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Washington Post To Close New York, Chicago, LA Bureaus

2009-11-24T17:25:00Z

The Washington Post plans to close bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

A Post story by media reporter Howard Kurtz confirmed the news reported by The Washington City Paper. Kurtz:

The six correspondents who work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offered reassignments in Washington, while three news assistants will be let go.

The money-saving move, coming on the heels of four rounds of early-retirement buyouts and the closing or merging of several sections, is the clearest sign yet of the newspaper's shrinking horizons in an era of diminished resources.

Kurtz goes on to quote Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, who traveled to New York to deliver the news to the bureau staff in person.

The City Paper has published the memo sent to Post staff informing them of the move:

To the Staff:

Today we have informed our news colleagues in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles that we are closing the offices in those cities, effective Dec. 31. The reporters in those bureaus are being offered new roles here in Washington. Regretfully, the three news aides, who have been dedicated colleagues and are friends of many here, will be let go.

Click here to read the rest of the memo:

Cathleen Falsani: Do Whateveryouwannukah? Why I Won't Be Fa-la-la-la-la-ing In To The Gap This Holiday Season (VIDEO)

2009-11-24T15:35:06Z

There are only 35 shopping days left until Christmas.

I'm keenly aware of this primarily because of those overcaffeinated Glee-show-choir-in-red-white-and-blue-alpine-sweaters-and-ear-flaps-making-high school-cheerleading-pyramids Gap ads that started running about a week ago.

You know, the ones where they chant a little ditty titled, annoyingly, "Happy Dowhateveryouwannukah." "Go Christmas! Go Hannukah! Go Kwanzaa! Go Solstice!" the exceptionally good-looking, multicultural, skinny-jeans-clad cheerbots shout.

"You 86 the rules, you do what just feels right," they cheer, before entreating us to "do whatever [we] wannukkah" this ambiguous winter holiday season.

Their jangly dance number ends by wishing us "a cheery night."

How festive, you say?

Meh. Notsomuch.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those paranoid religious folks who believes that there is an organized effort to take the Christ out of Christmas orchestrated by a clandestine cabal of secular humanist movie moguls, feminists and vegetarians who plot their nefarious attack on family values (and the Baby Jesus) in triannual meetings at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows, to paraphrase a brilliant line from the movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer."

I am no proponent of the alleged "War on Christmas."

And I'm all for inclusiveness and multiculturalism, as much as I am for inexpensive cotton T-shirts and reindeer-themed boxer shorts.

But this year's Gap "holiday" ad campaign just rubs me the wrong way.

In its effort, I would surmise, to be inclusive and inoffensive, the Gap has made the mortal advertising (and cultural) error of being twee. Not to mention spiritually facile.

While they all occur around the same time of the year, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice hardly carry the same spiritual weight.

Christmas celebrates the miraculous birth of a savior come to redeem the world. Hannukah, while also commemorating a miracle (a one-day supply of oil for a lamp in the temple lasted eight days) and the victory of the Jewish rebellion over the Hellenistic rulers of Jerusalem, it is a minor holiday, not to be compared to the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur or the major festivals, Sukkot and Passover.

Kwanzaa is a nonreligious festival, begun in 1966 and celebrated nearly exclusively in the United States, which celebrates African-American culture and values. Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year and is for many pagans and neo-pagans the symbolic and spiritual rebirth of the year.

While each of these holidays, for lack of a more universally applicable term, is significant to different groups of believers (and nonbelievers, for that matter) they are not spiritual equivalents.

Still, I have no problem with all four being mentioned in the same context when we're talking about the things people celebrate this time of year. That's valid and correct.

What isn't, however, is the notion that any of these holidays espouse the idea, explicitly or implicitly, of doing "what just feels right" or "whatever we want"-ukah.

Unless we're meant to be concelebrating Bacchanalia or -- and this is even a stretch -- Mardi Gras, nothing in the Christian, Jewish and pagan traditions or the African-American cultural ideals that Kwanzaa celebrates would encourage the faithful to throw all rules out the window and do whatever feels good, man.

If that were true, the Gap ad would have done well to end with an Ayn Rand look-alike in a Santa hat and white beard driving a sled pulled by 12 tiny flying armadillos.

Christmas is about selflessness and transformative love, the improbable gift of a divine baby born into straw poverty in order to reconcile the world back to God. We do celebrate Christ's birth by giving something to each other to commemorate that epic, divine gift. But it's not supposed to pivot around the exchange of material goods, and it's definitely not about sweaters and turtlenecks.

Hannukah is about power of perseverance, faith and righteousness to overcome tyranny. It's about a small miracle that changes everything. The seven principles of Kwanzaa are: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Those principles are pretty much the direct opposite of the idea of "do whatever you want." And Solstice is, first and foremost, a natural, communal, Earth-centered event. Nothing about ushering in the death of the old year and the birth of the new says "fleece hoodies" to me.

The "Dowhateveryouwannukah" spots have made me think twice about where I'll purchase any last-minute stocking stuffers this year. But not for the same reason as that of the perennial saber-rattling "pro-family" organization the American Family Association, which, it brags, has been for 32 years "on the frontlines of the American culture war."

Earlier this month the association called for a two-month boycott of the Gap because of its "censorship of the word 'Christmas' " in its ads.

Oops!

The Gap ad campaign (which began running a few days after the association's clarion call for a boycott) says "Christmas" repeatedly, and that's precisely my problem with it. The use of the word "Christmas" -- and "Hannukah," "Kwanzaa" and "Solstice" for that matter -- is so flippant and false that the cheerbots might as well be shouting "Go Hippopotamus!" instead of "Go Christmas!"

I'd much prefer a heartfelt "Happy Holidays" to this faux-inclusive, hodgepodge of treacly meaninglessness.

Rather than an inviting cup of steaming Wassail to which everyone is welcome, the Gap's "Dowhateveryouwannukah" is little more than a strangely saccharin fruitcake that appeals to no one.

Cathleen Falsani is the longtime religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of the new book, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers.

Lift Laughs: 9 Epic Elevators Ads (PHOTOS)

2009-11-23T17:41:16Z

Last week we brought you 11 awesomely creative billboards, but adventurous advertising isn't reserved for the highway. The surprising reveal elevators offer can be used by creative companies to hammer home key selling points. Which one do you like best?

William Bradley: Mad Men : Three Seasons On and Looking Forward

2009-11-21T09:54:04Z

Mad Men's brilliant third season finale earlier this month is still echoing in the mind. And in the culture. January Jones was a game host of Saturday Night Live the following weekend. (Though she didn't make anyone forget Jon Hamm's great hosting gig last year. He is seriously funny.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed that she's a fan of the show. And of course her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is a Mad Men fan as well.

Which is simply too perfect for words. I could easily write a column comparing Bill Clinton and Don Draper. Avoiding the obvious cheap shots. Another time, perhaps.

Don Draper and Roger Sterling move forward with new plans for the future.

I've been thinking about the arc of the series from its excellent pilot, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," set in March 1960, to the fabulous third season finale, which takes place in December 1963. Where has the series been, where is it now, and where might it be going with creator Matthew Weiner?

