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Colo. Town Censors Busty Avenue Q Puppet

Billboard firm decides puppet cleavage too racy for Colorado Springs

(Newser) - Avenue Q puppet Lucy the Slut is too slutty for the fine people of Colorado Springs, according to a local billboard company. The firm decided that a bus stop ad for the risque Broadway show which featured Lucy in a top revealing plenty of puppet cleavage "wasn't appropriate for...

Nostalgia Rules in Super Bowl Ads

From Betty White to Stevie Wonder, these ads bank on the familiar

(Newser) - Yes, there were still the requisite ads using slapstick violence to get a laugh, or objectifying women—but the reigning theme of this year's Super Bowl commercials was nostalgia. Thanks to the economy, many advertisers used familiar faces to pitch products, writes Stuart Elliott in the New York Times . A...

Google Runs 1st Super Bowl Ad

 Google Runs 1st 
 Super Bowl Ad 
super bowl xliv
Feb 7, 2010 11:15 PM CST

Google Runs 1st Super Bowl Ad

Search giant breaks into big time with romantic spot

(Newser) - After countless rumors and one coy tweet, Google aired its first Super Bowl ad tonight. The spot, "Parisian Love," traces a romance through search queries and results, beginning with "study abroad paris france" and ending with "how to assemble a crib." CEO Eric Schmidt hinted...

All That Attention Makes Super Bowl Ads Suck
All That Attention Makes Super Bowl Ads Suck
OPINION
Feb 5, 2010 1:02 PM CST

All That Attention Makes Super Bowl Ads Suck

Focus-group-esque setting leads to a lot of talking animals

(Newser) - You already know what you’re going to see during breaks in the Super Bowl action on Sunday: talking animals, talking babies, and crotch shots. Why? Because you, the public, demand it, says Tom Denari of Advertising Age . Now that sites allow viewers to rate Super Bowl ads, advertisers believe...

Toyota Faces Massive Ad Buy to Rescue Brand

Recall leaves company's reputation in tatters

(Newser) - Toyota is going to have to shell out for the biggest and best ad campaign in its history to have any hope of bouncing back from the recall disaster, ad industry execs say. The company—which is losing an estimated $400 million a week while sales and production are suspended—...

Best Airfare Deals Are Now Tweeted, Emailed

Airlines ramp up discounts in promotional offers

(Newser) - The latest airfare deals aren't online or at travel agencies—they're targeted promotional fares, being emailed and tweeted to customers who sign up to receive them or who enroll in frequent-flier programs. These under-the-radar offers, an inexpensive form of advertising increasingly popular with recession-battered airlines, range from 10% discounts to...

Ad Men Use Beatles to Sell Senior Care
 Ad Men Use Beatles 
 to Sell Senior Care 
WHEN YOU'RE OVER 64
Jan 20, 2010 8:49 AM CST

Ad Men Use Beatles to Sell Senior Care

Fab Four feature in nostalgia campaign, along with Elvis, Gene Kelly

(Newser) - The songs you loved when you were 23 may someday be used to sell you retirement care. Researchers have homed in on that age as the likeliest time when music that triggers life-long nostalgia is heard. People who watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show at 23 are now...

Weight Watchers Sues Jenny Craig Over Ad

Commercial claims 'clinical trial' proves Jenny is better

(Newser) - Weight Watchers is suing Jenny Craig over a commercial in which the weight loss company claims that a “major clinical trial” showed that the average Jenny customer lost twice as much weight "as those on the largest weight-loss program.” That’d be Weight Watchers, which says its...

10 Cringeworthy Celeb TV Ads
 10 Cringeworthy 
 Celeb TV Ads 
Jan 15, 2010 12:51 PM CST

10 Cringeworthy Celeb TV Ads

Katy Perry's Proactiv gig isn't nearly as bad as some of these

(Newser) - Katy Perry’s 15 minutes aren’t even up, and she’s already shilling for Proactiv. In her honor, Olivia Allin of The Frisky lists the 10 most embarrassing celebrity product endorsements:
  • Serena Williams for Tampax: Her commercial includes the cringeworthy lines, “Well, there is plenty of blood, but
...

Talking Baby Outgrows E-Trade's Ads

Company scrambled to find new kid ahead of Super Bowl

(Newser) - With advertising’s Super Bowl just around the corner, E-Trade finds it’s outgrown its talking-baby spots—or, rather, that the talking baby has outgrown them. “We repurposed all the footage we had,” a company rep tells the Wall Street Journal of the tyke we’ve all seen...

The Most Lucrative Tweeters
 The Most Lucrative Tweeters 
Jan 13, 2010 5:00 AM CST

The Most Lucrative Tweeters

Celebs can net $10K just for one tweet endorsing a product

(Newser) - Twitter represents a new frontier for advertising, with companies like Ad.ly connecting advertisers to much-followed celebrities. The Daily Beast lists the most highly compensated tweeters:
  1. Kim Kardashian : 2,795,369 followers, $10,000 (at least) per tweet.
  2. Soulja Boy : 2,002,848 followers, $10,000 (at least) per tweet.
...

