attorney at Microsoft for Internet safety enforcement, said in a phone interview that it's not clear where the people responsible are located.

"Microsoft Files Five Lawsuits To Halt Malicious Advertising" [InformationWeek]
"Times Web Ads Show Security Breach" [New York Times]

"A Campaign With an Edge" [UglyDoggy via AgencySpy]

PREVIOUSLY: Gird Yourself, Video Advertising Is Coming To Print Magazines

Ad #3 actually sounds like a pretty good idea, if you're into sad drunk clowns:

"We need an Adult Drunk Clown who is good at getting drunk and stupid. No need to do any clown tricks, just hang out and drink a shit load. We will be hopping around to different bars and want a clown to tag a long and drink heavely. He doesn't even need to socialize with anyone, just drink."

The ones at Telegraph are mostly just fun, but if their list whets your appetite for Craigslist stupidity, go spend some time on You Suck at Craigslist and marvel at the dimmer side of humanity.

"20 most bizarre Craigslist adverts of all time" [Telegraph]

The Chamber of Commerce insists that the CFPA reserves the right to exert control over mom and pop stores—their example is a local butcher—who extend credit to consumers. The language of the CFPA indicates it would monitor any business that directly or indirectly offers a financial product. So does that cover small-scale lines of credit from a shop owner to his customers? We don't know. And we're not sure that just because a business is small, it shouldn't have to follow some basic rules for how it extends credit. At any rate, you may start seeing or hearing the ads soon:

The business lobby intends to expand its campaign to include nationwide TV and radio ads later this month. Its lobbying push could feature other small-business owners, such as accountants, landlords and event planners.

Also, if you want a good laugh, please check out this outrageous statement by a lobbyist who argues that financial institutions are here to help, not take advantage. (If I were king, lobbyists would have to wear clown makeup.)

"We want to protect consumers. The CFPA doesn't accomplish that goal," says Scott Talbott, lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents big financial companies such as Citigroup, GMAC Financial and Capital One. "Each state could write its own laws. This will destroy uniformity, increase costs and confuse customers."

"Chamber Ad Campaign Targets Consumer Agency" [Wall Street Journal]
"Industry lines up to fight consumer protection agency" [USAToday]

Samsonite Company Stores LLC said its Chapter 11 filing is aimed at focusing the business on its outlet stores, which have fared better during a steep drop in consumer spending on travel and leisure.

Under the company's prepackaged reorganization, creditors will be paid in full and Samsonite Corp will remain the owner of the retail business. It expects to emerge in as little as 45 days.

"The recession has caused a severe decline in consumers purchasing travel-related goods and the company has responded to this critical situation with a substantial restructuring program," said Kyle Gendreau, the treasurer of Samsonite Company Stores and chief financial officer of Samsonite Corp.

It turns out the expansion that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners (Samsonite's owners) pushed through in 2007 was a bad idea, and the bankruptcy will allow them to break leases and close "as many as 83 stores." The company says it will focus its business on outlet stores.

*Fun fact! The old "Samsonite gorilla" TV ad was actually for American Tourister, which Samsonite only acquired after the spot aired. Most people now equate Samsonite with the ad, however. Weird.

"Samsonite retail unit files for bankruptcy" [Reuters]
(Photo: madaise)

"Use Firefox to Fix the Web's Biggest Annoyances" [Lifehacker]

Today I noticed a new group of signs posted outside and inside my gym XSport Fitness in Lombard, IL saying that for $10 more I can have access to any XSport Fitness club. These new signs were plastered nearby all the existing signs advertising monthly membership of $19.95. Since I would enjoy using several of the XSport fitness gyms spread throughout the Chicago suburbs and Chicago I eagerly went to sign up. However, after speaking to the employee at the front desk I learned that nothing on the sign is actually true. It's $10 more if you pay $30 a month, which is not actually that gym's rate. Also, even though the sign clearly states Chicago, the upgrade does not work at ANY Chicago gyms, only suburban Chicago.

