The Mouseprint blog is dedicated to pointing out the hilarious juxtaposition between the the big bold print in ads and the sometimes completely contradictory caveats buried in the fine print.
marketing
Hostel World Spoofs Hostel
By 4.18.06
AdFreak points out this awesome advertisement for HostelWorld, playing off of the movie Hostel, which you might remember is a film primarily celebrating every adult’s most primal fantasy: to chainsaw torture to death those On The Road spouting smelly beatniks who pompously preach about the “purity” of traveling with only ten dollars in their pocket, a single pair of underpants in their rucksack and a twenty pound bag of rice slung over their shoulder.
Are My Wife and Friend in a Pyramid Scheme?
By 4.18.06
“Help me, Obi-Wan Consumerist. You’re my only hope.”
HOWTO: Stop the Coupon Blizzard
By 4.14.06
About once a week, we receive an unsolicited “newspaper” in front of our door. Inside the plastic sheath is a pile of coupon papers and newspaper inserts for Lowe’s and various local supermarkets. We were thinking, damn, this is so annoying to toss into the trash every week. Then we remembered a post we had done on the very same subject.
Smirnoff Marketing Team to Teach HipHop Classes
By 4.12.06
Street culture vulture Bucky Turco sent in a hot tip about the opening of the Smirnoff Movement Space opening in Brooklyn. As part of a customer service outreach program, Smirnoff is here, he writes, “In case you want to learn how to do graffiti or hip-hop dancing.”
H&R Cock Blocked
By 4.10.06
Last week Intuit, makers of Turbo Tax, sued H&R Block for mimicking its advertising campaign. Block’s ad “copies the physical appearance, dress and mannerisms of the characters in the TurboTax ad, as well as the set, staging and pace of the advertisement,” said Intuit in a statement.
Virgin Express’ David Cronenberg’s The Brood
By 4.10.06
Over at the illustrious AdFreak, we saw this European ad for Virgin express, in which the fetal claw of an unborn child rips through the plushy layers of its mother’s belly to grasp at what appears to be an Apple brand Mighty Mouse. Or maybe someone punched their fist through her back, we’re not quite sure. The slogan? The earlier you book, the cheaper you fly.
Gurls, Gurls, Gurls! Viral Ad Done Right
By 4.4.06
This viral ad for Lynx Anti-perspirant (slogan: “Making your armpits smell like a wild animal”) starts off with a coy British girl setting up her webcam to give her number to a boy she met at a party the previous night. She then performs an exotic strip tease for the camera, flashing parts of her body with her phone number written on it. Then her girlfriend stumbles through the door and they have a pillow and tickle fight. Then a roommate stumbles out of the shower and some cheerleaders walk in. And it just gets better from there.
Verizon Fined For DC Graffiti Campaign
By 4.4.06
More guerrilla marketing via public vandalism: Verizon has been fined $1050 for spraying graffiti on Washington D.C. sidewalks advertising the Yellow Pages.
NYmag ‘Yupster’ Article Found Totally Lame
By 3.30.06
We were going to check this NYmag article on the “ascendant yupster” (yuppie + hipster, as they thankfully point out), but their site was down when we first saw the headline, “Up With Grups – The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood.“
Souls = Cheeseburgers
By 3.30.06
We saw this odd little list thanks to Church Marketing Sucks. It was originally posted over at the Revitalize Your Church blog. We’re just going to quote the whole thing, since we’re pretty astounded by it.
Mercury Research Calls Us ‘Full of Crap.’ We Agree.
By 3.29.06
We posted the following comment over at the Radio Marketing Nexus blog in response to their post calling us Haters of Radio:
