October 2007 - Posts
It’s Halloween, and that means two things: Creepy stuff and beer.
We’ve been meaning to write about this one for a while, but work kept getting in the way. Noticed it a couple of months ago, and our first reaction was “er … that’s kind of weird.”
Who knew at the same time one columnist was calling it the most sexist beer commercial ever produced. Which, since it’s a beer commercial, pretty much means it’s the most sexist commercial ever produced. (Even though said writer pretty much knocks himself off his perch by telling a sexist joke.)
 |
| Heineken |
CONTINUED >>
Dove’s “Campaign For Real Beauty” has been the source of good advertising with a good (if a tad bit Oprah-ized) message for a few years now.
The message: Women should be comfortable with their bodies and own beauty. Hopefully it has made some people feel better, more respected and respectful.
Certainly, though, women are still hit with contrary messages at every turn. The company’s new “short film” (or is that “long ad?”) is especially striking.
 |
| Unilever |
CONTINUED >>
As if there needed to be more proof that despite the internet, the world is actually a pretty big place with a lot going on you’ve never even thought about, much less heard about, seems Egypt has its own English-language music video channel.
(Seem to remember the U.S. did too at one time. Wonder what happened to them? We guess there are these guys, but only if John Mayer is your idea of “out there”.)
The network is “Melody Tunes” and, for all we know, may even be a hoax. Really all we have to go on is a bunch of Weblog entries and a listing here (yes, we were distressed to finally find something that could not just be lazily Googled or Wikipediaed).
 |
| Melody Tunes |
CONTINUED >>
We liked the ads, Geico. We really did. Even though some of them at this point probably don’t need another repeat airing.
But when we heard that ABC was going to create a series based on the Geico cavemen, we had mixed emotions. On one hand, stretching out a funny joke for 30 minutes was probably a bad idea ("Saturday Night Live" has problems doing it for five minutes at a time). On the other hand, … OK, so the emotions weren’t exactly mixed.
Then came the news that the show's producers wouldn’t be showing the first episode in advance to critics. That’s not always a bad thing. Usually critics will declare a show must be terrible if it doesn’t get screened for critics. This is only partly true. A movie can be truly bad, yet studios don’t need to screen it because it has a huge built-in audience that doesn’t care what middle-aged print media writers think – just think of every teen slasher movie that’s been made in the past five years.
 |
| ABC |
CONTINUED >>
From the “there is no such thing as bad publicity” file: The Canterbury Institute, a New Jersey-based business that offers “medical treatments for addiction” took out a full-page ad in the New York Post with the screaming headline “Don’t Die Lindsay.”
(At this point we’d interject that the type treatment makes us think of our younger days and “Frankie Says Relax” or “Choose Life” T-shirts, but that just makes us look old, and we’re not that old. No. Really.)
Before you wonder what part-time actress and full-time train wreck Lindsay Lohan has to say about this, an Institute spokesman has some words of caution.
 |
| Canterbury Institute |
CONTINUED >>
