WalletPop Blog http://www.walletpop.com/blog WalletPop Blog http://www.walletpop.com/blog/media/feedlogo.gif WalletPop Blog http://www.walletpop.com/blog en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Ad Rant: Tiger Woods fell victim to his brandinghttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/15/ad-rant-tiger-woods-fell-victim-to-his-own-branding/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/15/ad-rant-tiger-woods-fell-victim-to-his-own-branding/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/15/ad-rant-tiger-woods-fell-victim-to-his-own-branding/#commentsAs the myth of Tiger Woods unravels at the speed of light, let's remember what started it all. This is not just because the billion-dollar golfer apparently slept with every cocktail waitress with collagen lips from Las Vegas to Dubai. The problem, really, is that he is a victim of his branding.

Tiger is in a sand trap that is partly of his own making (in his last interview before the scandal broke he declared that his family would "always" come first -- even before golf), and anyone who paid him to do it or bought into the myth had a hand in it, too. His dilemma can be summed up by an ad for one of his video games last year that showed him walking on water.

Where can someone with such an image go from there? Down, down, down.

Continue reading Ad Rant: Tiger Woods fell victim to his branding

Ad Rant: Tiger Woods fell victim to his branding originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Jami BernardTue, 15 Dec 2009 12:30:00 ESTAd Rant: Nothing says 'ick' like the holiday gift of a pap smearhttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/08/ad-rant-nothing-says-ick-like-the-holiday-gift-of-a-pap-smear/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/08/ad-rant-nothing-says-ick-like-the-holiday-gift-of-a-pap-smear/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/08/ad-rant-nothing-says-ick-like-the-holiday-gift-of-a-pap-smear/#commentsFiled under:

Fellas, if you still don't know what to give your special lady this holiday season, a pair of Public Service Announcements has a suggestion: give her a pap smear. Kinda makes one wish for a lump of coal in the stocking.



"Pap smears save lives," as actor Chris Beetem points out in the Christmas-themed version of the new PSAs from CBS Cares, an offshoot of the TV network that uses actors from their programming to educate the public on a variety of topics from child abduction to identity theft.

Continue reading Ad Rant: Nothing says 'ick' like the holiday gift of a pap smear

Ad Rant: Nothing says 'ick' like the holiday gift of a pap smear originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Jami BernardTue, 08 Dec 2009 15:30:00 ESTAd Rant: Dockers ads claim "soft" khakis will make men more manlyhttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/07/ad-rant-how-to-stuff-a-manly-man-into-soft-khakis/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/07/ad-rant-how-to-stuff-a-manly-man-into-soft-khakis/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/07/ad-rant-how-to-stuff-a-manly-man-into-soft-khakis/#commentsEvidently, men's testosterone levels have been dropping, and so have sales of khaki pants. Coincidence? Dockers thinks not.

Dockers, the clothing manufacturer that once put the "casual" in casual Fridays, sees a connection-at least the kind you can use to fuel an ad campaign. They're planning to reverse society's terrible double trend by teaching today's men how to be men and how to dress with a slogan that flirts with being sexist: "Wear the Pants."

"It's time to answer the call of manhood," proclaims one of the new ads. It's nice to know that answering the call of manhood no longer has to involve winning at arm-wrestling when all you have to do is buy more khakis from Dockers.

Manning up has never been simpler.

Continue reading Ad Rant: Dockers ads claim "soft" khakis will make men more manly

Ad Rant: Dockers ads claim "soft" khakis will make men more manly originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Jami BernardMon, 07 Dec 2009 18:00:00 ESTAd Rant: The new Sun-Maid Girl's raisins are growinghttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/02/ad-rant-the-new-sun-maid-girls-raisins-are-growing/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/02/ad-rant-the-new-sun-maid-girls-raisins-are-growing/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/12/02/ad-rant-the-new-sun-maid-girls-raisins-are-growing/#comments
The execs at Sun-Maid are proud that their raisins contain "nothing but grapes and sunshine." But the new animated version of the Sun-Maid Girl in the company's TV ads sports some decidedly unnatural (and perhaps surgically enhanced) additives as well.

Even though the picture on the Sun-Maid raisin snack box hasn't changed since 1970, the busty new animated version has undergone an extreme makeover. The grape-picking maiden now looks more like a Barbie Doll in Amish attire.

The Sun-Maid Girl with her raven-colored curls and red bonnet was based on Lorraine Collett Petersen, who was discovered, legend has it, drying her long curly locks in her backyard in Fresno. (How they discovered her in the backyard like that, fresh from washing her hair, we leave to your imagination.) Sun-Maid liked the image of Lorraine because it seemed to embody what their raisins were all about: simple and all-natural, a product of California's bounteous land and sunshine.

Looking at the bounteous new Sun-Maid Girl, "simple" and "all-natural" are not the first words that come to mind. Instead, I think "breast augmentation" and "fake." Nothing but grapes, sunshine ... and a surgeon's scalpel.

I also think "Julia Roberts." And when I look more closely at the bonnet, I start to think "Dr. Seuss." But I do not think that this creature sprang ready-made from the land and the sun.

