In a pleasing and refreshing blast of common sense, a recent study by Universal McCann InTuition found the majority of Americans, 83 percent, feel it is the individual and not food marketers who should be responsible for making sure they eat right. So all the losers out there suing McDonald's and Burger King for making them fat are simply the sensationalistic minority.
Of course it must be noted the study was conducted by an ad agency - not exactly an impartial player in the game. And then there's the wording of the question. Was it, "Who is responsible for your eating properly, you or marketers?" Or, was it, "Are marketers responsible for the easting habits of loser, fat slob slackers who would sue their mother if the thought they could win - yes or no?" Might make a difference in the response.
Poor Mary-Kate's trials and tribulations with anorexia and drug use have driven the marketers at the Milk Processor Education Program to pull the campaign "out of sensitivity for her situation." And with Ashley saying in May at the outset of the campaign, "We want to make sure our fans are healthy like us," well, you can imagine the conference room discussions about brand association on that one.
The campaign might be cancelled but that didn't stop an enterprising reader of Defamer from sending in a version of the ad that cuts through the brand association bullshit and just tells it like it is - Got Blow? A gram of Coke will make you grow. Click the picture for a bigger version.
Celebutante Paris Hilton has finally made her debut in the new Fall Guess print ad campaign. The campaign was shot earlier this year in L.A. by Ellen von Unwerth. Hilton follows Drew Barrymore, Claudia Schiffer, Adriana Lima and Anna Nicole Smith as the fashion designer's spokesmodel. In the images here, she looks quite different in each shot. In the first, she looks pregnant. In the second, she looks her typical vapid self. And in the third, one commenter on this board says she looks like Christina Aguilera. Amazing talent, this girl.
He res images here.
A new study released today by The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine states a greater percentage of girls 12 to 20 see alchohol ads than do women over 21 and women 21 to 34. The study also cites teenage drinking has increased especially among girls and draws correlations between this increase and the increase in alchohol ads seen by girls.
One has to hope this increase in reach to teenagers is unintentional. It's certainly possible this is the case with the "read-up" behavior among teens consuming media targeted for age groups older than their own. On the other hand, it wouldn't be out of the question for brewers and distillers to try and grab mindshare as early as possible hoping teenagers will gravitate to their brand once they reach legal age. Either way, more teenagers are getting drunk than ever before.
PETA's efforts to promote its undercover sting operation of an IAMS contract testing laboratory using a billboard in Columbus, Ohio was put down by the outdoor company. PETA hoped to have its new anti-Iams billboard displayed in Columbus. The billboard shows a caged dog with the tagline "Sally Suffered for Six Years in Iams Experiments." The message refers to an undercover investigation at an Iams contract laboratory, where at least 27 dogs were killed, while others died of illnesses that went untreated. The ad is part of PETA?s international campaign, which was launched in Iams? hometown of Dayton, Ohio, last September, to protest the misery of animals who were apparently neglected and killed in Iams? laboratory tests.
Pleasant. Now for some slightly less bloody news, popular "model" Cindy Margolis will, as PETA spokesmodel, clear up any confusion surrounding her dogs favorite sexual position in an anti-IAMS print effort with the headline "IAMS isn't my doggie's style." Thanks for clearing that up Cindy but now we wonder what exactly your favorite position might be. But that's a topic for a different weblog.
Reality Blurred reports more Hiltons are jumping on the reality television train wreck. Bored with their posh lifestyles and tired of their unrealistic outlook on reality, both Paris Hilton's Dad, Rick, and her sister Nicky are getting in the game. Rick will track seven high rollers who toss in $1 million each and compete in Las Vegas over a seven day period for the $7 million prize. Nicky is in discussions to create her own television show. Hilton Mom, Kathy, is already hosting her own reality series, The Good Life. Reality Blurred also points out there's likely more to come as there are two brothers in the family, Barron and Conrad.
Justin from That'sJustNotRight eloquently sums up the number two Simpson sister writing, "Ashlee Simpson. Big nose, big chin, can't sing, swears too much. But at least she's not as stupid as her sister."
I guess she won't be doing Pizza Hut commercials any time soon.
UPDATE: OK, so she is a little bit hot:
Oh, the idea. The idea. The idea. Are we sick of hearing about the idea? Yes, but according to Brighthouse CEO Joey Reiman, it's the only thing we have left to save the ad agency business. We've heard it before but Reiman, in a new book he's promoting of course, says agencies should stop giving ideas away and start holding out for the big money.
Reiman writes in Ad Age, "Advertising agencies have become an antiquated broker business, selling space to clients with creativity thrown in for free. The result is a marketing world that is ad rich and idea poor. Consumers don't want to be bombarded with ads -- they want to be inspired by ideas that will change their lives. Ads create transactions, ideas create transformations. Ads reflect our culture, ideas imagine our future."
All well and good but remember, this is the ad agency business, we don't like change. It's too much work.
Walking Tongues (covered here over a year ago, by the way) and crashing car parts on Ad Age's TV Spots Of the Week.
Chrysler (and others) won't pony up to NBC's $50 million asking price for The Apprentice sponsorship.
Republicans say ads for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 amout to "electioneering" and violate campiagn finance laws.
(Yes, I stole this mini-summary idea from Gawker Media)
Always ahead of the curve, TrendWatching has dubbed a new trend called Life Caching. Simply put, it's the collection of all things experiential (rather than material) enabled by the proliferation of digital products. From weblogs to Lifeblogs to digital cameras to everything-enabled cell phones, the recording and collection of experiences is fast becoming ubiquitous.
For marketers who provide an experience, figuring out to enable the consumer to make that experience last is the key to riding this trend. With consumer's entire body of experience cataloged, gaining permission from consumers to access this life-store will be the holy grail for marketers.
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