Satan Is Our Spokesman

Religious Channel Enlists Lucifer to Get Out Message

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 12.03.08 @ 12:50 PM

Let's say you had the task of rebranding a Brooklyn-based religious cable channel. Who would you choose for a spokesperson? Jesus? A rabbi? A nun? A doctor of theology? An imam? A fire-breathing televangelist? Nope. Cesario-Migliozzi, Los Angeles, picked Satan hisownself to help get the word out about NET (New Evangelization Television), which was formerly known as The Prayer Channel. The devil, played in online and TV spots by Jimmy Briscoe, is acting as the anti-spokesperson for the channel. Satan, as one would expect, is the champion of oversexed reality TV and does not want you to watch NET. Indeed, he's started a website called StopGoodTV.com, where you can find a sort of Subservient Satan (he doesn't do much, though). The campaign, which breaks today, also includes bus-side ads (as seen at the left) and a viral video as seen below. The TV spot showing Satan in all his non-glory can be found here.

Simpsons Mocks Apple Users

Are Jobs and Gates in Cahoots?

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 12.02.08 @ 12:35 PM

Bart Simpson voices every Apple user's worst nightmare: that he or she is a trend-chasing loser whose pricey gadget-collecting hobby is somehow making Bill Gates rich. The below clip also references Apple's "1984" spot, which is usually dubbed the best ad of all time, but is rarely remembered by anyone other than ad-industry people or hardcore Apple users.

Teacher Selling Ad Space on Tests?

Educators Apparently Don't Follow Failed Ad Trends

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 12.02.08 @ 11:49 AM

Obviously, San Diego teacher Tom Farber hadn't read about all the hot water McDonald's spilled in its lap when it tried to advertise on report cards. Otherwise he would know that his decision to sell advertising space to fund his copying charges is only going to draw out the busybodies, naysayers and advocacy groups. Heck, readers of the USA Today story have only to wait until the fifth paragraph before you-know-who shows up:

That worries Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert, a Washington-based nonprofit that fights commercialization in school and elsewhere.

No doubt Mr. Weissman would rather Mr. Farber do it the old-fashioned way -- pay for it out of his meager teacher's salary. Or I'm sure cash-strapped taxpayers, after bailing out the likes of AIG and Citi, would be thrilled to kick in a little more of their property taxes -- especially in California. After all, we wouldn't want our precious youth to be seeing ad messages. We do such a good job of keeping them away from ads

Anderson Cooper Busts Michael Phelps Two-Timing Kellogg's

Uh-Oh, Cheerio!

Posted by Emily Bryson York on 12.01.08 @ 12:25 PM

A note to Michael Phelps: Next time you give Anderson Cooper an all-access pass to your pad, check your cabinets. Or make someone else do it. It's not good form to accept big sponsorships from food companies and then have their competitors' products on display in your kitchen -- at least when "60 Minutes" is rooting around in your stuff on national TV.

Swimming Over Manhattan

Global Warming Makes Anything Possible

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 11.25.08 @ 05:43 PM

Who needs a nausea-inducing helicopter tour over Manhattan -- or one of those cheesy IMAX experiences -- when you can just wait a couple million years until the whole island is little more than a reef in a tropical paradise. According to Neatorama, this ad is from Ogilvy, Mumbai, and is part of an HSBC effort to raise awareness about global warming. It's a neat visual, but somehow even if this bleak portrait of the future comes to pass I don't think the water's going to be quite so clear. And it will probably be swarming with goonches. Besides, I think we can all agree banks should be worrying more about banking right now and letting the scientists deal with the global warming.

Just in Time for Thanksgiving: Pro-Palin Ads

PAC Thanks Her for Her Service

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 11.21.08 @ 02:16 PM

The Our Country Deserves Better Committee wants to thank Sarah Palin. And it would like you to consider thanking Sarah Palin, too. That's why it's releasing a series of ads -- one 30-second ad and two 60-second ads -- thanking the Republican vice presidential candidate who became the media's favorite punching bag and the rallying point for gun-and-god-clinging (to borrow an offensive phrase from a certain president-elect) voters across the land. (Spots after the jump)

World Toilet Day Needs Better Marketing

Missed It Again This Year

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 11.21.08 @ 01:49 PM

It breaks my heart to report that Adages missed World Toilet Day. Talk Like a Pirate Day, I almost always remember. Why? Excellent marketing. Also, pirates. But I'd never heard of World Toilet Day until yesterday when a reader sent in this bit from Trendhunter magazine called 45 Toileting Innovations to Celebrate World Toilet Day. The only pity is you can't really read it, well, on the toilet!

Wheaton Rants: I Told You So, Second Lifers

Virtual World Isn't a Marketing Paradise

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 11.21.08 @ 09:50 AM

So sad. Based on the actions of Google in the virtual world space, it looks like some are making funeral arrangements for Second Life. Sure, I'm throwing dirt in the grave while it's still drawing air, but let's face it: What little usefulness Second Lifers had (a target for mockery, I guess), they've long since outlived.

Angry Moms Parody Motrin Ads

Now Who's Going to Be Offended?

Posted by Marissa Miley on 11.20.08 @ 12:56 PM

The baby-sling Motrin ad that infuriated Twitter moms last weekend and brought the fury of baby-wearing women upon Johnson & Johnson practically begged for mockery.

Wheaton Rants: Wrap the Subways in Advertising

Can Marketers, Media Buyers Save the MTA From Itself?

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 11.20.08 @ 09:09 AM

For those living in New York, it should come as no surprise that just a year or so after declaring it had a surplus, the MTA is declaring a shortfall so severe that it will have to cut entire subway and bus lines while raising fares. This only confirms my suspicion that the Metropolitan Transit Authority allows a room full of monkeys pounding on random-number generators to determine the yearly budget.