According to CNet, “The Washington-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Center for Digital Democracy have asked the Federal Trade Commission to review–and ideally restrict–what they describe as a growing online business model dependent on technologies that “aggressively track us wherever we go, creating data profiles to be used in ever-more sophisticated and personalized ‘one-to-one’ targeting schemes.”
marketing
It’s A Matter Of Degree. Of Bullpoopy
By 10.19.06
He wrote Unilever, inquiring why they can’t, “stick with the products that don’t suck donkey sack?”
Sure Deodorant Is The Same As Secret
By 10.10.06
Everyone knows that in armpit odor land, Sure is for boys, Secret is for girls.
Wacky Tobaccy
By 9.27.06
The cover of a 2002 anti-smoking pamphlet brought to you by your friends at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Besides the fact that no kids gather in ice-cream parlors anymore, where does the one above even exist? They must have had to open up the secret wing of the confectioner’s museum for the photo shoot.
AT&T Obeys Only The Laws They Like
By 9.20.06
After being fined millions of dollars for engaging in “misleading marketing practices”, AT&T is taking advantage of “new rules that allow California phone companies to unilaterally change certain regulatory provisions without prior approval from state officials.” What? Who the hell decided to let them do that?! AT&T will be ignoring the disclosure agreement, which forced them to reveal to new customers its cheapest service first and to seek permission before making marketing pitches, because…
Walmart Goes Quote Gay Unquote.
By 8.28.06
In the latest round of cosmetic tweaks to make itself appear less evil, Walmart has affixed itself with a strap-on dildo and railed a few poppers… in the form of hiring a gay-marketing firm, joining the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and initiated talks with activist groups about giving domestic-partnership bennies to employees.
Please Ignore the 800 Pound Guerilla Marketer in the Corner, Napster Frontmen Beg
By 7.24.06
We could have been the ones to get a bad PR flack fired. Two weeks ago, Nadine at Guerilla PR tried to airplane gaming blog Kotaku a big bowl of Napster payola:
Spirit Air Endorses Jeb Bush in $20.08
By 7.22.06
If you like to leave your politics on the ground when you fly, you might be interested in this new promotion Spirit Air is running.
Vonage Supports Spyware
By 7.19.06
Ben Edelman has put up an excellent portrait of how Vonage, embattled internet phone company, supports spyware. Quite thorough, Ben traces the money trail from Vonage, through its advertising partners and to the guys downloading adserving programs on your computer without your consent. Screenshots and logs bolster his thesis.
Children’s ER Names Itself After Abercrombie & Fitch
By 7.11.06
Branding is everywhere, billboards, sky-writing and even in your pants (check the label, bub). Always seeking new ways to expand message penetration, companies have turned to sponsoring buildings, such as the Pepsi Center and Coors Field. The field of viable sports venues depleted, corporations have turned to the next killing field: hospitals!
MasterCard’s New Logo Gets Goatse
By 7.10.06
Apparently, Mastercard really is for everything else, as communicated by its new logo.
PayPerPost.com Pays You To Blog Shill Without Disclosure
By 7.7.06
As a professional blogger, I spend my mornings in my kitchen, visible smell waves oscillating off of me, typing out my morning posts at a make-shift desk made up entirely of old beer cans. A misanthropic shut-in, I have no real idea of how the outside world works, which I find to be the prerequisite to confidently usher forth my opinions to the same. Facts can only muddle up the purity of my platitudes. it’s really a lot like being an extremely well-paid ignoramus.
Spam Me a River
By 7.5.06
A new study finds that people are 280 times more likely to click on porn spam than pharma. The analysis by Ciphertrust found click through rates of 5.6% for sex site emails, versus .02% for pharmaceutical spam. In third place were ads for Rolex watches, at 0.0075%,
Telemarketers Target Homeland Security
By 6.16.06
Maybe now they’ll crack down on the telemarketers. After all that’s the hotline, the hotline for the Department of Homeland Security. Gotta secure the homeland from the Space Invaders and the Centipedes. Not a moment to waste for time-share condominiums.
How Much is that HSBC in the Window?
By 6.14.06
At an HSBC bank, trapped inside glass cages, performing for strangers, are a beauty queen, an artist, and three guys watching football. Passersby text their thoughts to ticker screens behind the subjects heads. Like most things that make no fucking sense, it’s part of a multi-million-dollar ad campaign.
Clear Channel Introduces One-Second Radio Ads
By 6.14.06
ClearChannel, the troglodytic overlord of commercial radio, is introducing a new format for radio advertising. These one-second radio ads will be called “Blinks.” Besides the obvious synaesthesia seizures the mixed metaphor will inevitably cause, some observers are less than pleased.
Angry Sex Sells Vacuums
By 6.9.06
Leave it to the Germans to use s AND m to pitch electronics. A gentle people known for their thrift, in Germany, they use the whole Lebensraum.
