Mediacology

This year’s slate of Super Bowl ads indicate two trends: 1) a continued lack of imagination among the highest paid “creatives” in the world, and 2) a backlash against environmental activism. These Super Bowl ads were decidedly conservative by recycling standard demographic tropes to shore up the shrinking ego of the persecuted male species. [...]

From Grist.

When driving in Italy, I have one rule of thumb. If someone is driving like a supreme and dangerous asshole, they’re probably driving an Audi. I’m right 80% of the time. Why is that I feel like I have lost my sense of humor?
Via Bikeportand.org. Thanks Todd!

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Strange way to promote literacy. Makes one wonder what they’re trying to grow. Anyhow, this is what came from my fertile mind.

I’m having a hard time digesting this ad. First off, it draws upon McDonald’s marketing brilliance which relies upon a mnemonic memory device– a simple melodic jingle–to program our memory. The song is catchy and weird, perfect for the Gen X ironic set.

But then the creepiness factor sets it.

How do we reconcile the cute animated [...]

These before and after ads illustrate quite literally bell hooks’ idea of the symbolic annihilation experienced by blacks in media. What was Microsoft thinking? Click here for more.

The original

The Palestinian response

MIDEAST: BUILDING PEACE ON AN INCOMPLETE WALL
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler

JERUSALEM (IPS) – Beneath the towering eight-metre concrete slabs, an army jeep patrols the Israeli side of the ’security wall’ that cuts through Palestinian territory, dividing the occupied West Bank from Israel.
Suddenly, a soccer ball flies over the wall and lands on [...]

The first ad is the latest from Barclay’s Bank which seeks to distinguish itself from the financial fakers. Ironically, though, they seem to have aligned themselves with all the other sci-fi genre films dealing with false realities (such as Dark City, also posted above– see also The Matrix and Truman Show). The troubling thing for [...]

Sometimes it’s hard to make the case that most chow advertisements are a kind of food porn, but then the advertising gods deliver us something like this to make our point a little easier.

Nice bit of advertising! See more.

Not to be a bummer on this great inauguration day (can’t believe it’s happening), but in perfect postironic, postmodern harmony, a presidential slogan and soda marketing campaign mash-up perfectly. Is Pepsi cashing in on Obama? Consider article 1) Pepsi’s Refresh Everything, and article 2) Obama’s campaign site. Hmmm.

(images from Instapundit)

Pepsi: “Every generation refreshes the [...]

This new ad by WWF demonstrates the chain of pollutants that go into producing and importing green things like compact florescent light bulbs. The ad conveys the ambiguity and frustration one experiences when trying to do the right thing, but I don’t know how clear or effective this one is. Aesthetically I find it attractive [...]

Stacey Peralta… Why? Why? You were the definitive skateboard documentary dude, and I loved you for it. But this? Why, Why? would you sell your sole to Burger King to play out their silly Whopper Virgin scheme?!

Considering the global problem with food, particularly the ecological consequences of fastfood beef, campaigns like this make the economic [...]

AskMen.com – Worst Male-Bashing Ads:

You’ve seen him plenty of times on sitcoms; he’s the dumb, bumbling, idiot dad, husband and boyfriend who appears useless at everything but bringing home a paycheck. The message: Guys are dumb and women have to lead them around. This, of course, cues the laugh track. Yet a survey from an [...]

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Talk about biomedia, McDonalds grows an ad.

Samsung is trying to get on the iPhone bandwagon with its F480 or “Tocco”(“touch” in Italian). Hey, why not just call it the “Taco”? It’s something you eat with your hands… Anyhow, as I argue in my book, one of the greatest distresses of media users is a lack of a sense of place. [...]

You must absolutely click on the image to see its amazing detail, and the link below to see the other ads (they are for a financial paper). Thanks Scud!

Print “Gazeta Mercantil: Dollar” / 2008 / Ad Archive / Prints / Coloribus.com – Advertising Archive and mysterious coincidences in commercials:

In this print campaign, JWT Sao Paulo [...]

I’m trying to change my thinking about advertising to become more open to the possibility that there may be something redeeming about marketing. But then I come across another Hummer ad which convinces me that advertising can also be so utterly evil. This is typical of Hummer, and I think a good example of the [...]

This ad takes a systems approach to anxiety by showing the psychological impact of buying the wrong shoes. Though tongue and cheek, the ad makes visible its own persuasion technique. This should be considered a small victory for us viewers because we have become so cynical about advertising they need to show us that we’re [...]

Why is it that whenever companies get into the China market their ethics seem to disappear quicker than Tibetan monks in a Chinese gulag? To be fair, Disney apparently had a take-down on the offending ad once word got out.
Curious how the the girl looks quasi-American apple pie, with a tinge of Chinese. In a [...]