Advertising Is Good For You

If you make any frivolous purchases or spend money you don't have within the next 48 hours, blame the pussycat.

Source: ffffound

Advertising haters, pick a side

I was reading today that GM dealers are pressing the automaker to put together some sort of advertising campaign to drive much-needed customers to their dealerships.

GM is hesitant to do so because it doesn't want to be seen as 'wasting' taxpayer money on advertising.

You can hate advertising all you want, but you can't have it both ways.

That is, you can't say GM would be throwing money away to spend it on something as frivolous as advertising AND AT THE SAME TIME accuse advertising of being this highly effective weapon that can make people do anything.

Either advertising is powerful enough to help pull GM away from the brink of bankruptcy. Or advertising is simply clever fluff that does nothing more than waste money.

But it can't be both.

Image: Plastic Army Men by CynLynn, available for purchase at Red Bubble

Mister, you've got the biggest caulk I've ever seen

Imagine what the proponents of Subliminal Seduction will think of this ad.

Are you feeling an irresistible urge to visit Home Depot?

Britain cracks down on fat kids

Actually, it's cracking down on the advertising that is supposedly to blame for the childhood obesity epidemic.

Starting this week, Britain began a ban on junk food advertising to children under 16. Junk food is defined as food high in fat, sugar and salt.

For Britain's politicians, the ban is no doubt an easy, popular way to appear as though they're doing something meaningful. But if they were really serious about ensuring that kids eat more healthfully, they would teach kids and their parents about nutrition, make it possible for working parents to have the time to shop for and cook nutritious meals, and they would find a way to educate parents of the seriousness of giving in to their children's food requests.

Artist Banksy gives advertising creatives a back-handed compliment

"The thing I hate the most about advertising is that is attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little."

          -- Banksy

The above Banksy work is owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Source: Room 116

Woman's Day and AOL Food conducted a survey that revealed 80% of American mothers say they are not concerned about their kids' weight.

Could children's obesity have something to do with parental apathy?

Nah. Everybody knows advertising is to blame for kids getting fat.

Image: painting by Fernando Botero

Source: Marketing Daily

Sometimes an ad is just an ad.

I have no doubt that well-meaning (though in my opinion misguided) individuals are expressing their outrage at this ad through blog posts, chat room comments and letters to editors. These people are insisting that this ad encourages disrespect for and abuse of animals. They want this "irresponsible" ad pulled immediately.

It's just an ad. A nice, clever ad that puts a smile on your face as you're thumbing through a magazine. And maybe it makes you like Bud a teensie bit more. But that's all. No animals will be hurt as the result of the making of this ad. It's just a harmless ad.

Source: Twenty Four

All those people who think advertising is an exact science being used to brainwash innocent citizens and erode civilization as we know it, listen up.

From Yes But No But Yes:

Viewing figures for Aqua Teen Hunger Force the week BEFORE the Boston "hoax device" incident: 380,000

Viewing figures for Aqua Teen Hunger Force the week AFTER the Boston "hoax device" incident: 380,000.

Of course, advertising had to take another hit.

From the blogosphere comes a chart of the Seven Deadly Sins and their many combinations.

Source: Neatorama

Yet Another Cheap Shot at Advertising and Marketing

An Illinois lawmaker is getting lots of press for her plans to introduce legislation that would make the alcohol industry stop marketing to kids. Funny thing is, there's no evidence whatsoever that the alcohol industry actually is targeting underage drinkers.

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A 2003 report from the Federal Trade Commission, based on its investigation of alcohol ads, product placement, and even internal company marketing documents, concluded underage consumers were not being targeted by by alcohol advertising and marketing.

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State Senator Carol Ronen, a Democrat, is targeting makers of what she refers to as 'alcopops' i.e. Bacardi Silver, Smirnoff Ice, Captain Morgan Gold and Mike's Hard Lemonade, and other sweet alcoholic beverages that appeal to those wanting to enjoy the effects of alcohol without the taste -- a market segment that is hardly limited to teens.

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So-called alcopops account for less than 1% of total alcohol beverage sales in the U.S.

In addition, sales of alcopops have decreased 21% between 2002 through 2006.

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The lack of evidence against advertising and marketing doesn't appear to be stopping Senator Ronen from moving forward with her plans to keep her name in the papers. 

Source: Chicago Tribune

 

Sick of advertising? Move to North Korea.

All you big whiny babies who complain how advertising is ruining the world should move to North Korea. There's no capitalism there and, therefore, not much advertising.

They do, however, have lots of good old-fashioned propaganda. Emphasis on old-fashioned as much of this stuff looks like it came from the early days of the Cold War.



Source 

Most Americans would fly by this ad, denying themselves the pleasure of a subtle joke.

I think other countries have more entertaining ads than the U.S. The reason? Most American consumers hate advertising. And they mostly try to avoid it.

As a result, we don't see enough charming ads like this one in the States...

If we want to get cat owners' attention to tell them about a sale on cat food, we have to scream SALE and use star bursts and coupons bordered with dotted lines. Yuck.

 

Click image to enlarge.

Source: Scary Ideas

Marijuana is the USA's biggest cash crop.

Pot is the most profitable American crop according to an analysis of government statistics done by marijuana public policy wonk, Jon Gettman.

Somehow, I just know it, they're going to try to blame advertising for this, too.

Source: Boing Boing