According to the BBC, select copies of the September 18th issue of Entertainment Weekly will include little LCD screens that work pretty much the same way those singing greeting cards work:

The first clips will preview programmes from US TV network CBS and show adverts by the drinks company Pepsi.

• Screen uses liquid crystal display (LCD) technology
• Each is 2.7mm thick with 320x240 resolution
• Can store 40mins of video
• Battery can be recharged via mini-USB
• Rechargeable battery lasts up to 70 mins

The company behind the gimmick, Americhip, calls this "multisensorizing," apparently because their website copy was written by email scammers. (Warning: their website is an assault on the ears even after you press the "no music" button.)

Really, the good things about marketing stunts like this one—including the e-ink screen on the cover of Esquire last year and the USB flash drive that some car company handed out in EW a few years ago—is that you can re-use the technology if you're handy with things like that. Or, if you're like me, you can just keep opening and closing the page until the battery wears out, so mesmerized by what's happening that you manage to ignore the message entirely.

Here's what the technology looks like—and despite our "no Tivo remote" crack above, they do demonstrate a "Skip" button. We'll be curious to see whether that makes it into the final version.

Also, that's gonna be one bulky Entertainment Weekly issue:

Here's a video of the actual ad as it will appear in the magazine.

"Video appears in paper magazines" [BBC via toni_jane]

Keep in mind that this poll is not specific to what's happening with Glenn Beck's show. We're not trying to be political here; it could be anything-companies that advertise heavily during Yankees games, companies that run ads during awful sitcoms, whatever. We want to know if you actually care. So...

If you have a different answer, let us know in the comments.

(Photo: Ryan Brenizer)

Congressmen are targeting the practice, called direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, as part of the health care reform push, USA Today reports:

"There are legitimate reasons to criticize DTC, but it doesn't cause problems for pricing, it raises demand," says Bob Ehrlich, CEO of DTC Perspectives, a publishing and consulting company that specializes in DTC marketing. "As a citizen you have to take it for what it's worth. It's advertising. But it's advertising that has to be true."

Perhaps Viagra and Cialis will one day no longer be able do battle during timeouts of NFL broadcasts and magazine pages. But don't expect to see DTC go down without a fight. Drug companies see a 40 percent return on investment from the ads, the story says, so they'll call in whatever favors they can to keep DTC erect.

Push is on to end prescription drug ads targeting consumers [USA Today]
(Photo: sonyaseattle)

Comcast says:

Today, we're beginning to roll out something new to help high-speed Internet customers get where they want to go online even faster and easier than before. It's called the Domain Helper service and we're introducing it as a market trial in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

...
With the Domain Helper service we are testing now, we will instead help direct your Web browser to an easy-to-use page with suggestions and links to get you back on track. We also provide a seamless search experience on this page, which is powered by Yahoo!, so you can find relevant search information, or simply perform another search.

The program is opt-out — which means you'll automatically be enrolled. This new "feature" isn't exactly going over too well in the comments.

For example:

"... just started the ridiculous opt-out process.
This is not a "best practice"; It is one of the WORST practices that an ISP can become involved in. You are breaking fundamental rules that govern the architecture of the internet. Further, your attempt to spin this into a positive feature is an outright lie."

and

"It is not surprising that Comcast cannot be trusted to conform to a standard, time tested protocol. Instead they have willfully chosen to damage the user experience in an effort to squeeze a few extra dollars from a service we are already paying for. To expect Comcast to be reasonable and customer focused on this issue is expecting too much. I think the only option is to complain to the FCC. It is what I am doing and I encourage others to do so as well."

and

This is unwanted, unneeded, and unwelcome. You're doing this as a market trial to get user feedback, yes? Well here's your feedback from Utah: Stay the hell away from my browsing!

You can check out all the backlash here.

