Honda Does Ferris Bueller Redux For Super Bowl

Volkswagen Rolls Out Teaser Ad For Super Bowl

Volkswagen, who won acclaim with its immensely popular Super Bowl ad last year featuring a kid who was enthralled with being Darth Vader, is prepping the field for another ad along the same vein.

To do so, it's rolling out a teaser featuring a dog chorus barking out the Imperial March:



For those who have forgotten, here's the full Darth Vader ad:



In many respects, putting these ads online allows for bigger bang for the buck and word of mouth and gives the sponsors of the ad the ability to run its advertising in multiple channels for no additional cost other than uploading it online.

Geller's Anti-Islam Brigade Seeks Placement of Anti-Islam Ads On MTA Property

Anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller is at it again. When she's not busy battling the Park51 project near Ground Zero, she's busy trying to stop what she calls the Islamization of America (she enables a group by that name - SIOA).

Her latest bid is to demand that the MTA post an offensive advertisement that calls Muslims savages. Not some small segment of Muslims who engage in terrorism, but all Muslims. There's no fine line she's skirting here.

She's labeling the entire religion as savages, and it's little wonder that the MTA is not amenable to posting these offensive ads on their buses and subways.

Geller claims that the ads are truthful and speak to the craven actions of Islamic terrorists who have had a nonstop assault on Israel since it was founded and on Western targets for decades.

But she's again tarring the entire religion, and sees this as a clash of civilizations, rather than a small subset of the religion that seeks jihad. She also thinks that this is a free speech issue.

It is a free speech issue, but one that runs headlong into hate speech, and that's precisely the nature of this particular ad. It's hate speech at its most banal.

It also violates the MTA advertising guidelines, but as Benjamin Kabab points out, Geller has managed to get the MTA to pick up prior ads directed at Park51 - and the MTA benefits from the advertising fees ($10,000).

At the same time, the MTA doesn't need to deal with fending off a lawsuit at a time when its budget can ill afford to deal with this kind of craziness. But then again, one has to feel that the whole purpose of putting out this hateful advertisement and the MTA's refusal to post it has been newsworthy enough that Geller and her cohorts have gotten their money's worth from free publicity and news and blog accounts to make their point without having to get the MTA carry the advertising at all.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the Park51 project, a Muslim interfaith center with activities for the Lower Manhattan community opened up with no fanfare and no comment from the local community, although a Muslim prayer space has been operating for about two years. Funny how that worked out for Geller. With all their vitriol, the Park51 project, which was to convert the former Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place into a major community center, was completely unsuccessful in stopping the project - but was completely successful in exposing the hateful ways of Geller and her cohorts.

The Park51 project intends to demolish the existing structures and replace it with a new center, but that portion is on hold pending financing.

Federal Judge Sides With the Boobies (Bracelets)

A federal judge has sided with student groups that sell bracelets indicating that they love boobies as part of fundraising for cancer research in a lawsuit against school districts that had banned the bracelets.

“I Heart Boobies” bracelets are sold across the nation and have been banned in many U.S schools, including Oceanside High School, Valley Middle School in Carlsbad and Mountain Empire High School in East County.

U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin sided with students Tuesday in a free-speech test case filed in Pennsylvania by the American Civil Liberties Union. She issued a temporary injunction that bars the Easton Area School District from enforcing its ban.

School officials argue the slogan suggests a sexual double meaning and leads to in-school distractions.

Some schools had banned the bracelets claiming that they were distracting and full of sexual innuendos. The judge got this one right.

Aflac Looking For New Spokesduck

After Gilbert Godfrey made an ass of himself and made inappropriate comments about Japan in the wake of the massive earthquake, tsunami and unfolding nuclear emergency, the insurance company Aflac (and Japan's largest foreign insurer) canned him as the iconic voice of the duck that has featured prominently in their commercials for the past several years.

They have unveiled a clever recut of a commercial that originally ran in 2006 announcing a competition to find the next voice for the duck.

Anyone interested will be able to submit a 30-second audio or video file giving their best version of the Aflac duck’s signature “Aflac” squawk at quackaflac.com. The company wants to hear interpretations of the character that may be different from Gottfried’s, Zuna said.

