As the author of Obsessive Branding Disorder, a new book about the excesses of marketing, one of the most common questions I get from the media goes a little like this: "Aren't today's marketers just doing the same stuff they've been doing since the 1950s?"

It's a silly question...

Five product placements per minute. That's the rate at which viewers of The Biggest Loser, NBC's hit reality series, were subjected to advertisers' paid placements this past season. Nabisco 100-calorie snack packs, Ziploc bags, Extra sugar-free gum -- every 12 seconds, a new scripted ad. Unbearable, right? Apparently not for...

This Memorial Day, while many Americans are grilling hot dogs, watching NASCAR, and enjoying an extra day of freedom, thousands of unsuspecting Britons will find themselves newly christened criminals. The executive anonymously flaming a rival company in an online chat room, the publicist posting unsigned comments about a new product...