December 2008 - Posts
We uncharacteristically dropped our head and strode past the bell ringer in front of the supermarket the other day. Too busy. Too beaten down by this unforgiving, apprehensive year. Too eager that, if by rushing through it, we could make time hurry too and just be done with it. And, we have to admit, a little too tired of giving.
Season of giving? This was the year of giving. Although, unlike the giving the patient bell ringer who dealt with the slow but constant snowfall was seeking, it was less the charitable sort than the bailout sort. Banks (ridiculous). Investment banks (worse). Automakers (yet to be seen how bad a move). Airlines (lining up in the wings we hear). Contractors eager for a chunk of the billions Obama wants to (wisely) spend on infrastructure – and maybe can convince the government that retrofitting is so tired and public schools need the McMansion treatment that has served the real estate market so … never mind. And of course homeowners (oops, our mistake, that’d be socialism after all).
You’d think that in this supposedly resolute and independent country, there’d be a business not seeking a handout, and customers eager to subsidize that virtue. Well, one bank in rural Oregon makes that case.
 |
| Evergreen Bank |
CONTINUED >>
When Burger King decided to run a campaign called "Whopper Virgins," with the premise of doing a Whopper versus Big Mac taste test in rural international outposts, you can imagine what they were thinking: Controversy!
People will love it! People will hate it! People will debate it incessantly! It’ll be great!
Perhaps they should have found a way to make a little more interesting.
CONTINUED >>
We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again: Sex does not sell everything. And one thing it really doesn’t sell very well is fast food.
The latest entrant in the surprisingly crowded "fast food as erotica" genre comes from Arby’s.
The chains’ recent ad for the chicken cordon bleu sandwich begins with a pudgy guy wearing sweats and white socks sitting on a bed, surrounded by pillows and candles.
CONTINUED >>
Wal-Mart commercials have definitely improved since the days of the tacky flying smiley face and uniformed employees, but let’s face it: The retailer’s ads are not usually the stuff of creative wonderment.
That’s one reason we were pleasantly surprised by a new holiday commercial from Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola.
The ad, currently playing in movie theaters and online, features a young, geeky guy wandering through his own holiday party with a reusable Wal-Mart tote bag, handing out bottles of Coke while singing a little ditty about his guests.
CONTINUED >>
Here’s a recipe for an annoying commercial: take all unpleasant stereotypes known to man (and woman) and mix in a predictable plot.
For extra credit, make the commercial really, really, really long.
That just about sums up the strategy that is apparently at work in JCPenney’s new holiday campaign, "Beware of the Doghouse."
CONTINUED >>
