VW and Dan and Lee make up

Dan and Lee say they’re sorry—as in super sorry. And thus, the lawsuit brought last week by VW against Dan Brooks and Lee Ford over that hoax-suicide-bomber-VW ad they created is over. According to this story from Reuters, the two said they regretted that it was distributed and promise not to “publicize it further.”

Um, we think the cat’s already out of the bag on this publicity thing. Here’s that link again if you missed seeing the ad the first time.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is this Bud really wiser?

Budweiser could have quite the marketing challenge in front of it as it prepares to roll out a new beer, called Budweiser Extra—aka B(E)—nationally. The new brew, which has been test-marketed in dozens of cities, contains caffeine, ginseng, guarina extract and fruit flavors in an apparent attempt to grab market share from cocktails that contain Red Bull and its competitors as mixers.

But some knee-jerk consumer reaction is simply, "EEEWWW!" This story in yesterday’s New York Times notes, “Various people who tasted it at my request noted NyQuil in B(E)’s bouquet and hints of white zinfandel and cherry cola on the tongue.”

Meanwhile, a quick survey of some Web posts indicated confusion, at the very least, about the beverage’s raison d’etre. Says one person at this link: “So why would you mix caffeine with a depressant? To negate the depressant aspect of alcohol? Does that even work?”

We’re not sure we want to know.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Some kind of relief

This was absolutely inevitable: an email pitch we got over the weekend offering us the chance to buy our own “Tsunami Relief” bracelet in the style of the ubiquitous Lance Armstrong "Live Strong" bracelet. The sales pitch, from an online store called go2iguanas.com, says ecstatically, “We have added several New Wristbands, including the New Tsunami Relief Wristbands!”

What’s weird when you go to the site, though (which also includes camouflage-style rubber bracelets with the motto, “Support Our Troops”) is that at no point does it mention whether any of the $3.99 one would pay to buy such a bracelet would go to charity. If it does, it should be stated front and center, and if not, this is pretty disgusting.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Bring your concern for the world, and your autograph book

Whew! That World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. If AdFreak ever gets invited, we’ll have to make sure to get some designer duds and borrow a tasteful, and phenomenally expensive, brooch from Harry Winston. The conference had the mega-ambitious tagline: "Committed to improving the state of the world." But we read several stories in recent days that made us wonder if a more suitable tagline might have been “Commited to improving the activism careers of lotsa celebrities.”

No, we’re not talking about the ad world’s own Sir Martin Sorrell, although he was in attendance. We’re talking about Richard Gere, Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone, among others.

Though thousands of words were devoted to the conference's creeping glitz factor in this story in The New York Times, for us, the fact that the conference might be suffering a celeb overdose really boiled down to two things:

1) Last week, the New York Post filed its 50-photo online feature of the event under the topic header, “Entertainment.” (The link now appears to be down. You’ll just have to trust us.)

2) Lionel Richie—better known, these days, as the father of Nicole—was in attendance. While we applaud people using their famous names to get causes noticed, it’s dismaying to realize the ultra-serious conference now has a mere two degrees of separation from Paris Hilton.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Photo credit: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Published on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Game? You mean there's a game?

Maybe, you, like the rest of us, have been shaking your head in wonderment that once again the price of Super Bowl ads has gone up, to $2.4 million this year for 30 seconds. But a new study from the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association shows that maybe the rising prices aren’t misplaced. It says that 25 percent of young adults (18-24) actually watch the game for the ads, and slightly less than 20 percent watch it for that part where they play the football game. While that strikes us as liking cake for the icing but not the actual cake, it makes sense when you consider how puerile Super Bowl ads have become—as does this alternative statistic: that people over 65 are the ones most likely to see “the game as the most important part of the Super Bowl” at 41.3 percent.

Meanwhile, consumers planning to watch will spend an average of $49.27 in provisions for the game. God that’s a lot of Doritos and Bud.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Super Bowl that was, the companies that weren't

Believe it or not, it’s been five years since the Super Bowl was flooded with dot-com ads. Forbes.com has figured that’s distance enough to take a look back, in this special feature—complete with streams of the commercials!—of what it’s calling the Bubble Bowl.

