Blue Fusion Launches In-School Youth CAPTV

Comprised of source boards, book covers and postering, Youth CAPTV is the latest in-school advertising venture. Youth CAPTV parent company Blue Fusion Managing Partner Morris Reid says he's aware of the dicey prospect of in-school advertising but is a proponent of the channel as long as it is done tastefully.

"Schools are strapped for revenue, so I think they're looking towards arrangements that are more entrepreneurial," Reid said. "It's a necessity for them, really, and I think our model is both viable and appropriate."

I have mixed feeling about in-school advertising writing in a previous post, "Whether this is harmful to children will be debated for years to come. There should be a time of innocence in life where commercialism does not enter in with its powerfully persuasive messages selling things people don't really need or want. Young minds have enough trouble filtering through the information that is relevant to their daily lives. The age at which a kid becomes indoctrinated into commercial culture gets younger every year. Let's not get to the point where a newly delivered baby, eyes just cleared by the doctor, stares at the ceiling of the delivery room and sees a McDonald's logo."

I'm not entirely sure I see it that way anymore. Like anything, done right, this initiative could prove to provide commercialism that is far more "vetted" than what kids see and hear in other media. One can be sure, with all the teachers, parents and administrators walking school hallways, any advertiser that "crosses the line" will be booted out immediately. There's a built in ad-review board of sorts. And that's not even accounting for the jaded "you can't sell me" attitude that's already pervasive in today's youth which can instantly flop any ad campaign attempting to "fool" its target.

It's no secret that school districts need money to survive. They're already pocketing money from school bus advertising and other means. While advertising continues to be the necessarily evil contract between marketer and consumer, it can become a productive and informative conversation as well. Let's hope this latest move heads in that direction.

Spike Jonze Revealed as Director of Volvo's 'The Mystery of Dalaro' Spoof Campaign

American filmmaker Spike Jonze has been revealed as the director behind a spoof within a spoof campaign for Volvo's new S40. The campaign was created as a documentary style TV spot which was supposed to be a truthful account of the Swedish village Delaro where 32 people bought the new Volvo S40 on the same day.

The documentary was supposedly directed by Venezuelan filmmaker Carlos Soto who then created his own documentary-of-a-documentary calling into question the validity of these strange events which he posted on a website.

We new it was a spoof of a spoof but we never knew who was behind it. Now we do.

Old Navy Does Another Weird One

Ad Age doesn't like it but Old Navy has put out another one of its cheesy commercials that always seem to fond cool factor. They work in the way those cheesy Mentos commercials worked. They're just different enough to actually be remembered.

Also this week in Ad Age's TV Spots of the Week are Robert Duvall for CirecTV, John Mellencamp's sife for Almay, Nimrods, for ESPN, a crying painting for Pantanol and Murphy's law for Jeep.

Sometimes Root Beer is Better Than Real Beer

In commercial for IBC Root Beer, a poor drunken soul pulls himself up off the sidewalk after what was apparently a long night of drinking only to find he is not alone. IBC Root Beer presents us with a situation we have all faced the morning after, wishing we hadn't had so much to drink the night before.