It’s gotta be the shoes

Watching Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou as an AdFreak family activity on Christmas Day, we were struck by the Zissou brand of clothes that were everywhere. Characters wear Zissou pajamas, beanies, Speedos, even a supposed limited-edition Team Zissou Adidas sneaker. The sneaker, with silver and teal stripes and the word “Zissou” on it, is just maddeningly out of reach enough to strike lust in the heart of any of-the-moment hipster. A quick Google search reveals many bloggers pining for it, to no avail. Only Zissou beanies and Speedos, which were sent out to promote the movie, are listed on eBay, and the “Zissou store” on the movie’s official Web site claims that the sneakers are “sold out” (though it also claims they were made in 1987, so it’s doubtful they were ever really for sale). What’s a sneakerhead to do? Blogger Josh Puleo has one solution: He offers step-by-step instructions for making your very own Zissou Adidas shoes, using paint or a Sharpie.

—Posted by Mae Anderson

Published on December 30, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Product placement, Wes Anderson

If you got ’em, don’t smoke ’em

Maybe we should all move to Auckland.

This week, New Zealand snuffed out efforts by its Health Ministry to automatically give an R rating to movies that show smoking—a proposal that would essentially equate cigarettes with graphic violence, explicit language and full-frontal nudity.

The same concept has been gaining support in this hemisphere. But despite all its perceived tongue-rotting, finger-staining evilness, Big Tobacco was ahead of its critics this year. Ditching the benefits of product placement, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds actually requested that Hollywood remove any specific cigarette-brand imagery from its movies (at least in time for the DVD).

All of which feels a bit hysterical. Would the guys in American Graffiti really have smoked gas-station generics rather than Camels? Didn’t Marlboros seem significant in Apocalypse Now? Would Jim Jarmusch even have a career?

To appease the nonsmokers, perhaps theaters could show more anti-smoking ads instead. That would be reasonable—assuming there’s enough time between the Pepsi spot and the “visit our concessions stand” song.

—Posted by Randi Schmelzer

Photo: Newscom

Published on December 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Theater of the absurd

The new play Jewtopia, which tells the tale of a gentile obsessed with dating Jewish women and a Jew obsessed with dating gentile girls, sold out a small house in L.A. for a year (not an easy task) and has now opened Off Broadway.

Reviews have been mixed. Depending on what you read, it’s either “a raucous, merciless skewering of contemporary Jewish foibles, neuroses and stereotypes” (Los Angeles Times) or a “tasteless romp” and “offensive” (Backstage West). And the ads are, well, obvious. “Just Jew it” is only slightly more inspired (and that’s not saying much) than “Got Jew?” And this play is supposed to be “hilarious”?

Whatever. The writers do give away some free advertising in the form of product placement—particularly to JDate, the Jewish online dating service, which is central to the plot (it’s where the title comes from). Plus, the merchandising plans sound fun. As the Web site jokes, “Jewtopia 2: The Fellowship of the Jew and Jewtopia 3: The Return of the Gentile are already in the planning stages, with Jewtopia cast action figures to follow.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The wrong kind of carrot

As if Florida hasn’t been hammered enough this year, what with hurricanes (and the resulting tomato shortage) and all those political ads. Now we hear that a consortium of central Florida business interests have enlisted alleged funnyman Carrot Top (whose real name is Scott Thompson—who knew?) to pitch their region as a hotbed for high-tech.

Mr. Top will appear in an ad on ABC during halftime of this year’s Capital One Bowl on New Year’s Day. The commercial, which the group calls “hilarious,” features the prop comic selling Orlando’s “advanced manufacturing, laser technology [and] computer modeling,” all while dressed in outfits ranging from a football uniform to a tutu. (You’ll be able to enjoy the spot over and over when it’s posted to the group’s Web site after the game.)

Of course, we would question the acumen of any business that were to pick a location based on the advice of a prop comic. And given Carrot Top’s base of college-age fans (which is apparently what led AT&T to foist him on us for all those stupid collect-call ads), we’re not sure exactly what businesses they’re trying to attract … unless Orlando is secretly feeling left out of that all-important spring-break business.

—Posted by Aaron Baar

Photo: Orlandoworks.com

Published on December 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time to make a splash

So it’s New Year’s Eve, and you’re out at a party. You’re missing Dick Clark a little, and generally feeling a tad emotional about riding our turning blue planet across time’s invisible line, as Robert D. McFadden once put it. So, as midnight nears, you drag your friends into the kitchen, reach into the fridge and pull out …

A six-pack of Aquafina?

First, Aquafina had that commercial set in a pub, where everyone seemed to be getting plastered on water. Now it’s attaching itself to the sloshiest night of the year—putting up a billboard in Times Square as part of a big New Year’s Eve campaign by BBDO, including sponsorship of MTV’s Iced Out New Year’s Eve 2005 (see the second item down in this story).

