Advertising
Don’t you hate it when you see an advertisement on television that you love or you think is really clever, and then a week later, you discover that the ad has been taken off the air because of complaints.
It can be frustrating sometimes, obviously complaining doesn’t guarantee that an ad will be banned but it does highlight how we can take some things very seriously.
I remember not long ago the Hyundai “Toddler” commercial that showed a little toddler taking his Hyundai out for a drive. Along the way he stopped to pick up a female hitchhiking toddler and the two of them headed to the coast where he later impressed her with his surfing skills by riding a massive wave.
Continue reading "Shock sells, even when we don’t like the message" »
It’s a show that deals with the most ideologically contested decade in living memory, but neither the Left nor Right have stepped up to the plate and dragged Mad Men into the culture wars.
The third season of Mad Men, the cult hit TV show set (thus far) in a Kennedy-era ad agency, is about to be broadcast in Australia by cable channel Movie Extra. The show is now closing in on 1964 - the year when the Sixties really began to swing.
By the season’s finale JFK will be history and the Beatles three months away from setting off the baby boomer youthquake that, within four years, will have torn the US and, to a greater or lesser extent, the rest of the Western world in two, setting in motion a host of rancorous political conflicts that are still being played out five decades later.
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feminism and a cowered media says:
Nice work, Nige. Mad Men does provide a good framework for investigating feminism. These days feminism is the last of the great leftist ideologies unchallenged by intellectuals. It gets a free ride in all the newspapers, journals and TV programs. But as we’ve seen with debate on climate change, aboriginal… Read more »
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chris says:
“X-er President Barack Obama”?? Sorry to disappoint: Obama scrapes in as a baby boomer, and is thus responsible for everything that is wrong in the world. Read more »
New A-League team The Melbourne Heart, who kick off in the 2010/11 season, have unveiled a shocking logo to match their unbelievably stupid team name.
At least they’re consistent.
The logo, which looks like an unironed pair of undies emblazoned with rugby posts, was designed by the “international brand design consultancy” Elmwood, who apparently have offices in loads of big important cities as well as Leeds, UK.
Continue reading "Australia’s worst sports logo: how low can they go?" »
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goldcoastutd says:
the logo is design genius… look at the ny yankies logo.. it has become a brand in it’s own right.. if only GCU had a logo like this, SHIT YEAH, I am envious. the name ‘heart’ is cool as well, braveheart was a great movie Read more »
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Elliott says:
the team song is already written too: “this heart attack” Read more »
UPDATE: Toyota has just pulled the ad.
It’s easily the worst ad of the year, one of the worst ads ever made, and while it’s obviously an attack on the dignity of women it does men a major disservice too by suggesting they’re so screwed-up that they actually say disgusting s**t like this.
The people at Toyota have besmirched their brand with this squalid effort, featured above, which revolves around a creepy play on words in which a father discusses her daughter’s virginity and sexual prowess with her young boyfriend.
It almost defies belief that a major company would associate itself with this garbage. It’s offensive on so many levels - the kids in the ad look really young, the idea of a father discussing his daughter in such a fashion is a total gross out, there’s a stupid hubba-hubba tit joke, the “give her a pounding in any direction” line, the girl at the end saying she’s ready to blow. In a perverse way it’s a credit to the creators that they managed to jam so much tasteless and desperately unfunny crap into just one minute and 14 seconds.
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Jimbo says:
I totally agree with the comments above calling for more subtlety in comedy. Even with this ad, a bit of subtely would have made it both more funny and less offensive. On the subject of car ads, if i ever meet the person who thought up the phrase ‘zoom zoom’… Read more »
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Ben says:
I think the guy picking up the girl is hot. Actually would have been more funny if the guy was picking up his boyfriend. What reaction would you get from that? Probably be OK since gay guys would likely drive a Yaris. And think of the innuendo they could of… Read more »
Hannah Montana. The very name is enough to chill the heart of any parent desperate to dodge the scourge of our age – the commercial exploitation of young children.
Weak fool that I am, though, I gave in recently to my 10-year-old daughter’s pleas to watch the show.
“You get the best of both worlds,” crooned Miss Miley Cyrus as we tuned in to the Disney Channel. If only, I growled to myself.
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Steve says:
Pretty sure young kids have been having boyfriends and girlfriends since before Miley Cyrus came onto the scene. I just watched an episode of Hannah and YES there is a theme of having a partner….but what show or song for that matter doesn’t? At that age and at any age… Read more »
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Ilana Leeds says:
I do want to qualify my comment. Girls should be aware of boys within the context of marrying and having a family or career and family. When I had a former friend’s seven year old tell me that an older girl walking along the beach was ‘hot’ and I asked… Read more »
Some might charge me with politicizing Football – but here I go, here I go, here I go …
With the last places being filled for the 2010 Football World Cup in Sth Africa, I’d like to propose a new international FIFA award, to be launched at the opening ceremony next year- the Eudy.
The Eudy would be the short name for the Eudy Simelane Leadership Award and for the foreseeable future it should be awarded for ‘Outstanding Contribution by a Male Footballer to the Campaign to End Violence Against Women’.
