What’s wrong with this Hyundai ad (which appeared on Huffington Post earlier this week)?
advertising
When Billboards Collide
By 8.3.09
It’s funny when something accidental happens in advertising, like when billboards that shouldn’t be next to each other are put up. We always suspected the placement of religious billboards are intentional, but we’re really not sure about Cat Jesus. Yes, Cat Jesus.
Facebook Bans Advertisers From Stealing Your Photo To Sell Stuff To Your Friends
By 7.30.09
Facebook has firmly told app developers that it’s not okay for them to steal your wife’s photo from her profile page and use it to entice others into a sexy local singles dating service.
Lady Friends, What Would You Buy Without Them?
By 7.29.09
In a recent Target Women episode, Sarah Haskins skewers Lady Friends, those female creatures particular to TV advertising. They can help you pick out a candle, get a great deal on shoes, or advise you in a crowded nightclub that previous commercial for Yaz are for the treatment of PMDD and mild acne, not PMS or major acne. They imitate human behaviors and real emotions, but everything they say has a price tag. “Friends, what would you buy without them?” quips Sarah.
Microsoft "Laptop Hunters" Ads Changed To Omit Apple Prices
By 7.24.09
Microsoft has changed their latest “Laptop Hunters” ad after a complaint from Apple that the Mac prices cited in the ads are misleading and MacBook Pro have been lowered since the ads were produced. The cheapest model with a 15″ screen only costs $1700 now, not $2000.
Has Your Office Encountered The Online Yellow Pages Scam?
By 7.24.09
Patten seriously wants the purported “Online Yellow Pages” to stop calling his office. They call once per day, looking for information on the company, but Patten is suspicious. Rightly so, as it turns out—this is a scam, and companies who respond receive a hefty invoice for “advertising” that they never authorized.
Hardee's Biggest Franchisee Refuses To Show Anus Spot On TV
By 7.23.09
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.
Taco Bell Chihuahua Mascot Dies
By 7.23.09
Gidget, the tiny Chihuahua star of Taco Bell‘s “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” ad series in the ’90s, in addition to other ad and film work, died yesterday of an apparent stroke. She (yes, she) was fifteen years old.
Apple Tried To End Microsoft's Laptop Hunters Television Commercials
By 7.22.09
Microsoft’s series of “Laptop Hunters” ads are cute, realistic, and appeal to consumers at a time when our disposable income is limited. Apple doesn’t seem to think they’re so cute, though—the company’s lawyers apparently tried to have the ads stopped.
Walmart Seeks Incredible Deals On Suppliers' Advertising
By 7.21.09
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.
Jamba Juice Rips Off "Get Your War On" Comic For Ad Campaign
By 7.20.09
Jamba Juice has decided to totally bite the style of the popular-among-some comic “Get Your War On” to pimp their lame “cubicle-cation” campaign. Ripping off indie tshirt designers we’re used to, but comics? By juice franchises? GYWO creator David Rees responded, “Whoever made this ad is probably a 22 year-old “creative” at some ad agency in Tech Valley, CA. Way to think outside the box, sonny. Have fun snorting cocaine at the nightclub you go to with your friends who work at Twitter or wherever. And no, Adult Swim will NOT buy your stupid cartoon you’re developing with your housemates about four guys who work at an ad agency but are secretly lobsters.” Nuff said.
Office 2010: The Movie – Where Bill Gates And Jerry Bruckheimer Meet
By 7.17.09
What happens when Microsoft hires a small digital ad agency to help promote the next version of Office? You get Office 2010: The Movie, an action-thriller interpretation of Microsoft Office. Does it work? You be the judge.
The Only Thing Left For Starbucks? To Just Stop Being Starbucks
By 7.16.09
Starbucks just keeps trying to reinvent itself — and it seems that they’ve tried everything. The only thing left to do is just to stop being Starbucks. So that’s what they’re doing.
Banks Consider Running TV Spots Against Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency
By 7.13.09
Remember Harry and Louise? I don’t, but apparently they were a fictional couple in an early-90s TV commercial, produced by the insurance industry to help sway opinion against the Clinton health plan. Now banks and other financial companies may be pooling resources to create a new “Harry and Louise” style ad to convince Americans that Obama’s proposed agency to monitor abusive financial practices will limit choice and ruin lives.
People Trust Stuff They Read Online More Than Nearly Any Other Medium
By 7.9.09
A global Nielsen survey reports the cool yet frightening revelation that people trust opinions they find on the internet more than those from newspapers, TV, radio and magazines. The only category that trumps online rumblings is “recommendations from people known.”
Marketers Announce They Will Bring More Transparency To Personal Data Collection By 2010
By 7.3.09
Several major advertising trade groups announced yesterday that starting in 2010, they will implement a new set of self-imposed guidelines on how they collect and use your personal info, in an attempt to prevent the government from handing down federal regulations.