A 2006 ad featuring the Aflac duck in a silent movie — without any dialogue at all — was re-edited to promote the talent search and will begin airing Wednesday. It points users to contest details on the Aflac Duck’s Facebook page.

Aflac is also posting a job description on Monster.com that includes the following job responsibility:

“Translates complex messages into a single word that tells people, ‘Aflac is the insurance company that they can count on in their time of need.’”

The submission deadline is midnight on April Fool’s Day. Aflac plans live auditions in six markets including New York and Los Angeles. It expects to air the first ad with the new voice, to be created by its longtime agency, The Kaplan Thaler Group, on April 22.

I'd say that this is making the best of a bad situation.

The Best Super Bowl Commercial and the Star Who Never Saw The Movies He Spoofed

He's only six years old, so he can be forgiven for never having seen Star Wars.

The Force was with TODAY Monday when the pint-size Darth Vader who has stolen America’s heart came to Studio 1A and tried to wield the same powers that seemingly brought a Volkswagen Passat to life in this year’s breakout Super Bowl ad. He had an early success in the makeup room, apparently turning on a hair dryer with a thrust of his hands.

The diminutive Darth’s efforts to channel metaphysical energies were more hit-and-miss when he tried to work them on a coffeemaker in the greenroom or on monitors in the TODAY control room — but 6-year-old Max Page’s star power couldn’t be stifled, even by the bulky helmet he wore.

Max’s Super Bowl ad shows him in full Vader regalia, struggling vainly to use the Force to start a washer and dryer, rouse the family dog, and bring a baby doll to life. But when he heads outside to work his magic on his dad’s 2012 Volkswagen Passat, he’s shocked when the engine roars to life — little knowing that his father has started the car by remote control from the kitchen.

This was the single best commercial from an entirely lackluster commercial set. It was absolutely charming and funny, and it introduced the Passat in a way that everyone will remember.

All the other commercials paled in comparison and many of them blended into each other so that you had no idea who was pitching what or they struck the wrong tone.

AT&T Loses Exclusivity On Apple's iPhone; Gets Caught Goosing Network Figures

AT&T got hit with a double dose of bad news this week. First was the revelation that the telecommunications company went ahead and claimed that it had the nation's largest 4G network, but did so merely by renaming its existing 3G network. It didn't actually bring any facts to back up the change.

Marketing has won. Truth in advertising has lost.

4G speeds, real 4G, are specified as 100Mbit/sec for a mobile device moving at a fairly high rate of speed relative to the base station and 1Gbit/sec if stationary relative to the base station.

Current "4G" speeds by the carriers though is nowhere near this. It is, however, higher than what we are used to as 3G speeds for the last few years. I guess saying you had 3.1G would do no good because your competitor would just claim 3.2G and eventually everyone would be up around 3.9999G and, well, you might as well round to 4G, which they did.

AT&T is the latest to join the farce with its HSPA+ technology. Last year T-Mobile called their HSPA+ network 4G and AT&T gave T-Moble grief over it. Less than a year later, AT&T is on the HSPA+ 4G bandwagon.

What happens when LTE comes out on these networks? There is nothing to stop these guys from claiming it is 5G, even though it technically isn't even 4G.

The numbers become meaningless.

Then, there's the issue of those areas that supposedly have 4G service that are still inaccessible to many users because the networks themselves are not robust enough to manage the demand.

The networks are all playing games, but AT&T is just the latest to be called out for goosing its network figures in an attempt to increase market share and sales.

So why am I picking on AT&T? What makes AT&T's situation particularly galling, is that AT&T had just called out T-Mobile for doing the exact same thing just a few months ago. Verizon is also in the game, renaming its LTE architecture as 4G, but the ITU has let all these shenanigans continue because they've relaxed the definitions for 4G to the point that they're meaningless as a standard.

Now comes the long rumored possible word that Apple has finally inked a deal to sell and distribute the iPhone on Verizon Wireless, which has the largest and most accessible 3G network in the nation. Apple will have had to rework the iPhone to meet the different network architecture for Verizon (CMDA versus GSM as used on AT&T).

The companies are holding pressers on January 11, and it is widely expected that the companies will announce the iPhone coming to Verizon.