The reality is that our beloved old Sterling Cooper was a rather stodgy advertising agency. That's clear in the series premiere. We meet Don Draper, our protagonist anti-hero. He's trying hard to come up with a campaign for a tobacco company. And to help it deal with these awful rumors that cigarettes are very bad for you.

We learn that Don, while very creative, is wedded to an old paradigm. He doesn't like research. He doesn't like quirky advertising. He doesn't think, so far as we can tell through all the smoke around him, that there's anything wrong with cigarettes. We see that his agency is on the wrong side of change. That's really spelled out when Roger Sterling says he doesn't see any reason why America won't fall in love with a good-looking Navy hero like Dick Nixon.

As the season goes on, we see the Sterling Coo crew blindsided by the advent of John F. Kennedy. (Except for Pete Campbell.)

The only art we see highlighted, and this is in season two, is Bert Cooper's Rothko. Which the characters view as a great mystery. It's a key prop in season two. In fact, you could say that the Rothko set in motion most of the principal events for the rest of season two and all of season three.

After all, it was Jane Siegel's impish decision to goad a group into venturing into the forbidden territory of Bert's office to view the painting that led to her being fired by Joan. And reinstated by Roger, who had happened upon the perfect context in which to casually hit on Don's gorgeous, smart young secretary without looking like an aging lech. That in turn led to the collapse of Roger's marriage, his decision to marry Jane, and the need to sell Sterling Cooper to the Brits to settle his divorce.

The essential milieu of Mad Men is not all that admirable.

In that sense, the Rothko is the show's McGuffin, a mysterious object of wonderment which triggers action.

Yet the fact that it is a Rothko which serves as the trigger for monumental change in the show points up the time warp nature of Sterling Cooper. A dangerously time warp nature, what with the cascading changes about to unfold in the 1960s.

Rothko is Abstract Expressionism. Avant garde in the '50s. And it placed New York City at the center of the art world, supplanting Paris. But by the '60s, it was establishment art. What was popping across, as it happens, New York at the very time of Mad Men's seasons two and three, was Pop Art. Heavily influenced by advertising, mass media, and pop culture -- in many respects an ironic commentary on them -- and executed by ex-commercial artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist, Pop was centered in New York City.

Yet we see not a hint of Pop in the world of Sterling Cooper, even as it's beginning to explode across the same city, with Lichtenstein's classic Drowning Girl produced in 1963. The gang finally gets Kennedy, as we see right along from Jackie Kennedy's TV special on the White House, which takes place during season two. And Peggy and a few others discover Bob Dylan, while Don dabbles with a beatnik girlfriend. But on the whole, this is a crew that is largely behind the curve of change, as is so shockingly clear in the Derby Day episode early in season three, with Roger singing in blackface and Pete and Trudy dancing the Charleston. We barely even see anyone dance the Twist.

And while it's a shock to see that great Sterling Cooper set slip into the rear view mirror, it's okay with me. I thought it was brilliant, but I didn't really like it. I like the fashions of the early '60s more than the design aesthetic.

In any event, Sterling Coo felt more late '50s than even early '60s, and the real "Sixties" are definitely getting underway.

The characters react to the shocking news of the assassination of President Kennedy.

It's like comparing and contrasting North By Northwest with Dr. No. The films are only three years apart -- with North By Northwest in 1959 and Dr. No in 1962 -- but they have a very different feel. North By Northwest, which clearly influenced the show, is definitely of the '50s, refined and rather mannered. Dr. No is definitely of the '60s, rawer and more sexual and violent. (North By Northwest, unlike Dr. No, is a great movie, which I'll write about as its 50th anniversary edition is now out this month.)

And the change we see reflected in those films will be even more pronounced the next time we see the ex-Sterling Coo crew, which I expect to be 1964. It's the year of the Beatles and Goldfinger, the last Bond film in which Bond wears a hat (and then only while golfing with the villain). And it's the year of LBJ's election (as well as that of a new senator for New York named Robert F. Kennedy), the year of civil rights and the real beginnings of the Vietnam War. Advertising is the perfect prism by which to view these characters moving through a hyper-capitalist society that is accelerating and fragmenting as it does.

It's interesting that President Kennedy basically killed off most of the hat industry after he was elected president and went hatless on the day of his inauguration. The fact that one of the last things Don does in the old Sterling Cooper offices is pick up his hat signifies how he has clung to the past while clinging to Sterling Coo. If he wears a hat from now on, it will be through sheer force of habit. And I doubt he will, as it's important to his self-image as an image professional for Don to be cool.

Betty confronts Don with his little box of big secrets in this past season's Episode 11.

So where are Don and the other characters now in this fabulous novel for television?

** Don Draper is the one constant in the series. Though there was a moment when I thought he just might swim out to sea, like Bruce Dern in Coming Home. Now, prodded by his eccentric but clear-sighted amigo Connie Hilton, he's flown the coop (even though he forced Coop to come along for the big ride), setting up a new advertising agency that can be fast and nimble enough to drive change rather than be washed away by it.

His marriage to Betty is over. I suspect he'll be happier without the pressure and energy drain of having to pretend to keep up the facade of a life which itself was a facade. Don never really got Betty, as we saw in the aftermath of their big trip to Rome. He wanted the image of Betty, kept safely behind the gilded white picket fence cage of the "perfect" suburban life. Ironically, had he engaged her in his professional life, which she wanted, she could have been a great partner in his new venture.

In any event, Don Draper is on the loose. That frees up the show in many ways. I thought this season was quite brilliant, in much the same way that a great long novel can be brilliant, in exploring the permutations of family and married life that led to the big break-up. But like such a novel, portions of it dragged for me, necessary though they probably were. Now that is largely done, pared away, presenting exciting possibilities for Don.

Did Don actually blow his best chance to revive his marriage to Betty after they returned from Rome?

** Betty Draper has been another central constant, because she is married to the protagonist. In some ways, this season was as much about Betty as it was about Don. Now their marriage has ended, and so has Betty's centrality to the story. She'll still be a significant player, certainly because of the children. But she's likely to disappear for stretches of the story now. In that sense, she may become a more likable character.

She is marrying someone she barely knows, which is never an especially brilliant idea. But Henry Francis is a more real concept to her now than Don, since she's learned that there really is no Don. Like Don, she fell in love with an image. When she learned that the picture she had held in her head of "Don Draper" was false, what faith she had left was cracked. The Kennedy assassination, and especially its immediate aftermath, shattered their already fractured bond.

** Sally Draper was always an intriguing child. This season, she became one of the principal characters in the series. She's the quintessential baby boomer in the series. She's already being raised largely by television. That will only accelerate with her parents split apart. Her brother Bobby is a less interesting character, perhaps because boys that age are not all that fascinating. Though he did have some telling moments late in the season.

** Roger Sterling is the character I enjoy the most. His funny, frequently sarcastic, nearly always spot-on observations are a real treat. His character really sold me on the series in its early days when it was still unfamiliar and sometimes slow-going. He and Don have a great rapport, and a fascinating dynamic. Kind of like sweet and sour chicken. It was hard when he was sidelined from the main action through much of the season. But he is certainly right in the thick of it now. And with a real existential challenge. He inherited his business. Now he gets to find out what he can do on his own, reliant though he will be on Don. And vice versa.

