Pill bottles: the height of cool

Target, the store that brings you design-heavy products from tea pots to hand soap, has gone one step further, redesigning the classic cylindrical prescription pill bottle, in part by turning it upside down. (The photo shown here is merely AdFreak's interpretation, BTW.) Debuting on Sunday, the new bottle rests on its cap, is an oblong, square shape, and has a wide label that wraps around the top of the bottle, according to an AP story picked up by USA Today. It was designed by  Deborah Adler and Klaus Rosburg, according to this feature in New York magazine, and was created in part to lessen the chance that meds would be taken by mistake. But we suspect the real reason is to induce pill bottle envy (which Target does well—remember the Michael Graves teapot frenzy of '98?). The new design could make pill poppers everywhere think their pill bottles aren't cool enough, thus forcing the style-conscious to use Target pharmacies exclusively.

—Posted by Mae Anderson

Published on April 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Anderson

You, too, can be in an iPod ad (pun not intended)

It's a Friday afternoon in the spring and you really don't want to be working right now, do you? We didn't think so. That's why we thought we'd send you to this helpful link we found yesterday which teaches you how to make your own iPod silhouette ad in Photoshop, which seems like a fun way to wile away an afternoon. It's a tutorial by Jennifer Apple (that can't be her real last name, can it?). Just one word of caution: best to keep your silhouette creation to yourself as Apple doesn't like it when people rip off the campaign. Have fun.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search is so hot, Tony Danza wants in!

Search is hot, very hot and everyone wants in on the party, even Tony Danza. (Why there are two mentions of Tony Danza this morning on AdFreak, we really can't explain—see below.) Anyway, the TV-housekeeper-turned-talk-show-host helped Ask Jeeves give away $1 million to Ronald Kinsey, a software engineer on an air base in Norman, Okla., for using iWon.com, Ask Jeeves’ gimmicky portal that rewards searchers with prize entries for using its site. Danza, whose first-year talk show gamely battles soap operas and Montel Williams for the attentions of the housebound, surprised Kinsey on Thursday with the news he was a new millionaire. Kinsey was lured to New York thinking he was the winner of a $10,000 prize, only to find Danza with an oversized check for $1 million. We’re happy for Ronald, who was cagey in an interview with AdFreak—“I haven’t won anything like this before, anything remotely”—“Most likely, there will be a house involved”—“Tony seems to be a pretty nice person.” But whatever he decides to do with the money, we would warn him to learn from other sudden TV millionaires like Survivor’s Richard Hatch. As you might recall, the oft-nude winner of the reality TV show’s first season forgot one thing after receiving his prize: paying taxes. The IRS sent him a reminder in the form of five felony tax evasion charges.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on April 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Morrissey

Bill Cosby a Cos to believe in

It looks like Bill Cosby could jump right back into hawking Jell-O Pudding Pops, according to a survey that polled more than 2,000 new parents on their way out of the maternity ward. The Pere Partnership in New York asked new moms and dads which of their onscreen counterparts they would be most likely to buy a product from. Cos ranked No. 1 among dads, while his onscreen wife, Felicia Rashad, topped the charts among moms. But the list of also-rans gives pause when you consider just who The Huxtables were up against. True, most trusted Tony Danza, whose turn as housekeeper Tony Micelli on Who’s The Boss makes him a natural fit for cleaning products. But James Gandolfini. who plays mob boss and serial murderer Tony Soprano, rounds out the top five. Maybe least-trusted Redd Foxx played a cantankerous old scrapper on Sanford and Son, but at least if you bought a clunker from Sanford’s yard you could be sure there wasn’t a body in the trunk. 

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Photo credit: PR Newswire Photo Service

Published on April 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your chance to be Jerry Springer for a day

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be Jerry Springer, (and c'mon, who hasn't?) here's your chance. The man who has provided untold hours of astonishing gazing into the lives of people who probably shouldn't be walking around unsupervised is holding auditions for prospective guest hosts of The Jerry Springer Show. And as if such a stunt isn't enough to elicit at least a sly smile from you, dear readers, this part of the "Rules" section for the contest made us guffaw:  "Entrants must have nothing in their background that would be an embarrassment to The Jerry Springer Show. " Uh, pardon us, but if it weren't for people with embarrassing backgrounds, there would be no Jerry Springer Show. Anyhow, if you find yourself in Manhattan, say on Friday at about 4 p.m., bop on down to the Virgin Megastore at 14th St. and Broadway where you can meet Springer and make a play to be his co-host for a day. There will even be photo ops. (Note to the wind-averse: the show tapes in Chicago.)