So much to see … there’s the Pets.com sock puppet before he was forced to shill for that cheesy car loan company, the E*Trade chimp, a spot for epidemic.com (AdFreak has no recollection of them, whatsoever) and ourbeginning.com (wedding invitations).

Looking at these ads makes Budweiser’s flatulent horse look almost classy.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

France! New and improved!

We’ve never really thought of the French as being, as they say, “in-your-face,” but an ad touting how wonderful France is for business on the back page of today’s New York Times business section certainly, uh, made us sit up a little straighter in our chair. An interview with GE Europe CEO Nani Beccalli, its headline shouts, “What could make the European CEO of one of the world’s largest companies admit to an attraction for France?” Its tagline: “The New France. Where the Smart Money Goes.” (You can look at an accompanying promotional web site here.)

While our first guess would have been that CEOs—and the rest of us—are attracted to France for the wine and food, Beccalli talks about how “The French have a passion for engineering and technology.” Snore.

But, the best part is when he knocks his home country. Asked “Would you live [in France]?” Beccalli responds, "Absolutely. Paris is my favorite city. I’m Italian, but I prefer Paris to Rome by a factor of 100.” You might be moving sooner than you think.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Driving away dysfunction

In the many decades we’ve been on planet Earth, we’ve never seen a golf ad we liked, let alone one that got us to laugh. But this new spot for Cleveland Golf’s Cleveland 460 Comp Driver does the trick, because it’s a brutally funny take-off on erectile-dysfunction ads.

It’s not just that the club promises to treat “trajectile dysfunction” or that the company had the ... well, you know ... to register the domain trajectiledysfunction.com. The commercial also includes all the hallmarks of the erectile-dysfunction-commercial genre (except, maybe, for an appearance by Bob Dole). There’s the randy wife looking on amorously, the warning that “in rare occasions, players have been known to stay long for more than four hours” and, in a nod to that Levitra ad, a guy hitting a golf ball through a tire swing.

Aw, we’ve given it all away. Just go watch the thing (there’s a funny intro thing first). According to USA Today, it was created by a small California shop called Brainsaw.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Avat your way?

For a while now, it hasn’t been quite enough to rant about your favorite sports team with close friends and family. Ranting is becoming an Internet staple. Super Bowl fans will be pleased to know that ESPN.com’s SportsNation is hosting Voice of the Fan avatars for the Big Game, created by the folks at Oddcast. Yes, you can dress your avatar (we dressed one up like Elvis during his Las Vegas phase, but there are plenty of other options, like the one pictured here) and record a message, which you can share with other fans or e-mail to the same close friends and family you used to actually talk to back in the day.

As for our Elvis avatar, he looked fabulous, but we couldn’t think of much for him to say. We don’t think the Big E ever really clarified whether he liked the Pats or the Eagles.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Motor Oil gets Funky

Add Funkmaster Flex's name to the long list of hip-hop product endorsers. Flex, a DJ who has a nationally syndicated radio show and a Spike TV series, Ride with Funkmaster Flex, just inked a deal with Castrol Syntec to promote the motor oil to his fan base.

“Funkmaster Flex is committed to spreading enthusiasm and passion for automotive power, performance and style by introducing aspects of car culture to new audiences of young people across the country,” said Mike DeBiasi, Castrol Syntec brand manager, in a press release. “Flex’s automotive expertise, passion and excitement for finely tuned and customized vehicles is inspiring, and we’re thrilled to forge this partnership with him, putting our premium, highest-performing motor-oil brand—Castrol Syntec—alongside his highly acclaimed show, events and fans.”

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tom Brady’s Cadillac conundrum

Tom Brady, the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots quarterback, took a break from practicing this week to file a $2 million lawsuit against General Motors. The hunky football player is upset that GM allegedly used his likeness in an ad after his contract with the car marketer had expired. Brady filed the suit on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court and is seeking punitive damages.

The situation could get even more awkward. If Brady is named MVP of the Super Bowl, he will have to take part in a news conference the morning after, where GM-owned Cadillac will let him choose from a variety of cars.

