Advertising

Advertising / Entertainment / Internet / Newspapers / Race / Shopping / idiocy — Comments
21
Dec 09

New York Times suggest gifts for the people of color in your life

On FriendFeed, I was alerted to the fact that the New York Time’s Gift Guide for 2009, included a whole section for the people of color in your life.

Yep.

I freely admit to being slightly amused by it. At first I thought it was a joke, but seeing articles and tweets about it, made me realize that it was an actual part of their guide. In 2009.

Naturally, I had to look it up myself. And…uh…well, read:

>>Of Color | Stylish Gifts

By SIMONE S. OLIVER

Somali fashion, do-it-yourself henna kits, children’s books that draw inspiration from the lives of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor: it’s not hard to find gifts created for and by people of color this holiday season. Here are some possibilities.

There are some defensive people out there who think this is positively acceptable. They point out that the author of the section is black, so that makes it okay. Get it?

Now, I read some of the different suggestions on NYTPicker and kept thinking, “This has to be a joke.”, but uh…well…

For your Latino friends…

sotomayor Continue reading →

Advertising / Internet / Internet Confession Time — Comments
3
Mar 09

Internet Confession Time: Hunger

This is what runs through my mind when I’m starving and looking for something to eat:

Advertising / Blogs / Females — Comments
16
Nov 08

Bitches Gone Wild: The Motrin Drama

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Can you say stupid with a slice of WTF?

Last night, my Twitter started going off with angry tweets regarding an ad on the Motrin website.  I can’t show you the ad because it’s been pulled.  Let me describe it:

It was a way too long video with a voiceover of some whiny mom complaining about something.  The words she was saying were being tossed acrossed the screen in what was probably some misdirected attempt at hipness.  After I woke from a nap, the woman was still droning on and she started talking about how she uses a carrier (which somehow is painful)  to make her look like an “official mommy”.

Let the shitstorm begin.

All day long, as I checked into various social media sites, women with too much time on their hands were writing overwrought posts talking about the ad was ‘insulting’.  To whom, was unclear.  Some moms were offended by it because they were adoptive parents.  Some because their kids were older.  Some because they never use(d) a carrier with their babies.  Others because they know that if worn right a carrier isn’t painful at all. But they were insulted and seeking vengeance.

Insulted.

Mommy bloggers you won the internets today.  Your prize?

Later this afternoon, childless people, men and those who have lives walked into this dust up trying to figure out the problem with the ad.  Most of them realized quickly that the ad wasn’t anything to get upset about and moved on with their lives.  Sadly, the mommy bloggers didn’t. They were making videos y’all.  Videos.

THUD.

A few hours ago, the Motrin website went down.  Crazed mommy bloggers cyber-high-fived one another.  That’ll show Motrin.  Mess with us and our faux outrage.

Well, Motrin finally responded and was a lot nicer than I would have been if I were doing the PR for the company:

We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.

-Kathy

Kathy Widmer
VP of Marketing – Pain, Pediatrics, GI, Specialty
McNeil Consumer Healthcare

So now there’s even more vindication, but even worse, the masturbatory “See what Social Media can do?” posts are going up.  It’s like a Daisy chain gone bad.  And this is why I don’t call myself a mommy blogger.  This is why I try to stay away from mom blogs.  This is why some people shouldn’t be allowed to use a fucking computer.

I will say that I am extremely jealous at the swift and angry reaction of these women.  Just think of what they could do if they organized to help the poverty-stricken or cure real injustices in the world.  I wish everything in my life was so perfect that I would have the luxury to get all agitated over a damn ad.

Advertising — Comments
11
May 08

Welcome to California

I just saw this ad on TV:

My goodness. That last scene…ugh.

Still my curiosity got the best of me because I am loving the new California logo.

There’s also another ad with famous people in it. I love this ad because it’s purely SoCal:

I’m all for people visiting here (and spending money), but they really do have to go home. I mean…really. I don’t care how cold it is where you’re from, do you know what it does to an LA-based mind when everyone is bundled up for hiking the tundra and ya’ll come out in here in t-shirts and shorts because you think 61 degrees is “t-shirt weather”.

Advertising / Blogs / Media — Comments
14
Feb 08

MSNBC = Free Ads for Clinton Network

FirstRead has done it again. They’ve posted another Clinton ad with transcript. That makes for the 3rd one this week. Please note that they have not posted video or transcripts for Obama, Huckabee or McCain, even though ads for those three candidates are available on their sites and YouTube.

