Lysol, Dial and Purell are updating their marketing campaigns to address the recent Swine Flu pandemic.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising hand-washing as a key tool for stopping the spread of swine flu, soap and hygiene brands are updating their websites, and spreading the word that consumers can help protect themselves by using their products:
Disinfectant brand Lysol has updated its homepage with information on swine flu.
Dial has launched a print and
online campaign encouraging people to wash their hands more often.
Johnson & Johnson has also updated the website for its brand Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer, giving information on hygiene.
The Lysol site says that although it is not yet clear how the virus is spreading, "following proper hygiene routines can help prevent the spread of illness".
Coca-Cola Co. is pushing a performance-based compensation model for ad agencies and wants other companies to do the same.
The company plans to move away from a flat-fee that equates hours spent with value delivered to a "value-based" compensation model with profit margins as high as 30% if top targets are reached.
The only problem with performance-based compensation is that marketing campaigns are only as good as the clients who direct them. If this trend continues, will we see agencies being pickier in selecting not only the brands they work on, but the marketers they report to as well?
It was sad to see the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco close, only because it was a sign that the concept of retail music stores was truly dead.
Like 24-hour photo shops and video rental stores, music retail shops have lost their relevance as the likes of everything from Amazon.com, ITunes, Pandora, last.fm, and even Sirius/XM radio have made retail storefronts obsolete.
But HMV, the british CD and entertainment retailer is not slinking away without a fight.
The HMV Group is set to launch what could be a chain of "arthouse" cinemas that will be located above its stores as part of its efforts to diversify away from its core music and home entertainment offering. The idea behind the movie theatre concept is to drive foot traffic into the shop floor. To encourage this, the theatre will only be accessible through stores during opening hours. There will have a dedicated entrance for the evening.
Its first 200-seat cinema will be in Wimbledon, south London. If all goes well, it will expand the concept.
The creator of the reality TV shows "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" thinks the cause of advertising would be better served if producers went on sales calls.
Mark Burnett believes people involved in creating a show would do a better job at explaining the advertising opportunities in that show.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes Burnett at a recent Hollywood Radio & Television Society luncheon:
"The biggest problem is the massive disconnect ... between creative producers and ad sales," the "Apprentice" creator said. "The dumbest thing in the world is that the people who are trying to sell advertising -- the entire reason for this business -- are explaining what the content is after hearing about it third-hand. We're not there to say, 'Here's what the show is, here's my vision, here's the feel of it, and here's how I think some of your products could integrate seamlessly without harming the experience for the viewers.'"
It is being reported that the founders of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, are to step down from the social networking site owned by News Corporation before their contracts expire.
Also of note is the reemergence of Martha Stewart at MSLO, the company she founded. With the departure of the current co-CEO (Wenda Harris Millard), Founder Martha Stewart will be taking over all creative and editorial oversight of the company.
Both executive shifts are in response to lackluster growth. MySpace traffic is down 3.6% while Facebook traffic is up (during the same period) by 72%. Martha Stewart's been bleeding ad pages--down 37% at Martha Stewart Living magazine and a merchandising deal with Kmart set to expire.
Sometimes a return to the base of a brand (personified by the Founder) is right for a company. Sometimes a shift away from the old, failing ways is best.
Bayer Schering Pharma's Levonelle One Step is the first company in the UK to advertise a "morning after pill" on television.
The pill is designed to be taken within 72-hours after sex to avoid pregnancy. The ads are to promote the non-prescription option. The ads have provoked controversy.
Approval to run the ad (scheduled only after 9pm in the evenings) came when the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice released proposals to allow pregnancy advisory services to advertise on the TV and radio for the first time and for condoms to be advertised on all channels at any time.
Critics of the ads say that promoting this type of contraception, promoted promiscuity--especially among teens.
A spokeswoman for ProLife Alliance, said: "We are absolutely outraged that without even waiting for the outcome of the Advertising Standards Code Review, Levonelle One Step will be promoted on evening TV, no doubt without even so much as a health warning, let alone an honest description of how the pill in question actually works.
Levonelle has previously been promoted through posters and magazine ads. A 2004 London Underground poster campaign, featuring the strapline "Immaculate Contraception" was withdrawn following complaints from Catholic groups.
A new study takes an in-depth look at the buying habits of Hispanic women. The joint study conducted by OTX Research for Meredith Hispanic Ventures and NBC Universal's Telemundo Group conducted at-home video interviews with 13 young Latina women in four cities and on a wide-ranging survey of 1,004 Latinas and 500 non-Hispanics.
