Thanks to an update to Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, there will be one less place for advertisers to encroach onto your private life: your friends’ news feeds.
marketing
Not So "Drinkable?" Sales Of Bud Light Are Dropping For The First Time Ever
By 8.11.09
Sales of Bud Light are down, probably because of the recession, but we hope it’s because of the aggressively annoying “Drinkability” campaign. In any case, AB has decided to roll out more than 15 new “Drinkability” commercials in the coming weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Silly Consumer, Did You Think Your Prescription Info Was Private?
By 8.10.09
The NYT has the story of a woman who, more than 10 years after she tried and failed to have a baby using in vitro procedures, is still getting marketing information for all sorts of products. First it was Pampers and baby formula — then, as the baby she did not have “grew up,” so did the marketing offers. How did they get her information? They bought it.
The Glamorous World Of Headset Hotties
By 8.6.09
Ever notice how the “customer service reps [who] are standing by” are always depicted by beautiful women wearing headsets? The maker of headsethotties.com certainly has, so he started collecting and publishing examples from around the globe. We enjoy that “perceived helpfulness” is the metric for rating each image. Tragically, the website has not been updated since February. Obviously they need your help finding more content. Could Helpful Girls Gone Wild be far away?
Post Cereal, Please Stop Spamming Anthony
By 7.31.09
Anthony has tried every means possible to get Post to stop spamming him, but Post laughs in the face of reason. And at customer requests. The only thing Anthony feels he has left to try is contacting the FTC, but he adds “I get the feeling that won’t help.”
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.
Studio Turns High School Graduation Into Marketing Stunt, Nobody Cares
By 7.29.09
The Wall Street Journal looks at how an unfortunately named marketing agency called the Intelligence Group tried to promote recent bomb “I Love You, Beth Cooper” with a viral video on YouTube. (Can we just once and for all ban anyone who works in advertising from accessing YouTube?) They paid the valedictorian of a Los Angeles high school $1,800 to “spontaneously” blurt out a secret crush during her speech, and they hired someone to film the speech in a faux-homemade style to post online.
Don’t Try To Use Your Blog To Extort A Pair Of Crocs
By 7.28.09 — Updated: 3.18.13
Here’s a story that will teach you a little something about how not to behave. According to George Smith, who does online marketing for Crocs, a blogger at the BlogHer conference in Chicago tried to extort him out of some shoes. This is not a good idea.
Customer Visits Verizon CEO's Home, Gives Him A Taste Of No Privacy
By 7.22.09
John Hargrave of comedy site Zug.com tracked down the personal info of Verizon’s CEO, then showed up with a bullhorn to illustrate what a lack of privacy feels like. “Ivan Seidenberg! I’m here on behalf of Verizon customers. PLEASE DO A BETTER JOB PROTECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ CELL PHONE RECORDS! Everyone has the right to privacy, including you Ivan! When we don’t have privacy, then freaks with bullhorns start showing up on our front lawn.”
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.
Why Is Spam Around? Because 12% Of Readers Actually Try To Buy The Stuff
By 7.17.09
Why, in a rational world, does spam continue to exist? Because someone you know—or maybe it’s you—has actually tried to buy something from it, a new study finds. Find that person and beat him (or yourself) with a stapler.
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.
By 7.16.09
../../../..//2009/07/16/kfcs-screwed-up-grilled-chicken-promo/
KFC’s screwed-up grilled chicken promo doesn’t seem to have hurt the company after all; Yum CEO David Novak told investors and reporters this morning that it’s “the best product launch in our history” and has “changed the brand so much for the good.” People out there apparently really love the idea of KFC grilled chicken. [AdAge] (Thanks to R!)
