The strangely named 2004 Ethnic Cleansing Awards has bestowed upon us its 25 worst and most annoying newsmakers of the past year. Wishing these people "vanquished, banished and never to be heard from again," the list includes Omarosa, Hybrid car drivers, multitasking female drivers, uninteresting game show millionaires, Paris Hilton and many more.
Using a medium still widely read by its demo, the AARP will launch a $5 million national newspaper campaign on January 4 to counter Bush's proposal to take Social Security private. Further catering to its demo, one of the ads reads "If we feel like gambling, we'll play the slots."
Claiming privatization "would weaken Social Security and put benefits for future generations at risk," the AARP will place ads in USA Today, The New York Times and 50 other newspapers. Austin-based GSD&M created the campaign.
Axe has launched another cheeky viral to promote its, well, we really don't know. After playing tickle for a while, we checked out the axeeffect site and just got lost again. We seem to have heard they make deodorant but we were too distracted to care.
In breaking news today, Donnie Donny Deutsch was spotted walking down the hallway of Deutsch Inc.'s Eighth Avenue offices towards the men's room. According to insiders in attendance at his daily "worship Donny" meeting, he had just finished his latte when the urge hit him, saying to his staff, "I'll be right back." With that, he reportedly grabbed his portable media player, loaded with the latest edition of The Big Idea, and left the office for some ego stroking and biological relief.
Writing on reality blurred, Andy Dehnart sums up the year in reality TV. From The Donald becoming the new Paris Hilton to the overreaction to FCC fines by reality show producers to the fact that no cares reality TV is "scripted," Denhart reviews a genre that is here to stay.
In a shocker, it was found a Columbus, Georgia-based car dealer engaged in deceptive advertising practices. Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. has agreed to a $188,000 settlement following an investigation by the Georgia governor's Office of Consumer Affairs. The settlement includes four area dealers: three Bill Heard Chevrolet dealers and Tom Jumper.
The state cited the dealers with telling customers they were pre-approved for a loan when they were not, making claims that vehicles were available for sale when they were not, making claims that all vehicles came with limited warranty when they did not, making claims that cars were available in repossession sales when most of the vehicles were not repossesed.
A group called the Society for the Prevention of Misandry (hatred of men) in the Media has launched a campaign against New York advertising agency McGarry Bowen, creator of the Verizon "Homework" ad that shows a bumbling Dad attempting to help his daughter use the computer. We offered some commentary on this campaign earlier. While hatred of men surely isn't the intent of the Verizon spot, the Society's website provides information on how those who feel men get a bum wrap in advertising can contact McGarry Bowen, their clients and the press.
Founded in 2003, the Society was created "in response to the increasing prevalence of negative representations of fathers, husband's and men in mass media." The group hopes to use McGarry Bowen clients as leverage towards their cause and has provided contact info for the agency's clients: Crayola, Marriott, Pfizer, InBev, JPMorgan and Reebok.
While we do think there's no need to portray men as blithering idiots as is the case in the "Homework" commercial, it would, at the same time, be a bit hypocritical to complain after the many years woman have been relegated to subservient roles and sexual objects of desire. So guys, before you get all bent out of shape about this, call it fair trade. Do you really want to stop seeing women portrayed as sexual objects in advertising, magazine spreads and your favorite porn sites?
Consulting group Classified Intelligence said newspapers have lost between $50 and $65 million in employment ad revenue along with millions more in real estate and other classified categories. Together, online job boards bring in $217 million in recruitment revenue compared to newspaper's $1.1 billion. Classified Intelligence predicts online job board revenue will eventually surpass newspaper recruitment advertising revenue.
Either eHarmony is admitting that it can't match people until they've matched themselves already or it is now offering a new time travel service.
Read this ad, which appeared on Newsday's site and was sent to us by David Berkowitz, closely.
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