Considering that Cadillac is the official vehicle of the Super Bowl and has a relationship with the NFL, Brady might want to resolve this sticky situation sooner rather than later.

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Photo: GM

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Isn’t there anything else on?

What could be better than watching the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday? Just about anything, according to chick channel Lifetime. “Attention all non-football fans,” reads a great press release we just got. “Tune in to Lifetime Television on Sunday February 6th for an alternative to the boring football game and you can finally stop pretending you know which teams are actually playing.” Why not cook up an enormous plate of nachos and settle in with this all-star lineup:

11 a.m.: Lies He Told (“A lawless renegade, wanted by police for his unspeakable crimes, lures a trusting young woman into a secret world of lust and deception”);
1 p.m. Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, miniseries (“She was the twentieth century’s First Lady, and now you can see her for who she really was”);
5 p.m.: Widow on the Hill (“A daughter becomes convinced that her gold-digging stepmother is up to no good and could be a murderess”);
7 p.m.: Another Woman’s Husband (“Laurel confides in Susan about her boyfriend, Jake, while Susan tells Laurel about her declining marriage to Johnny. However, when they discover that the man is one and the same, their friendship is severely tested”);
9 p.m.: The Three Lives of Karen (“When a woman who has amnesia is about to get married, she discovers that she is already married and has a family”).

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have our reservations

Note to clients of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners: Next time you dine with Jon Bond at a trés chic Manhattan eatery, don’t ask him how he got the reservation.

During last night’s episode of The Simple Life 3, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie “interned” at the agency with cataclysmic results. In addition to (literally) eating the agency’s lunch and handing out photocopies of Nicole’s breasts along with shots of Jack Daniel’s to young male staffers, the ding-batty duo showed a total lack of real-world skills as Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum’s assistants. While ordering food for a meeting, Paris blanked on Richard’s name and called him, “Kirshenbeanie, or whatever.”   

Nicole fared somewhat better. When Jon asked her to get a reservation at a booked restaurant “by any means necessary,” she promised the maître d’ that Bond would paint his nipples red and do a striptease as well as “pleasure the owner.” When that failed, Nicole confided that Bond was on his way to jail for a life sentence and wanted his last meal to be at the eatery. She scored reservations, prompting Bond to exclaim, “You’ve got a future in this business.”

It’s their keen eye for talent that keeps these boys on top. One question though—is this going on their reel?

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Photo: Fox

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did Larry take his cues from Darren?

Yesterday we wrote about a rapscallion known only as Larry, who took out a full-page ad in the Florida Times-Union pleading for his wife to come back to him. Now we wonder if Larry was inspired by the antics of one Darren Miller. A Welsh courier, Miller also drove his wife batty, and she left him. To try and win her back, he took out an ad in the Cardiff paper that read, “I love you more than words can say. I’m very sorry. I want you back. Your husband Darren.” He also unfurled a roadside banner that read, “Emma Miller, I love you.”

Larry is still waiting. But Darren appears to have succeeded. “I’m flabbergasted really that he has gone to such lengths to try and win me back,” Emma Miller told the BBC. “I’m over the moon. He is not one to show his feelings. I’m quite astounded. ... I think he has won my heart. It’s a shame it took something like this to show that he did want me.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: BBC

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heavy thoughts about that Bud Light ad

If AdFreak were ever to have a mission statement (doubtful), it would definitely include a line about how we must completely overdo coverage of the Super Bowl. Thus, here’s our second post in two days about the Bud Light Super Bowl ad that was intended to make fun of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”

It occurred to us, after we’d read about Anheuser-Busch deciding not to broadcast the thing, that increasingly, there’s virtually no downside to not airing an already-produced commercial. Used to be that advertisers merely benefited from the publicity that accompanied having a spot pulled. Now you can pull your spot and air it, too—online. Pretty funny to go to the Bud site yesterday and see the company reveling in its little piece of ad contraband: “Exclusive: See the Ad You Won’t See During the Big Game,” the site shouts. (And of course, once you click, there’s the obligatory suggestion that you send it to a friend.) We bet this ad could have recall as high as any Bud ad that actually airs on the Super Bowl.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bob’s back

So, after complaining on Monday that General Motors’ Bob Lutz hadn’t updated his blog in 10 days, we went back yesterday to find a brand spanking new post about the new Pontiac Ram Air 6 and the company’s plans for the Pontiac line in general. We have no solid evidence that we had anything to do with it, but if we ever have the chance to take credit for getting Bob to blog again, we’ll make the most of the opportunity, we promise.