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Eric says:
How about an award to raise awareness among women that violence against children is not to be tolerated? It is, after all, mothers who are the main offenders against children. But no, we always have to pick on men and make them the scapegoats. Read more »
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Meleah says:
Thank you Chris Gardiner for bringing to our attention the attrocities that are still occuring to people who chose to live their live honestly and openly. I think the idea of the ‘Eudy’ award is a great way to raise awareness amongst men of all ages and nationalities around the… Read more »
Does anyone else find it quite frankly perverse that in affluent first-world Australia so much time is spent fretting about the supposed weight problems of our children when UNICEF figures show five thousand kids across the globe die every day essentially because they can’t get a clean glass of water?
I sure as hell do. But here we go again. Last week the Rudd Government’s Preventative Health Task Force Report called for a ban on junk food advertising on TV before 9:00pm and for the use of toys, cartoon characters and celebrities that appeal to children to be phased out. But the Australian Communications and Media Authority is against the banning of those TV ads.
The reaction? A seething white-hot fury coming from nice middle class homes all over Sydney. How can anyone possibly put corporate profits before our kids’ health?
Continue reading "Junk food doesn’t make kids fat - junk parents do" »
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whadyKahLantyd says:
http://utenti.lycos.it/keanuxju/silver-sa9/edurrenf.html valentine card box for school <a > duelmasters card game </a> http://membres.lycos.fr/wyjoipurxe/no-credie2/icemuth.html earned income credit tax table http://members.lycos.nl/cynorneqa/exotic-w13/ngothendst.html u of c federal credit union homepage <a > pansy sterling silver jewelry </a> Read more »
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Stephen says:
I see the left-wingers keep bringing out the adolecent argument that if advertising didn’t work then why would the industry do it. Of course advertising works - it makes people shift from McDonalds to KFC, from KFC to Burger King. So it works for the individual company, not for the… Read more »
The Elites are back in town – that is those people who tell us endlessly that they know better than the rest of us how we should eat, drink and presumably be merry or melancholy are back with a vengeance.
And they are never satisfied – their self belief is ever growing if you give in a bit they push even further to enhance their power and control.
Not satisfied with demanding new taxes for alcohol to make it so expensive that they can kill the wine industry and dictate what and when we drink, they then move on to tell us what we can or cannot eat and how we should look.
Continue reading "Is beauty now in the eye of the Body Mass Index?" »
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Jeff Mueller says:
Nick, you’re nearly right - the underclass are the new fat. In the 18th & 19Th centuries (and still, in developing countries) being overweight was a sign of wealth. Now there’s almost a direct correlation between poverty in the developed world and obesity, smoking, diabetes and increased disease, Read more »
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Sue says:
What gets me is the amazing juxtapositioning of 2 issues in this ‘blog’- overweight people in our culture and the starving millions in some developing countries. I agree we should drop the BMI debate, and seriously look at the poverty of one sixth of the world’s population. It’s pure luck… Read more »
Last week when Simon Crean announced a plan to rebrand Australia, we sought your suggestions for a new national marketing slogan. Penning a line is one thing - but to get the full impact, it may help to see how some of the stand-outs read on a poster. Add your responses and appraisals in the comments - the first attempt is from Eccles:
The rest are after the jump.
Continue reading "Your suggestions for a new national marketing slogan" »
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<a >teen butt fuck</a> Read more »
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If you have a teenager about to get their licence make them sit down in front of the computer and watch this UK public service advertisement.
Then ask them if the message sank in. I have a theory about shock ads: that the more graphic the less effective. The more extreme the outcome, the harder it is to relate to the scenario = “that would never happen to me.”
But this four minutes of chilling horror might just be the exception.
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John says:
Is anyone speeding in the RTA ad? I see one car spinning its wheels from a standstill, another in power oversteer and someone ignoring a pedestrian on a crossing. Modern cars with traction and stability control won’t let you spin the wheels or oversteer, and it wouldn’t matter if a… Read more »
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me says:
These ads are not appropriate for children under 10 years old. And as a parent, I cannot censor these ads because I don’t know when they will be aired. Therefore during evening times, the TV has to be off which makes these ads completely ineffective. These ads should only be… Read more »
I saw an advertisement last night for a lip gloss that not only offered more shine but “more nutrition.”
Now I like a good lip gloss as much as the next woman, but nutrition?
Admittedly the commercial was on during Packed to the Rafters, which from now on should be known as Packed with the Products, so deliberately are the labels on the beer bottles in the hands of the Rafter men at the kitchen table aimed at the camera.
Continue reading "Harder, longer lasting, more virile eyelashes" »
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BG says:
Peter T….I’d love to know how you knew about the features of these brand new cars that you purchased - internet? magazines? TV ads? posters?.....and how did you do the research into the schools that your children attend? internet? word of mouth?........all advertising. Advertising is not simply an ad in… Read more »
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LashNessMonster says:
Fanks Leesa. Just thought of another possible application for thickening mascara. I should maybe stop thinking. Read more »
While Italian politics is unable to go a week without some 18-year-old girl claiming to have had a sixsome with the Prime Minister, Australian politics has more of an unusual fetish for utility vehicles.