** Peggy Olsen is the forerunner female professional, with the clearest arc. As pollster Paul Maslin puts it: "She is going to be the litmus test on a lot of the change -- gender roles, first and foremost, but I could see her getting radicalized by the times as well."

January Jones played Grace Kelly in this Saturday Night Live version of a scene from Hitchcock's classic Rear Window.

** Joan Holloway has been the betwixt and between female character. She's used her sexuality to get ahead. But ironically, her looks have gotten in her way professionally. Now, with her central role in this very high-powered little start-up agency, she has the opportunity to shine in ways she never could have before.

Then there's Joan's husband. It's tempting to talk sardonically about Vietnam and land mines, but suffice it to say that their lives are going in very different directions. He's in the Army, he has training and postings overseas, and I really don't see Joan chucking her new role as, essentially, the chief operating officer of Sterling Cooper Draper Price to sit around base housing somewhere.

** Pete Campbell has always been ahead of the curve in his thinking. He's also been a big pain in the ass and worse, pouting, snobby, backstabbing (remember Freddy Rumsen, one of my favorites?), forcing himself on the neighbor's nanny.

Yet he is growing up, in tune with the times. He turned out to be the Kennedy person at Sterling Coo, even though in season one he had dutifully come up with a very clever gambit to help Nixon. He's helped tremendously by having the best marriage, to the estimable and delightful Trudy, who I think will be more of a player in the series as the new agency moves forward.

** Bert Cooper is not ready for the ice floe. The eccentric sage of Sterling Coo, who can play real hardball when he wants to (recall how he finally got Don to sign his contract) is now way outside his comfort zone, working in a hotel room with people young enough to be his grandchildren. There's no place for him to nap or watch TV during the day there. The slumbering old lion in the winter of his days may have a rebirth.

** Lane Pryce quickly became one of my favorite characters. The ultimate company loyalist proved to be quite the skilled plotter when he cast aside his old company tie. I think he will end up working well with Joan. Capable people admire capability. After all, without both of these characters, there is no Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

Mad Men's third season opener set a strong stage for things to come.

** Sal Romano has had a terrific character arc which dropped him in the middle of his identity's central contradiction. He won't easily return to the crew. After all, there is no agency without the big tobacco account, and unless the odious Lee Garner Jr. steps in front of a bus, or tries to be a movie mogul in Hollywood, this scrambling start-up is in no position to play hardball in order to rehire Sal as art director. He could be a consultant, however. He's a terrific character, and I hope and expect we will see a lot more of him.

** Ken Cosgrove was one of the "left behind." We don't really know why yet. As talented as Pete is, especially in terms of ideas and foresight, Ken is the better accounts man, for the reason that Lane laid out. He makes it look effortless. And he's certainly talented, a fine writer as we know from season one, with a better touch with talent than Peggy, as we saw in season two.

** Paul Kinsey lost his copywriting duel with Peggy. He went to Princeton (as he mentions on occasion), she went to secretarial school. But she has the knack for advertising, and he doesn't. The new crew could certainly hire him as they staff up, but they could hire somebody else, too.

** Harry Crane, the luckiest character in the series -- his key career moment came when he saw that Sterling Coo should have a television department, which was not exactly a stroke of genius -- keeps on keeping on. He has the connections now and is the amiable facilitator they need.

** Duck Phillips looked as though he might be the deus ex machina setting big changes in motion this season. But he turned out to be more of a red herring; unless he marries Peggy, which is hard to see, I don't know how he plays into things.

** Henry Francis, of course, is now a serious character. Will he marry his Grace Kelly whom he's rescued from the suburbs -- as he sees it -- and make Betty the princess she was raised to be? Well, he has a presidential campaign to work on, that of his governor, Nelson Rockefeller. This 1964 campaign, incidentally, marks the fundamental defeat of the liberal East Coast wing of the Republican Party and the rise of the Sun Belt right.

This might portend a more nomadic existence for Henry, if he were principally a campaign operative. But he works in the governor's office. And Nelson Rockefeller is going to be governor of New York for another decade. Then he becomes vice president of the United States. As Henry Kissinger knows, there is sustaining power and prestige in being a senior advisor to Rockefeller, a famed art collector and one of the richest men in America. And a rather glittering world of power for Betty to explore.

** Suzanne Farrell is not crazy. Sorry, folks. she's not. A lot of fans think she is (fill in the blank) psychiatric designator. What she is is a forerunner in her own right, a smart, free-spirited, proto-hippie. She's also very good-looking, a brunette (like Don likes when he is not in Grace Kelly dream mode). Oh, and little Sally absolutely adores her ex-teacher. Hmm ...

** Jane Siegel is someone we might see more of next season, especially if the ABC scifi drama Flash Forward doesn't start doing better. That's because the actress who plays the new Mrs. Roger Sterling is a regular on this new show. A lot of fans want Roger and Joan to get together. There are two problems with this. One, they are both married to other people, only one of whom is going to be sent overseas. The other is that they work together. In very confined spaces. And Roger, as Bert pointed out, is too old for Joan. He's not too old for Jane, however paradoxical it may seem. When Roger passes on, Jane is still pretty young, and very well off, and can more easily restart her life with someone else. Jane is also one of the most contemporary characters on the show, something of a neo-Mod, actually, before she married Roger.

** Conrad Hilton proved to be a most interesting character. After all, he set the events of the finale in motion, with Don finally doing what Connie wanted to hear him say he would do: Go out on his own and make his own mark. Connie can only be approving of what his sometime surrogate son has done. And since Don didn't burn his bridges, and then acted very rapidly on his own -- and there is no redundancy of Hilton advertising now -- there's no reason these two can't work together down the line.

You know, Don Draper does look a little bit like George Kaplan. Or Roger O. Thornhill. What does the "O" stand for? Nothing at all.

Well, I think that's enough for now. This is a novel playing out on television, and can be discussed endlessly.

I'm really a political writer, not an entertainment writer, so this has been a very interesting experience. I do write about movies from time to time. In fact, I'm going to write over Thanksgiving about the 50th anniversary edition of North By Northwest, a movie which has an obvious connection to this great series.

And having been writing about the best show on television for the past three months, I'm going to write about the biggest show on television. That's NCIS, a very different sort of show, very well done, which has surprisingly become more popular as it has aged, being in its seventh season now. And, oddly, no one has written about it.

But I won't be analyzing NCIS every week. Not that it would not be much easier, though the Ziva character (the agent who is the daughter of the head of Israel's Mossad secret service, which, contrary to your expectation, doesn't come off at all well) is certainly complicated enough to be on Mad Men.

I could write about Lost. After all, I've watched it from the beginning. And this is the last season. Sadly, I still don't really know what's going on. With the characters time shifting so often I sometimes feel like I have a concussion while watching it.

I don't think many Americans watch MI-5 (Spooks in the less PC UK).

24? It got better again last season, though it's not as good as it was in its first few seasons. And the constant torture motif certainly is significant, if too predictable. But that might be too much like writing about politics. Though it might be good to examine how Jack Bauer manages to drive across Los Angeles in less than half an hour. Sadly, the show no longer takes place in LA, so that humor angle no longer exists.

Let's see. It's less than nine months till Mad Men's season four begins ...

You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.

Robert Rosenthal: Poop Culture

2009-11-20T16:46:01Z

It's official: The "popularization of poop" is a solid movement. And marketers smell an opportunity.