—Posted by Kathleen Sampey

Published on April 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Earbuds are over

We wrote several weeks ago about how a recent rise in New York subway crime has been pegged to thefts of iPods and other digital devices, but as of a story in today's New York Times, we think it's time to declare earbuds over. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the story says, is actually now running ads that caution, "Earphones are a give away. Protect your device," and it says some people, "have jettisoned the signature white earphones in favor of less distinctive ones." Now, we could quibble here about how earphones and earbuds are two (slightly) different things, but if we were trying to rip off someone's iPod and we saw one person with earbuds and one with earphones which would we be more likely to target? The one with the earbuds, obviously, since we doubt anyone goes out of their way just to buy earbuds. They're just not as good a product as earphones for many reasons—including that they only stay in one's ears properly when one hasn't been paying close enough attention to one's personal hygiene, if you catch our drift. But without earbuds, those silhouette ads from TBWA\Chiat\Day will never be the same.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Stampeding buffalo prove Levi's spot wasn't a fantasy

Two photos and a bizarre story in The New York Times yesterday about cops herding bison that ran amok in the suburbs outside Baltimore got AdFreak thinking: Maybe Bartle Bogle Hegarty's 2003 Levi's spot in which buffalo stampede by a 20ish couple on a dark city street wasn't so out there after all. In the spot—which ran on the Super Bowl—the couple stands in the middle of the road, feels the vibration of the stampede but remains untouched while dozens of buffalo gallop by. In Baltimore County, nine bison escaped a farm, meandered through "several affluent neighborhoods" and were herded by cops onto a fenced-in tennis court, the Times reported. A cop holding a folding chair to guide the animals got knocked down but wasn't hurt. What's more, an "uppity" bison even scaled the net before finally getting into a trailer. The buffalo owner, a local farmer named Gerald Berg, threw up his hands and said, "It's out of hand . . . They're going to the slaughterhouse, and they're going to be buffalo burgers." AdFreak guesses that only PETA, Levi's or BBH can save them now.

—Posted by Andrew McMains

Published on April 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Does Mattel know from California?

We here at a remote West Coast AdFreak bureau may have some insight into the recent Mattel woes. Have you seen these "Cali Girl" and “Cali Guy” Barbie dolls, meant to be authentically Californian? Seeing a 3-year-old receive Cali Guy Blaine at a recent birthday party made a group of native Californians spit up laughing. Most suspect was the fact that no one had ever heard anyone in California call it “Cali,”—that term possibly having been invented by Queens, New York native LL Cool J in 1989.  Secondly, it’s a bit of a stretch that we all live the "extreme lifestyle," walking around in beach gear and carrying a surfboard like each doll does. It's like a box of extremely stale stereotypes. Cali Girl Barbie and friends “are always up for sunshine and beach fun!” They say “radical!” and “awesome!” a lot. It sounds like they are not only from Cali, but are also lost in the ‘80s. You want to really get Californian? Where is the "sitting in traffic" Barbie? That must be on the same shelf as “Botox at age 23” Barbie. And just for the sake of accuracy, both would come with a non-fat latte, a pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans and an iPod. Just so they don’t stand out in a crowd.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Photo credit: Mattel

Published on April 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Exclusive photo from the Donny-brook!

You may have heard about the art director who got fired from Deutsch for sending around old pictures of Donny in a skimpy swimsuit. But for some strange reason, no one’s run any of the photos. (Not even The New York Post, which had a whole item on the firing over the weekend but included a picture of “industry heartthrob" Alex Bogusky—their words, not ours.) So, as a service to our loyal readers, here’s one of the pictures that got the art director canned. Notice the Joey Buttafuoco-style hairdo, prominent tan lines and what appears to be a pre-personal trainer bod. Donny couldn’t be reached for comment.

