Advertising Is Good For You

Watch the TV commercial that caught mobster Whitey Bulger

The FBI spent $50,000 on an ad campaign to help catch a mobster/murderer on the agency's Ten Most Wanted list. And it worked.

Boston mobster Whitey Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, had been on the run for 16 years. The FBI manhunt was worldwide. The reward for information leading to Whitey Bulger's capture was originally $1 million but was raised to $2 million a few years ago.

So why was this effort by the FBI successful when others failed? Many speculate it's because this campaign targeted women and, instead of featuring Whitey Bulger, the ads featured Catherine Greig. Sure enough, someone recognized her. The tip led to the arrest of the duo.

Click here to watch the FBI TV commercial that helped catch mobster Whitey Bulger.

I hope the tipster gets the $2 million reward for helping to catch Whitey Bulger. The reward for Catherine Greig's capture was only $50,000.

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The Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr is a great read detailing the rise of the ruthless mobster and his sleazy brother, former Boston politician Billy Bulger.

Junk Mail Queens

Artist Sandhi Schimmel Gold creates portraits from direct mail solicitations.

To see more of her works, visit Sandhi Schimmel Gold's website.

 

Antoine Dodson adds iPhone app pitchman to his resume

For a Halloween party last week, a friend wore a black tank top, black pants, black Afro wig and red bandana. He was, of course, dressed as rapist foe/Internet sensation/child sex abuse victim Antoine Dodson.

This is Antoine Dodson's first claim to fame and this is the music video that cemented his place in pop culture.

Now I find out that Antoine has added iPhone app pitchman to his resume.

CLICK HERE to watch Antoine Dodson's Sex Offender Tracker iPhone app commercial.

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose

 

Click image to enlarge.

Love this online ad for Kodak Gallery. Although I think it would have been better without the sentence in parentheses.

 

Nothing says security like... a skidmark?

Available for purchase at Sears.

TV commercial for a blanket that "traps flatulence molecules"

The "Marriage Blanket" is a blanket with "a layer of activated carbon fabric... that traps flatulence molecules... the same type of fabric used by the military to protect against chemical weapons."

Not an SNL parody. It's for real.

CLICK HERE to watch the Marriage Blanket TV commercial. 

 

Be forewarned, if you visit the website, when you try to click away from it, one of those annoying windows pops up with the trick question that forces you to click an answer -- one that usually does not result in an exit from the site. (If anyone knows the proper term for those horrible windows, please let me know.)

This is curious

Somehow my name got on a mailing list of morbidly obese people.

A dog food for all the Paris Hilton wannabes

Shake Weights. For hard... uh... biceps.

Hard to believe this isn't an SNL parody.

Click here to watch the spot for Shake Weights. 

 

Coupon usage is up

Fewer and fewer people are buying and reading newspapers, yet usage of FSI (free-standing insert) coupons is increasing -- because of the bad economy, is my guess.

According to a recent study, usage of the coupons that come in newspaper inserts increased in 2009 by 8% over the previous year.

CLICK HERE to read more about the FSI study.

Advertising Arts & Crafts: junk mail lei

Instructions for making a junk mail lei are at Instructables.

Kids. Can't return 'em. Might as well feed em.

Most FSIs (free standing inserts in newspapers) suck. Rarely do they look as though they were done by professional creative people. This is a happy exception.

Tripod not included

Buy a mattress, get a free video camera:

Source: The Consumerist