None other than the NY Times recently reported on the increase of marketing activity being devoted to the "moist toilet paper category." (Adult Toilet Training, From Madison Ave., Oct. 19} Wet wiping is a burgeoning business, and it's not just for babies' behinds any more. This makes sense as demographic data demonstrates that the country is aging. That's why, from Cialis to Activia, so much TV advertising now is dedicated to products that harden your tool and soften your stool. So it should come as little surprise that advertisers would be the first to jump on this opportunity to bolster their bottom line. Product needs to move as often as bowels do.

Naturally, Proctor & Gamble is already behind this. Advertising Age reported that Toilet Blogging Will Pay More Than Huffpo Blogging, elaborating that "Charmin Seeks Ambassadors to Staff Times Square Bathrooms." I realize you can't spell ambassador without an a s s, but this is a sad step down. Being appointed an Ambassador used to be a position of enormous prestige for people like Joseph Kennedy and Jeane Kirkpatrick. Now the tour of duty follows in the esteemed footsteps of Mr. Whipple.

Look, we've all had memorable experiences on a toilet -- most of which we'd prefer to forget, much less make public. But now, the world's largest product goods company is actually offering $10,000 for people who "really, really enjoy going to the bathroom" to "entertain bathroom guests... and blog about the experience." Where's George Michael? Sounds right up his alley.

From clogging it to blogging it: have we reached bottom? From where I sit, I'm afraid not. It seems inevitable that the potty is going public and the continued descent into indignity will be fed by our insatiable consumption of crap TV and tabloid fodder. I'll bet we'll soon be seeing programs like "Celebrity Dump", "America's Next Toilet Talent", "So You Think You Can Poop" and MTV presents "Thrones."

Nor is the focus on feces confined to television and the blogosphere. Charmin offers a repulsive video demonstration, in spite of using toothpaste to prove its point. Facebook fan pages and Twitter poop groups already abound. Of course there is an app too -- -- and surely more on the way.

I, for one, am not going to take this sitting down. I'm calling for a media boycott on the subject. A total brownout. It's time to stand up to P&G before they drag us all into the toilet.

Song of the Day: Do The Brown Nose by The Dead Milkmen

Lorraine Duffy Merkl: "Fat Chick" Finally Gets Its "Fat Chance"

2009-11-19T12:53:02Z

My debut novel, "Fat Chick," will be published at the end of this month by The Vineyard Press.

At age 51, I never thought I'd be "debuting". In fact, I thought I'd be on the downward slope of a successful advertising career. But, plans were meant for changing.

HOW MY BOOK CAME ABOUT:

I always dreamed of writing a book (about what I don't know), but dreaming doesn't make it happen and for a long time I was more concerned with my copywriting career. I'd worked on staff at ad agencies all over NYC for about 15 years. When my first child was born I went freelance. I felt very fortunate to be able to care for my baby, while I worked mostly from home. That was a truly rewarding experience for me, until about five years ago, when my clients started keeping things in-house (theirs not mine).

In my mid-forties, I had to reinvent myself. I figured, if Madonna can do it, so can I.
I started writing essays for a local Manhattan newspaper, Our Town, where I now write a bi-monthly column. The column also runs in its sister paper, the West Side Spirit.

With the I-don't-have-time excuse no longer on the table, it was time to write my book -- and I finally knew about what. Over the years I had decided that having balance in your life really improved the quality of your whole life.

I had always been a yo-yo dieter and finally decided once and for all that I was tired of either being overweight or so thin that if I turned sideways you wouldn't be able to see me. There had to be something in between. Perhaps if this balance could be achieved on the outside, it might also happen on the inside.

But no memoir for me. Quite frankly with people out there like Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli, Marie Osmond and Carnie Wilson telling their "I'm-fat-I'm-thin-I'm-fat-I'm-thin" stories, I didn't think a non-celeb could really compete. Also, that wasn't the story I wanted to tell. I wanted to talk about getting off the yo-yo and not settling at either end of the diet spectrum. I thought my point would be better made if I used my imagination.

I also wanted to write a book that didn't rely on the clichés usually found in women's fiction: blaming the fashion/magazine industry that so many blame for women's bad body images; having the male best friend be "the one" all along; having everything be perfect once the weight comes off.

The story is about a woman who tires of being the skinny bitch as much as she did being the fat chick, and wants off the yo-yo in order to live life in the middle -- both physically and emotionally.

There is a subplot about the combative relationship the main character has with her mother. The result is not a fairy tale where everyone hugs it out and promises to change, but a more realistic story of forgiveness (which really takes weight off your shoulders, if no where else), accepting people as they are, then moving on.

Besides the main character, there are strong supporting female characters, who also prove inspirational: the de facto heroine of the story is a plus-size model. The main character's best friend has a very healthy view about body image ("Look, no one's ever gonna drool when I step on the beach. Page Six is never gonna care where I ate dinner last night, and..." she continued as she held up her arm and poked at the upper part making it jiggle, "...see, my Grandma Suki's body-snatched me, but I could give a shit. I have a man who loves me, a baby girl I cherish and a good job. To me, that's a model life.") And there's a young, anorexic woman who serves as a cautionary tale.

It took me two years to write the book. I got an agent right away, however, although I believe he tried his best, could not sell it after a year. He told me to, "put it aside and write something else."

But, I wrote the book I wanted to write, parted ways with the agent, and decided to sell it myself going to small presses, since big houses don't like to deal with authors directly.
I got my deal in May 2009.

My motto: Let the other guy give up. Hope you do the same.

Ad Council's 56th Annual Dinner LIVE

2009-11-18T18:13:44Z

The Ad Council is celebrating its annual dinner Wednesday night at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where it will present Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company, with its 56th Annual Public Service Award. Tina Fey will serve as the event's emcee, and over 1,000 media, advertising, and corporate executives are expected to attend.

In honor of the event, and the great work the AdCouncil does, we've compiled the most popular AdCouncil public service campaigns uploaded to YouTube in the past year. Check them out!

Follow the conversation at the Ad Council's 56th Annual Dinner live through our curated Twitter lists. Do you know a tweeter who's perfect for one of these lists? Email us at adcouncil@huffingtonpost.com!

11 Awesomely Creative Billboards (PHOTOS)

2009-11-18T16:21:21Z

When jetting down the highway advertisers only have seconds to catch your eye and keep your interest. We're pretty sure these billboards did just that. Also, they made us laugh.

Filed by: Alex Leo

David A. Love: Will Obama Help Change Asia's Racism?

2009-11-18T14:39:22Z

For the
nations that were a part of President Obama’s recent Asian tour, surely this
was a new experience for them. For the first time, they greeted and hosted the
most powerful person in the world, one of the most brilliant people they’ve
ever met. And for the first time, that
person is a man of African descent. It
has been a long journey since the 1955 Bandung Conference, that historic
meeting of African and Asian states striving for self-determination and against
colonialism. Meanwhile, black people today are often stereotyped in Asian
countries as dirty, violent, mentally deficient and otherwise inferior—not
unlike the ways in which the West has portrayed people of color for years.

Although
symbolism has its limits, surely, it means a lot for international relations to
have a fresh face on the scene in the form of Obama, a leader of the world who
has lived in the world. Obama was born
in Hawaii and lived in Indonesia. His
half sister is Asian American, and one of his half brothers is an African American
living in China. No other president has had such an international background,
or such potential to make a difference on the world stage.

But for
Asian nations, white skin was the traditional standard of beauty and
prosperity. In the old days, the poorer folks were darker because they had to
work in the fields, where they were exposed to the sun.

As China
welcomes Obama, the nation is forced to deal with its long-standing
prejudices toward black people. But the discrimination is
internal as well. The Chinese government
has been heavy-handed in its treatment of the country’s aggrieved Uighur Muslim
minority, and has waged cultural genocide against the people of Tibet.

In India,
the caste system, although officially banned, still lives on. Brown and black faces predominate in this
nation of over 1 billion people.
However, white skin is desirable, and skin
whitening creams are popular.

And Japan
has had a longstanding problem with racism and xenophobia. Even today, one can find signs that say “No
Foreigners Allowed” and “Japanese Only”, or a recent TV commercial depicting
President Obama as a monkey. In 2005, Doudou
Diene, special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, found that
discrimination in Japan is “deep and
profound.” He added
that “This xenophobic drive is expressed by associating minorities, certain
minorities, to crime, to violence, to dirt.”

These
Japanese sentiments do not apply solely to foreigners and foreign workers. Despite its self-portrayal as a homogeneous
society, Japan has its own minority groups that historically have been regarded
as inferior. For example, the Ainu, an
indigenous ethnic group, has suffered from displacement and cultural
assimilation, higher levels of poverty and unemployment, and lower levels of
health and education. Over 1 million Japanese
of Korean descent— products of Japanese wartime colonization and forced
labor—are treated as foreigners in the country of their birth. They face a “hidden apartheid”, in which they
face discrimination in housing and employment, and feel pressure to change
their Korean names and blend in society.
Further, the Burakumin are an
outcaste group similar to the untouchable caste in India. They face discrimination because their feudal
ancestors held occupations such as butchers, tanners and gravediggers—
death-related jobs that were considered tainted and unclean under Buddhist and
Shinto practices.

The topic
of racial attitudes in Asia has fascinated me for a long time. In
high school, I traveled to Japan as an exchange student and lived with a family
in Tokyo. I majored in East Asian
Studies in college, and wrote my thesis on Japanese perceptions of foreigners. After
college, I worked as one of a handful of gaijin
(foreigners) in a Japanese bank, and later for the Tokyo office of a major U.S.
advertising agency. Living in Japan was
a life-altering experience for me, and in a good way. Being a true foreigner in another culture
provided me with a broader world perspective, and helped me deal with
adversity.

Overall,
my Japan experience was positive. It took some time to get used to the stares,
or the occasional child who wanted to touch my skin or hair. Then there were
the people who assumed I was a hip-hop entertainer, or a baseball player, or
some other racial stereotype of a black man in Japan. Clearly, there was an
embrace of black culture in Japan. The music and swagger of black people
permeate international popular culture.
And as I went to work in my business suit on the Tokyo subway, I
couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I passed by Japanese teenagers sporting
their dreads, hip-hop gear and Afrocentric t-shirts. But at the same time, I
had to endure my fellow employees at the company dormitory. Some employees at the bank had the idea to
throw a party, in which everyone would come dressed in blackface. After I protested, they cancelled their
plans, but only after lecturing me about the need for foreigners to understand
Japanese culture.

I believe
that as time passes and the world shrinks, it becomes more difficult for
discrimination to find a safe harbor.
Modern technology serves to eliminate borders and expose our activities
before the light of day. The nations of
Asia, like the U.S., have a long way to go before they eradicate racism. And yet, despite its legacy of slavery and
institutionalized racism, America elected a man by the name of Barack Obama as
president. The leaders of Asia now must
deal with a man of African descent as the leader of the American empire. And he isn’t a racial stereotype, for
whatever that is worth. Certainly, that
alone must give them pause.

David A. Love is an Editorial Board member of BlackCommentator.com, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project and theGrio. He is a writer and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His blog is davidalove.com.

The 11 Craziest Japanese PSAs Ever (VIDEO)

2009-11-17T14:21:57Z

We're not the only ones with crazypants public service announcements, Japan is also home to bizarre ads meant to keep us safe from ourselves. We have one question: Are the PSAs more or less terrifying than these Japanese commercials?

Award-Winning Health Care Ads? A New Kind Of Clio Award (VIDEO)

2009-11-17T12:27:59Z

While health care reform continues to be something of a national obsession, ad industry bigwigs were recently honored with the first-ever Clio awards in the health care category.

Slate breaks down some of the winners which were announced on Friday night in New York City. The event honored the top advertising campaigns in the health care industry, with separate categories for Television/Cinema/Digital, Print, Innovative Media and more.

Slate contributor Seth Stevenson called the awards "a sort of Paralympics of advertising," noting the difficulty for pharmaceutical ads to compete at the regular Clio Advertising Awards due to FDA regulations requiring pharmaceutical ads to list their often not-so-pleasant (and numerous) side effects.

Ambien's "Silence Your Rooster" campaign took home "Best of Show" in addition to earning the top prize in the Television category. (To view the ad, you can visit their website and check out the videos at the link above.)

Below, we've compiled some of the other award-winners, including two commercials from GE that bring modern health care to rural India and China, and an ad for Nuva Ring, featuring a swimsuit-stripping synchronized swimmer. A complete list of the Clio Health care winners of 2009 is available here.

Which ad is your favorite? Check out our video slideshow below and vote for the best spot.

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Vivian Norris de Montaigu: Mad Men and the Decline of America

2009-11-16T11:34:03Z

The opening credits of Mad Men are the most disturbing and haunting for me. It is 9/11 and the images of the businessmen falling from the twin towers. Yet they are falling past images of consumerism and ads which sell the "best" of America ... in silhouette.

My father was an ad man -- a PR guy -- and I recall my first trip to New York with him while he was visiting clients, making commercials, and the dinners at Sardis before dinner, the Algonquin, the end of an era portrayed in Mad Men. The nostalgia of the wood paneled den and the mother wondering which model/client was being entertained (my mother can't watch the show....my father, on the other hand confirms to me that Mad Men shows exactly how it used to be in that world). When politics and advertising became one, it meant spending early November Tuesdays at campaign headquarters with Styrofoam hats, parades and t-shirts, and those signs in our yard. Vote for him or him or him. I remember the Xerox machine at the office when I was brought in on the odd day when neither my mother nor some maid or babysitter could keep me and I had the girl's eyeview sneak peak of what the working world was all about for the mad men...

The good that came out of this was that my father taught us to dissect television and commercials. I grew up learning to "read" images and not buying it at all. I knew someone was trying to sell me something. The Don Drapers of the world were not to be trusted, but hey, they sure are fun. Which is why my favorite character on Mad Men was Bobbie Barrett, the wife of the comedian who decides to have "the full Don Draper treatment" ... in other words, Don, the one who spent all of his time at home and work objectifying women, becomes the object of desire. Bobbie knew what she wanted and she got it, which left Don frazzled and needing to tie her up and keep her quiet because the world was changing and he was no longer "on top". She also is the only character in the show who actually sacrifices some fun to go attend her children's plays, events etc. She seems like a real human being who cares. Notice how Betty Draper ignores her kids, and during one of her and Don's last lovemaking sessions (when she becomes pregnant with Gene the replacement for her dear departed father) decides to seduce Don and simply takes him on top, enjoys herself, then tells him later, "we were just faking." Guys do that all the time and no one (except maybe Bobbie Barrett) is ever thinking about the kids!