Adding Verizon would end Dallas-based AT&T Inc.’s four-year run as the exclusive U.S. carrier of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, a period in which the device has both been a top seller and faced complaints about reception. The move brings millions of potential customers to Apple and may crimp the growth of devices that run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, Reiner said.

“By getting on to Verizon, Apple has the opportunity to sell more iPhones and could potentially slow Android’s momentum at the carrier that has been that platform’s most important patron,” Reiner said.

This past week, ComScore Inc. said Android topped the iPhone in U.S. smartphone subscribers for the first time, accounting for 26 percent of the market, compared with 25 percent for Apple. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. had the top spot with 33.5 percent.

Apple and Verizon are waiting for the technology industry’s focus to move away from the Consumer Electronics Show being held now in Las Vegas, said Rajesh Ghai, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC in San Francisco.

Verizon's network is simply more robust and accessible than AT&T - and you don't have to take Verizon's (or my) word on that - Consumer Reports found that AT&T had the worst coverage, particularly in urban areas like New York and other major metropolitan areas. It simply couldn't keep up with the data usage of its customers and Verizon has built out a greater capacity.

Since Verizon will now be carrying the iPhone, expect a significant shift in users to Verizon since the one major factor in AT&T's growth over the past few years has been due to iPhone exclusivity.

I'd also expect to see many Verizon users who have been locked into Android (Google) or Blackberry operating system architectures to flock to Apple's iOS system and expect to see Droids lose market share to Apple. That would also likely result in additional price pressure to bring prices down on the smartphones.

Free the "Boobies" Bracelets From Overzealous School Administrators

Schools across the country have decided that a plastic bracelet sold to help raise funds for breast cancer research was inapporpriate for a school setting.

So, they've banned them.

A $4 rubber bracelet meant to raise breast cancer awareness has done that and more: Students nationwide are wearing the "I (heart) boobies" wristbands, and running afoul of school administrators.

Schools from California to Florida have banned the bracelets because they believe the "boobies" language is inappropriate.

The bracelets are marketed by a California-based nonprofit created to raise breast cancer awareness among youth. The Keep A Breast Foundation has sold 2 million of the bracelets so far, with the money going to breast cancer research and education programs.

The group believes a bracelet with a catchy, envelope-pushing slogan such as "I (heart) boobies" is a better way to teach kids about breast cancer than more traditional methods like pink ribbons.

Kollin West, a 14-year-old student at Laramie Junior High School, is one student who got in trouble over the bracelets.

Schools have demanded that students turn the rubber bracelets inside out so that the slogans aren't visible.

I think that the school administrators have more important things to do than patrol for bracelets that send a positive and uplifting message to breast cancer survivors. Inadvertently, these overzealous school administrators are highlighting the boobies campaign but their continued crackdowns send the wrong messages to students who are trying to do something positive.

The ACLU is considering getting involved over free speech implications, and I think that they'd be right to do so.

Sesame Street Spoofs Old Spice Guy

The Old Spice commercials are quite intentionally funny, and Sesame Street has taken notice.

They've gone and done a spoof using one of my favorites from the show: Grover:



For comparison, here's the original Old Spice commerical (which itself was a spoof of earlier boastful claims by the company):

CBS Courting Controversy Over Super Bowl Ad Buy?

Is CBS courting controversy over a Super Bowl advertisement that is expected to run? (HT: Legalbgl) CBS sold a spot during the Super Bowl to Focus on Families starring college football star Ted Tebow. It's a pro-life ad:

The ad is funded by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family. It is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987. After getting sick, she ignored doctors' recommendation to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim, a Heisman Trophy winner.

They've relaxed their restrictions on advocacy ads in response, and also to sell the last few remaining slots during the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl reliably provides one of the largest audiences nationally every year, and the cost to run ads can run into the millions of dollars (this year, they are running around $2.5 to 2.8 million per 30-second slot).

Tebow may lose endorsement money for pushing his pro-life view (some advertisers may shy away from someone who espouses views on lightning rod issues rather than remaining publicly silent on such matters), and that is his right and choice, just as surely as CBS is more than willing to accept the money from the group.