Comcast Redirects Bad URLs to Pages With Advertising [PCWorld] (Thanks, David!)
Domain Helper service: Here to help you [Comcast Voices]
(Photo:mojojornjorn)

According to The Big Money, in a letter he wrote to the Parents Television Council (who complained to him about the commercials) Boddie said that the ad campaign "diminishes not only the product but the brand itself," and he's asking Hardee's to pull it from all markets.

"Hardee's Biggest Franchisee Attacks Hardee's Ads" [The Big Money] (Thanks to Joanne!)

RELATED
"Hardee's New Ad: Our Food Tastes Better Than Someone's Anus!"

You could call it "synergy." Or you could call it "bullying." AdAge has the story:

In recent months, the country's largest retailer has been quietly rolling out a system — the cost-supplement initiative — that marketers and industry consultants say directs marketers to divert money proportionate to their share of sales to Walmart marketing programs. Walmart is looking for a share not just of trade-promotion funds but also consumer-ad dollars. The vehicles Walmart wants funded include co-branded TV and other media ads, in-store TV and banner ads on Walmart.com.

My favorite reader comment on the article reads, in its entirety, "Why does Walmart need to advertise at all? Seriously, what would happen if they stopped?" What, indeed?

Walmart Browbeats Marketers for Bigger Slice of Their Ad Budgets [AdAge]

(Photo: oamg823)

According to Jessica Holzer of Dow Jones Newswires, "Four public relations firms, including Powell Tate and Direct Impact, pitched their ideas for the television spot at a meeting" that was attended by "representatives from the National Association of Realtors, the American Bankers Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable," and organized by the American Financial Services Association. They haven't made any formal statement yet about running ads, but it's obviously being discussed.

The vice president of the American Financial Services Association told Holzer, "We're not considering running ads against anything as much as trying to ... ensure we don't move forward, in the haste to do something, with the wrong type of approach."

If they do create the ads, expect to see them as early as this month. In the meantime, you can get your industry propaganda fix by watching the old Harry and Louise spots:

"Groups Mull 'Harry And Louise' Ads To Sink Consumer Agency" [NASDAQ via TNR] (Thanks to Heather!)

RELATED
"Harry and Louise on Clinton's health plan"

We not sure the company that makes every customer look like a Suze Orman press photo is really the place to go for boudoir photography, but good luck. Be sure to ask for the "I'm having to hold my boobs in place" pose.

According to Forbes, the collected trade groups represent 5,000 Internet and advertising companies, "including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google."

So what do the new guidelines address? Transparency mostly, says Forbes:

They call for third-party and service providers to include a notice on their Web sites that describes the types of data being collected, and how it is used, as well as a way for consumers to block the collection and use of data for behavioral advertising purposes, or selling that data to a third party.

We think there's already an excellent example of this sort of full disclosure on a mainstream website—All Things Digital by the Wall Street Journal. On your first visit to the site, this is what you see:

It's simple and clear. It's visually appealing so it won't be ignored or treated as dreaded legalese (we like the subtle touch of making it float behind Mossberg's head, so that it feels like an organic part of the site). And it appears above any content to grab your attention immediately. Start with that, ad trade groups, and you'll have taken a good first step.

"Ad Groups Aim To Inform Consumers About How Their Data Is Used" [Forbes]
(Photo: blakespot)

Hardee's joins Burger King, Quizno's, and Carl's Jr. in the consortium of chains who have attempted to apply the "sex sells" adage to fast food. Hot!

I'm an avid reader (checking multiple times per day) and thought you guys would appreciate the attached ad I was presented with after I finished taking a friends' "How well do you know me?" quiz.

"Hey Dan!" The ad said. "Hot singles are waiting for you!"

And on the left hand side was a picture of my wife!

Apparently, this particular ad grabbed a picture of one of my friends to display with the ad and unfortunately, just happened to grab my wife's picture.

I promise this is not doctored.

Thought you'd enjoy it.

