Official Shrub.com Blog » Advertising

Debunking the “profits come first” myth

tekanji — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:17:59 +0000

If you have ever criticized an ad campaign, commercial, or anything that’s even remotely related to marketing for pushing a bigoted viewpoint, you will undoubtedly have come up against the argument that of course the reason the product is being marketed that way is because it’s more profitable. A company would never do anything to [...]

Give that man a cookie, er, Klondike!

tekanji — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:05:00 +0000

Wow, a man refrains from violating the terms of his relationship agreement with his wife? Totally worthy of a reward. Give that man a cookie Klondike! <insert massive eyeroll here> Actual analysis of Klondike’s latest series of commercials can be found over at The Hathor Legacy, in sbg’s post, Normal Behavior Rewarded as Extraordinary.

Exposing the hypocrisy of Unilever’s targeted marketing

tekanji — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:35:36 +0000

Dove and Axe — which send diametrically opposed messages about women to their target audiences — are both made by Unilever. This video juxtaposes the two campaigns in order to raise awareness of the connection between the two. Via The Hathor Legacy.

What’s wrong with this picture?

tekanji — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 06:27:55 +0000

Feel the cultural appropriation around us I swear I don’t go looking for these kinds of things, they find me all on their own. I went to VoodooPC’s website to check their tech support hours (in the hopes of me getting my laptop back this century…) and I saw the above image. When you mouse over it [...]

BK commercial redux: It’s not about the burgers

tekanji — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 01:32:01 +0000

About half a year ago I wrote about the infamous Burger King commercial and I haven’t stopped getting shit about it. Even more so because it’s apparently on the air again. Most of them I just delete, but there has been one sitting in my moderation queue for more than a week now. daisy wrote: As a [...]

Oriental Barbie

tekanji — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:18:52 +0000

Okay, so a while ago onebrownwoman has this awesome post critiquing the Diwali Barbie. This week, she posts a link to Oriental Barbie but doesn’t have time to comment on it. Here’s what the page says about this lovely “Doll of the World”: Oriental BarbieÂ® doll is dainty and elegant in this beautiful costume reflecting the [...]

Using Wikipedia as a Marketing tool?

tekanji — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:45:42 +0000

The recently published How to Make Money Like a Pornstar comic has been the subject of some controversy on the blogsphere. The comic was given to Karen Healey, a well-known feminist comic’s blogger, (I Can’t BELIEVE They Sent This To Me )as well as to Kevin Church, another well known comics blogger (Review: How To [...]

Blog Highlight: Marketing to Women Online

tekanji — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:34:30 +0000

Sorry I haven’t been posting. I actually have a few in mind, but it’s the end of semester crunch right now so I’ve been immersing myself in Japanese. A small study done by University of Florida professors recently was highlighted by MSNBC because of an award it won. Although the study itself is not proof of [...]

Finally, An End To Single-Sex Televisions

jfpbookworm — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 06:21:33 +0000

I recently saw a commercial for the Sony Bravia which billed itself as "The World's First Television for Men and Women." At first, I thought they were advertising something like this, but after checking out the web site it turns out that it's just a marketing campaign for a high-end HDTV. I'm trying to figure out what the advertisers were thinking this one. I've narrowed it down to the following possibilities:

They noticed that purchasers of HDTVs were disproportionately male, and saw women as an untapped market; however, they were worried that a women-centered ad campaign would lose more male buyers.
They're looking to provide the stereotypical man with justifications to his stereotypical partner for the purchasing decision.

Given the blatant sexism of the advertisement, I'm leaning toward the latter.

I am so glad I stopped eating BK

tekanji — Tue, 09 May 2006 09:04:20 +0000

No, Burger King (BK) does not have the monopoly on awful advertising. Not by a long shot. But this new commercial combines sexism, racism, and probably a whole lot of other -isms that my mind wants to blank out into one nasty little package. I just... yeah. Didn't Carl's Jr. try this one before? And Jack in the Box? And, like, didn't it fail? Miserably? Shame on me for trying to apply Earth Logic to Marketing! I should know better, really. But, in all seriousness, this commercial is just plain bad. I don't mean to pick on Burger King (well, I sort of do), but it's making the rounds on ther internet (elsewise I never would have seen it, me being in Japan and all), and I can't help but put my two cents in. Two cents that should be studying my kanji, but, hey, I got all but the hardest combinations right when my study partner quizzed me. I deserve a break. So, without further ado, let's begin with the analysis.