Nike said Just Do It. Gatorade commercials show athletes caught in slow-mo, sweating and bleeding the sports drink. Reebok says, “Why hit the wall? It hurts. Run easy.” And “A 10 minute mile is just as far as a 6-minute mile. Run easy.” Sure, it’s the same distance, but it’s not the same workout. Of course, if it’s a difference between running easy and not running at all, by all means, run easy. Sure, people should have fun working out and not get all killer crazy about it. But, if you want to become fitter, you work yourself up to running faster and harder, not easier.
advertising
Land Rover Sends Film Crews To Real Natural Disasters To Shoot Their Cars As "Hero Cars"
By 6.21.07
Reader Mars tips us off to this Brandweek article about Land Rover’s soon to be launched commercial campaign where Land Rover sends film crews to the sites of actual natural disasters while they are in progress to get footage of the Land Rovers “in action” as “hero cars.”
Apple Uses Big-Handed Model To Shrink iPhone
By 6.21.07
Did the iPhone get smaller? Nope, the hand model got bigger.
Great Moments In Commercial History: Member's Only Jackets
By 6.20.07
For those of you who weren’t aware, Luke raped Laura and then fell in love with her. Sometime afterwards, the two characters got married with 30 million viewers tuning in. Nice. That doesn’t make this Member’s Only jacket commercial seem creepy at all.
Creepy Commercials For Skin Whitening Products
By 6.20.07
These commercials for “Fair & Lovely,” a skin whitening product from overseas, creep us out. They show girls with darker skin being denied jobs and being scoffed at by pale ladies at some sort of counter. That’s just messed up.
Great Moments In Commercial History: Augusta Express
By 6.13.07
Reader and commenter JPropaganda is responsible for this week’s GMICH: “I have this week’s classic commercial moment,” JPropaganda says,”Shazaaaam!”
Meet Your Meat: Chipotle Distributes Photos Of Farms That Supply Their Restaurants
By 6.13.07
An angry reader wrote us yesterday asking if the photos he’s been finding in his bag along with his Chipotle veggie burrito were legit. Matt wrote:
Last time I got the pigs out on the plains of super green grass (Grass won’t last more than a day under pigs). Today was a lone adult chicken in an otherwise empty commercial coop, perfectly clean bird, on a perfectly clean floor. I know for fact chickens don’t get moved from the time they are chicks, until the vacuum machine comes to box them for transport to the slaughter house. So where is all the bird shit and carcasses that succumbed to walking on the ammonia soaked floor?
Great Moments In Commercial History: Montgomery Flea Market
By 6.6.07
Reader Corey writes: I can’t believe the Montgomery Flea Market hasn’t made the Great Moments In Commercial History. It’s practically a landmark in Montgomery AL, unless you’re from there. You’re right, Corey. We’ve just been waiting for the right moment to feature this, uh, classic.
Billboard Diagramming Female Flaws Causes Backlash
By 6.4.07
A billboard depicting a model wearing little more than a shirt has drawn the ire of the women of Glenview, IL. From the Chicago Tribune:
The 10-foot-by-36-foot sign along Willow Road near Patriot Boulevard depicts a model lying on the beach with lines pointing to “problem” areas on her body, such as facial lines and wrinkles, and corresponding “solutions,” including Botox.
Postmaster General Angry At Wachovia Over ID Theft Ad
By 5.31.07
Postmaster General John Potter is mad as hell at Wachovia! He’s accusing them of ‘really doing a disservice to the American public’ with an ad that suggests mailing your bills puts you at greater risk of ID theft than paying them on-line. Potter says this simply isn’t true:
“I have no problem with competition — it’s a good thing, it can keep everyone at the top of their game,” he said. “All I ask for is a little honesty when you’re doing it.” Asked specifically about the bank, he accused Wachovia of “really doing a disservice to the American public.”
The Science of Disgust
By 5.31.07
Would you be less likely to eat a cookie that had touched a package of kitty litter while in a shopping cart? A clean, sealed package? Some scientists say you would, and that information is of use to marketers. From Time:
Any food that touched something perceived to be disgusting became immediately less desirable itself, though all of the products were in their original wrapping. The appeal of the food fell even if the two products were merely close together; an inch seemed to be the critical distance. “It makes no sense if you think about it,” says Fitzsimons. More irrationally still, the subjects were less comfortable with a transparent package than an opaque one, as if it somehow had greater power to leak contamination. Whatever the severity of the taint, the result was predictable.
Great Moments In Commercial History: Valley Ball
By 5.30.07
If you’d like to nominate a commercial for our weekly series “Great Moments In Commercial History” send us an email at tips [at] consumerist [dot] com. Be sure to put “Great Moments In Commercial History” in the subject. To see other commercials that have been featured in the series, click here.—MEGHANN MARCO
User-Generated Content Won't Displace Madison Avenue Anytime Soon
By 5.26.07
Many people see ads and think they could do better. According to the New York Times, no, they can’t. The Times is following the struggle of H.J. Heinz to find five user-generated ads to air on TV sometime this September. Companies like Heinz are discovering that user-generated content doesn’t save time or money. For the foreseeable future, Madison Avenue will be responsible for creating the ads we love to hate.
Many entries are mediocre, if not downright bad, and sifting through them requires full-time attention. And even the most well-known brands often spend millions of dollars up front to get the word out to consumers.
We prefer YouTube’s user-generated content to the schmaltz spewing from Madison Avenue. What do you think: is the content really worse, or are companies unwilling to step away from their comfort zones? Tell us in the comments. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Great Moments In Commercial History: Harris Pest Control
By 5.25.07
This may be the greatest thing we’ve ever seen. Please, someone send in the new one.
How Much Does It Cost To Get Martha Stewart To Say Whatever You Want?
By 5.21.07
Here’s a heck of a deal: For only $250,000, Martha Stewart will personally shill your product on her show. She even promises to “work in an advertiser’s talking points.” If you don’t have that much dough, you can grab a “one-time in-show oral mention with product close-up” for only $100,000.
Madison Square Garden Theater Naming Rights Bought By WaMu
By 5.17.07
Before you sports fans have a heart attack, it’s not all of Madison Square Garden that’s being renamed—just the theater inside where things like “Sesame Street Live” and the above TV On The Radio concert are performed. Washington Mutual has bought the naming rights to the 5,600 seat theater and will be renaming it “The WaMu Theater,” which brings up a larger question.