A spokeswoman for the mall told the Washington Examiner that after receiving a complaint from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, they're pulling the ads down:

In a statement, Fischer said Tysons holds "nothing but the greatest respect for the men and women who have served this country and we apologize to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund for any unintentional similarities" to the Wall.

"We are responding to the Fund's request and are moving quickly to remove this advertisement," she said. "The ad design, which was developed as an evolution of the long-standing Tysons Corner Center campaign 'Where the Stores are,' was not intended to emulate any representation of the Memorial Wall."

We also have a feeling there's going to be an interesting marketing meeting this week about "appropriate imagery" in future Tysons Corner advertising.

"Tysons Corner ad shocks Vietnam vets" [Washington Examiner]
"Tysons Corner Center: 'War Chic'" (Thanks to Anne!) [why.i.hate.dc]
(Photo: Dave Stroup)

I was poking around craigslist tonight, to see if I could find a gift for a friend of mine who's interested in World War II. I didn't find much that caught my eye. That is, until I tried searching "Hitler."

This is the very first post that came up: http://worcester.craigslist.org/ctd/1179587946.html"

It's an advertisement for an Internet-based car dealership. It wasn't immediately apparent to me what a 2009 Toyota Corolla had to do with the führer, I did a ctrl-F to search for the term.

What I discovered is that at the bottom of the page, beneath the ad and in white text (so as to be invisible until highlighted) was an incomplete paragraph about Hitler's rise to power, written in such a way that it could be praise depending on how the paragraph ends.

I thought it was traditional to use George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to sell cars, but I guess in this economy people are willing to try anything.

Chris, who pointed out the new ad to us, also sent the following email to Post:

Dear Post,

Bear Grylls advertising your Trail Mix cereal? Really? The guy will eat ANYTHING. He has and will eat a sheep eyeball, goat testicle, scorpion, spider, snake, rotten lion-killed zebra, berries out of poo. And this is the guy you want me to take cereal advice from? Really? Don't get me wrong, I love that guy and I love irony but,... REALLY? That's like opening a Dick Cheyney day care facility. [Actually, we think it's more like Cheney promoting a gun safety course. -Ed.] Your commercial is like taking survival advice from Gordon Ramsay. I seriously can't think of a worse choice,... unless you want me to think that your cereal tastes like maggots with elephant dung juice squeezed over the top. I'm just sayin'.

Here's the Post commercial:

And here's what Post's new spokesman eats when he's off the set:

Personally, we think a much more entertaining match-up would be Bear Grylls eating a box of Hannah Montana cereal. We're not sure that would be any less disturbing, but it would at least make more sense since Grylls will eat anything.

The new European campaign for the Texican Whopper features a diminutive Mexican strongman-in-a-cape sharing the challenges of cohabiting with his new buddy, a lanky Texan in a cowboy hat. Cowboy helps Mexican reach top shelf, hilarity ensues. Mexican helps Cowboy open jar of pickles, sides are split. "The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," is the tagline. See, everybody can get along.

Above and beyond the ad's homo-erotic undertones, we're left asking: How come the US embassy isn't taking issue with BK's portrayal of American men as buttless-chaps-wearing, window-washing weaklings who can't open their own condiments?

Mexico Slams Burger King For 'Whopper' Of Insult [TIME]

Japanese banana consumption surged last summer, despite high import tariffs, due to the popularity of "The Morning Banana Diet," in which you eat one banana in the morning along with a glass of room temperature water for breakfast. The diet was invented by a housewife to help her overweight husband lose weight, and spread virally through a Japanese online social network, mixi. The Dole campaign, which can be summed up as, "everyone loves bananas and there's this bananman guy who grows them out his body and everyone wants his bananas" (it's important in advertising for your campaign to tell a simple one-sentence story) seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the craze.

More videos here. [Dole.co.jp]
Japan Goes Bananas for a New Diet [TIME]

JumpSnap [Official Site]

"Smart Mop Commercial - Drink Your Spilled Soda Off the Floor" [YouTube] (Thanks to jscott73!)

