Xtra-Pine Cures Women's Sexual Fantasies

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You'd have to agree the whole sex-in-advertising thing leans heavily in favor of men with most sex-based ads containing hot, untouchable women conjured from the fantasies of male art directors. It's very rare, in fact, to find an ad that turns the drool-inducing strategy on its head and caters to women. Perhaps it's because the industry adheres to the stereotype that only men are the horny ones, easily swayed by the lure of sex. Maybe it's because women are superior to men and don't let their lives revolve around the need for sex. Or maybe it's some weird Darwinian thing where, due to the forces of human procreation, men just have to have it more than woman.

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by Steve Hall    Mar-17-06    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Online, Trends and Culture



Jaws Trailer Converted to 'Must Love Jaws'

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In a perfect example of how a movie trailer can completely twist the subject of the actual movies, this trailer for the classic, Jaws, created by Ari Eisner and Mike Dow, turns the horro show into a love story called Must Love Jaws. Must Love YouTube for proliferating this stuff.

by Steve Hall    Mar-16-06    
Topic: Consumer Created, Spoofs, Trends and Culture



Adidas Yellow Series Not So Nice to Asians.

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Our Asian cultural expert Tian tells us Adidas should expect a bit of backlash from the Asian community in reaction to a newly introduced line of sneakers called the Yellow Series. One particular shoe has the image of a buck-toothed bowlcut slanty eyed face on the shoe's tongue - not exactly the currently acceptable rendition of the Asian populace.

by Steve Hall    Mar-13-06    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Trends and Culture



Nude French Magazine Cover Catches Eye of Visiting New Yorker

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Bucky Turco tells us New Yorker Heron Preston Johnson, attending Parsons School of Design in Paris is suffering from culture shock. Coming from America where all our thoughts of nudity and sex are bottled up, capped and stored on a shelf, Johnson was a bit overwhelmed by the openess the French and many other European nations have about sex and sexual imagery. Apparently, while walking down the street, he was a bit shocked by this ad poster for a French fashion magazine. Se the full image here.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 9-06    
Topic: Magazine, Outdoor, Trends and Culture



Obesity Is Not Marketers' Fault

Dan Jaffe over at the ANA's Regulatory Rumblings blog makes a concise argument, as we have before but with far fewer facts, that lays blame for obesity not on the action of marketers and advertisers b ut squarely on the shoulders of lazy-ass kids, their parents that let them sit on their ass all day long playing video games and schools which have drastically cut back on physical education.

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by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-06    
Topic: Opinion, Research, Trends and Culture



Wake Up And Smell Your Marketing

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Everyone who works in marketing and any business touching it must read this article. On CBSNews.com, Dick Meyer wrote an editorial hammering home points we've touched on here before such as the portrayal of men as idiots in advertising, the hyper-political correctness foisted upon the industry and society at large and the acceptance, what scholar Charles Murray relates to "ecumenical niceness," of kids dressing and behaving like thugs fueled by marketers and the entertainment industry elevating "thug culture" to culture at large. If that's a lot to digest, just read the article and think long and hard about what cultural imagery you mirror in your marketing. Don't cop out using the tired, "Oh we're just identifying with culture," and turn a blind eye to what you are perpetuating.

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by Steve Hall    Mar- 3-06    
Topic: Opinion, Trends and Culture



MasterCard Asks People to Write Its Priceless Ads

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Fully embracing the notion and value of consumer generated content, MasterCard, during the Oscars, will air two commercial which say basically nothing. The ads, Sailboat and Typewriter, will follow the customary format of listing prices for various items and closing with the final item labeled "priceless." However, the item lines in these ads will be left blank. The ads will close encouraging people to go to priceless.com, click on "Write a Priceless Ad Contest" and complete the commercial by filling in the blanks using their own words.

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Headvertising Featured on 'The Simpsons'

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Screw Andrew Fisher and CI Host. Homer Simpson's taking all the fame now. In a recent episode of The Simpsons in which Homer, faced with losing his cherished blue trousers because the factory that makes them is going out of business, applies "Buy Blue Pants" to his head to create demand. In the episode when asked by Marge to define headvertising, Homer replies, "Headvetising, it provides brand awareness without relying on traditional media." During the episode Homer also applies brand logos to his chest and arms. Thanks to the ever vigilant Bucky Turco for spotting this one.

by Steve Hall    Feb-27-06    
Topic: Human, Television, Trends and Culture



Future Marketing Gurus Speak Out

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Capturing a bit of last week's Future Marketing Summit in New York, coBRANDit's Owen Mack conducted a few video interviews with the likes of PSFK's Piers Fawkes, CP + B's Alex Bogusky, Barbarian Group's Benjamin Palmer, Amalgamated's Charles Rosen and Naked's Paul Woolmington. Each comment of where the future of marketing and advertising is headed.

by Steve Hall    Feb-27-06    
Topic: Industry Events, Trends and Culture



Bike Culture Cry Babies Get Pissed Over Commercialization

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Culture Critic Bucky Turco points us to an article on Sucka Pants in which the author decries a Brooklyn store's use of "bike culture" in its store front windows and discusses the vandalism the store received by doing so. Call us jaded by years in the "we'll co-op anything for a buck" advertising industry but one does have to wonder why "bike culture" fanatics feel their culture is the only one that shouldn't get a commercial nod. The only reason a store, or any other retailer or brand for that matter, mimics a particular culture or trend is to make their offering relevant to the public. If no brand did that, every brand would still be stuck in the fifties imitating American Graffiti culture. No one wants their sacred culture commercialized but in a capitalist society, there's little chance a culture with any cred won't sooner or later be bitten by a brand desperate for commercial success. Oh, and by the way, roads were built for cars.

by Steve Hall    Feb-27-06    
Topic: Opinion, Trends and Culture