It’s a fun read, if for no other reason than it contains some actual honesty. Says Bob of the new GTO: “Many people complained about it because it didn't look anything like the old GTO. But it was never supposed to look like the old GTO—it was supposed to feel like the old GTO.” Not that it looks too bad, as the photo illustrates. To read the full post, click here.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Photo: GM

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the outs

When reading fashion magazines' lists of what's "in" and "out," one expects to be ignorant of some items on the "in" list. After all, they've achieved "in" status by being so cutting edge that only the most fashionable trend-setters are now sporting them.

It's a little disheartening, though, to be equally clueless about items listed among the "out"-casts. How hopelessly unchic must you be to have missed the reign and subsequent overthrow of the fashion in question? The new issue of Harper's Bazaar offers an example of this phenomenon. In a collection of "ins" and "outs," it places "color block" in the former category. (A photo of a Calvin Klein dress, whose colors are in discrete blocks, makes it clear what the term means.) Consigned to the ranks of out-of-fashion fashions is something called "ombré." (No, we’re not talking about the other kind of ombre, without the accent.) Perhaps this is a household word among the magazine's stylish readers, but I'd bet that most of the rest of us haven't the faintest idea what ombré is (except for AdFreak's art director, who provided this item's visual)—let alone that it used to be chic but has ceased to be so. (Having taken recourse to the dictionary, I can tell you that it refers to colors that shade into one another.)

If you have a closetful of "dominatrix dresses"—and who of us does not?—you may be distressed to learn from the magazine that they've fallen "out" (supplanted by "goddess gowns"). But at least you'll have the comfort of knowing what a dominatrix dress is.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on January 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This isn't really a sale-ebration

This trend continues to get scarier. Following the guy who sold his forehead to SnoreStop and the ex-PeopleSoft creative team who are selling their services on eBay, here comes a copywriter from R&D ThinkTank in Dallas, who wrote to AdFreak to let us know he is selling his entire life on eBay. Why is this spike of people selling themselves reminding us of that 1973 Charlton Heston flick Soylent Green?

Now this guy, who goes by the name of Brian Thompson, appears to be doing it for art—his Web site says he wants to discover "the relationship between what we own and who we are." So, to that end, he's been selling things like a lava lamp, a bowling pin and a copy of the best-selling The Daily Show with Jon Stewart presents America (The Book). We'd like Mr. Thompson to write back to us when he's living under a bridge, stark naked.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pulling for Larry, the old scamp

Larry may have been a scallywag, but Larry wants to make up. So Larry—an unnamed Orlando, Fla., man—spent $17,000 to place the ad shown here in the Florida Times-Union yesterday, pleading for his wife of 17 and a half years to return to him. The wife up and left Larry two weeks ago and has been ignoring the poor bugger (and five dozen roses) ever since. “Marianne, Please believe the words in my letter, they are true and from my heart,” the message reads. “I can only hope you will give me the chance to prove my unending love for you. Life without you is empty and meaningless. Please, please, please call me! I love you with all my heart! Larry.”

The newspaper has been getting all sorts of calls. “They want to know if she has responded and if they have worked things out,” a rep at the paper says. “We tell them we are pulling for him.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on January 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is no laughing matter

It’s not just indecency that’s indecent. Jokes about indecency are indecent, too—or at least they’re in bad, bad taste. That’s the message we’re getting from Anheuser-Busch’s decision not to give a Super Bowl slot to “Wardrobe Malfunction,” a Bud Light ad that jokingly reimagines last year’s halftime-show fiasco as the result of a stagehand’s using Janet Jackson bustier as a bottle opener. The ad is up on Budweiser’s Web site. But be sure to watch in the privacy of your own home, with only consenting adults around. And stifle that laughter! This isn’t funny! This is very, very indecent!