But back to consumerism and advertising which brought down America. We did not learn to dissect the ads well enough. In the early episodes of the show, we saw from time to time the older Viennese refugee psychoanalysts who came out (hints of Freud's nephew, one of the top ad men of his day) out hiding and actually gave notes during the meetings. These characters disappeared in later episodes yet they were integral to the national brainwashing after the war. They (or we) sold ourselves the American dream ... but it was only a dream. As Don Draper reminds us again and again, love is something a guy like him creates to sell us nylons ... there is no there there. We buy, we consume, we dream, but we need to build something real again.

Mad Men has resonated with people for a reason, beyond the brilliant performances, writing and sets. It reminds us of how we got to where we are now...and perhaps, in seeing what went wrong and when the dream began to fall apart, we can learn how to create something more lasting. After all, Roger Sterling knows he really loves Joan and Don Draper wants to be known and loved for who he really is if he can only remember who that man is...

We are all Mad Men. And it should be no surprise that the number one export from America is entertainment. We exported our dream, our images of ourselves..and our TV shows all over the world. Give us some more and show us the way home. (And remind us how to make a real martini while you're at it!).

WATCH: Abortion Battle Coming To Cable

2009-11-16T10:41:58Z

The fight over abortion rights set off by a provision in the House health-reform bill is coming to cable on Tuesday.

The ad is from Center for Reproductive Rights. "The promise of health care reform is expanded coverage and affordability, eliminating denials of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and a new basic package of essential benefits," said the group's president, Nancy Northup. "Yet some in Congress are attempting to use the reform bill as a vehicle for banning insurance coverage for abortion services, coverage that millions of women have today."

The last-minute amendment to the House health care bill would prevent some insurance plans from selling plans that cover abortion even to women who pay with their own money.

The amendment passed 240-194, with roughly one in four Democrats backing it. It would be the most aggressive rollback of reproductive rights in a generation. As the health care exchanges created by reform expand over time, the amendment could effectively put to an end the practice of insurance companies covering abortion procedures. (This FDL Action post explains how that would happen, despite what the often reliable -- but apparently fallible -- PolitiFact thinks.)

The ad -- titled "It's No Joke" -- will run on D.C.-area cable networks and online.

WATCH:

Sarah O'Leary: Marketing in Disguise

2009-11-16T10:20:17Z

The primary job of marketing is to promote sales, and those in the industry use a myriad of tactics to entice consumers to action. Advertising, direct mail, sales promotion and PR experts have a host of persuasive armament in their arsenals. When we communicate a meaningful message that delivers on the wants/needs/desires of the consumer, sales increase.

However, the manner in which marketers put the carrot in front of the consumer isn't always black and white. Certainly, we know not every consumer will take advantage of every offer presented. Yet, when we knowingly play in the darker parts of the gray to drive sales, we're doing a disservice to the consumer and the industry. A good deal not a good deal when marketers misinform consumers and/or misrepresent offers.

Here Are Just a Few Examples:

The Nearly If Not Impossible Mail-in Rebate

The mail-in rebate began with the best of intentions. A retailer might not have wanted to drop a price of a product, for example, but the manufacturer wanted to give something back on the price to reward the consumer. The engaged consumer viewed the enticement positively, and took action. Many present day rebates, unfortunately, have become art forms of complication rather than real rewards.

Some marketers design rebate offers that generate sales while making redemption nearly impossible. We want to be able to say consumers can get $100 back on a new printer because that might be just the right enticement, but we don't want them to actually do it. The reason for purchase and the reality of reward make for an unsuccessful consumer experience. There has been and always will be a place for the mail-in rebate as a marketing tactic. However, no rebate should be executed with consumer deception in its cross hairs.

Sadly, sometimes the consumer doesn't even know he or she is being rebated. A hotel chain offered a "lowest price guarantee" on its web site. When I found a lower price on another web site, I called the frequent traveler 800# and asked why the price on the hotel's site wasn't the lowest. I was told to book the stay on the hotel's web site at the higher price and pay for it at the higher price. Within 24 hours of check-in, I needed to download a form from the site and submit it with documentation of the lower price I found on the competitive site. (Note: not many travelers hit the road with their lap tops and their printers).

After hotel corporate received and verified the documentation, the consumer would be rebated the difference and given a $50 gift card that was only redeemable at the hotel. As a marketer, I would guess the number of consumers who take advantage of the offer and actually get the lowest price is less than .5%. The offer is framed so that the hotel can advertise a guarantee that it created in hopes consumers would simply believe the guarantee. Further, it counted on those consumers who checked the guarantee not going through the trouble of taking advantage of it. Rebates, in whatever form, should be attainable to consumers without unnecessary effort. Otherwise, marketers are designing to deceive.

Product Downsizing

"We don't need to raise prices, let's just make the product smaller!" Certainly, from a profit perspective, this might be a necessary evil in some instances. Realize, however, that Suzie Shopper knows you're doing it, and you might risk her wrath. Price does not solely equal value. Price plus quality plus product usage (size fits into this) equals value.

Within the realm of product downsizing lives the serving size slight of hand. Anyone who has read the side of a regular soda or a cereal box knows how marketers try to make products seem more appealing. The soda is only 110 calories, provided you only drink half of the single serve bottle. The can of soup is only 8 grams of fat, provided you leave half of it in the can. Amazingly, the bag of potato chips you put in the cart has enough individual servings for a family of 20. Serving size reality as well as nutritional information should be considered by government regulators.

No Supply and Lots of Demand

Try as it might, the government can't watch over every retailer in the country advertising a steal on a new flat screen TV or a killer deal on an entry level car.

My brother once worked at a car dealership. The sales force was told that if anyone sold the lowest priced car (there was only one and it was carried in all of their advertising), they would be fired on the spot. The dealership banked on the salesman's ability to up-sell the consumers into higher priced vehicles. When the bait is non-existent and the switch to another product is planned, it is unethical and often illegal. Yes, products sell out. Yes, the objective is to sell products and services. However, if a consumer is lured into a store for a deal that the retailer knows is non-existent for all intensive purposes, the retailer puts consumer trust (along with its on ethos) in jeopardy.

The good Lord himself wouldn't have the credit rating necessary to take advantage of 99.9% of the automotive offers we've seen on TV. "$2000 cash back and no money down for qualified buyers!" is the ultimate offer bait and switch. Get the consumer into the show room, get them interested, and then eventually tell them they can't have the deal that drove them to the dealership in the first place. Certainly, when applying for credit, those with higher scores deserve better pricing as they are less risk. However, touting an offer that almost no one can take advantage of as those it was the answer for the masses should not be legally allowed.

The Unseen Add-ons

Frequent fliers amass airline miles that may be redeemed for free travel. If you're lucky enough to find the flights you need available for use with your reward, most airlines require you pay them upwards of $200 to use the miles for the "free travel" you've earned as part of a "service fee."