Prop 8 Campaign Relied on Anti-Gay Messages: Prof
Prop 8 Campaign Relied on Anti-Gay Messages: Prof
PROP 8 TRIAL
Jan 12, 2010 9:23 PM CST

Prop 8 Campaign Relied on Anti-Gay Messages: Prof

Ads also used same arguments as foes of interracial marriage

(Newser) - Opponents of gay marriage painted homosexuals as perverts in the 2008 campaign to outlaw the institution in California, one of several ways in which the forces behind Proposition 8 leaned heavily on history in making their arguments, a court in San Francisco heard today. Lawyers seeking to overturn the ban...

Domino's Ad Compares Own Pizza to Cardboard

 Domino's Ad 
 Compares 
 Own Pizza 
 to Cardboard 
BECAUSE IT'S NEW! AND IMPROVED!
Jan 12, 2010 10:27 AM CST

Domino's Ad Compares Own Pizza to Cardboard

Shock-loving marketers convince pizza chain to dis old pies

(Newser) - Have you seen the new Domino’s ad? In what must be an unprecedented advertising move, Domino’s doesn’t just admit that its pizza is lacking, it rakes it over the coals, airing customer complaints comparing the crust to cardboard and the sauce to ketchup. Of course, the goal...

Cold Weather Means Hot Demand for Soup, Boots

Plummeting temperatures lead to marketing opportunities

(Newser) - When the weather turns cold, retailers swing into action, targeting ads toward areas where the mercury's dropping—even in normally temperate markets like Florida. “Marketing into a situation that's favorable for your product” is the key, one analyst tells Advertising Age . Take Campbell’s Soup, which uses a “...

KFC Sued Over Shift From Fried to Grilled
 KFC Sued Over Shift 
 From Fried to Grilled 
chicken fight
Jan 9, 2010 6:54 AM CST

KFC Sued Over Shift From Fried to Grilled

Franchise owners want to keep focus on Original Recipe products

(Newser) - It's not called Kentucky Grilled Chicken, and a group of KFC franchise owners would like to keep it that way: Determined to keep "fried" the focus, they've sued the company for promoting grilled over traditional options. KFC "appears to believe that the future lies with grilled chicken rather...

Hanes Drops Ads Starring Charlie Sheen

Domestic-violence charge moves company to cut actor loose

(Newser) - Hanesbrands said today it's ending its advertising campaign featuring Charlie Sheen because of domestic-violence charges filed against the actor. Company spokesman Matt Hall says it was a "pretty standard, straightforward call" given the nature of allegations from Sheen's wife that the 44-year-old held a knife to her throat and...

Both Obamas Become Unwilling Ad Stars

PETA uses Michelle, while a jacket company likes the president

(Newser) - The president and first lady have a common beef today: Both have showed up in prominent advertisements without their permission. PETA is using Michelle's image to spread its anti-fur message, while the president appears on a Times Square billboard. He's photographed in a Weatherproof brand jacket with the tagline: "...

US Spends $340M to Urge People to Get Counted
 US Spends $340M to Urge 
 People to Get Counted 
census kickoff
Jan 4, 2010 12:02 PM CST

US Spends $340M to Urge People to Get Counted

Super Bowl ads and cross-country tour aim to boost response

(Newser) - The Census Bureau today launched a $340 million campaign to publicize this year’s survey, beginning with the rollout of the Census Portrait of America Road Tour, a flotilla of 13 vehicles that will travel across the nation to public events and tout the benefits of being counted. Also in...

To Sell Your Mediocre Product, Just Add Sex
 To Sell Your 
 Mediocre Product, 
 Just Add Sex 



badvertising
Dec 28, 2009 4:42 PM CST

To Sell Your Mediocre Product, Just Add Sex

Risqué ads send a message, but maybe not what the marketer intends

(Newser) - Everyone knows sex sells—everything from Axe body spray to fast food. But behind the fog of marketing, what does it mean that a fast-food chain, for example, chooses Paris Hilton's gyrating form to sell you burgers? That it has nothing better to go on, writes Mark Barrett. Getting brand...

The Year's Worst Commercials
 The Year's Worst 
 Commercials 
2009 in Review
Dec 28, 2009 12:32 PM CST

The Year's Worst Commercials

From crapping bears to creepy wind-up dolls, these ads flopped

(Newser) - If Hollywood makes a successor to Mad Men is set in this decade, some ads are going to seem really strange. For example, our prescription medicine spots, which already seem comical, will absolutely dumbfound people of the future, writes Seth Stevenson for Slate . And that’s before we get into...

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