Gordman’s Ad Renders Goth Girls Gruesome

By sarajean on 8/17/10 11:34pm
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During the fifth grade, I went through what my family calls a “little goth phase.” I wore lots of black makeup, pewter jewelry of things like skulls and bats, and even took to wearing a Morticia Adams dress my mother had made herself for Halloween as a teen. (Yes, it was completely awesome.) Back then, it was pretty early for me to go through such a “phase” (and I put it in quotation marks because I still like to wear such jewelry and black nail polish—and would continue do the rest, probably, if I had the time and energy just because I like it), and I don’t remember anyone else dressing in such a way until junior high and high school. By then, I was in a more “earthy” phase (which I suppose I’m also still “into,” though today’s choices usually stem from whatever is sustainable, cheap, and used) and digging into my mom’s old bell-bottoms (which, unfortunately, did not fit—though they did inspire!).

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I Hate The Five Hour Energy Guy

By erika on 7/19/10 11:27am
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Watching television as I do, mostly on Hulu, you end up seeing the same ads over and over again. 

One run of ads which I can virtually recite by heart is the Five Hour Energy series.  Those other fizzy sugary energy drinks make you fat!  They're for kids!  You, my friend, are mature enough to be drinking Five Hour Energy.

Unfortunately for Five Hour Energy, they chose the most obnoxious spokesman in the history of the form.  Imagine my glee, then, when I saw an ad with a new Five Hour Energy Guy!  Hooray!


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Tom O'Dell and the Power of Weird Marketing

By msarko on 7/14/10 5:19pm
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We've all been there. It's late at night, sleep isn't coming and there's nothing on TV except for infomercials. Most of them are too lame to be entertaining but not boring enough to do the job those sheep you've been counting failed to do. And then, like some kind of surreal blessing, you stumble upon a disembodied pair of hands trying to sell you decorative knives with more enthusiasm than a doctor selling a cure for the common cold. You have found Cutlery Corner, known in popular parlance as The Knife Show. It is perhaps the most ingenious example of marketing in the modern world.



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Liza Minnelli: Another reason to watch HSN

By Betty Blue on 7/1/10 2:53pm
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Is there anything you can't do, Liza Minnelli?

Looking like her usual glamorous and hammered self, Liza Minnelli appeared on the Home Shopping Network to promote her new fashion line, the "Liza Collection" which is exactly what you would expect from the legendary gay icon: lots and lots of sparkle and shine.

But the clothes and jewelry are only half the fun of this clip. Watch Liza chat with callers and ramble incomprehinsibly about molding the clay, making a record while lying on her back, and watch as she bosses her models around.

 

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Gender Stereotyped Ogre Snack Cakes

By sarajean on 6/12/10 6:54am
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Right now, I am a sucker for anything with Princess Fiona from Shrek on it. I’ve always been a Fiona fan anyway, but since she ended up being even more badass than she was in the original Shrek film in Shrek Forever After—complete with a warrior costume, gear, and awesome Amazonian hair—I totally want her on everything from my folders to my journal, a la seventh grade.

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You Need This Fart-Eating Blanket and So Does Your Mom

By sarajean on 6/1/10 8:56pm
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This is an actual thing in the world:

  

 

The “Better Marriage Blanket” is supposedly made out of fart-absorbing technology that will prevent your spouse from fainting, choking, or dying from your apparently deadly noxious anal gases. Yes, good sir (or woman), your nether regions are so damn offensive that an actual product has been created to keep the love of your life from divorcing your smelly ass.

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Has this ever happened to you?

By monica on 4/26/10 11:51am
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This video pretty much confirms who the target audience of these wonderful products are: Idiots!

 

Good Commercial, Bad Commercial #1: Verizon vs. Kayak

By msarko on 3/26/10 3:58am
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In the earliest days of television, commercials made no pretense toward entertainment value. They consisted of variety show hosts and contractually obligated celebrities staring into a camera with a product in hand, extolling the virtues of the product and the company that made it with nary a hint of fiction to the script. It wasn't long before someone got the idea to frame commercials as miniature shows in and of themselves. From then on, advertising media had two jobs: catch a viewer's fickle attention and then encourage him or her to buy the product. I would argue that this new approach created a third, hidden goal. Not all attention is good attention. In fact, if you annoy your audience, they're likely to change the channel whenever your commercial comes on and maybe they'll even choose to boycott your product just because the ad is irritating.



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Help Me to Buy a Computer

By akgoemans on 3/10/10 9:16am
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There is so much wrong with this commercial! Look, fine, so they are helping folks buy a computer and yes, yes, yes, a computer is relevant and vital in this day and age but … I don't think a downgraded computer for the basic user is what they are going for here.

The ad in question is called Help me to Buy and it is painful to watch.

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Really Bad Weight Loss Ads called Ayds

By akgoemans on 3/2/10 9:53am
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I know what you are saying - Oh no, they didn't! Remember that South Park episode, Jarred Has Aides? This is the one where the creators indulge in a humor via wordplay. So everyone thinks Jarred has HIV-related illness whereas what he actually means that he uses supplements to lose weight? Oh boy. It was one of those cringe-worthy ones and I didn't think I would come across something worse than that. And what do you know, I did! That's where this weight loss product called Ayds comes in. I bet the South Park guys were inspired by this ad when they wrote that episode.

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