« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »
As a follow-up to my last post, this article cites how PepsiCo is planning to restrict advertising to children and reduce serving sizes in schools. A trend that I, for one, hope catches on.
via [URBANintelligence]
British consumer advocacy group, Which?, has taken issue with cartoon characters being used to market unhealthy foods to kids. Their research showed that "77 percent of people think using kids' favorite cartoon characters such as Shrek, The Simpsons and Scooby Doo, on the packs of foods high in fat, salt and sugar makes it difficult for parents to say no to their children." This, to me, is one of those "no-duh" stats that only makes me wonder what the other 23% are thinking?
I do the grocery shopping in my household and am always on the lookout for foods that I think my young son will find fun and interesting. I turn over box after box and package after package of food items being marketed to and for kids only to put them right back after reading the ingredients. High-fructose this and trans fat that. There is no way I'm putting that stuff into my kid's body in any significant quantity (except for the occasional treat or to allow him to be social). Overall, kids' activity levels are down and their consumption of high-fat and high-calorie packaged and prepared foods is up and we all know what it's doing to their weight, general health, self-confidence and well-being.
If tobacco companies can't market to kids because their products are known to be addictive and unhealthy, why is the same not true for food companies? If Joe Camel can't be used to promote cigarettes, why can the likes of Shrek be used to promote sugary cereals and high-fat snacks?
via [Blogging Baby]
3M's new street advertisement for its Security Glass is bold, creative and shows what you can do when your product is just that good.
via [Seth's Blog]
Interesting article in The New York Times about Wal-Mart's upgraded in-store television network, the reach it has with shoppers/viewers (average shopper watches seven minutes per store visit) and how much advertisers are willing to pay ($137,000 - $292,000 for a four week rotation of a single ad).
The New York Times has published website traffic data for companies that advertised during the Super Bowl as compared to their average of the four previous Sundays. I am unable to capture the link to the pop-up screen that displays the graph on NYT.com, so here is a copy of the graph.
(click to enlarge)
Very interesting. I'd be curious to see how this compares to other television advertising, like a new primetime ad buy, for instance.
Why do "Door Open" and "Door Close" buttons in elevators almost never work? Every elevator has them (it's probably required), but they rarely do anything. In fact, there is only one elevator I use regularly that has functional buttons. And, everyone who rides that elevator knows it and uses the buttons all the time. People want the buttons and they are there anyway, so why not have them actually do what they say they do? This is one of those great mysteries that will likely keep me up all night. Maybe I'll just shoot an email to Otis and see if I can get to the bottom of it. You go to sleep...I'll let you know if I learn anything.
2/18/05 - UPDATE: I did email Otis Elevator Company with my question, to which they kindly and promptly replied. If you are even remotely curious, click here for their response.
Continue reading "Door WILL NOT Open - Door WILL NOT Close" »
Nothin' to do with nothin', but I love these guys. Click their heads and make sweet horse harmonies.
The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 is expected to pass in the House of Representatives. According to Reuters, fines to both broadcast companies and individual broadcasters will be increased to $500,000 per "indecent" incident aired between 6:00am and 10:00pm.
Major League Baseball has announced new steroid rules. According to CBS News, "A first positive test would result in a suspension of up to 10 days, a second positive test a 30-day ban, a third positive a 60-day penalty, and a fourth positive test a one-year ban."
Quick look at the numbers:
The average baseball player's salary in 2003 was $2,555,476 per year.
Therefore, a 10-day suspension (not a 10-game suspension, mind you), without
pay, would cost the player $70,013 [($2,555,476 / 365) x 10].
While average broadcaster salary data are harder to nail down (especially
since there are many types of broadcasters), if a $500,000 fine had equal
weight to a baseball player's 10-day suspension, the broadcaster would have to
earn $18,250,000 per year [($500,000 / 10) x 365].
So, here are my questions:
Indelible purple ink has taken CODE Inc. from obscurity to front page news. Not something anyone would ever bet the farm on, but when you need it, you need it and in the Iraq election, they needed it. Indelible purple ink. Simple.
New beta service from Google called Google Maps. You can not only zoom and pan (as with other map sites), but also drag the map with your mouse or double-click to center any area on your map. I also like the way, when you search for and click on a business, you get a pop-up with the contact info, URL link and an quick link to get driving directions. Very cool and useful with seemingly small enhancements that use the power of Google to make this a better map site. Check it out.
After writing a previous post about how men are more and more being portrayed as dopes in advertising, I started thinking about why that is and whether men are responsible for this shift in perception (or reality), or if it's just the flavor of the month for advertisers? As a way of determining if others are also interested in a better understanding of this trend, I submitted a manifesto proposal to ChangeThis, entitled "Better Man," and it was accepted as a proposal.
If enough people are also interested in my proposal, I maybe then be asked to develop it into a manifesto. As I state in my proposal, my goal would be to try and understand why men have acquired such an unflattering reputation? What have men given-up, stopped doing and changed about their behavior that has led to this shift in perception (or reality) and what can they do to shift it back?
To read and my full proposal, click here, and if you are interested in having me develop it into a manifesto, click the "Yes, write this manifesto" button on that page. You can also click the "Send This" button on that page to share the proposal with others who you feel may be interested. If you have no idea what ChangeThis is, rather than me trying to explain it, please read the FAQ.
Hopefully enough people will be equally as curious about this and I'll be given the opportunity to explore it in greater detail.
Resources:
Read my original blog post here.
Read The New York Times article that started this here (free sub. required).
Read my ChangeThis "Better Man" proposal here and vote for it if you're interested.
Forward my "Better Man" proposal to someone else here.
As a next step beyond it's successful free ground shipping on orders
of $25 or more, Amazon has launched a new initiative called Amazon Prime™,
allowing customers to pay $79 a year for "All You Can Eat" express
(two-day) shipping with overnight shipping costing just $3.99 more per
order. And, it can be shared with up to four people within the
same household.
I rarely (if ever) take advantage of the free shipping offer because
the delivery times are so long. In these days of instant gratification,
normal ground shipping would be bad enough, but for the free shipping
offer they use some kind of "slow boat" method that takes forever. I'd
have to think about what I normally spend on shipping to determine if
this new promotion is worthwhile, but at least it got me thinking (and
writing) about it. Will be interesting to see how this is received.
If you can't wait until Sunday or just want a heads-up on what to look forward to, MediaPost has a preview of the upcoming Super Bowl ads, quarter by quarter. Great stuff.
Being much more of an advertising and media junkie than a hard-core sports fan, I have always more looked forward to the Super Bowl ads than the game itself. But, this year my Eagles (through I now call Portland home, I grew-up in Philly) are forcing me to split my enthusiasm. All the more reason to look forward to Sunday.
via [Adrants]
American Online and Mobile 365 are offering cross-platform wireless customers a way, for a 50-cent fee, to vote for their favorite Super Bowl ad via text messaging. According to Wireless Week, "texted votes will be tallied as part of the AOL Super Sunday Ad Poll, which will be released on Monday following the game." THQ Wireless is also teaming with the NFL again this year to offer fans the ability to vote for the MVP via text messaging.
via [Adverblog]
