MediaWeek reports Fairchild Publications has pulled 680,000 copies of YM Your Prom because an ad mistakenly carried the URL for a child-porn website. Two of the six ad pages prom dress maker Studio 17 placed in the issue contained the URL. While Fairchild is pulling as many issues as it can, Hearst, which publishes Teen Prom, in which the ad also appeared, has decided not to pull copies.
A Hearst spokesperson explained the decision telling MediaWeek, "This was a mistake on the advertiser's behalf - in fact, the error also appeared in their own catalogue. This is a very unfortunate situation and, quite simply, the result of human error. We've received very few complaints and have handled them immediately."
While no one's talking, we're guessing the URL may have been studio17.com (a redirect to http://www.clubseventeen.com/index-int.html) which is, most assuredly, a teen porn site. Very not safe for work.
Porn, of course, is everywhere and most likely no surprise to most teens but we think it might have been a wise move if Hearst had , at least, made some sort of effort rather than simply saying, hey, they made the mistake so why should we care.
Careerebuilder's Super Bowl spots promoted their job service using a guy stuck in a company run by a bunch of monkeys called Yeknom Industries. The campaign also included a website for the Yeknom company complete with fake job listing. In a coup, those job listing have found there way to competing job sites and have been listed on Yahoo HotJobs as well as Monster.
That's a truly stunning promotional tactic.
While GoDaddy is getting all the press, Careerbuilder is shaping up to be the best, most smartly integrated, stealth-like campaign we've seen in a while.
With so much artsy-fartsy quick cut, double-entendre imagery going on in the Britney Spears Curious commercial, it's hard to imagine how anyone could see anything long enough to be concerned there might be some risque elements to the spot but the chaps over in Britain seems to have good eyes and have restricted the airing of the spot to after 7:30 PM when, presumably, untainted minds have gone to sleep.
The spot captures Britney in the throes of a fantasy with a guy in the next hotel room, complete with all the sexual imagery you'd expect; lips, fingers, blooming flowers, fingernails clawing skin, fingers against a rain soaked window, a pair of dolls kissing, clenched hands, bulls in a ring, crashing waves, writhing bodies and, finally, open mouth glee. It's 30 second of visual orgasmic bliss. Hmm, perhaps that's why it was restricted.
Another actress is joining the stench parade. Sarah Jessica Parker has signed a global licensing deal with Coty's Lancaster Group to co-market and develop a line of fragrances, slated to launch this fall in department stores in the U.S. and U.K. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
This partnership is a first for Parker in the fragrance market.
Although marketing was not detailed, it is expected that she will support the line with her appearance, following J. Lo, Celine Dion and Britney Spears, who have their own fragrances. Parker currently stars in a marketing campaign for The Gap.
Famed designer Alexander Gelman, known in the advertising industry for his work with Absolut, MTV, Pepsi and Shiseido, has, along with Mic Musolino and Helen Walters have published Infiltrate - The Front Lines of the New York Design Scene, a collection of today's cutting edge New York design. The book features 304 pages of work from 23 studios and individuals. Each of 23 groundbreaking New York studios and individuals is introduced by an interview, work examples and captions.
We wrote a couple of scathing articles about The Apprentice contestant and POPstick CEO Danny Kastner commenting on his performance during the show. Kastner, like many creative people in any industry portrayed on television, was "produced" as a bit "out of the Trump mold" in the show where success is usually attained through suit-wearing, cut throat, ass-kissing behavior. In fairness, we thought we'd better check out the un-produced version of Danny Kastner so we called him up to discuss his experience on The Apprentice.
The first thing we can say about Danny is he's a nice guy. He's assuredly a creative sole soul (we always get that one wrong) and while that might not be a fit for a stuffy Trump job, it seems to work just fine for his Boston-based company POPstick. When we asked about that "sidewalk show" during the first episode where contestants had to introduce a new Burger King product, Danny admitted it was "a bit gimmicky but it did work." He's right. While his team didn't win, his team's Burger King was packed with customers. They failed because they didn't have enough trained order takers.