UPDATE:  FirstRead finally posted an Obama ad.   Go on over and see it.  It’s regarding Clinton’s desperate plea for more free publicity debates.  Hey, while you’re at it, why don’t you go on and see all the wonderfully racists comments MSNBC also approved. Color me shocked.

Now, all they have to do is just post Obama’s other two ads, and the ones from McCain and Huckabee then maybe they’ll make back some bits of your credibility.  Or maybe they  can just gush some more over their Valentine’s Day gifts from Clinton.

Advertising — Comments
30
Nov 07

2007 Environmental Youth Conference

Driving down Broadway in Lincoln Heights, I noticed this billboard (PDF) on a bus stop. It wasn’t there last week, when we went to Ikea. If you clicked the link it had all the same info as the bus stop. It was for the 2007 Environmental Youth Conference hosted by the City of LA. It’s on Dec. 8th at the LA Convention Center. It tells you to call a 213 number or visit milliontreesla.org. Since this is the City of LA we’re talking about, I decided to forgo the chance of being led on a phone circle jerk and hit the Million Trees site. What I found was a link to the flyer.

I’ve been searching around the internet since I got home and I can’t find a thing on this. I mean, topics of discussion or anything. When you get to City’s website, you actually have to type in the conference name. Then it takes to a generic “youth” page, with this blurb:

The 2007 Environmental Youth Conference Climate Change: How it impacts us now How we can make a difference.

The search on the City’s site just takes you to more City pages that have nothing to do with the conference itself. Which leads me to wonder 1) what exactly is going to be there and 2) exactly what kind of outreach is the City doing on this? The billboard/flyer tells you nothing except basic facts. In the search on the site, you find a link (PDF) to An Environmental Affair newsletter. I don’t know who or where this newletter is distributed, but I know that I didn’t not receive on in the mail or on my front porch. It isn’t until page 6 that you get to the blurb on the conference:

Environmental Youth Conference The City of Los Angeles invites city youth agest 12 – 21 to be a part of the environmental youth conference at the LA Convention Center. Enjoy a fun-filled event and learn about climate change, environmentally friendly practices and “green” careers. The event is free of charge.

Insult to injury, you learn in the last sentence that you have to hit, you get guessed it, milliontreesla.org.

Now it shouldn’t be this difficult, but even going to the Calendar of Events on milliontreesla.org is enough to want to put a fist through your monitor. Type in Dec. 8 and click on the link to the event. Guess where it takes you? Go ahead. Yep…right back to the homepage for milliontreesla.org.

Since it’s obvious the City doesn’t want the general public to know what they plan on doing to our youth, it is only my assumption that they’re going to eat the bad kids, therby teaching the good kids how to reuse and recycle, ending discipline problems and hopefully raising test scores across LAUSD.

Advertising / Kids / Toys — Comments
25
Nov 07

Tooth Tunes

Because I love a parade and I have kids who were driving me nuts, I thought it would be a good idea for us to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I have never seen it before and can say that I will never watch it again. There were commercials every 3 minutes and the first hour was an ad for Broadway musicals.

Since I don’t watch TV, I don’t get to see commercials which makes me happy. What makes me sad is when I see commercials for dumb products. Which leads me Tooth Tunes.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViXgz0pGjQ&rel=1]

You’re appalled too. I know. I watched this thing with my mouth open. Stupified that someone figured that toothbrushing was so incredibly boring for kids that having crappy music blasted into your head would solve the problem. You know you fully expect some Hasbro proproganda PR:

We know…getting your kids to brush their teeth can be a daily battle. Not any more! TOOTH TUNES is a revolutionary toothbrush for kids that makes brushing their teeth fun and entertaining.

Your kids will love brushing their teeth to hit songs from some of their favorite artists. As sound vibrations stream from the bristles through their teeth, they hear the music in their heads. But, when they take the bristles off their teeth, the music stops playing in their head. So they’ll actually want to keep brushing for a full two minutes!

A look at the website for this year’s Pet Rock shows kids rockin’ out while brushing their teeth. Quickly scrolling through the artist list makes me happy that the Disney channel is banned in my house and we don’t listen to commercial radio.

Look, I have a toddlers, 2 and 4 and while they both love to brush their teeth, keeping them still is my biggest challenge. The little girl just wants to look at herself in the mirror and the little boy has to close the toilet lid, then get in the tub. If I get music involved, that just means that not only will they want to brush their teeth 40 times a day instead of the usual 10, but they’ll never stay in the bathroom!