Continue reading Ad Rant: The new Sun-Maid Girl's raisins are growing

Ad Rant: The new Sun-Maid Girl's raisins are growing originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Jami BernardWed, 02 Dec 2009 17:00:00 ESTAd Rant: Let's get real about the chocolate coffee warshttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/12/ad-rant-lets-get-real-about-the-chocolate-coffee-wars/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/12/ad-rant-lets-get-real-about-the-chocolate-coffee-wars/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/12/ad-rant-lets-get-real-about-the-chocolate-coffee-wars/#commentsthe new ad for Caribou Coffee looks mighty yummy. It's piled high with whipped cream and studded with chocolate shavings. In Caribou's "Get Real: Chocolate" ad, a pair of obnoxious marionettes sitting on a bench in a mall, wonder why they never get to drink anything as tasty as that Caribou mocha.

"Because we're not real," says the annoying male marionette to the annoying female marionette.


Continue reading Ad Rant: Let's get real about the chocolate coffee wars

Ad Rant: Let's get real about the chocolate coffee wars originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Ad RantAdRantcaribou coffeeCaribouCoffeecoffeestarbucksstarbucks coffeeStarbucksCoffeeJami BernardThu, 12 Nov 2009 14:30:00 ESTJami Bernard's Ad Rant: Halls Refresh gets fresh in the dormshttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/10/ad-rant-halls-refresh-gets-fresh-in-the-dorms/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/10/ad-rant-halls-refresh-gets-fresh-in-the-dorms/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/10/ad-rant-halls-refresh-gets-fresh-in-the-dorms/#commentsFiled under:

Imagine you're a teenage boy whose parents are helping you move into your freshman dorm. Ooh, the excitement of starting college! You and Dad are hauling some cartons in, when suddenly you stumble across Mom having some kind of orgasmic têtê-à-têtê with your dorky new roommate. Ewww!

That's what Halls is serving up in a bizarre ad for its new product Halls Refresh, giving new meaning to the concept of "hard candy."

The roommate offers Mom a Halls Refresh and takes one himself. They suck their candies with exaggerated lip-smacking movements while they lock eyes and go into a mutual, implied reverie. They look like they've been to an opium den, not the candy counter.

That's when the son and his dad show up and respond with predictable outrage and disbelief.

Continue reading Jami Bernard's Ad Rant: Halls Refresh gets fresh in the dorms

Jami Bernard's Ad Rant: Halls Refresh gets fresh in the dorms originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>adsadvertisingcaburycandycollegecollege dormCollegeDormcommercialcough dropCoughDrophallshalls refreshHallsRefreshroommaroommateroommatesJami BernardTue, 10 Nov 2009 18:30:00 ESTAd Rant: Racy Reebok ad raises eyebrowshttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/04/ad-rant-racy-reebok-ad-raises-eyebrows/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/04/ad-rant-racy-reebok-ad-raises-eyebrows/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/04/ad-rant-racy-reebok-ad-raises-eyebrows/#commentsnew sneaker on the market for women that makes your butt look so great, no one will ever look at your face again.

Not only that, these sneakers have the power to make your boobs talk to each other!

Reebok's Easytone sneakers are supposed to firm and tone your butt to such an extent that the actress in one of their ads actually has to halt her pitch several times to chide the cameraman for lingering on her posterior. "Dude!" she says, and the camera, momentarily startled, goes back to business. It follows her like a puppydog and then, once again, the actress has to remind it to focus a few feet north.


Continue reading Ad Rant: Racy Reebok ad raises eyebrows

Ad Rant: Racy Reebok ad raises eyebrows originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Jami BernardWed, 04 Nov 2009 19:00:00 ESTAd Rant: Chris Farley's brother respondshttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/03/ad-rant-chris-farleys-brother-responds/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/03/ad-rant-chris-farleys-brother-responds/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/03/ad-rant-chris-farleys-brother-responds/#commentsFiled under:

Chris Farley's brother Tom has weighed in on the controversial TV ad that uses Chris to help sell subscriptions to DirecTV. "Bottom line," Tom writes in response to my original Ad Rant post on the topic, is the line Spade says when he turns to the camera at the end: "It never gets old."

"Because I miss my brother so much, seeing him in a new creative light and hearing that great, taunting laugh of his once more -- it certainly doesn't ever get old. At least to me," writes Thomas Farley Jr., who is managing director and president of the non-profit Chris Farley Foundation.

Tom Farley confirmed via e-mail that the post comment #1048 was from him, and sent along contact information for the foundation as well for purposes of double-checking.

Continue reading Ad Rant: Chris Farley's brother responds

Ad Rant: Chris Farley's brother responds originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Ad RantAdRantadsfarleyJami BernardTue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:00 ESTAd Rant: David Spade brings pal Chris Farley back from the dead to shill for Direct TVhttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/26/david-spade-brings-pal-chris-farley-back-from-the-dead-to-shill/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/26/david-spade-brings-pal-chris-farley-back-from-the-dead-to-shill/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/26/david-spade-brings-pal-chris-farley-back-from-the-dead-to-shill/#commentsFiled under:

Friendship is a beautiful thing, except when you have a friend like David Spade.

