Stacey Burling of The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at a Philly-based company that seems to relish repeatedly stepping over the lines of decency. Urban Outfitters -- no stranger to controversial products -- is offering the 5-inch-long, Chinese-made gun ornament for $6 in its stores and catalogs this year. ''Bust a cap in your tree with this superglittery ornament in the shape of a handgun, complete with a satin ribbon …
Spooks Turn To Advertising
Associated Press investigates recruitment advertising efforts made on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization with a lot of new employees--40 percent began working at the agency after the Sept. 11 attacks. The agency started in 2002 with black-and-white ads. Last year, the agency's television ads during Washington Nationals baseball games were so quiet and unnoticeable that fans might have thought …
Sexy Ad Gets Massachusetts Legal Briefs In A Wad
In the pages of GQ or Maxim, you wouldn't think twice about the above ad, which is for Jiwani, a tailor specializing in custom-made suits. But place the ad in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and you've got a controversy on your hands. Slate examines the controversy: Evidently, at least two-dozen readers of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly were infuriated by the ad's placement in a legal publication; law being that rare …
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Union Uses YouTube To Let Some Air Out Of Goodyear
For several months now, a strike at Goodyear has forced the tire maker to use non-union workers and managers to produce the tires. Now, the United Steelworkers Union has produced an ad campaign to warn consumers that these scab-produced tires might not be up to snuff. And they've put some of the ads on YouTube, like the one above. You can read more about the whole issue, with this story from the AP. Also, check out …
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Sharpies On Toast
Inspired by the smashing success of Alex Tew's Million Dollar Homepage, Pete Kerr and his wife Heather and their friend from work Karys from Belfast, Northern Ireland, have launched a like concept. There are a couple of key differences from Tew's experiement. One, the money raised goes to charity. Two, everyone gets the same size display, regardless of the purchase price (although higher contributions do move to the …
Measuring Word-Of-Mouth
The New York Times looks at the power of word-of-mouth today. While every brand desires this supposed state of marketing nirvana, very few know how to accurately track the activity. “The majority of word-of-mouth happens in areas devoid of microphones or cameras or any other means of actually tracking conversations,” said Jamie Tedford, senior vice president of media and marketing innovation for Arnold Worldwide, an …
Be Edgy Or Be Damned
PR blogger Steve Rubel has some interesting things to say about Weblogs Inc., now that its founder Jason Calacanis has left the AOL-owned company. Since AOL bought Weblogs Inc I feel it has started to lose that editorial bite it once had. The posts on blogs like TUAW and others have been very informative, but extremely safe. Meanwhile, Gawker Media, Weblogs Inc's chief rival, has been pushing the edge - which is what …
That Giant Sucking Sound Is Just A Draft. Or Draft/FCB.
AdFreak calls out Draft/FCB for this ad, which congratulates all the winners from last year's Cannes. Adweek, by its very nature, tends not to be extremely critical of agencies, so when one of their editors says, "Maybe direct agencies aren’t that good at creative after all," you know your shop needs some help. Well, awards show entry & congratulatory ads are usually more of a circle jerk, so this might be an …
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