Will the ad be effective? I'm not sure. It depends to a great extent on how it is done and how Tebow comes across. Sporting News suggests that Focus on the Family has gone with a soft-sell, which got the approval:

It is against CBS's policy to run advocacy ads, even those with "implicit" endorsements for one side of a public debate, Media Daily News reports. CBS will review the spot before giving it final approval.

Focus on the Family said only that the ad would carry a "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life" theme.

If it isn't done right, I don't think people are going to care to hear the message, even if they may be favorable to it. It's the Super Bowl and they'd rather be entertained than hectored or lectured.

The ad could definitely raise the profile for the pro-life group, but backlash is already developing - particularly against CBS, where NOW and several other groups are urging CBS to drop the ad.

CBS says that they've revamped their ad policy and would allow more advocacy advertisements to run.

Gov. Paterson Begins 2010 Campaign Season

Governor David Paterson has been running several ads to begin rehabilitating his image among New York voters and to get a jump on his potential rivals, including Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Polls put Paterson behind pretty much everyone who might contemplate a run for his office.

So, when I saw this ad, I was struck by one thing.



It's an admission of mistakes. I'm sure his opponents will try to dwell on it, but this advertisement actually tries to spin a negative as a positive; mistakes were made, but they can and have been overcome, just as surely as all the other trials and tribulations in Paterson's life.

This ad is refreshing because it doesn't hide from the fact that the Governor has made mistakes; he's made plenty as I've written about here since he took office upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer. Typically, it's the opponent who points out mistakes and failings of a politician, so to see the candidate himself point out this makes this advertisement all the more interesting. I wonder if it will have the intended effect to build a coalition of voters in the state to sustain a reelection effort.

New Jersey Political Ad Roundup

This election season, there aren't exactly that many political ads running that stick in one's mind, but here are two that do stand out for different reasons.

I would suggest that this is the cutest attack ad I've seen related to any campaign anywhere this political season. It's got a cute and catchy jingle, and it hammers home the tax and spend ways of the person involved, Linda Stender. It could be applied to any number of tax and spend politicians across the country, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it used down the road.



Meanwhile, the following ad fails because it could truly apply to anyone involved in the 2008 toxic paper mess. The target of the ad is Scott Garrett, a Republican, but it could apply just as surely to Sen. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or any number of Democrats around the country (Rep. Barney Frank) that are up for election and who stood by and either did nothing, took money from the financial companies, Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae or Countrywide, or even said that there was no problem for years on end up until there was absolutely no doubt that there was a major crisis brewing because of all the subprime borrowing. So, you want to fire Scott Garrett? How about not hiring Obama and Biden. They've got the same failings. The ad was produced by Democrat Dennis Schulman.

Obama Now Advertising on Video Games

This surely has to be a first for a politician, let alone a Presidential candidate. Sen. Barack Obama has bought advertising space on video games to spread his message.

The candidate has been placing in-game adverts in the Xbox 360 game ‘Burnout Paradise’, featuring a billboard with Obama’s image and a message that players should make sure they register to vote.
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"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout," Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts said.

"Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams."

Obama may be the first politician to use in-game advertising but the practice is becoming increasingly common for businesses.

Analyst firm Yankee Group reported recently that the worldwide in-game advertising industry is expected to be worth around $971.3m by 2011.

Businesses are increasingly involved in placements inside video games because the video game business targets specific age groups and demographics quite succinctly.

I'm not sure that Obama is going to get his money's worth here, but it certainly is a novel approach.

The Ad Ms. Magazine Doesn't Want You To See

Here's the ad. Seems pretty plain and incapable of causing controversy. It shows three of the most prominent women in Israeli politics and law today - holding some of the highest ranking positions along with the words, This Is Israel.

Apparently, Ms. magazine didn't like the content. That's their right, but something is horribly wrong about that decision. What exactly did they find harmful or offensive in the message? It's not like they're showing underweight and/or anoerxic women who suffer from eating disorders parading around on the catwalk that give impressionable women and girls the wrong ideas about self-image.

The Magazine's response seems downright lame, claiming that they "...would love to have an ad from you on women's empowerment, or reproductive freedom, but not on this"

No word on what that actually means.



Would this pass muster?