The quick snapshot of the study: Latinas Are Technically Savvy, Brand-Loyal "Chief Household Officers."
The results indicated that Latina consumers are the main decision-makers or share that role with their spouse and view themselves as take-charge types who are confident in their abilities and are in-the-know users of digital cameras and iPods, etc.
"What most surprised advertisers was how technically savvy this woman
is once [household income] reaches $50,000, and how much they've raised
the bar in what they want from the American dream," according to Ruth Gaviria, VP of Meredith Hispanic Ventures.
Part of the study involved ethnographies, examining consumers in their homes. The study revealed refrigerators and pantries packed with both Latin and mainstream products-a true cultural melting pot.
And if you were wondering, there is one other difference between Latinas and non-Hispanic women: Latinas are more likely (75%) than non-Latinas (63%) to say they'd rather have sex with their husbands than a glass of good wine.
The Ask Jeeves character was originally created in 1997, named after the fictional butler from PG Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster novels.
Jeeves was retired in 2006 when the company
said it wanted to distance itself from perceptions of it as "that
quirky little site where you ask questions".
But it seems that Jeeves was one of the core differentiators in a highly crowded field of 800 pound search engine gorillas--Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
So, the butler character is making a return to the brand in the UK in a major advertising and marketing push.
Jeeves will also get a makeover. He's now a three-dimensional character, and will wear a suit
styled by Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes.
And with the rise of social media since Jeeves last appeared, he will also have his own Twitter and Facebook pages, where he will post daily questions, images, videos and a diary.
Kleenex is running a marketing campaign focused on the theme that it "Feels good to feel" their tissues.
Greenpeace says that Kleenex's marketing is "well-deserving of derision" and that Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex, has not used its large industry influence to show the way on how to be greener. Instead, it "continues to make products from ancient forests that are used once and then thrown away. Kleenex contains no recycled content."
Ad thus, the Kleenex ad spoof was born. Take a look: Greenpeace gave an ”Avoid” rating to all of Kimberly-Clark product lines (Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva).
The full Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper guide can be found at www.greenpeace.org/tissueguide.
Over the last few years, we've seen once thriving industries disappear--One hour photo shops, VHS tapes (and local video stores), and most of the large electronic's chains (Circuit City, Sam Goody, etc.)
As culture shifts and new technologies and products are introduced, this is to be expected. But some things are impacted more than others.
For the second time, WalletPop takes a look at 25 such things that are quickly disappearing from our country. They created an intriguing list--everything from maple syrup, to Catholic schools to customer service is on the list, But here's the top 5:
It was a rough year for the Fortune 500. America's 500 biggest companies earned 85% less than they did last year--from $642.2 billion to just $98.9 billion. Twice as many companies on the list had losses this year.
If there are any winners in this year's Fortune 500 list, it is the oil companies. Exxon Mobil replaced Wal-Mart Stores and four of the top five on the list are in the oil/energy business:
Exxon Mobil
Walmart
Chevron
ConocoPhillips
General Electric
And, who were the top five money losers? No surprises here:
AIG
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
General Motors
Citibank
Fortune reports that there's some good news for women in this year's Fortune 500. Fifteen Fortune 500 companies are now led by women, compared to 12 the prior year. Archer Daniels Midland, whose chief executive is Patricia Woertz, is largest of them all, at No. 27 on the list. Other high-ranking women include Angela Braly, CEO of No. 32 WellPoint; Lynn Elsenhans, CEO of No. 41 Sunoco; Indra Nooyi, head of No. 52 PepsiCo; and Irene Rosenfeld, chief of No. 53 Kraft Foods.
As more proof that sex and celebrity sells, two of soccer's (football) biggest celebrity players (and sex symbols) have signed new endorsement deals.
David Beckham, known for his Adidas, Giorgio-Armani, Gillette, and Pepsi deals has inked an endorsement with Motorola.
The ‘Aura of Beckham' ads promote Motorola's luxury handset the Aura, which Brand Republic reports takes over two weeks to make due to its hand-sculpted body and has more than 200 Swiss-made individual components.
Reports have had Beckham's endorsement income slipping recently, hopefully this will give him a boost.
Separately, lesser-known Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a two-year sponsorship deal with motor oil company Castrol.
Castrol has deep ties in soccer as a sponsor of The World Cup. The Portuguese sports star will be a "global ambassador" for the company's football initiatives heading into the 2010 tournament.
A TV ad is being put together featuring a variety of vignettes of Ronaldo using the oil to make the ground more slippery an aid to diving, as a dietary supplement to keep you regular and finally as a men’s bathroom product. Yes, Castrol is going to be Ronaldo’s new oily hair gel.
Last year Kraft reformulated its entire line of salad dressings. The consumer reaction: "Thanks, but no thanks."
So Kraft went back to the kitchen and came up with new...no NEW AND IMPROVED varieties.
Now the marketing challenge is to change a negative consumer perception into a positive, and to sell product. Kraft has begun airing new, tell-it-like-it-is commercials to get the word out about improvements to its ranch salad dressing brand. The new campaign introduces consumers to the new and improved ranch varieties. Those flavors include Peppercorn and Buttermilk Ranch.
The campaign centers around the adventures of the Kraft Road Ranch mobile, hitting the road to interview real-life consumers on what they think of the new Kraft ranch. You can view the campaign here.
Kraft is also on a sampling tour at 750 office buildings nationwide during the lunch hour. Apparently research has told . Kraft that lunch seekers are usually more willing to try new flavors at noontime, as opposed to at the dinner table with their families.
The new effort also includes Twitter and Facebook pages, and in-store marketing via Catalina coupons.
Yep, KFC is introducing Kentucky Grilled Chicken, promoting it via a free sample giveaway on April 27.
They've dubbed the promotion "UNFry Day"
Made with its own secret recipe -- a blend of six herbs and spices of course, the grilled chicken is cooked in specially designed and patented ovens.
But have no fear, the Kentucky Grilled Chicken or "KGC" is just as a healthier alternative to the "original recipe" that will continue to be on the menu.
Burger King continues to produce edgy advertising designed to attract attention and provoke controversy.
From the “Subservient Chicken” Web site to an invitation to earn a
burger by deleting friends on Facebook, the ads are unquestionably polarizing, with a clear audience of young males (teens?). But do these ads target this demographic at the expense of a broader audience? The answer is probably yes, especially given Burger King's broad media buys. Two recent examples:
BABY GOT BACK A current promotion for a children’s value meal called the 99-cent B.K. Kids Meal features SpongeBob SquarePants of Nickelodeon cable TV fame.
But the ad's theme is clearly adults-only using a version of the song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot as its jingle. "Baby Got Back" raised eyebrows as a rap song, but as a jingle for a kid's meal? Lines may have been crossed.
The campaign includes a television commercial featuring the irreverent Burger King character, who appears in many adult-themed Burger King ads. The ad features dancing women sporting square-shaped rear ends in tribute to SpongeBob; the rear ends are wiggled and wriggled during the spot. The song has lyrics that include the phrases “square butts” and “booty is booty.”
I'm no prude, but there seems to me a disconnect in advertising a kids meal utilizing a highly sexualized theme.
THE TASTE OF TEXAS WITH A LITTLE SPICY MEXICAN
The second Burger King campaign uses Mexican stereotypes at an attempt at humor.
This campaign is designed to promote Burger King's
Texican whopper with the tagline "the taste of Texas with a little
spicy Mexican".
The print ads feature a squat Mexican wrestler draped in a poncho with his country's flag next to a tall American cowboy twice his height. The television spot shows the unlikely pair becoming roommates. The Mexican government complained about the stereotyped image and the use of its flag.
Brand Republic reports that Jorge Zermeno, Mexico's ambassador to Spain, where the ad first aired, wrote a formal complaint to Burger King and asked for the campaign to be discontinued. Zermeno said "We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag."
Burger King has been forced to apologize for an ad, stating that the ads were meant to show a mixture of influences from the south western United States and Mexico and not to make fun of Mexicans.
Both ads were created by agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky.
Today is April 15--TAX DAY in the U.S. Following the successful election day promotions last November, several restaurant chains are offering one-day sales to celebrate the annual event.
Here are five of my favorites:
Papa John's: People who order on the chain's Web site and input "1040"
as a promotional code can get a large, original-crust pizza with up to
three toppings for $10.40.
Taco Del Mar's "Taxes $uck. Tacos Don't" promotion: Free taco with
coupon generated via online registration, also good at participating
Del Mar's and Mondo's.
Cinnabon's "Tax Day Bites"
promotion: Free Classic Bites, good from 5 to 8 p.m. at mall locations.
Accompanied by an optional online essay contest (how Cinnabon helped
make a bad day a bit better) aimed at driving registrations. Grand
prize is a pre-loaded $100 Cinnabon gift card valid at participating
bakeries.
McDonald's: At some locations, a purchase of
a full-price Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with cheese entitles the
customer to another one for a penny. In addition, Baltimore-area
McDonald's are reportedly giving away small hot McCafés or medium iced
McCafé coffee throughout the day, and McDonald's reps are to be on hand
at post offices in the Baltimore, Arlington, Va. and Washington, D.C.
areas (between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) to hand out free McCafé customized
postage stamps, as well as coupons for a free medium McCafé.
McCormick &
Schmick's: Customers can choose from a $10.40 entrée menu, plus receive
a $10.40 "tax relief dinner certificate" good toward future purchases.
Drink Me magazine, he only lifestyle and entertainment publication about drinking and bar culture created for enthusiasts has launched its first issue this month in San Francisco.
“Thirty months in the making, we’re finally here,” says Daniel Yaffe, president of Drink Me publisher Open Content. “It’s been a long and exciting road. We hope our readers take time to explore and enjoy as we offer up all the alcohol culture one could ever ask for, bottled up and ready to drink with a little tag that reads, ‘Drink Me.’ Welcome to our world…”
Drink Me magazine will be available online and distributed at local bars, clubs, cafes, and alcohol retailers.
The folks at PepsiCo say the ads for Coca-Cola's Powerade ion4 are false in saying it's the "complete"
sports drink, better than Gatorade because that drink is missing two
electrolytes — magnesium and calcium.
Pepsi's gone so far as to sue Coca-Cola over the ads saying the campaign makes false claims that could hurt its Gatorade brand. PepsiCo It said there was no evidence the new Powerade is better than Gatorade and that the Coca-Cola-made drink has the extra electrolytes only in trace amounts anyway.
For the fourth year in a row, 5 Blogs Before Lunch has been acknowledged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences’ Webby Awards. We are one of five finalists in the “Blog Business” category.
5 Blogs Before Lunch is up for both the juried prize, and a People’s Voice honor—where readers vote for their favorite blog. We’re up with some tough competition—The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Richard Branson’s Virgin blog. But we are scrappy, and have loyal readers like you.
If you are so inclined, I encourage you to VOTE for 5 Blogs Before Lunch at the Webbys Awards site. And, wish us luck.
5 Blogs Before Lunch is once again humbled by our acknowledgement as one of the five blogs nominated in the "Blog Business" category in the 13th Annual Webby Awards.
This is the fourth time 5 Blogs Before Lunch has been honored by the Webbys. We are the only business blog to be acknowledged every year since the Webby's started a "blog" awards category, and we were very pleased to be the first to win the juried prize in 2006.
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.
As a nominee, 5 Blogs Before Lunch is also eligible to win a Webby People's Voice Award, which is voted online by the global Web community. From now until April 30th, 5 Blogs Before Lunch fans can cast their votes in The Webby People's Voice Awards at http://pv.webbyawards.com
Winners will be announced on May 5th, 2009 and honored at a star-studded ceremony in New York City on June 8th hosted by Seth Meyers. Winners will be able to share one of the Webby's famous five-word speeches with the world. Past Webby Award winners - and their speeches - include Al Gore ("Please don't recount this vote."), Beastie Boys ("Can anyone fix my computer?"), and Stephen Colbert ("Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.").
The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA's Chief Bob Greenberg, "Simpson's" creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, and Harvey Weinstein.
Following a campaign called "Protest", which showed rioters harmlessly fighting with pillows, Absolut Vodka has unveiled a new campaign entitled "Hugs."
In An Absolut World, Currency will be replaced with acts of kindness.
The ad asks viewers to envision a world where the only currency is human kindness. Shoppers are seen paying for their groceries with a hug, and bus drivers receive kisses for their services.
Brand Republic reports that the ads will run the theaters and on news websites.
Mark Hamilton, head of marketing for vodkas at Pernod Ricard UK, said: ‘The timing of our activity is especially poignant in the recessionary environment. Absolut seeks to stimulate discussion around unconventional views of the world that we hope will be influential amongst our target audience.'
MillerCoors and Asics are working with ESPN's production team on "mini-mercials," designed to bring more action to the billboards that lead in and out of TV segments.
TV billboards are the announcements that a program is “brought to you by...”
Beginning May 15, Coors will run a two-month campaign of 10-second billboards that will air during “SportsCenter” segments on ESPN. Miller Lite will begin its campaign in mid-July. Asics has already begun a short flight on last Friday evening’s “SportsCenter” and will run the mini-mercials through the end of this month.
The fine folks at Schick have produced a couple of broadcast spots for their Quattro Trimstyle Razor & Bikini Trimmer.
There's a racy version for Europe and the web, and one that's a bit tamer for American TV audiences. We've come a long way baby, but not this far, apparently:
The Los Angeles Times has been running ads on the front page of the paper since 2007. Shocking enough to see advertising invade on what is a traditiobnally sacrosanct part of a newspaper.
But on Thursday of this week, The Los Angeles Times ran a front-page advertisement for an NBC television show that resembled a news story.
Is a a mock news column a step too far?
The Times obviously doesn't think so. In fact, it is expanding its faux-news environments this Sunday when the newspaper's Calendar entertainment section will be accompanied by a four-page advertisement for the movie “The Soloist” that is laid out like a news section.
In headier times, critics would have pounced all over these abuses of the traditional separation of editorial and advertising, but with red ink bleeding through the pages of nearly every major newspaper these days, it is no wonder that papers are trying to entice advertisers with everything they've got.
I'm problaby not the first one to tell you that the newspaper business is clearly in trouble and headed for a revolutionary shake-up. Some examples: the Tribune Company, which owns The Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy in December, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Rocky Mountain News have stopped printing in the last few months, and the Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle may be next to disappear.
I say, there's clearly no attempt to fool readers into believing the mock ads are real news. And I clearly understand the need to make advertising campaigns more contextual. And, given that Los Angeles is an entertainment industry company-town, having ads for TV and movies appear as editorial isn't REALLY anything new anyway.
Under the pressure of dropping ad budgets, and rumored account shopping by its sole client, Dell Computer, Enfatico, the full-service shop created by WPP Group to handle Dell's advertising account, will be folded into the ad holding company's structure as part of Y&R Brands, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The agency was designed to support the Delll account, and to eliminate turf wars and competing P&L statements that usually exist when combining the efforts of multiple agencies on one account. The structure was reportedly one of WPP's key selling points when it landed Dell's advertising and marketing business in December 2007. Dell was seeking a way to foster collaboration among the people who create ads for TV and print and the other experts who do things such as research consumer behavior and design Web promotions.
Currently, Enfatico has about 800 employees and 13 offices around the world. Before consolidating its advertising with Enfatico, Dell used a reported 800 agencies to get its message out
A new bit of research from men's division of Jockey brand underwear suggests that men are turning to pink underwear to perk up their mood during the economic downturn. And, baby blue, orange, pistachio green Jockeys are helping men perk up their moods as well.
No, I'm not making this up.
The folks at Jockey claim that sales of their colored Y-front briefs have rocketed by an average of 60 per cent over the last six months - and the baby pink pairs have sold more than any other, seeing a 62 per cent boost in sales over the past three months.
If claims that men are perking themselves up using their pants is true, it adds a new dimension to lipstick economics - the theory market -watchers attribute to sales of small cosmetic items rising in a recession, or the fact that hemlines rise and fall with the economic state of the country.
According to Jockey, there was a similar sales effect during the great depression of 1935. Back then, sales of boxer shorts printed with an image of the world went through the roof as men chose the pattern over their usual plain briefs, a result, said market analysts, of "men seeking a soupcon of exotic escapism, albeit vicariously, via their pants."
Flogos, or flying logos, are a new form of aerial outdoor ads.
The new media format are shaped bubble clouds, created by an Alabama special effects company called Snowmasters. The flogos are 2-by-3-foot artificial clouds made of a bubbly material shaped into a marketer's logo or other brand icon.
Snowmasters calls the clouds "Flogos," for flying logos. It has
released them in the shape of golden arches at a McDonald's-sponsored
event in Las Vegas, the number "207" for a Hard Rock Hotel opening in
San Diego (207 is the hotel's street address) and an "S" for Sheraton
Hotels and Resorts in New York.
And Snowmasters is not allow up there. Another outdoor ad company is called, Skytypers, which deploys airplanes to construct ads whose letters look like dotted clouds.
"In today's economy, everybody's looking for something different," said Batson, head of Snowmasters' West Coast operations.