We know commercials have to be edgy and all to get noticed these days, but this one just sort of falls off the edge into Makes No Sense land—unless some consultant figured out that equating toasted sandwiches with Scott bangin' the oven somehow increases sales.

Update: Here's the Schick Quattro commercial for ladyparts that someone mentions in the comments below, courtesy of Mark.

Update 2: Laura pointed us to this blog, where a guy estimates that the $4 toasty torpedo is approximately 75% smaller than the $5 Subway sandwich it's intended to compete against. We hope Quizno's next ad for the toasty torpedo argues that size doesn't matter—it's how good it tastes.

There are obvious privacy issues that pop up when a company tracks your web history; it's also annoying and creepy. Fortunately, Google has implemented targeted ads in a relatively benign way, working with privacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation to make avoiding these ads pretty easy. As EFF points out, the best way to do this would be to require users to opt in to targeted ads, rather than opt out. That's not gonna happen though, so here's what you can do:

• You can use Google's Ad Preferences tool to take certain behaviors and interests out of its targeting. This would come in handy if, for instance, you ignored Chris's warnings and looked up what his grape soda post was about, and you're now receiving really discomforting ads.
• You can also opt out of targeted ads altogether, although these preferences will be lost if you regularly delete your cookies.
• Instead, Google developed an opt out plugin, which will keep you opted out of its targeted ads even if you clear your cookies. Fancy!

Google Begins Behavioral Targeting Ad Program [EFF]
(Photo: msmail)

See Dan's new public-access-style ad below.

Here's Tonya's irate piggy clip that inspired us (warning: cursing).

Now, maybe it doesn't take an expert to park cars, but I fit the "no experience" bill and I can promise you I'd scrape off a little of your paint or ease your car into a support column. My first job in the city was as a driver for a film crew, and I managed to back a rental van into the corner of a building my second week there.

Apparently someone at Icon Parking figured out that maybe this isn't the best way to instill confidence in your services, because Lansey posed a third photo showing that they've update the want ad—now in place of "no experience necessary" it reads, "Paid training."

"No experience necessary" [Lansey Brothers] (Thanks to Daniel!)

Patrick at Very Evolved wrote about the study last month:

What would you think if I told you that the food you have in your cupboard contains either the preservative Hnegripitrom or Magnalroxate, and that one of these was dangerous?

The fictional food additives are from a recent set of experiments where researchers presented their names to people and asked them to rate how dangerous they thought they were on a scale of 1 to 7. If you're like most people with an English speaking background then you rated Hnegripitrom as more dangerous than Magnalroxate.

...if you are like most people then you don't have an advanced degree in organic chemistry, so what are you basing your judgment on?

The researchers had a clue and designed this experiment to test one simple thing: The link between ease of pronunciation and how our brain judges risk.

The researchers also performed the test with fictional names of roller coasters, and again the harder-to-pronounce names were scored as being riskier—even though in this case risky isn't entirely negative.

Surprisingly the results were the same: Hard to pronounce rides were rated as more dangerous (there's a risk of getting sick) but also much more fun than the rides that easily rolled off the tongue. The conclusion we can draw from this is fascinating: It doesn't matter if we want it to be dangerous or safe, the harder to pronounce words are always seen as being riskier.

So, what's the point? Well, marketers already know that familiarity breeds trust, but it also looks like your brain equates being easy to comprehend as equivalent to being familiar. I always thought marketers dumbed stuff down because, well, so many people are kind of dumb. In reality, if you dumb something down you're much more likely to get people to intuitively judge it as less risky—and if you want to convey excitement, complicating the name or concept slightly might do the trick.

"Dangerous Words" [Very Evolved]
"If It's Difficult to Pronounce, It Must Be Risky" [Wiley InterScience]
(Photo: adotjdotsmith)

This Hulu player, which you may or may not see depending on how slammed their servers are, is supposed to be updated with the most recent ads after they air: