marketing

Television's Benevolent Mind Control Program

Hamilton Nolan · 04/07/10 11:22AM

America is a nation of mostly poor, unattractive people who take their cues on life from the fictional actions of rich, attractive characters on television. The NBC network, your father figure, has decided to educate our slackjawed populace. With television!

Awful Clubs and Soulless Condos, Together at Last

Hamilton Nolan · 03/29/10 09:29AM

Are you one of those "young people whose true religion is music?" Marketing consultants have determined the proper place for you to live: in a gleaming, Miami Beach-style condo on West 30th street. Where music lives!

Your Cell Phone Now Stalking You

Hamilton Nolan · 02/23/10 10:13AM

Cell phones: they had such promise. Such wondrous potential. How have we, wretched humanity, squandered that potential? By turning cell phones into predatory ad-delivery systems. Corporations are literally stalking you, by cell phone. And you asked for it!

Goth Is Dead

Hamilton Nolan · 02/19/10 12:19PM

Disney is marketing Alice in Wonderland to Goths with a soundtrack featuring The Cure and "an extensive line of clothing and accessories" at Hot Topic, including a "black shackle bracelet for $10." So much for that. [WSJ]

Soup Is #1 For Brains!

Hamilton Nolan · 02/17/10 01:13PM

You'll be happy to learn that after two years of painstaking biometric testing, America's neuroscientists have successfully advised Campbell's Soup Company on how to redesign its logo. So buy soup! It was either this or curing brain cancer. [WSJ]

Undercover Boss: Advertainment's Fourth Wave

Hamilton Nolan · 02/08/10 04:25PM

So we assume you saw Undercover Boss last night, CBS' big new reality show that got the plum post-Super Bowl spot? Amazing, was it not? Televised entertainment has now completed its long, winding journey into becoming 100% corporate propaganda.

News Corp Pays Half Billion Dollars to Keep Case Out of Court. Nothing to See Here.

Hamilton Nolan · 02/01/10 10:23AM

News Corp. has agreed to pay $500 million to settle three lawsuits alleging "anti-competitive behavior" by its News America unit, which publishes coupon inserts and sells in-store ads. A paper not owned by News Corp also notes the following bit of context: "In a separate case that was settled last year, News America was accused by another competitor, Floorgraphics, of corporate spying. Just as witnesses began testifying in a federal case in New Jersey, News Corporation settled the lawsuit and then days later bought the company outright for an undisclosed sum."