The picture ain’t pretty, but neither is the plight of the art director, Jeison Rodriguez, who admitted to AdFreak that while he “should have been reprimanded,” being fired seemed a bit much. A 10-year Deutsch vet, Rodriguez sounded positively wistful, recalling the days when he perceived Donny as “always being able to look at himself and laugh.”

Now here’s the follow-up: It seems e-mail, the very thing that got Rodriguez in hot water, is also getting him out of it—and leading to further distribution of the Donny pics. The firing incident, which actually dates back to late January, stimulated Rodriguez’s friend Mark Koelfgen to send around an e-mail to help his friend get a new job, with the offensive pics attached! Koelfgen, who also once worked at Deutsch, said of the pictures, “Hold up your hand if you didn’t go through a Billy Ray Cyrus stage.” Fortunately for Rodriguez, the e-mail campaign worked. (He now has a freelance gig.) Strangely the e-mail, having made the rounds throughout the ad industry, has tapped into not only empathy for Rodriguez, but also a weird dynamic in which at least one agency thought about riding Donny’s coattails for its own gain. Rodriguez told us that in addition to hearing from Crispin’s Bogusky and BBDO’s Eric Silver, he also got an offer from Modernista! in Boston to bankroll his job search and “put some sort of publicity thing in the trades.” Rodriguez declined; Modernista! could not be reached for comment.

Below are partial contents of Koelfgen’s e-mail, though we're not vouching for this version of how the pictures got into the art director's hands. We hear he got them off the company server. It’s a poem, of sorts:

Today my friend Jeison Rodriguez was abruptly fired.
He's [sic] was an art director at Deutsch for close to a decade.

Jeison wasn't fired for incompetence.
He's a damn fine art director. And a gifted designer.
He was fired for e-mailing some pictures of Donny Deutsch.
Pictures Donny had taken of himself.
I'll enclose them so you see what I mean.

I worked for Donny.
I have no axe [sic] to grind.
He payed [sic] me regular.
But the more I think about this, the more it bothers me.

I can't speak for anybody else.
But you'll never see me squeeze my greasy carcass into a speedo.
And if I do, I'll never have a picture taken.
And if I do, I'll never keep it.
And if I do, I'll never give it to an art director with a scanner and some spare time.
And If I do, he's more than welcome to send it to whoever he wants.

It was probably stupid for Jeison to have done this.
But ultimately, I think he's a victim of ruthless vanity.

I'll hop off my soapbox now.

And get to the point:

if you need a talented freelance AD in the NYC area --or know somebody
who might--please have them get in touch with Jeison. You won't be
disappointed. I promise.

Thanks,

mk!

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (33)

Did I just see the Aflac duck get electrocuted?

Please, please stop me before I watch an “entertainment news” show again. There I was last night, pummeling a clove of garlic into pulpy submission, when the siren’s call of Pat O’Brien (oh, wait, he’s not back to The Insider yet, is he?). Anyway, maybe it was the siren’s call of that guy from Sugar Ray, who is now fronting another entertainment news show, which forced me to turn on the TV in the kitchen. Within seconds, I was wallowing in a sea of smarm masquerading as news. The topper was this bit of information: Melania Trump is set to star in a new Aflac commercial opposite the duck. The complex plot involves some Bride of Frankenstein-like switch of superbillionairess for duck, and to my eyes there appears to be a scene where the duck’s being electrocuted (quick, call PETA!). After I stopped thinking about how animal-rights activists might go a little nut-zoid over this commercial, I got to thinking about the frightening synergy of it all. Linda Kaplan Thaler, without whom there would be no Aflac duck, hosts a reality series called Making It Big, loosely patterned after Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. And in the very same week the show debuts, Trump’s wife shoots an Aflac commercial. Run for your lives!

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (5)

Why are cows planning to invade New York?

