http://superpunch.blogspot.com/2009/03/aliens-vs-predator-print-ads-are-better.html



I haven't bothered to see the AvP movies, but these almost make me want to... though I know that would be a grave mistake.

I can't look at the model playing "Claus" in those Palm/Centro ads without thinking he looks like Jacobim Mugatu in Zoolander.

AdAge huffily reports that an Obama presidency and Democratic Congress will make it harder for advertisers and marketers to invade our privacy and sell us shit we don't need. As a member of that industry, I've long waved off the ideas that (1) advertising can brainwash anyone not already predisposed to the behavior advertisers seek to stimulate, and (2) the Adbusters method of gathering a bunch of shrill lefties together to refuse to buy products they wouldn't have bought otherwise and/or to enter a Disney store and throw stuffed Goofys around is ineffective, self-indulgent party protesting.

That said, I've long supported the idea of more focussed yet considerate marketing. Give something to the consumer and feel out their needs and desires; don't demand their fealty through repeated TV and radio ad and direct mail battering. View them as independent entities, not blocks of creatures who share superficial commonalities like age, race, financial status, and so on. Respect is the key word.

Suffice to say that this idea hasn't taken off, particularly among those who have built companies based on exploiting, parsing, and invading consumer privacy. Ever speak to a devout marketer? When you speak with these people, as I have at many a seminar, they don't understand that what they're doing might be considered annoying and creepy, not to mention quasi-fascistic, by some people. Why... who wouldn't want to receive a telemarketer call at dinnertime? Who wouldn't want their e-mailbox to be crammed with spam? Who wouldn't want to share their most intimate secrets with marketers so they can be inundated with embarrassing, invasive pitches day and night? Who? Well, just about everyone who isn't a marketer, that's who.

That's why I love the slightly miffed, slightly wistful tone of this piece. To my ear this sounds less like they're saying, "Hissssss! Curses! To the escape pod!" and more like, "Hey, man, what's the big idea? Darn."

Highlights:

Privacy: The Bush administration has approved a series of deals allowing marketers to better profile and target consumers, rejecting the objections of privacy groups. Privacy issues are expected to get far greater scrutiny. There has been discussion of naming a privacy czar in a Democratic administration.

Privacy czar? Really? I figured Obama would have his occasional lapses into corporatism, but this sounds promising. Of course, Hillary promised one as well, with the intent of keeping laptops and hard drives crammed with personal info from vanishing into the ether.

Justice Department: Critical scrutiny of marketer- and media-related deals will likely increase.

Yep, sorry. The fat years of squishy regulation are over, guys.

Posted to Gapers Block.

Mr. Clean actor House Peters died recently at the age of 92. In case you didn't know, Mr. Clean was created here in Chicago by Harry Barnhart and Ernie Allen at the Tatham-Laird & Kudner ad agency. The hairless, obsessive compulsive, controversial, and sexually ambiguous corporate mascot's first name is Veritably, by the way, and he's known as Mr. Proper in England and Don Limpio in Spain. There you go: more than you ever wanted to know about Mr. Clean.

Doesn't blocking HTML on MySpace kind of defeat its purpose as a networking and advertising tool? I understand putting restrictions on what people can show on your blog—it's a more personal form of communication. But the comments section of MySpace seems to be there mostly so people can say, "Hey! Thanks for the add! This is what I'm up to." Within reason, of course. If you're not comfortable with letting someone advertise donkey show MPEGs on your MySpace, I understand, but being selective about who gets to run an ad or provide a link to their site seems, I dunno, stingy?