Will water replace alcohol as the beverage of choice to “make your body happy”? Of course not, despite what Matt Sussman says in this humorous column. But the tongue-in-cheek aspect of BBDO’s strategy is, well, clean and refreshing. Just limit yourself to two or three bottles this Friday.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A gift for that wacky someone

If the kids on your list didn't appreciate the tube socks they found in their holiday stockings, make it up to them with Wacky Packages.

Topps introduced the classic product-spoof trading cards in 1967, and brought them back this year with the first big new series since 1976. (Brief, unsuccessful revivals in the ’80s and ’90s didn’t really count.) The great new spoof products include Chimps Ahoy (“Real insects in every bite!”), Frosted Snakes (“They’re g-r-r-r-oss!”), Slop Tarts (“The disgustingly different snack”) and Mean Cuisine (“Best when not served”). You can look at the rest of the new additions here.

The original series from the ’60s featured illustrations by then-underground artists Art Spiegelman, Bill Griffith, Drew Friedman, Jay Lynch and Mark Newgarden. Lynch, who’s involved with the new cards, says Wacky Packages offer more than gross-out humor. “They bring the fantasy of advertising down to reality,” he tells the Chicago Reader. “They teach kids to think for themselves, and that what’s good for GM and Coca-Cola isn’t necessarily good for them. This is important, because these are the people 20 years down the road who will be doing your heart bypass.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 27, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wishing you a happy holiday

Even AdFreak occasionally has to deal with real-world concerns like whether or not the Christmas gifts are really in those unopened Amazon boxes, whether it's bad form that most of the holiday cards haven't been sent yet and how bent out of shape the family will be if we forget the special ingredients for the eggnog. So, on that note, we're taking a break until Monday, the 27th to figure all this stuff out . Have a happy one!

Published on December 23, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

We wonder what he really thinks

You may think it's the holiday season but apparently it's not only that. It also may be open season for a new round of verbal assaults on Lizzie Grubman, the PR mistress who, a few years back, got into a lot of trouble with an SUV and next year will star in an MTV reality series titled, Power Girls that will feature her own brand of PR (which often consists of making sure the right people are seen at the right parties—we'll definitely watch.)

In a news release titled, Lizzie Grubman an Embarrassment to the PR Industry, Ronn Torossian, president & CEO of 5W Public Relations, which he refers to as "the quickest growing PR firm in the U.S.," launches this diatribe: “I wouldn't allow MTV camera's [sic] to follow me because our firm counsels clients and serves as confidants to them, and I and many of my industry peers hope upon hope that the general public, and those looking to hire PR firms see through this garbage, and realize that this show has nothing in common with what PR truly is.  That's what is going to make you a PR Pro, because not everyone has a rich daddy in the music industry." (For those unschooled on the Grubman family, the daddy being referred to is entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman.) Strangely, the release is not currently posted on the 5W web site.

On that kind and gentle note, happy holidays!

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Photo Credit: Star Max Photos

Published on December 23, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who would Jesus spam?

Oh, Lordy.

Unsolicited e-mails of a religious nature are on the rise, according to this article from E-Commerce Times. So far, MessageLabs, a company that provides email security, says messages which contain subject lines like "Only believe" are from legit organizations trying to sell Bibles. But since messages of this nature are not covered by the Can-Spam Act, it may only be a matter of time before some Viagra hawker gets on the bandwagon. (AdFreak's favorite quote from the article: "It is mostly Christian in nature. We have not seen any Islamic spam yet," according to MessageLabs chief information security analyst Paul Wood.)

On a separate but related matter, we're intrigued by this effort, encouraging people to boycott stores that opt to use "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" in their advertising. The so-called "Committee to Save Merry Christmas" says there's a "covert and deceptive war" to remove any mention of Christmas by retailers (in particular, according to the Committee, Federated Department Stores) during the, um, holiday season. (Though they have a point about the dichotomy of having "Holiday" and "After Christmas" sales.) The group is encouraging a boycott of Federated stores through the Christmas season (a year-round boycott is optional).

Somebody's going to wake up to a big lump of coal on Saturday morning.

—Posted by Aaron Baar

Published on December 23, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blog hogs

Bloggers in 2004 couldn't get enough of Johnny Depp.  Or Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Or JibJab.com's satirical This Land is Your Land cartoon starring George W. Bush and John Kerry.

All were hot topics for entertainment bloggers last year, according to a survey by Intelliseek's BlogPulse.com, an automated blog portal which tracks and analyzes more than 3.5 million blogs daily.

But in addition to the usual suspects like Depp and Page Six regular Lindsay Lohan, bloggers occasionally strayed off the beaten path. The quirky Jim Carrey film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was the second most-mentioned movie in blog postings, and Dubya's "one-fingered victory salute" was also a blog fave.

Top audio files cited included Monty Python alum Eric Idle's FCC Song, Bush's description of "tribal sovereignty" and William Shatner's version of Common People.

It's two days before Christmas and you're sitting at your desk. Click on all these links and have some fun.

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on December 23, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)