Can someone help us solve the mystery of the cows? We’ve missed them, but apparently there are ads in the New York subways that say, “The Cows Are Coming. May 12th,” according to an AdFreak reader who hoped that our “insider knowledge” could tell her why the cows were coming and why they’d picked May 12th to arrive. Sorry, though the breadth and depth of our insider knowledge is legendary, we really don’t know about this one. Said the reader, “I have tried to Google the slogan, the date, and everything I could think of to no avail. Does this make me obsessive and somewhat sad? Probably, but I don't care.” To help unravel the mystery, we’ve included a picture of a cow stress ball from the Office Playground site that our reader says looks a lot like the cow picture in the teaser ads. If you’ve got a clue about this, please write in so New Yorkers can prepare with mega-pooper-scoopers or whatever.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (68)

TV makes you smarter, so don't bother reading this

So apparently, I'm smarter than I thought. According to this article in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine some of the new television shows are conditioning us to think smarter than our couch potato forebears. According to the lengthy piece (and if someone can make sense of the graphs, please explain them because they seem like a lot of gibberish to me—I must not be watching enough television), today's shows, like 24 , The Sopranos and even ER are better than simplistic shows of the past like Gunsmoke and Dragnet because they carry multiple story threads and jargon to make them seem more "realistic."  (I'd add to the modern-day list HBO's Deadwood, which I have to watch twice in order to discern plot from profanity.) As a counterpoint, Slate TV critic Dana Stevens says perhaps we should honor TV Turn Off Week—which began yesterday—and see if we get dumber. I propose the opposite: check your IQ here and then watch the genius box nonstop for a week and check it again.

—Posted by Aaron Baar

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

Happy slapping a great ad opportunity

Only in a land where rugby and soccer matches regularly incite riots could the so-called "happy slapping" craze catch on. But yes folks, The Guardian reports it's all the rage (rage being the operative force here) among the youth of our mother country. Apparently the laddy-gangs of London get their jollies by surrounding someone, slapping them around and then getting their victims' reactions on their cellphone cameras and often posting those reactions on the Web. (We tried to link to one of these videos but it seems like the links go down almost as fast as they are posted.) The whole thing is kinda twisted, don't you think? But what a natural ad tie-in for a phone company! At least The Guardian seems to think so. The online version of their April 26th story on the happy slappers is anchored by a Vonage ad (free calls to the U.S. and Canada!). At the end of the piece is list of "useful links," to Web sites for T-Mobile, Vodafone, British Telecom, Virgin Mobile, Nokia and Ericsson. So if you yearn for the life of a happy slapper, better get a move-on—these fads tend to fade quickly. But not to worry, the companies cited above have all the gear you need to do it right.

—Posted by Steve McClellan

Published on April 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (10)

Maybe Microsoft should make the iLoo

The wireless Internet is all the rage. Yahoo! last week confirmed this with an event titled “It’s a Broadband Life,” dedicated to showing the ways broadband Internet connections are changing consumer media habits. Some changes are pretty obvious, like people spending more time online and less watching TV. Tucked in the report, however, is a disturbing finding: one in five Americans with wireless broadband connections occasionally go online from the bathroom. This reminded AdFreak of the hoax perpetrated two years ago by Microsoft’s U.K. division. It announced the development of an Internet-ready toilet, the iLoo, a "new product" that drew legitimate press coverage. Maybe, just maybe, the idea wasn't so crazy after all. Prediction: the iLoo is the must-have accessory for Christmas 2007.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on April 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Morrissey

Philadelphia: Most depressed place on U.S. soil

W.C. Fields had a point when it comes to disparaging Philadelphia. According to a new survey by Men’s Health magazine, it is the most depressed city in the country based on “antidepressant sales,” “suicide rates,” “and the number of days inhabitants reported being depressed.” The City of Brotherly … uh … Despair was followed by Detroit, which makes this recent post about getting a depressing job at JWT all the more timely, and St. Louis. The proudly angst-ridden City of New York ranked a mere eleventh, and actually ranked behind such alleged paradises as St. Petersburg, Florida and Scottsdale, Arizona. But what struck us strangest about the survey is that Jersey City, New Jersey, located directly across the Hudson from Manhattan, was the third happiest city right behind Laredo and El Paso, Texas. We can only assume that Jersey City residents, living in such close proximity to Gotham, think they are happy, but are actually really, really good at denial.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Anyone see 'Making It Big'?

