AOL gossip site TMZ has learned...yes, they have LEARNED a crucial bit of seemingly earth shattering news: MSNBC will cancel all live, daytime programming and replace it with tapes shows. TMX reports, "High-level sources connected with the cable network also tell TMZ that MSNBC President Rick Kaplan will be booted from the network when his contract is up - within a year." With ratings in the dumper, the writing may be on the wall. Nighttime programming will remain unaffected.
UPDATE: MSNBC is now denying this story saying through a spokesperson, "This is ridiculous and is wrong on every level. MSNBC, which under Rick Kaplan has seen a real uptick in ratings of late, and is by definition a news channel, is not going to abandon live news."
If you were a guy walking down the street and saw a girl/woman in vertical bed with the a headline over her that read, "Shop at Erawan Bangkok and spend two nights with...," what would you do? What would you think? Would you walk over and ask if you could crawl into the bed for a nooner or would you ask if her boyfriend had just kicked her out? Would you ask her if there was some new public sleeping trend you were missing out on? Girl in Bed Would you wonder why she had that headline over her head and was passing out fliers? Would you ask her how long the crazy ad agency that came up with this asked her to stand there as man-bait? Or, while we seem to doubt it, would you just walk buy and ignore it like you do with all other advertising?
Laughably describing AOL as some sort of "icon of pop culture," Mercedes Benz has signed a deal with AOL to "spotlight a new generation of artists through the premier online music destination AOL Music." Mercedes-Benz and AOL Music launched "On Our Radar," a feature that lets fans wallow in discovery of new music. It's part of the car manufacturer's yearlong collaboration with AOL Music on its Breakers program, which showcases a selection of developing artists. The partnership will promote the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class while bringing new artists to what Mercedes and AOL believe to be "the eyes and ears of trendsetting, young music fans."
Here's a simple but powerful message from the folks over at the agency whose name sounds like an 80's highschool jiggle-fest movie, Wexley School for Girls. The message was applied to handicap parking spots at schools prior to a prom.
Adverblog points to a little facial suckage contest called Kiss Off created by Dutch agency Qi for its client Stimorol Chewing Gum. It's a typical challenge game in which you choose your kissing character, your friend's character and the type of kiss. The challenge is then sent via email to the friend for viewing. The ubiquitous iPod is offered as a prize if your kiss is good enough. Britney won't be sending it to Kevin anytime soon.