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on January 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A big victory for the good book

So Rolling Stone has decided to accept that bible ad, after all. The obvious response here would be thank the Lord! But that’s not really our job—it’s the job of the people at Zondervan, the bible publisher who originally submitted the ad.

Frankly, it was a little difficult to understand what the whole kerfuffle was about in the first place. Not to treat the Bible as a product like any other advertised in Rolling Stone, but readers are kind of used to making buying decisions based partially on ads, we figure, so they’ll do the same with this one.

Zondervan said the magazine had originally told the company it had a policy of not accepting ads for religious materials; now Rolling Stone saying there was “a misstatement of company policy,” so the ad is free to run. Oy.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

My big fat revived lawsuit

We’re getting that queasy feeling again. The class-action lawsuit blaming McDonald’s for making people fat has been revived after twice being thrown out by a lower court. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said yesterday that New York’s general business law requires a plaintiff to show only that deceptive advertising was misleading and that the plaintiff was injured as a result.

The suit alleges that tens of thousands of children have suffered obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and other health problems after being misled about McDonald’s products.

McDonald’s isn’t lovin’ it. It says “common sense tells you this particular case makes no sense.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on January 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ain’t nothing like the real thing

Everyone wants to be like Crispin Porter + Bogusky. But here comes a spoof Web site that’s actually called “Like Crispin Porter.” “Welcome to Like Crispin Porter,” it reads. “At Like Crispin Porter we create work that is like Crispin Porter’s work. Of course Like Crispin Porter is not exactly the same as Crispin Porter. We don’t have clients. Or an office. Or a staff. In that sense I guess we could have called ourselves Like Grey Worldwide Canada. But we didn’t. Because we’re Like Crispin Porter.”

We like the bio page in particular. The entry for “Like Alex Bogusky” (shown here, along with the real thing) reads, “Hi. I’m Like Alex Bogusky. I’m not really Alex Bogusky. I’m Like Alex Bogusky. I can’t emphasize this point strongly enough. Like the real Alex Bogusky, I come from a strong family that believes in values and other stuff. If you’d like to pay me lots of money to play with your brand, click here. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on January 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Getting a head

Looking to pad your wallet with a little extra cash now that the holidays are over? Maybe you should take a page from Andrew Fischer's book and look in the mirror. Now go and cut out an ad from a magazine and stick it to your forehead. Try wearing it around for a few hours. Creepy. But it pays well.

Or, at least it has for Fischer, who decided to auction off the use of his forehead for ad space to the highest bidder on eBay. SnoreStop won the use of Fischer's forehead when the snoring remedy company paid him $37,375 to sport its logo on Fischer's head for one month.

The Omaha, Nebraska resident seems to be pretty intense about his new career. His Web site, humanadspace.com, shows a drawing of Fischer with the tagline "We're taking mainstream advertising to the next level. Are you coming with us?"

His Web site lists all of his media appearances thus far and he also notes, "No, I do not have an agent."

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on January 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bet you can drink just one

Dating back to the discovery of the "French paradox," medical researchers have been reporting evidence of the health benefits of moderate drinking. For instance, an article on the Web site of the journal Nature told last week of a study linking moderate alcohol consumption to better cognitive function among elderly women. As in every other such article, though, expert opinion cautioned against interpreting the results to suggest that people who don't drink should consider starting. To which one can't help replying: Why on earth not?

If the people who drink moderately derive significant health benefits from doing so, isn't it odd to discourage non-drinkers from even thinking about this possibility for themselves? Obviously, excessive drinking is bad for one's health. Apart from former problem drinkers, though, people who don't drink at all seem unlikely candidates for running off the rails altogether if they start having one a day for "medicinal purposes." Drinking does entail risks, and these aren't to be dismissed lightly. But one could say the same of exercise. And yet, reports about the health benefits of exercise never seem to quote some fellow in a lab coat saying you'd better just lie prone on your couch all day, lest the appeal of physical activity lead you to death by over-exertion.

In their Hippocratic zeal to "do no harm," are the experts failing to give their best advice? Personally, I'd seek a second opinion before remaining a teetotaler.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on January 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)