Hey AdFreak nation, did anyone see the premiere of the Linda Kaplan Thaler reality series Making It Big on Oxygen Sunday night? Can you tell us what you thought about it if you did? We didn’t see the Apprentice-style show since it would have required signing up for digital cable, a development that would lead us further down the road to couch potato-dom. Still, we found ourselves scouring the reality TV sites for reaction to the first episode, and, well, we didn’t see a word, though Kaplan Thaler is doing weekly podcasts about the show. All we know about the first episode is that it was a contest featuring some chefs, making it unlikely there was an appearance by the Aflac duck or discussion of how women can have orgasms merely by the act of washing their hair.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Photo credit: Gideon Lewin

Published on April 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Coming to the defense of Rottweilers

It's been a tough spring for Rottweilers. The recent marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles brought renewed mention that Princess Diana was wont to call her rival "The Rottweiler." Then, just as this flurry of anti-Rottweiler press was blowing over, another started with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy. During his years as the Vatican's theological enforcer, it seems his detractors referred to the German-born cleric as "God's Rottweiler." This got us wondering how owners of real, canine Rottweilers feel about the way the brand name has been hijacked. So, we put the question to Pam Grant, president of the American Rottweiler Club. We'll confess we were half-hoping for a snarling reply, but Grant couldn't have been more gracious. Putting the best face on things, she suggested that use of the breed's name in these cases "is meant to imply that these folks are tenacious and persistent, dogged in their pursuit of their goals." She acknowledged, though, that the term is also used in a decidedly negative sense. "Many advertisements, movies, books and articles over the years have represented the Rottweiler breed as dark, sinister, dangerous, vicious and single-minded." Based on her long experience with these dogs, she rebuts the stereotype. "In actuality, individual Rottweilers are loving, devoted companions who are very intelligent and easily trained." As a working breed, they're predisposed to interact well with people. "They bond quickly and easily with all members of the family and anyone who treats them kindly." She does offer the caveat that she's speaking of Rottweilers "whose owners are responsible, loving caretakers." This will strike a responsive chord with AdFreak readers who toil at ad agencies. They know all too well that any brand can be tough to deal with if its owner is negligent—or, worse, has a mean streak of his own.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on April 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't blame it on the Dell dude

Sorry we haven’t been posting so much the last few days. We've been having some technical difficulties, which we really wanted to blame on the Dell dude, but instead had to blame on some wireless router from NetGear that wouldn’t let us post anything and which has now been banished from the home office until it learns to respect AdFreak. At any rate, even if our technical issues were the fault of our aging, but beloved, Dell computer, we, of course, couldn’t blame it on the Dell dude, because, as you may remember, he doesn’t work there anymore. (Though we wish to remind everyone that the pot bust came several months after Dell said back in 2002 that it was, “ ...  just trying new things, looking at alternatives" in lessening the Dude-i-tude of  its ads.) By the way, life, apparently goes on for the Dell dude—real name Ben Curtis—as evidenced by this URL though his picture there looks a lot more like Jason Priestley than it does him. In any event, he’ll be appearing tomorrow night at The Ace of Clubs at 9 Great Jones Street in the East Village (of NYC, natch), where he promises to perform “magic and comedy” as part of a fundraiser for Improvschool.com.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

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

A footnote (fingernote?) on the Wendy's case

Even though it was starting to become obvious that this whole thing about the fingertip in the Wendy’s chili was a hoax, it was lotsa fun to read that the alleged victim, one Anna Alaya, was arrested for making the story up late last week, on the very same day that Wendy’s had a lengthy, sympathetic portrayal of how it was handling the crisis in The New York Times. Now we’re hoping that Wendy’s next step is to sue the bejesus out of Ms. Ayala, who apparently “has a history of bringing claims against big corporations.”

