Forget airline miles, cash back, rewards points, or any of that rubbish. American Express wants you to remember that the best way to take full advantage of your card is to carry a balance. [More]
American Express, Where Carrying A Balance With An 18% APR Is A Perk
By March 25, 2013
Is Greenville, SC, Actually Getting Jetpacks Or Is This Just Cruel Viral Marketing?
By March 7, 2013
Earlier this week, billboards started popping up around Greenville, SC, advertising a new mode of transportation — or at least a form of transport that has been promised to us since the 1950s. [More]
Is Obnoxious Advertising A ‘Firsthand Customer Experience’ You Can Yelp About?
By March 7, 2013
A construction company coated Bryan’s neighborhood with leaflets, and he wasn’t happy about it. He tried to complain right to the company, and only got an answering service. So what’s a dissatisfied consumer to do? He turned to Yelp. Yelp, in turn, took down his review because it violates the site’s Content Guidelines for reviews, as it “doesn’t describe a firsthand customer experience.” Since when is having your neighborhood coated with flyers not a firsthand experience? [More]
Taco Bell Should Probably Have Told Its Restaurants About Cool Ranch Doritos Taco Going On Sale Early
By March 6, 2013
Telling 9.8 million Facebook fans and 366,000 Twitter followers that you’re going to release a highly anticipated product a day early is good marketing — that is, unless you fail to tell the stores that are supposed to sell this item. [More]
the inside poopThe official Charmin Twitter feed is notorious for its constant stream of poop-related musings, ranging in quality from sophomoric to brilliant (insofar as fecal humor can be brilliant). Now the Internet has revealed at least one of the people behind Procter & Gamble’s filthiest social media campaign. (via AnimalNewYork.com)
Female Athletes Beware: Your Boobs Are Your Own Worst Enemy
By March 4, 2013
You don’t need to tell me twice––or even once, really––that for many women who are “blessed” with a lot of mammary tissue, finding a good sports bra is a challenge. I’ve been on that hunt since approximately 1994. This ad campaign from UK lingerie retailer Nod & Wink sets out to be a saucy and funny ad for sports bras, but ultimately ends up haunting and sort of sad. [More]
Get The Latest News Headlines… With Your Restaurant Receipt
By January 10, 2013
Because you weren’t already getting enough news from your TV/radio/computer/phone/electronic highway billboards (and occasionally newspapers and magazines), someone has come up with yet another way to provide you with the latest headlines — your restaurant receipt. [More]
Competitors Accuse Walmart Of Providing Inaccurate Price Comparisons In Ads
By January 4, 2013
For several months, Walmart has been running a series of ads touting its Low Price Guarantee and calling out specific competitors for their higher prices. But those retailers are now fighting back with complaints in several states. [More]
More Online Ads Should Require Users To Confirm They Meant To Click
By December 19, 2012
Last week, Google introduced a new feature on its mobile ad network that seeks to cut down on accidental ad clicks by requiring the user to verify they want to visit the site linked in the ad. We think this is a great idea that the entire Internet could use. [More]
Facebook Really Wants To Be Hated, Will Launch Auto-Play Video Ads In 2013
By December 18, 2012
You know how much fun it is when you’re browsing the Internet and you get to a page where a loud video starts playing while you frantically try to stop it or mute your computer? Several hundred million Facebook members should prepare themselves for this thrill when the site launches auto-play video ads next year. [More]
Lucky Charms Wants To Remind Adults Of Their Sugary Sweet Childhoods
By December 3, 2012
In case all the recent Twinkie talk hasn’t been enough to turn your thoughts to a youth spent gorging on sugary snacks without a care, General Mills is hoping you’ll want to ride a sweet wave of nostalgia back to a past where breakfast included a rainbow of rock-hard marshmallows in your bowl of Lucky Charms. [More]
Samsung Pulls Storage Drive YouTube Ad Because Smashing Puppies Is Frowned Upon
By November 19, 2012
Who hasn’t wanted to smash up a piece of technological equipment in a fit of “My Incredibly Advanced And Amazing Magic Computer Box Won’t Cooperate” rage? Right, we’ve all felt crazy, so we get where Samsung was coming from with its YouTube ad for the new SSD 840, a solid state storage drive. But turning those computers into electronic puppies with sad faces as they meet their doom? Maybe not the best marketing move. [More]
Regulators Ask Mortgage Marketers To Please Cut Down On The Lying In Their Ads
By November 19, 2012
The 2011 Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule prohibit mortgage lenders and brokers from making misleading claims about government affiliation, interest rates, fees, costs, associated payments, and the amount of cash or credit available to the consumer. Shockingly, some folks just didn’t listen. [More]
Advertisers Set Up Bogus Storefronts To Skirt Seattle Billboards Laws
By November 14, 2012
You know those huge billboards you occasionally see on the sides of city buildings? In Seattle, these are required to advertise something sold inside the building on which the sign is placed. But one outdoor ad firm has found a way around the law — just send a guy from store to store (and some places that aren’t even stores) to sell gift cards for whatever is being advertised outside. [More]
Fun With Fonts: How Subway Tries To Distract You From Realizing How Little Olive Oil Is In This Packet
By November 12, 2012
While it may look like something slapped together in an Intro to InDesign class, this vegetable oil packet from Subway makes for a good demonstration on how to obscure information you need to include but don’t really want people seeing. [More]
Home Depot Uses LG Appliances To Advertise Deal That Excludes LG Appliances
By November 9, 2012
If you look at all the LG appliances pictured in the Home Depot flier advertising savings for customers who buy multiple appliances, you might be confused by the fine print at the bottom of the image. [More]
Samsung Encourages Galaxy SIII Users To Make Easily Shareable Porn On Their Phones
By October 29, 2012
If, like many of us in the Mid-Atlantic you spent the weekend inside doing an inventory on canned goods, bottled water and candles, you might have caught the newest ad for the Samsung Galaxy SIII, which features a wife making a huge mistake in the name of love. [More]
I Hate Progressive Insurance For Waking Me Up Over And Over
By October 24, 2012
Tegan is mad at Flo from Progressive. Arguably, it’s her own fault: she leaves the TV on overnight as a sort of background noise. This leaves her and her fiancé at the mercy of whatever commercials run while they’re dozing. A new spot for Progressive insurance that advertises their mobile app features the loud, prominent sound of a vibrating phone. Most TV watchers might glance at their own phones in confusion, but Tegan was asleep, and was on call for work, so when she heard the vibrating sound, she woke up to check her phone. [More]
