J. Crew Taps Michelle Obama to Sell Clothes

With a little bit of Gmail contextual wizardry, J. Crew is capitalizing on Obama and his wife Michelle with a text ad that leads to a landing page which reads, "All politics aside...this outfit gets our vote."

Simple. Smart. Obvious. With all the contextual fuckery that exists, it's nice to occasionally see one execution that's actually relevant and isn't selling turpentine to young teens who drink it to force abortions.

Hey. It's, Like, a Really Long Obama Ad

This half-hour Obama spot aired on eight networks during prime-time last night. (Sorta like the Presidential debates ... except with just one candidate.)

It's slow-moving and demagogic, with the distinct vanilla flavor of Christian family TV, but Obama's honeyed tone is soothing, like a lullaby. As an added bonus, it's oddly devoid of plumbers named Joe.

"I didn't get a church-related feeling, but my wife loved the wheat," said colleague Michael Kimsal when we discussed the ad this morning. "We then watched the pundits afterward, and half of them loved the wheat too."

Building on that hard-up plebe vibe, Adrants reader Olivier was all, "Felt like Grapes of Wrath II at times."

Because if Mom's Not Voting Like You Would, She's Doing it Wrong

I'm sure a handful of wily degenerates have fantasized about rigging this year's election results in their favour. Or voting 30 times instead of once.

Given that you can't do either of those things without great risk, consider making your mom vote for your candidate of choice. She gave birth to you; we're sure she'd do it just to keep you from hitting her up for money this month.

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'Abraham Lincoln: Wrong on Slavery, Wrong for Us.'

What if today's campaign tactics were applied to the election of 1860?

Crazed by this Presidential race, ad bloggers Make the Logo Bigger and Jetpacks ponder this question. Here's the fruit of their labours, "paid for by Friends of Douglas."

Contemporary context gave history both personality and a face. We laughed, we cried, we wondered -- ever so briefly -- what could have been.

Indentured servitude for me? Plantation micro-management for Steve? (Well, I guess one could argue that slavery was on its way out, even without that wee shove we dubbed the Reconstruction.) Propaganda aside, just how big of a deal is an election, anyway?

Goodwill Belittles Presidential Candidates With Thinly Veiled Barb

OK so not everyone in America has thousands of dollars to spend on clothes but should a person who can afford such clothes be given a back handed slap upside the head for looking good on national television while running for the President of America? It would appear that's what Goodwill is doing to Barak Obama and Sarah Palin in a new ad campiagn asking them to donate their clothing on November 5th when the Presidential dust has settled.

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Make Your Vote Pointless, Join Cancel-Out 2008

With a bit of twisted logic, TDA has launched a get-out-and-vote effort but the whole thing's pointless. The promotion is predicated on the notion people identify friends, colleagues or acquaintances who will vote opposite them thereby each canceling out the other's vote.

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Plastic Dream Shoes, Phone-Toting Thongs, Putting Out for Obama, the Skinny on Parker

- The US Army has released a list of new technologies that could be used to enable terrorism. Twitter, MySpace and Facebook make the cut.

- The recession's not real! And neither is your loneliness.

- Here's a fun little site. Click on a pair of shoes to see a luxe little ad -- er, "dream" about it. The image at left is for the Vinyl Mary Jane-looking shoes. The Ultra Girl Night Sky one is probably my favourite though: jelly shoes, underwater. How novel.

- You know you hate the new Pepsi logo almost as much as you hate the douche-tacular smile/grin logic behind it. Why not make a new one? Show Pepsi what it could've had for far less money than it probably spent.

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Your Apathy Could Put McCain in Office. Oh, Noooooes.

Hot damn. As November 4 nears and political ads grow increasingly more negative, MoveOn.org -- which has a knack for instigating a fight -- whips out its own ammo.

Non-voters are the target. This faux news video can be customized to include the name of any potential non-voter. Plug your name in to see it defamed across Facebook, in church marquees and among angry middle-aged protesters. (It's a surprisingly heady sensation. This must be how Heather Mills feels every single day.)

Aside from that sidebar about McCain bombing goats, the best part is when George W. Bush thanks you for your service. I think it gave me hypertension.

Wassuuuuuup? Change is Up, True Change

From director Charles Stone and his Wassup crew from the days of old comes this updated Wassup spoof which captures the last eight year's worth of "unfortunate events" such as the tanking economy, Iraq, New Orleans and more. The whole thing turns out to be an unofficial commercial for Barak Obama. And a well done one at that.

Obama Goes Green. No, Not That Kind of Green

Hyping Obama in the "battleground state" of North Carolina, BooneOakley has launched a guerrilla campaign. The agency printed decals of the Obama sunrise logo, each, at a diameter of 9.25 inches, sized perfectly to fit over the green circle in a stoplight sign. Of course, it's all supposed to mean "GObama."

As of this week, the decals have begun to appear on street signs throughout the states of North Carolina and neighboring Georgia and Virginia, placed by agency staff and by friends. Additional decals are available at no charge from GObamaNC.com.

Not overly concerned with the potential illegalities of such a stunt, BooneOakley President david Oakley said, "Well, it's not like we're putting them on actual stoplights. We don't even know anyone with an SUV tall enough to reach that high."

Hmm. Tell that to the police when they knock on your door, David;)