Advertisers are trying lots of ways to target people who fast-forward through TV commercials and ignore print ads. In the last year or so, companies have paid consumers to put ads on their eyelids and to wear branded T-shirts every day of the year. A Florida school district even sold advertising space on its report cards to McDonald's.
Baskin-Robbins, who's shied away from their old "31 Flavors" moniker in recent years, has created a charity promotion that revised the old numerical theme. The ice cream retailer says it will sell scoops of its ice cream for 31 cents on April 29 to raise money for charity.
The "31 Cent Scoop Night" will be held nationwide on Wednesday, April 29, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The company plans to give $100,000 to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) National Junior Firefighter Program in conjunction with the event.
PETA has introduced a new celebrity ad as part of their "Let Vegetarianism Grow on You" campaign. In the ad, Cloris Leachman wears a dress of red cabbage and leaf lettuce.
In another blow to the relationship between Microsoft and McCann
Erickson, the folks from Redmond have selected JWT to launch their new search engine, designed to compete against Google and Yahoo!.
JWT was awarded the assignment after a pitch that also
involved two other roster shops, McCann
Erickson who has been (essentially) Microsoft's agency of record for many years and Crispin Porter + Bogusky (which was rumored to have dropped out of the pitch last December).
So far, Microsoft has kept McCann on the roster, but has further diversified its roster with other agencies, awarding more and more of the juicy projects to other shops. Crispin Porter + Bogusky has been tasked with much of the corporate messaging (including the recently launched a PC v Mac rebuttle), and JWT has been working with Micorosft on B2B campaigns.
There is no doubt that the new Search Engine assignment--rumored to be code named "Kumo" or "Kiev," will be a difficult marketing assignment for any agency. Microsoft's current offering Live Search makes up a measly 8% of the market, compared to Google's 60% and Yahoo!'s 20%.
JWT's only chance of success is to identify and carve out a unique niche that sparks a fire among consumers as a celebrity "It Girl" product. Market favorites change, as we saw MySpace recently loose "status" to Facebook, and as Google stole shear market dominance away from Yahoo! years ago.
For Microsoft and JWT to have a chance, they'll need to put out more than your traditional online, TV, print and radio campaign. And, they'll need more than your traditional USP.
The government is poised to enact tobacco regulation that would curtail
many of the harmful ingredients in cigarettes, and ensure that tobacco
is not advertised for children or sold to them. A new law would allow cigarettes to be regulated by the FDA.
Sounds good, and simple, yes?
Well wait a minute.
It seems that nothing associated with the tobacco industry is simple. Add in the U.S. government, lobbyists and billions of dollars in potential revenue, and you've got a real mess.
Phillip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, is supporting the legislation, and the competition is suspicious of this support.
Some believe that Phillip Morris will benefit above the competition. They say that when ads are curtailed, only the big brands win because of the previous establishment of a brand reputation. In other words, without the ability to change consumer perception through marketing and advertising, the dominant and existing player wins.
Competitors say that the F.D.A. is unlikely to approve many new tobacco products. That, they say, combined with the legislation’s broader restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing, would lock in Philip Morris’s market dominance. It would make it harder to let consumers know there are options available to them.
Esquire, known for its quirky, yet innovative cover gimmicks has released a mix and match cover for May 2009 that switches the face parts of George Clooney, Barack Obama, and Justin Timberlake.
A British ad for the new Volkswagen Golf is getting a lot of unwanted attention.
In fact, British consumers don't want their children seeing the ad.
And, the local watchdog group has agreed.
The ad feature the chief engineer of Volkswagen embroiled in mortal combat with several replicas of himself.
Himself.
The ad seems like a strange target for such outrage--but watch for yourself.
For Volkswagen's part, they defend the ad by claiming that the ads make no effort to appeal to children (kids don't buy cars), and that the
choreographed fight scenes did not result in any visual harm, such as
blood or bruises.
Brand Republic points out that the stylized fight scenes were mostly hand-to-hand combat, though car parts were used as weapons in the latter part of the ad.
Viewers felt that the ads were offensive and unsuitable to be shown when children may be watching.
In the end, the British watchdog group ASA agreed that the fantastical style of the fight scenes in the ads distanced the action from reality. However, as the full-length TV ad and an additional 40-second edit of the TV ad featured the men fighting with weapons, the ASA ruled that a time restriction of 9pm should be applied.