"Plus shipping and handling" has been a mainstay since the 70s, flying quietly below the government's radar. That Amazing Knife Set is only "$5! - a $50 Value!", plus shipping and handling. What's shipping and handling? Well, consumers can find that out when they call or go on-line order the product. In truth, the knife set is not $5. Not even close.

Full price disclosure should be required by law, not accepted as a surprise add-on a consumer finds out after engaging in the purchase process.

Unlike the American Medical Association or the American Bar Association or other self governing bodies, the various marketing associations (AAAA, AMA, etc) cannot disbar or cancel the certification of marketers. The vast majority of those in the industry are committed to the integrity of their work and the honesty of their efforts. However, the few who are not ethical taint our industry. Those playing within the rules are harmed by those who are not, and typically are in support of fair regulation in areas where the government can intercede. In the areas outside of government intervention, however, it is up to marketers to self govern. If we want to believe, we must be fervent in our commitment to consistently telling a more perfect truth.

Ms. O'Leary owns a boutique marketing agency in Marina del Rey, CA. She can be reached at soleary@thelogicagency.com

Quentin Tarantino Does Kung-Fu In Japanese Commercial (VIDEO)

2009-11-13T11:36:34Z

Quentin Tarantino will appear in an upcoming Softbank commercial, the company announced this week. The Japanese telecommunications giant, whose past spots have included quirky advertisements starring American actors Brad Pitt and Dante Carter, released a clip of Tarantino rehearsing for the spot.

Tarantino, wearing a Japanese kimono, was shown playing the character of "Uncle Tara-chan" in the company's "White family" serial. One of his costars in the commercial, Aya Ueto, a Japanese pop star and actor, said Tarantino "was very energetic and did a lot of adlibbing."

WATCH:

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Chris Curtin and Bob Greenberg: Digital: Beyond Our Control, But Within Our Reach

2009-11-10T12:24:12Z

Consumers, advertisers, publishers and agencies are all hustling to keep up with the latest digital advancements. As advertisers, we've gone from controlled distribution via the Big Three television networks, radio and publishing to a world where the average consumer is exposed to nearly 3,000 commercial messages a day -- many through outlets that were not in existence five or 10 years ago. Yet, despite the increasing number of messages, people have become more skilled at tuning them out.

Though it's no revelation to say that old methods of marketing are losing effectiveness, many advertisers are still having a difficult time adjusting to this new world where emerging technologies are popping up faster than ever before in areas like social media, web and mobile applications, gaming, and cloud services. The model that seems to be working best is one where advertisers generate attention via engagement. Put simply: Advertising can stand out by inviting consumers in. Marketers should create campaigns and branded platforms that explain how to get more value out of products, and "why" someone should have them in the first place.

In other words, customers don't necessarily want to buy more. But they are demanding and expecting a lot more.

Need a pair of running shoes? Companies like Nike have created digital shopping experiences to help you select the right shoes based on your gender, your preferred running surface, the arch of your foot (Nike even explains how to measure your arch), and your running stride. At each step, Nike explains why the features of a particular shoe are best for you.

But even more importantly, Nike actively engages their customers in the sport of running and, subsequently, into the Nike brand. For instance, through the community-based platform, Nike+, runners are connected with other runners, have the ability to chart their running progress over time, and can create motivational music playlists.

Engaging your audiences through digital experiences that provide value or entertainment helps people connect with your brand willingly. A growing trend for marketers is the idea of co-creation, welcoming the input of customers to inform (and sometimes produce) products, services, and marketing campaigns. By influencing how a product is designed, engineered or launched, customers are given a personal stake in the brand and a reason to become advocates and share their stories. On the same hand, marketers benefit because they truly learn what customers want from the brand and why.

We know it works.

Take a traditional automaker like Fiat. In developing a new car from the ground up, Fiat is asking consumers to submit ideas for all aspects of the vehicle -- from the design to the marketing. The company is soliciting ideas from its Web site and the social media outlets Okrut, Facebook and Twitter.

The effort started in August, and almost 10,000 people have submitted close to 7,000 ideas. With that kind of consumer awareness and engagement, it's only fitting that the new car will be called Fiat Mio, or My Fiat.

In Japan, a band called "Sour" has shown how user-generated content can be effective without losing control of your brand image. The band sponsored a project in which fans created a music video via Webcam. The resulting music video, "Hibi no neiro," is a must-see -- even if you don't understand Japanese.

The band maintained control throughout, selecting the fans and writing the script. Yet it's an example of very cool user-generated creativity and digital engagement. The video has garnered more than 1.5 million YouTube views -- undoubtedly not all are Sour fans.

Today, at HP we are hard at work building a Web site - that is a less a destination and more of a digital experience, with a central nervous system that allows us to take our HP experience into the broader digital ecosystem.

And at the heart of the digital ecosystem are digital people. At HP, they are our focus. Digital people are all about personalization, making things a reflection of themselves. The new site allows them to do that. They like to share what they're up to and what they know. So, we're tapping the collective intelligence of our customers by hosting forums where they can help each other. It's been enormously successful. Instead of fielding calls, we're creating a community, providing better customer service and doing it more cost efficiently. This could work in virtually any environment.

Judging from what's out there-- and on the horizon--it looks like the advertising world finally realizes that while the digital space is beyond our control, it's certainly within our reach.

NY Post Circulation Sinks To 508,000

2009-11-09T02:59:31Z

Nearly every paper in America has lost circulation, but The Post more than most -- down almost 30 percent in 2.5 years, to 508,000 in the most recent reporting period, against 544,000 for The Daily News.

The 17 Most Annoying Commercials Of All Time (VIDEO)

2009-11-05T15:05:39Z

Ever since a poll was released declaring "Whatever" the most annoying word in America, we here at HuffPost Comedy have been busy cataloging the Most Annoying Things in the Universe. So far we've hit music (Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" was deemed most annoying song OF ALL TIME), TV characters (Screech) and on-screen romance (Jon & Kate Plus 8). This week: commercials. Bring it on!

Australians Vote To Change Vegemite Product Name

2009-11-03T15:41:33Z

It all began in July when jars of caramel-brown Vegemite mixed with cream cheese began appearing on supermarket shelves with brightly colored labels inviting consumers to "Name Me." After weeks of secrecy, during which the company sold more than 3 million jars of the new product to a population of just 22 million people, Kraft took an expensive advertising slot during a nationally televised Australian-rules football final Sept. 26 to announce its winner: Vegemite iSnack 2.0.

The reaction was fierce.

8 Racist Ads You Won't Believe Are From the Last Few Years

2009-11-03T10:56:37Z

In the Golden Age of Advertising, producing commercials was easy. You could pretty much toss in any horrific stereotype you thought would help sell your product, and if any minorities complained, who cares? Minorities aren't the majority, duh.

Of course, in this era of political correctness, those clumsy, cringe-worthy stereotypes are a thing of the past.

Well, almost...

Fortune 's Stanley Bing: Come To Think of It -- eBay?

2009-11-03T10:32:21Z

Reaction is mixed to the big new eBay advertising campaign, "Come to think of it -- eBay." Of course, reaction to anything is mixed these days. Anybody who does anything worth noting is stuck like a shish kebab by somebody who's got a bone to pick with something or another.