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Wendy's

Spice Hunter has a cow

PETA, please don’t take it out on me! New ads for The Spice Hunter line of cooking spices and sea salts are out, and the spokes-cow does not look very pleased.  Ad agency execs at Advertise Here of San Luis Obispo, Calif. dressed Pumpkin, the big red bovine, in a straw hula skirt.  May I repeat: The cow is named Pumpkin. The cow has been dressed in a skirt. An agency rep points out that Pumpkin may look moody, but she is not. This is her serious "Zoolander" modeling look. The agency is also quick to mention that in the day of computers and PhotoShop, Pumpkin’s photo is the real deal with no touch-ups or manipulation. Pumpkin is a resident of the Cottontail Creek Ranch in San Luis Obispo. “Her owner says she has always been a poser,” said Heather Hellman, an agency rep. Pumpkin’s beefy 140” waistline will be seen on sales sheets and point-of-purchase displays, to promote the 10 varieties of Grill Shakers spices.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Published on April 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Get well soon, Paula Abdul

After watching American Idol this season, I was beginning to wonder why Paula Abdul was acting trippier than the average Valley Girl. Not only did she sway to the music like a sorority chick just before last call, she slurred, stammered and slipped through her usual gushing commentaries. In an upcoming issue of People, Paula puts my fears to rest, assuring the Idol faithful that there is no rum in her iconic Coca-Cola cup. Instead, she is on medication for Reflex Sympathetic Disorder, a painful disease that has plagued her for most of her life but only was recently diagnosed. Sure, she may burst out into dance pretty often, but it’s only because she’s finally feeling good. Yet unaddressed are some of the side effects of the meds. I don’t know, but considering her unvarnished praise of even the most mediocre AI performers (read Scott Savol), they might allay aural pain, too.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Published on April 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tom Waits udders a complaint about an Opel ad

We are accustomed to celebrities getting annoyed when their likeness or creative output is used illicitly in advertising, but we think that Tom Waits has raised such complaints to an art form. He described the recent use of a Waits imitator in an Opel commercial in Scandinavia, as like, “having a cow’s udder sewn to my face. Painful and humiliating.” (Hmmm. Sounds like he has experience in this area, but we'd rather not delve any further.) Waits, who is exploring his legal options, says his shtick has been used to sell cars in Europe twice before, in an Audi ad in Spain and a Lancia ad in Italy.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)

KFC puts the fried back in "F"

It turns out that the ‘F’ in KFC is going to stand for fried again. Officials at the fast-food chain have come to this stunning conclusion as in their latest attempt to reconfigure the restaurant around contemporary tastes, whatever those are. KFC will “banner the name” Kentucky Fried Chicken, according to this story in USA Today, in the launch of new concept store today in Louisville, Kentucky that plays up the chain’s southern roots and is supposed to expand to 49 other domestic outlets in the next year. The rethinking also includes a new, updated logo of the Colonel, in which he dons an apron. (Although, in what may be a sign of continuing schizophrenia, there’s no mention we could find of the changes at the company Web site.) Whatever you think of KFC’s return to its roots, we think the timing couldn’t be better, since the big health news of the week is that carrying around a few extra pounds might not be so bad for you after all.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 21, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under KFC

At least it’s not a Spongmonkey card

This Mother’s Day, Quiznos is offering an alternative to the traditional card and chocolates cliché, ’cause that’s so yesterday. For moms out there who just can’t get enough of Baby Bob, Quiznos’ talking “celebrity spokesbaby” and former sitcom star, direct your attention to the company’s Web site, where you can craft your own e-mail greeting from frisky Robert. A picture and pre-recorded message from the tike provide an alternative to “over-priced flowers” and “silly greeting cards,” according to the company. Says Quiznos: Bob “blends baby appeal with a sophisticated 40-year-old personality.” Again, we ask: And that’s a good thing?

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on April 21, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Quiznos

A boomlet of baby Benedicts?

Those dismayed by the selection of the very orthodox Joseph Ratzinger as pope might calm themselves by couching it in the rhetoric of Howard Dean and Paul Wellstone: The cardinals simply chose someone from the Roman Catholic wing of the Roman Catholic Church. (You could also boycott this blog about the new pontiff.) As pundits try to forecast the influence Benedict XVI will exert on the wider culture, they’ll no doubt comb through the writings of Benedict XV—including an encyclical in praise of Dante. The one thing I’d bet on, though, is more people naming their babies Benedict. And not a moment too soon. A Web site in which the Social Security Administration lists the most popular baby names over the years tells us that Benedict doesn’t even make it into the top 1,000 names for boys.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Photo: Arturo/Mari/Agence France Presse/Newscom

Published on April 20, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)