Home Shopping Video Sells AK-47's Calling Attention to Arms Control

Using the home shopping network approach to selling an AK-47, the Amnesty International Protect the Human cause has released a humorous but convincing video that claims the world's arms trade is out of control and calls for governments to sign the Arms Trade Agreement. The video was created by Mother London.

SnackShotz Makes Boring Product Exciting

Now here's a way to market a boring product like dog treats. Rather than try to espouse the tastiness of the treat - which is clearly a lie - just couple the product with dog treat launch gun called Snackshotz as you laugh your way to the bank while your dog treat competitors utter a collective, "Huh?", as your sales skyrockets past theirs.

Russian Translation Company Helps Guys Get Dolls With Dolls

Hoping to help men who seek Russian brides for their apparent adherence to the "promise to obey" wedding vow, English/Russian translation company Russian Gal Translations has launched SmokingHotKova, a site which features obedient Russian dolls called matrioshkas. The work, cheeky as it may be, was created by that Hawaiian/Irish tag team, Hawiirish.

Commercial Alert Launches Anti-Direct-to-Consumer Website

Today, Commercial Alert launched StopDrugAds.org, a site devoted to ending direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising in the United States. Commercial Alert says the purpose of the website is to educate the public about the dangers of prescription drug advertising, and to recruit Americans to voice their opposition to the ads.

Size, Focus, Puffery: Ad Serving Companies Revealed

BlueLithium, TribalFusion, Casale, Tacoda, Claria. To those outside the ad industry, and to some within, these names would lead one to believe we're talking about some new form of drug therapy intervention. In actuality, they are the names of ad serving companies, those wonderful, if difficult to define, operations that help deliver marketers online ads to websites that make sense for the advertiser. With all the buzz words these companies insist upon using, it's a wonder any of us in the industry have a clue as to the real modus operandi of these companies.

With the help of iMediaCommection's Jim Meskauskus, you need not feel like a clueless buffoon any longer. Jim has queried 14 of these companies with a series of questions geared towards helping us all understand just what these companies do, how big they are, who they target, why they're different from their competitors and what kind of ads they serve. So dig in and become an expert on ad serving. Or, at least become an expert at knowing what these companies want you to know versus what you might really want to know.

'Pherotones' Promo Oddly Timed With Release of Stephen King's 'Cell'

A tipster has brought to our attention an odd association between the McKinney Silver-created Pherotones campaign and the release of Stephen King's new novel, Cell. While the Pherotones promotion may have something to do with McKinney Silver telecommunications client Qwuest, Stephen King's new novel most certainly has to do with telecommunication - tones sent through cell phones that turn people into flesh-eating zombies. In fact, King's book is being juiced with a cell phone-related promotion of its own.

Hmm, you say? Perhaps it's just a coincidence. Perhaps McKinney doesn't keep up on all things Stephen King. Or, though an unrealistic but intriguing stretch, the Pherotones campaign is a promotion for King's new novel. Nah.

Dice Makes Job Search Fun

It takes a lot to amuse us but this game promoting job site dice.com did the trick. It's the classic "your boss sucks" game where you get to take out your aggression following a bosses cocky, buzz-word laden tirade. Don't miss the pizza launcher in the Project manager's office.

Ad Gets Learning Curve Claim Screwed Up

While we assume SolidWorks meant the learning curve for its 3D CAD software is a quick up and down, visually, this ad implies the curve is, as an astute Adrants reader noted, a brick wall.

Jerry Gets Laid Off, Drives Mobile Billboard

In the new It's Jerry Time video, sad sack Jerry tells the tale of his trials and tribulations as a print production employee at an ad agency who gets laid off because work dries up and he ends up driving a mobile billboard around which doesn't seem to go so well.

Waterfront Media Aggregates Self-Help Category For Marketers

As the publisher for the online presence of the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet and the expectant parent What to Expect among others, Waterfront Media helps self-help experts and their publishers publish their content online and aggregates self-help content for advertisers interested in reaching self-help seekers, a $10 billion market according to Marketdata Enterprises. While some doubt the whole notion of self-help, for marketers and and publishers in this space, Waterfront Media has created a self-help marketplace that appears to make it a whole lot easier for marketer and publisher to connect with the self-help seeker.

Waterfront launched in early 2003 and has 700,000 subscribers to its various sites along with site management/distribution deals with publishers Rodale, Harper Collins, Meredith and Hyperion among others. Waterfront Media's revenue model is shifting from 25/75 ad/paid subscription to 50/50 ad/paid subscription and advertisers from P&G, Kraft, Diet Coke and Equal have jumped on board.