You know that McDonald’s ad where the fast food chain implies that the best way for a child to get over the loss of a loved one is to scrarf down a square fish patty on a bun? It’s been pulled, for reasons that should be immediately clear if you read that first sentence. [More]
commercials
TV Networks Watch You Back With The Help Of Big Data
By 5.15.17
Adults between ages 18 and 49 are advertisers’ favorite demographic, but television networks have a huge problem. Every year, those adults watch less and less prime-time TV, and when they do it’s often on a DVR that lets them zip through the commercials or months later on an ad-free streaming service like Netflix. So without all those eyeballs to advertise to, how are TV networks able to stay on air? [More]
Google Blocks Burger King Whopper Ad From Triggering Google Home
By 4.13.17
Well, that was quick: Soon after Burger King launched a new ad designed to force any Google Home devices within range to wake up and spit out a list of the Whopper’s ingredients, Google has apparently disabled the functionality that triggers the devices. [More]
Comcast To Discontinue Some Ads That Take Aim At DirecTV
By 4.4.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Seven months after Comcast was warned by an ad watchdog to check itself before wrecking itself when it came to badmouthing DirectTV, the same organization has recommended that the cable behemoth discontinue ads that allegedly exaggerate its rival’s problem with satellite signal interruptions. [More]
Super Bowl Advertisers Spending Millions To Run Ads About Their Ads
By 1.30.17
Advertisers love the Super Bowl, since it’s one of the few times that huge numbers of people sit and watch the same thing in real time, while paying attention to the commercials. Some marketers want to increase the impact of their ads even more, by spending over $1 million promoting their Super Bowl commercials. They’re shelling out to advertise their ads. [More]
Snickers Will Air The First Live Super Bowl Ad
By 1.25.17
Although the championship game is played out on the field, every year the Super Bowl provides another chance for intense competition in the form of advertising one-uppery. This showdown will be no different: after Hyundai announced it would film its Super Bowl ad during the game and air it directly after, Snickers says it will air the first live ad in the history of the NFL championship. [More]
Minnesota Cities Claim Walmart Is Using Local Police As Unpaid Security Guards
By 12.16.16
Across the country, local governments are speaking out about how their police departments are subsidizing security at their local Walmart stores, with officers dispatched there more often than competing discount and grocery stores. Now state legislators from two cities in Minnesota say that they’re working on possible solutions to the issue. [More]
Activists Emphasize Walmart’s Crime Problem In TV Ads Airing In 4 Cities
By 12.7.16 — Updated: 12.16.16
A number of Walmart stores around the country have been called out for being the epicenters of disproportionate levels of criminal activity and calls to the police. Now a union-backed labor advocacy group is using this information against the nation’s largest retailer in an TV ad campaign highlighting Walmart’s alleged high crime rates — and its cost to local taxpayers. [More]
YouTube Introduces 6-Second Video Ads For Mobile Users With Short Attention Spans
By 4.26.16
Internet users are spending more of our time online staring at the tiny screens of our mobile phones rrather than the larger screens of our computers, and that includes short videos. Users don’t really have a long attention span for ads before the video that they actually tapped on, though, and that’s why YouTube is now selling 6-second “bumper” ads to keep viewers from tuning out. [More]
Ad Watchdog Recommends DirecTV Cease 4K Claims
By 12.9.15
AT&T may already be killing off the DirecTV name, but that doesn’t mean its recently acquired pay-TV brand doesn’t have to answer for its possibly misleading advertisements. As such, a national ad review board has directed the company – at the behest of Charter Communications – to discontinue claims made in its “Hannah and Her Horse” campaign that suggests all of its programming is available via 4K technology. [More]
Appeals Panel Hands Second Loss To DirecTV Over Rob Lowe Ads
By 8.14.15
Four months after an ad review board, acting on a complaint from Comcast, recommended DirecTV pull its quirky promotions featuring Rob Lowe and a parade of peculiar alter-egos, a review panel upheld the original findings that some of the spots contain unsubstantiated claims — despite the fact the ads are “very funny.” [More]
The Going Rate For A 30-Second Super Bowl Commercial Spot Tops $5M
By 8.6.15
Even though last year’s slate of Super Bowl ads was largely regarded as ho-hum, and even though advertisers are increasingly subverting the “surprise!” effect of Super Bowl sunday commercials by relentlessly teasing their big-ticket spots online days in advance, the NFL’s big game is still TV’s biggest annual draw, and so the cost to be a part of it is going up again. [More]
Why Do I Keep Seeing Commercials For Everest University?
By 8.4.15
If you’re sitting at home watching television on any given afternoon, you’re likely to see a few commercials touting the supposed convenience and benefits of attending a for-profit college. But with the recent, very public collapse of now-bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc — and the closure of many of its schools — you might be wondering why your Jerry Springer show is being interrupted with ads for Everest University. [More]
Ad Watchdog: Toy Lightsaber Doesn’t Light Up, Commercial Is Misleading
By 6.22.15
As far as we know, the Jedi are not real. Lightsabers are not real. For children, though, the lines between real life and fiction can get a little fuzzy. That’s why the ad industry’s self-regulation body is not impressed with Hasbro’s ad for an awesome double-bladed lightsaber, since it cuts footage of an animated character together with footage of a kid playing with the toy, which creates the impression that the toy lightsaber lights up. It doesn’t. [More]
Ad Board Recommends McDonald’s Focus On Actual Meal, Not Just The Cool Toy
By 5.15.15
By now we all know that McDonald’s is trying to appeal to a younger audience, but a commercial the company aired last fall geared toward its youngest customers apparently didn’t sit well with an ad review board. And now that group is warning the fast food giant to stick to its food and not to use toys to appeal to youngsters.
[More]
Italian Pizza Association Threatens To Sue McDonalds Over Happy Meal Commercial
By 4.13.15
There appears to be a bit of a war brewing between Italian pizza makers and McDonald’s after the fast food company aired a commercial depicting a child overjoyed to receive a Happy Meal over pizza at a local pizzeria. [More]
Following Complaint From Comcast, Ad Board Recommends DirecTV Discontinue Rob Lowe Ads
By 4.7.15
If you’ve been near a TV in the last six months (and don’t fast forward through every commercial break), then you’ve likely seen the quirky DirecTV ads featuring Rob Lowe and a parade of kooky alter-egos. How much longer you’ll see those spots is up for debate after an ad review board, acting on a complaint from Comcast, found many of DirecTV’s claims to be unsubstantiated and recommended the company pull the promotions. [More]
YouTube Kids App Accused Of Deceptive, Excessive Advertising
By 4.7.15
It’s only been a few weeks since Google launched its YouTube Kids app targeted at the youngest Internet users, and it’s already taking heat from consumer advocates who are asking federal regulators to investigate whether the service’s advertising practices run afoul of the law. [More]
