Verizon has had enough of Time Warner Cable making fun of their fiber intake and has sued the cable company, claiming that their advertising is “egregiously false” and is causing “immediate and irreparable harm” to Verizon.
advertising
TIME's "Subscribe For $1.99" Offer Misleading
By 4.10.08
First, we want to say thanks to TIME Magazine for naming us one of their top 25 blogs. Now that’s out of the way, and we can ask why they’re using such a misleading ad on the masthead of their site: “Subscribe to TIME Magazine for just $1.99” it says! Yes, but when you click through to the sign up form, you see that your “subscription” is for six issues—six weeks—and that the fine print indicates you also agree to an auto-renewed fee of $19.95 every six months. We don’t mind the $1.99 tryout period, but hiding the real subscription fee in fine print is sneaky. Any magazine with the good taste to recognize our blog should also respect its readers enough to be upfront on the details of its subscription offers.
Absolut Pulls Controversial Advertisement
By 4.8.08
Swedish vodka maker, Absolut has pulled a controversial advertisement that showed a map of the United States and Mexico as they were before the Mexican American War. The advertisement read “In An Absolut World.”
Is This Absolut Ad Cheeky Or Distasteful?
By 4.6.08
Absolut is running an ad in Mexico that some in this country are finding offensive because it favorably depicts our borders as they existed before the 1848 Mexican-American war. We’re going to bite and talk about the ad even though it means that the advertisers win and America dies just a bit more.
By 3.26.08
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Want to reduce your Bank of America spam mail? Our commenter tinder posted a link to their opt-out page in our earlier post on Chase spam. [www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/]
How To Get Chase To Stop Sending You Direct Mail Offers Over And Over And Over
By 3.26.08
Anyone who’s a customer of Chase knows how hardcore they can be about direct mail advertising. Martin writes:
Over the last 12-24 months, I’ve been annoyed with about 3-4 mailings a week from Chase for various add-on services and useless products. Already a customer of theirs, I did not appreciate this onslaught of advertising. Here’s a quick opt-out website in which you can cancel all direct marketing letters from Chase… dnmoptions.chase.com.
Learn The Secrets Of Food Photography
By 3.25.08
The blogosphere is circulating a link to an awesome German food photography site today, which compares package photos of food with what’s inside for around 100 products. Sure, it’s all in German, but the Industrial Food Revolution is the same pretty much everywhere. We looked around for a good “secrets of food photography” and found this article at Photocritic which lists some of the staples any good food photographer has at every shoot, including motor oil, cotton balls, and brown shoe polish. Mmm!
Comcast Wants To Use Cameras And Facial Recognition To Serve Ads In Your Living Room
By 3.20.08
Where’s my tinfoil? Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, Gerard Kunkel, apparently wants to put a camera in your cable box and use it to serve ads.
Just Because It Says "Organic" Doesn't Mean It Won't Give You A Ton Of Cancer
By 3.18.08
Here at the Consumerist we’re not trying to tell you that you need to buy organic soap, but if you do want organic soap… we think you should get what you’re paying for.
On The Radio, FiOS Free TV Promotion Changed To Free Gift Cards
By 3.17.08
Further distancing itself from its problematic free TV promotion (which for some customer has so far been lacking in free TVs), a reader in the Bronx reports that Verizon FiOS triple-play bundle ads on the radio are now offering $200 gift cards for Circuit City. As previously noted, the TV ads are now touting free Samsung digital cameras.
Inoculate Kids Against Advertising
By 3.8.08
Lisa made her kids impervious to advertising by asking pointed questions that forced them to think about the source and truthfulness of ads. She knew action was needed when when her kids, who weren’t old enough to read, stopped in front of the bleach while shopping to ask the advertiser’s dream question: “Mom, aren’t we going to buy some Clorox?” Hit the jump to see how she responded.
Verizon Changes "Free LCD TV " Promotion To "Free Digital Camcorder" Promotion
By 3.7.08
As a followup to the people who complained about not getting their free TV from the FiOS triple play promotion, I saw that they changed their commercials. Instead of advertising a free Sharp 19-inch LCD HDTV, they’re now saying that you’ll get a free digital camcorder when you order your triple-play bundle. They must really be having problem fulfilling those orders. According to sometimes broken Verizon PolicyBlog, every one who qualified for a TV will get one, you just have to have patience and give Verizon a break; their TV-giving division just isn’t as advanced as their money-taking division.
Showtime Takes Annoying Ads During Movies Seriously
By 3.6.08
THE QUOTE: “While some viewers may be displeased with this tactic, we have found that a number of our subscribers appreciate learning about the premiere of a series in such a manner. Nevertheless, please note that we take your comments very seriously and have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate people. Thank you for writing to us.”
Domino's Pizza: Sacrificing Our Delivery Drivers So We Can Use Our New Slogan
By 3.4.08
Domino’s has a mildly amusing television campaign right now to promote their new slogan “You Got 30 Minutes,” but the fine print on Domino’s site points out that this should be taken only as a suggestion, not a service guarantee: “Because safety is a priority “You Got 30 Minutes™” is not a guarantee but an estimate. You may get more.” A former Domino’s delivery guy is not impressed: “Some douchebag ad exec wants to trick customers into believing that the ’30 minutes or it’s free’ guarantee is back, then leave it to the delivery drivers to explain to inevitably angry customers why their pizza isn’t free when it gets there in 31 minutes.”
Consumers Behave Stupidly When Things Are "Free"
By 2.28.08
“Free” has a magic effect on people’s minds, according to research by Dan Ariely (whose new book, Predictably Irrational could become the Freakonomics of 2008). He did an experiment giving people a choice between a “high-value” and a “low-value” product, a Lindt’s chocolate and a Hershey’s, respectively, and nothing. When the price was set at 1 cent for the Hershey’s and 15 cents for the Lindts, 14% chose the Hershey’s and 36% chose the Lindt’s. What do you think happened when the price was reduced by one cent for both items?
Attorneys General Investigating Anheuser-Busch And Miller Over Energy Drink Marketing
By 2.21.08
Attorneys general in several states have subpoenaed documents from A-B and Miller as part of an investigation in to the marketing of caffeinated alcoholic energy drinks, says the AP.
Product Placement In Tween Lit Is "Another Opportunity For Authenticity"
By 2.20.08
Our sister site, Jezebel, has posted something awesome about the product placement that’s infiltrated the teen lit genre. One particularly sad example features a character called “Mackenzie Blue” whose tastes seem to be for sale before the books have even been written.
Great Moments In Commercial History: "Al'z Place"
By 2.19.08
The Stay Free! daily blog was watching the telly and nearly spit out its wheatgrass juice when it noticed an ad for a senior care facility in Brooklyn that has blessed its Alzeimer’s ward with a delightful moniker. They call it, “Al’z place.” That marketing decisions strikes us as, shall we say, unfortunate. What’s the message here? “He forgot his name and so did we so we just call him Al.”