Kastner also admitted his strategy of bringing the "immune" Michael into the boardroom with him was a bit of a counter-strategy - which led to a very heated exchange - but reports he has since had beers with Michael and things are cool. While Kastner may have been shown to be out there on The Apprentice, we can assure you, in real life, Danny Kastner is just cool, successful, creative guy.
AdFreak reports the launch of a new colon cancer awareness campaign from the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and Olympus. The print PSA will feature Heidi Klum and includes the headline, "Help us make it fashionable to talk about colon cancer" and the tagline, "Be seen, be screened." While we're not sure it will ever be fashionable to talk about colon cancer, personally, it sure can be humorous.
Mandy Moore says she's "a pretty modest girl so Im not into anything too risque." That's one of the reasons behind the star's launch of her on fashion label, Mblem, a line of "functional, casual and sexy" T's Moore explains. "It all evolved from the fact that Im totally the jeans and T-shirt girl. If I can get away with wearing jeans and a T-shirt somewhere, Ill do it," Moore said in an Associated Press interview.
The other reason is her height. More says, "Im a tall girl (5-foot-10), so Im always searching for the perfect jeans and T-shirt," which would likely make most crop t's fall well above her belly button. Heaven forefend. The t shirts will be priced around $50 and be printed with the lyrics of her favorite rock songs.
Founded in 1999, the Oldtimers Discussion Group has been home to the brilliant minds behind companies responsible for enabling and nurturing the growth of online marketing and advertising. Because the field of online marketing has become an integral component of most current marketing and advertising programs, the group seeks to expand its membership to include additional industry influencers and thought leaders actively driving the online and interactive elements of those programs. The group is looking for senior level agency executives and brand marketers who are actively involved in creating, managing and analyzing online, interactive and e-business programs that might include elements such as viral, word of mouth, advergaming, product placement, SMS, IM and affiliate marketing and willing to pro-actively contribute to the discussion.
If you feel you are qualified and have value to add to this group or you are acquainted with someone who is, please send an email to membership@oldtimersexchange.com (that's "exchange," not "sex change") stating what you, or the person you are recommending, has achieved and can offer the Oldtimers Discussion Group. Be sure to include your resume. Membership is free but subject to application approval.
Later this month, Reebok will launch a new global campaign it says will celebrate individuality and authenticity and will include the tagline, "I Am What I Am." While we wonder what Popeye and King Features will think of this, we also wonder if a better tagline might have been, "Fuck It. Why Should I Bother To Be Anything More Than I Am."
Created by New York advertising agency mcgarrybowen, "I Am What I Am" launches globally this month on TV, cinema, print and on billboards in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Tokyo. The television spots debut during the NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2005, and the print ads hit in March publications.
The campaign encourages young people to embrace their own individuality by celebrating their contemporary heroes including: music icons Jay-Z and 50 Cent; top athletes Allen Iverson, Andy Roddick, Kelly Holmes, and Yao Ming; screen star Lucy Liu, skateboarder Stevie Williams, and soccer star Iker Casillas. Or perhaps it just says, hey, it's ok if you're fat, ugly, lazy, dumb, unlucky, divorced, fired, a loser, have cancer, sterile, poor and stuck in suburbia driving kids to soccer games every thirteen seconds.
This spring, to further support the movement to celebrate authenticity, Reebok will launch an online forum on their website where consumers will have the opportunity to create their own "I Am What I Am" ads or nominate someone who they feel truly embodies the campaign message. That ought to be fun.
While fan sites for celebrities are expected, fan sites for brands usually fall into one of three categories. They are either poor stealth marketing efforts by brands trying to look cool, they are the actual new cool created by brand aficionados or they are the creation of wackos with too much time on their hands.
We're not sure what category this LiveJournal site falls into but Random Culture points to A Day In The Like of Miss McDonald which contains image after image of a teenage, Asian (?) looking girl dressed in a less McHottie version of the Ronald McDonald ensemble. There are pictures of her with Ronald McDonald statues at various McDonald's restaurants, pictures of her hanging out with her family and even pictures of her doing laundry.
The site appears to have been launched last November and it's background is made up of the McDonald's logo. Along with the expected "You're hot!" and "I'd bang you" comments, one ingenious sole posted, as there comment, the McDonald's "I'd Hit It" banner. Never a lack of horny humor on LiveJournal.
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