Personally, I think it's kinda good that that eBay is going to gear up a huge ad campaign at all. It's the first in 18 months for them, and signals further improvements for the environment. On the other hand, you want brick-and-mortar stores to do well this holiday season. The more successful eBay is at marketing itself as a place you buy new stuff, the less shopping there may be at the Nordstroms, Wal-Marts and dollar discount stores this Xmas. So there's that.

Then there's the slogan itself. "Come to think of it -- eBay." Personally, I find myself wondering about it a little bit. Sure, it's positive. It says, "Hey, I was trying to think of a place to go shopping. I should have thought of eBay first because you can pretty much find anything you want there." It's not altogether dissimilar to the famous, "Wow! I shoulda had a V-8!" campaign that sold millions of confused drinkers on the weird, salty, vegetable beverage that has always been slightly less than top of mind for thirsty consumers. As a slogan, it's catchy. It makes you think a bit. Maybe too much?

Ah, there's the rub. Does it make you think TOO much? As in, "I guess I haven't thought about eBay because it's pretty much the last place I'd go for holiday shopping," or "Yeah, I'll go on eBay right after I've tried everything else"? The truth is, I don't know. I shop on eBay a lot. I think it's reliable and fun. I've bought cameras, rugs, guitars and other random stuff on it. I go back all the time. So maybe I'm not the right audience for a "come to think of it" strategy. I tend to like slogans that say, "You GOTTA love this!" as opposed to crafty end runs that try to embed themselves in one wrinkle of my gray matter.

I'm a sucker for slogans, of course, as I'm sure are you. Others that have remained with me over the years include:

-- Take a puff -- it's springtime

-- I'd rather fight than switch

-- You can be sure -- if it's Westinghouse

-- I want my MAYPO!

-- Have you driven a Ford lately?

-- I'm a Pepper

-- Let Hertz put YOU in the driver's seat

-- Goodyear: Where the rubber meets the road

-- Campbell's Soup! It's mmm-mmmm good!

-- Beef: It's what's for dinner

-- Alka-Seltzer: No matter what shape your stomach is in

-- Pork: The other white meat

-- Be all that you can be

-- My doctor said Mylanta

We'll see how this new one works out. I'll just stash it in my vast vault of fatuous slogans and jingles and see if it stay in there, like the Buster Brown shoe jingle, or vaporizes like so many others have over the years.

What do you think? Will "Come to think of it -- eBay" drive you like a hot, dry lemming to the ocean of objects on sale at that worthy destination? Come to think of it, time will tell.

Mad Men 's Take On London Fog Infuriates One Real Adman

2009-11-02T12:31:50Z

London Fog was not a tired, 40-year-old brand at the time, as it was launched in 1954 when it changed from Londontown Clothes, a Baltimore men's clothing manufacturer, to its current brand title and rainwear emphasis. Gilbert Advertising handled the brand through the '60s and built a body of work that was acclaimed for its creative brilliance and brand dominance.

DVR Ratings Bringing TV Networks Money

2009-11-01T21:25:38Z

Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year.

Mary K. Engle: Setting the Record Straight on the FTC's Testimonial and Endorsements Guide

2009-10-29T18:13:10Z

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Randall Rothenberg recently took a shot at the FTC on the Huffington Post for its newly introduced Testimonial and Endorsements Guide. Here is our response:

****

Dear Mr. Rothenberg:

I saw your open letter in the Huffington Post regarding the Commission's recently
revised Guides for the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. You say the FTC
is ignorant, disingenuous, and just generally doesn't get new media - but in the nicest way. In
all seriousness, I appreciate the opportunity to clarify our position. I believe we share the goal of
making sure corporate malfeasance by a few doesn't diminish the credibility and utility of social
media for all.

There has been a strong reaction to the revised Guides, as you note - much of it based on
fundamental misunderstandings about what the Guides are and do. For example, many people
have objected, as you do, that the Federal Trade Commission can fine people for violating the
Guides, but the Commission can't fine people one penny for violating the Guides. Indeed, the
Guides are not "rules" and there is no monetary penalty for violating them. Rather, the Guides
are intended to help advertisers comply with the FTC's bread-and-butter statute, the FTC Act.

Your critique mainly focuses on another issue: whether the Commission is holding new
media to a different standard than traditional media, or holding "individuals more liable than
larger corporations."

That's not the case. Let me explain why.

The FTC Act prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce." When the
FTC challenges a false or misleading advertising claim - or a deceptive omission - we look at it
from the viewpoint of a reasonable consumer. The question to be answered is whether
reasonable consumers take away a deceptive message from the ad.

So when we evaluate whether an endorsement is deceptive under the FTC Act, consumer
expectations are key. For instance, consumers understand that celebrities in ads are paid for their endorsements, so the Guides make clear that advertisers don't have to disclose that fact. But let's take another example. A Wall Street Journal reporter interviewed a blogger who, "after a
favorable review," got "a Flex crossover vehicle for a year and a gas card. 'It was love at first
sight,' Ms. Smith wrote in her blog, after test-driving the car." She and other bloggers were
"flown to Santa Barbara by Electronic Arts to work out with Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer,"
were hosted at the Four Seasons and got "makeovers as they [wrote] about taking a 30-day
challenge on an upcoming fitness video program for the Nintendo Wii." Miguel Bustillo and
Ann Zimmerman, "Paid to Pitch: Product Reviews By Bloggers Draw Scrutiny," Wall Street
Journal, April 23, 2009. This blogger apparently disclosed that she was compensated for these
reviews, but if she hadn't, do you think a consumer reading her review for the Flex would expect
that she had gotten to use it free for a year? Do you think a consumer would want to know that,
even if Ford hadn't thrown in the gas money? And if the blogger doesn't disclose that, how will
consumers know?

That doesn't mean we will be pursuing individual bloggers. Our concern is with the advertisers who pay consumers to talk up their products and make it look like independent
consumer opinion. Companies don't always pay in the form of cash, though, so we included
examples in the Guides where consumers are compensated through free products.

Your letter says no harm, no foul. Don't enforce truth in advertising on the Web because
hey, this is all so new, and ads online aren't always delivered in tidy boxes like in the newspaper.

Ignore word of mouth marketing, blog advertising networks, and all the other techniques now
employed by large, sophisticated companies - the kind you complain that we're somehow letting
off the hook - that are searching for the pot of gold at the end of the marketing rainbow: good
word of mouth, even if it's purchased.

Social media marketing is here to stay, and we have enough respect for advertising on the
Internet and the important role of the blogosphere as a marketplace for public opinion to hold it
to the same standard we apply to advertising in any other medium.

One last thing. The Guides relate only to advertising - commercial communications (and
the FTC Act applies only to acts or practices in commerce). Are there instances where it can be
hard to distinguish advertising from editorial content? Yes. But that's true whether you're
talking about Twitter or traditional media (think advertising vs. advertorials vs. editorials). The
Guides illustrate some of the factors relevant to distinguishing social media advertising from
editorial content when marketers use consumers to generate their marketing messages. But
where the message is advertising, online disseminators have an obligation to ensure it is not
misleading, just as marketers using traditional media do. This includes, when it's not otherwise
clear from the context, identifying when the endorser has a relationship with the marketer.
So go ahead and blog that halibut recipe.

Very truly yours,

Mary K. Engle