The minor-league SNL alum's close buddy Chris Farley died at 33 of a drug overdose in 1997, and the grief must be eating away at Spade's brain cells (and ethics) all these years later.

How else to explain the monstrous lack of judgment involved in Spade's new commercial for DirecTV? The ad uses the wonders of modern technology to meld Spade's pitch for the satellite TV giant with a scene from Tommy Boy (1995) showing Farley trying to squeeze into a too-small suit jacket. Farley frequently made fun of his own girth -- which does not mean that a minor fat joke is how he would have liked to be remembered.


Continue reading Ad Rant: David Spade brings pal Chris Farley back from the dead to shill for Direct TV

Ad Rant: David Spade brings pal Chris Farley back from the dead to shill for Direct TV originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>adAd RantAdRantchris farleyChrisFarleydavid spadeDavidSpadeJami BernardMon, 26 Oct 2009 14:30:00 ESTAd Rant: Is Al Franken trying to kill off the nightly news?http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/23/ad-rant-is-al-franken-trying-to-kill-off-the-nightly-news/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/23/ad-rant-is-al-franken-trying-to-kill-off-the-nightly-news/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/23/ad-rant-is-al-franken-trying-to-kill-off-the-nightly-news/#commentsFiled under: , ,

New legislation introduced by, among others, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), would cut off the federal tax deduction for drug companies that make those "direct-to-consumer" ads, the ones on TV convincing you to pop prescription drugs like candy.

There's plenty to hate about those ads. They're ubiquitous, for one thing. They manage to be misleading without being downright untrue. They play into the "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" category, because you've got people self-diagnosing without understanding that, in some cases, the side effects can be worse than the underlying condition. ("Death" is one of those annoying side effects.)

Continue reading Ad Rant: Is Al Franken trying to kill off the nightly news?

Ad Rant: Is Al Franken trying to kill off the nightly news? originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>al frankenAlFrankendrug companiesDrugCompaniestax deductionTaxDeductionJami BernardFri, 23 Oct 2009 06:00:00 ESTAd Rant: Levi's celebrates America the beautiful...with $238 jeans and a greedy treasure hunthttp://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/22/ad-rant-levis-celebrates-america-the-beautiful-with-238-jea/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/22/ad-rant-levis-celebrates-america-the-beautiful-with-238-jea/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/22/ad-rant-levis-celebrates-america-the-beautiful-with-238-jea/#commentsFiled under:

Would you buy a pair of used-looking Levi's jeans from this man?

I would.

But I draw the line at using a great ad celebrating the pioneer spirit of America, along with Whitman's stirring words, as a springboard for a crass $100,000 treasure hunt.

For the past few months, Levi's has been piggybacking the poetry of Walt Whitman on its "Go Forth" ad campaign, linking its jeans to the can-do, hard-scrabble, exuberant spirit of early America. It even has Walt himself as its pitchman.

You'd think that would be difficult, given that the poet died in 1892. But, like DNA, MP3s live on forever: There is an original, 36-second wax cylinder recording of what is presumed to be Whitman's voice reading four lines from his poem, America. Levi's cleaned up the soundtrack; you can download the scratchy original here.

His voice is as stirring and passionate as any bootstrapper this country ever produced, as he extols the richness of the American people:

Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love

Watching this ad gives me chills. The good kind.

Continue reading Ad Rant: Levi's celebrates America the beautiful...with $238 jeans and a greedy treasure hunt

Ad Rant: Levi's celebrates America the beautiful...with $238 jeans and a greedy treasure hunt originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Ad RantAdRantadvertisingAmericaLevi StrauusLevisLeviStrauusWhalt WhtimanWhaltWhtimanJami BernardThu, 22 Oct 2009 17:00:00 ESTJami Bernard's Ad Rant: Why would you want it in the can?http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/13/jami-bernards-ad-rant-why-would-you-want-it-in-the-can/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/13/jami-bernards-ad-rant-why-would-you-want-it-in-the-can/http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/13/jami-bernards-ad-rant-why-would-you-want-it-in-the-can/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In our newest column, film critic, author and book doctor Jami Bernard will take a look at advertising - commercials, billboards, social media campaigns and print ads - and weighs in on the best and worst of the bunch. Check out her video rant, and tell us what you think.

This week, we look at Bud Light Lime's new campaign called "In the Can," in which everyday people utter suggestive lines about getting it, yes, you guessed it, "in the can." Has the attempt to create buzz-worthy ads in the hope that they will go viral gone too far? Perhaps the age of the sexual ad has finally passed as consumers simply look the other way when one of these productions airs on the TV or the Web.

Continue reading Jami Bernard's Ad Rant: Why would you want it in the can?

Jami Bernard's Ad Rant: Why would you want it in the can? originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>bud lightBudLightin the canInTheCanjami bernardJamiBernardJami BernardTue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST