Why The Lack of Mac-like Attacks?

One of the most profound paradoxes of American politics is that citizens love to hate negative political ads, yet negative ads persist, because the same consumers that hate them are consistently persuaded by them.
If negative ads work so well for bottom-line driven political consultants unselling the competitors’ politicians, it would seem bottom line-driven corporate marketers [...]

Cruel To Be Kind

Social marketing has contributed to huge shifts in American behavior. Thanks to social marketing ads, we litter less, smoke less, drink-and-drive less, smoke in others’ faces less, and wear seat belts more.
Most of these gains have been made by making us very uncomfortable. Does anyone remember the ad with the grandpa who [...]

New Mediavangelists

It’s one thing to understand and participate in “new media.” After all, it makes sense to experience emerging media so you learn the problems and opportunities they present for our society, markets and personal lives.
But it’s quite another to feel compelled to repeatedly advertise just how much you understand and participate in new [...]

Censored News Network (CNN)

CNN is labeled a liberal network by conservatives who prefer Fox, a conservative network by liberals who prefer MSNBC, and an inane network by tripartisan wonks who prefer PBS or C-Span.
But now there is a CNN descriptor that can unify us all. Gutless.
In the last few days, CNN has refused [...]

Harry, Louise, Dick and Jane

Why are political and policy ads so prosaic?
The new Harry and Louise health care reform ad is a case-in-point. The level of dialogue and logic exhibited by Harry and Louise is reminiscent of another famous couple — Dick and Jane. There is not a hint of the kind of intelligence, style, [...]

‘No greater form of domestic terrorism than the plaque on your teeth’

I’m such a worthless bum. I can’t remember the last time a wrote anything worthwhile on this site. Our friend Dennis Lang even called me out on my uselessness of late. But tonight, I found myself with a bit of free time, and I started digging through old notes about posted I wanted to write [...]

Political TV Ad Retrospective: The Java Jive Validated

About 673 billion years ago (back in February), my friend Loveland wrote a favorable critique of Al Franken’s now-famous “Mrs. Molin” ad.
Ignoring Loveland’s fine analysis, I commented uselessly:
You know what’s the real star of political TV advertising?
COFFEE!
Case in point: Here you see the candidate holding a pot of coffee and pouring coffee into a coffee [...]

Harry and Louise will support anything for 15 more minutes of fame

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I’m young. Not like Miley Cyrus young, but young enough that when HillaryCare was first discussed, I was far more interested in Fruit Roll-Ups and baseball cards than I was in “old people” on TV talking about health care coverage.
So when people talk about the [...]

Paris Hilton responds to McCain ad, outlines energy policy

Not one to take a shot lying down (I supply the vague innuendo, you fill in the punchline of your choice), Paris Hilton has gone on record with her response to John McCain’s “celebrity” ad.
Not only that, but she’s also put a stake in the ground in terms of energy policy, advocating a mixed [...]

How do you prove ads work? Lie and deceive!

The company that owns the Philadelphia (type that five times fast) Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News — not to mention the related Web site philly.com — subjected its readers to a smattering of ads for an airline with an innovative pricing model. Derrie-Air (get it?) charges customers based on their own bulk: “the more [...]