Barely a week after things settled down with the utegate scandal we are now confronted by “Truckasaurus 09” or “The battle of competing political propaganda trucks” (I prefer the former).
This is a new model of what was an old Coalition campaign introduced to draw attention to the Keating Government’s foreign debt in 1996.
It was also the same year that the Coalition took control of Government from Labor after ten years in trucking wilderness.
Continue reading "“Hey, check out the truck”: our political Summernats" »
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briperth says:
The Australian dream. To own your own home. All pollies encourage us to borrow to buy our home, the debt to be paid off over 20 to 30 years. BUT!! some say it is not ok for the government to borrow money on our behalf, to be paid back over… Read more »
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G says:
Not sure if it was Bowen I heard on the radio but the one and only comment that actually made the most sense was - the level of government debt can be compared to a household with an income of $100,000 borrowing an amount of $5,000. The liberal scare campaign… Read more »
It’s tiny but powerful.
Its incorrect insertion could mean the difference between life and death.
And it’s fighting for its very existence.
I’m referring to the apostrophe; specifically, the possessive apostrophe.
Even its proper name – saxon genitive – sounds more like a sexually transmitted disease than the pinnacle of punctuation.
Continue reading "Its time. Sorry, it’s time to save the apostrophe" »
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DK says:
Sorry ‘Jeff from Meroo’ (30 June 2009) but, as I’ve discovered, punctuation (and those of us who love its correct use) can be a dangerous thing. For example, your reference to ‘a internet’ should read ‘an internet’ (am I wrong about this?). I also don’t think you needed to use… Read more »
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bee says:
Re: Bernie’s “Bayonet or screw” remark posted earlier above: How odd - they’re the same options I was given my good lady wife when I switched on the bedroom telly last night to watch Lleyton at Wimbledon . . . Read more »
Whatever you do, don’t watch the above ad before you drive home. You might turn into a maniac and start aiming at bus queues. Happily, the car advertisements of the not too distant future will feature a middle-aged dad in a beige cardigan and a mum in a twin set, and a couple of kiddies lashed into ergonomic capsules and wearing crash helmets for added protection.
They will be putt-putting along in the non-fast lane at 47kmh as the ad extols the car’s safety features and ability to get you from A to B. There will be no mention of how much fun the car is to drive, how it handles corners, how quickly it can go from nought to 100, how it’s got racy bucket seats, beautiful zippy lines, a cracker of a stereo or a monstrous donk under the bonnet.
Continue reading "In our dull Volvo world even ads come with safety features" »
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Roto says:
The ASB is right , lets eliminate risk first so they can focus on eliminating beauty. Read more »
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RT says:
One of my favourite comments on the state of modern industrialised society is a photo of a metal sign that reads: ‘CAUTION This sign has sharp edges’. Read more »
Well it’s official. People hate marketers, particularly those in advertising. Research by Roy Morgan has ranked advertising as the third most-hated industry across all professions. We’re more hated than union leaders and real estate agents, but just managed to scrape in front of journalists and car salesmen.
All I can say is thank god I don’t work with any car clients because with this article and an interest in marketing I might take the trifecta and actually be the most hated person in the world.
So why do people hate the profession in which I’m going to invest my entire career? I’ll probably agree with what you’ve got to say for the most part, but I should probably at least attempt to convince you otherwise.
Continue reading "I know you hate marketers but face it, you need them" »
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Bowan Spanbroek says:
Hahahaha I’m a social media marketer for a car company. Soooo hated Read more »
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Rowan M says:
hate to break it to you Zac, but you need us more than we need you Read more »
DON’T be surprised as you walk down a street in Spain to hear someone humming or even singing the words to Waltzing Matilda.
The catchy unofficial Aussie national anthem has become somewhat of a sensation in Spain since it was chosen by a mobile telephone company to promote its new summer tariff plan, then featured in their advertisement in the break of the televised Champions League soccer grand final watched by millions across Europe recently.
The accents on the advertisement are strange and the video clip is downright wacky but online chat rooms and talk back radio in Spain has been inundated with debates about “Billy-bongs” and “Kooly-bar trees” and speculation about what it was that a man put into a “ta-ka” bag.
Continue reading "Juan’s a jolly swagman: the Spanish Waltzing Matilda" »
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Bill Magoffin says:
Waltzing Matilda was written by Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson while visiting Dagworth Station near Kynuna in Western Queensland in January 1895. He supplied the original lyrics which form an allegory of events surrounding the shearers war of 1894 that had culminated in the ‘Battle of Dagworth’ that had occured on… Read more »
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Robbo of Wynn Vale SA says:
Will bring a smile to the South Australian Premier, Mike ‘Miguel’ Rann. After all, SA is screaming ahead with the assistance of Spanish business leaders: Desal Plant, SPAIN Warship Design, SPAIN $6m leftover Trams, SPAIN No-public-tender Govt Buildings, SPAIN Recently, a prominent Adelaide journo bantered with a renaming of South… Read more »
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