Free Republic

The other day I was talking to Kipp Greggory, our morning talk show host, during whose program this radio blog broadcast airs. We do not see each other very often, but when we do, it’s a fast-paced gab fest! He brought up a point of aggravation to him that amazed me, because it is something that bothers my husband and me, as well, and I have not heard anyone else make the point. It is the profusion of advertising that appeals to the prevalent sense of entitlement that infects many people in our society today. You have heard the ads...

In one word; marketing skills. No one actually needs French perfumes. Fancy a rum and cola? - Why bother about coke? This Christmas, I and my brother, a programmer (silly job, good pay), discussed the issue of how to define a 'smart phone'. I'm a simple cook, but my Sony Ericsson Vivaz can do everything his iPhone could do, however, at the end of the row, we both agreed Apple and their products are among the best marketed brands on Earth. IKEA is another example of companies that are more than companies. Everyone has experienced sad misfortunes with IKEA furniture....

Gilad Schalit is home. And that is wonderful. The terrorists Israel released in exchange for the IDF soldier held hostage by Hamas for more than five years are running around Judea, Samaria and Gaza promising to return to terror. And that is a nightmare. But so far, the Israeli public is happy with the outcome. Indeed, the polling data on the government’s decision to swap 1,027 terrorists for Schalit are stunning. According to the New Wave poll carried out for Makor Rishon, for instance, 75.7 percent of the public supported the deal and only 15.5 percent opposed it. In a...

Have you ever been primed? I mean has anyone ever deliberately influenced your subconscious mind and altered your perception of reality without your knowing it? Whole Foods Market, and others, are doing it to you right now.

I ordered Rush's product ''2 if by tea'' out of curiosity. At first I thought the price was too high,till I did the math and compared other high end products. It arrived within 3 days and was impressed by the packaging and the label(that alone made brought back my impression of Billy Beer. After an evening in the fridge I chose to taste the product. I gave one to my wife (diet) while I chose the regular. Both of us were more than shocked by the flavor of the tea. It's not only refreshing, but there is no after-taste as...

Hyundai's aggressive marketing is playing a huge role in the car maker's sizzling performance in the U.S. market. Its buy-back program, return new cars if you lost their job… the program was chosen as one of the best advertising efforts of the year by the Wall Street Journal in 2009. Only 350 customers returned their cars under the program by the time it ended last month. It was a major advertising success that significantly boosted Hyundai's image at very little cost.

Nothing has been more powerfully promoted in our America social culture in the last 20 years as the current Homosexual agenda. In the last 50 years this small zealous minority and their secular allies have infiltrated all facets of government bureaucracy, main stream media, newspaper and magazine outlets, the music industry and the TV, movie industry (i.e., Hollywood) and… the “churches”. It is from these well entrenched media positions that these agents of social change seek to daily bombard society with the licentious drumbeat promoting the acceptance of lawlessness and licentious decadence. These – at the hand of their “puppet...

The typical modern American supermarket stocks 48,000 items, each battling for precious shelf space. How do they get there? Why are they arranged the way they are? Did you know that some stores use heat maps to track which aisles you walk down — and which ones you don't? Or that they put the milk at the end of the aisle so you're forced to pass a hundred other items on your way to get it? It's all done to gain an edge in a cutthroat business built on razor-thin margins. CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen goes behind the scenes for a...

"OMG, stop everything, there's no need to invent anything else," was what we said when we got to the eCoupled stand at CES. And when you see these photos and video, we're sure you'll agree. Video Link Here Fulton Innovation -- don't worry, we hadn't heard of them either -- is out here in Vegas demonstrating wireless charging tech that has blown our tiny, gambling-addled minds. Its fabulous packaging uses induction power to create, among lots of other things, some of the most amazing cereal boxes we've ever seen, which can illuminate in stages to create an eye-catching effect.

Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?...... The Century Of Self - "Happiness...

When Najoh Tita-Reid was a multicultural marketing director at Procter & Gamble Co. launching the "My Black Is Beautiful" marketing program, one of the realities she faced was that many of the women the effort was targeting were Hispanic as well as black. Today, as senior VP at GlobalHue Africanic, she sees a growing group of multicultural consumers who may not fully identify with any one box they're asked to check on the 2010 Census. Call it assimilated America, one where Spanglish may be the emerging national dialect and the U.S. population is in many ways multiethnic, making future...

One of the talking points coming out of the Obama administration is that the one thing wrong about the new space policy that cancelled the Constellation space exploration program was that it wasn't sold properly. Lori Garver, NASA's Deputy Administrator and one of the architects of the plan, expressed that sentiment at a recent meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The following is part fiction written for the purpose of conveying ideas in the form of a dialogue, but I think encapsulates the problem with space policy and selling a government space program in our time.

The suits at KFC — the restaurant chain that used to be called, proudly, Kentucky Fried Chicken — have claimed that their 2009 decision to emphasize grilled chicken and sandwiches was based on “extensive consumer research.” I don’t find their assertion credible. I think they were trying to adjust the company’s direction and marketing strategy to their perception of the prevailing political and social attitudes about obesity. I don’t think the execs carefully considered how their consumers would react, particularly to ad campaigns that explicitly repudiated the fried-chicken brand of KFC. I’m not alone in drawing these conclusions. KFC franchisees...

Big Boi isn't indie. Or is he? As one-half of the rap duo OutKast, he has sold some 18 million albums, won six Grammy Awards and appeared on more hit songs than even he can keep track of. Yet there he was on July 18 at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, playing alongside bands only a fraction as successful. As thousands of writhing, fist-pumping fans swarmed the main stage and climbed on top of fences to get a look at the hip-hop megastar, thousands more were across the park, stomping and dancing to the largely unknown noise-pop act Sleigh...

25 Horribly Sexist Vintage Ads by Oral Adams Since the 50’s, a lot has changed in way of women’s rights and their duties in and out of the house. I highly doubt any company could get away with phrases like “The Chef [mixer] does everything but cook – that’s what wives are for!” nowadays. Or how about an ad agency pitching a company an idea of a wife bent over her husband’s knee as he prepares to spank her.

Trailer (3:22) SFW

Sweden's Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen) has ruled that Volvo Car's marketing of its XC60 vehicle as the "safest in the world" is misleading and lacks supporting evidence. "Volvo has not presented any proof at all which verifies or even indicates that the XC60 is the safest in the world. Volvo's claim is a general one and clearly lacks substantiation," the court said in its ruling on a case brought by Japanese firm Toyota. Volvo has been warned that it will incur a fine of one million kronor ($140,000) if it does not desist from making the claims. The court based its...

These are questions that will decide the next presidential election. They re-elected Clinton and they will be used to try and re-elect Obama. They are not weighty questions and have nothing to do with politics or policy. If you are reading this, odds are that you will never be called to answer them.

A San Francisco-based wireless company is unabashedly mixing its liberal political activism with business, a strategy that has won the praise of President Obama but not the confidence of marketing analysts. A San Francisco-based wireless company is working liberal political activism into its business plan in a unabashedly partisan marketing strategy that experts say could catch on in today's polarized culture -- but also could alienate many potential customers. The company, CREDO, even boasts that it has the support of President Obama as it markets itself as an agent of social change. It pitches its mobile phone services with a...

If you were hoping to upgrade all the computers in your house to Windows 7 as a present to your loved ones, and let’s be honest an upgrade from Vista really will show you care, you’re going to have to pay extra. In a move that makes about as much sense for pleasing your customers as handing out coal filled stockings, Microsoft has discontinued the 3 license Windows 7 Family Pack. WindowsITPro reports that stock of the discounted Windows 7 upgrade is already drying up at online retailers like Newegg; and though you can get it in some local stores,...

Men, if you've been looking for a manly fistful of fragrance, a scent that, say, invokes the adrenaline rush of NASCAR rather than a shirtless jog on the beach, take a deep breath -- the industry is paying attention to the growing percentage of guys who are taking care of their own grooming and buying their own scents. That's why, alongside faces like Matthew McConaughey and James Franco (shilling for Dolce & Gabbana's the One and Gucci by Gucci, respectively), you're likely to see rapper 50 Cent pitching Power, and Common promoting Diesel's Only the Brave. Words such as "power"...

Battle of the South Florida billboards heats up The billboard catches the attention of drivers and truckers traveling on the highways. "YOUR WIFE IS HOT" -- BETTER GET YOUR A/C FIXED," it reads, in big bold letters. A clever and sexy slogan developed in January by Air Around the Clock, an A/C and appliance service based in Broward County. But now the slogan is generating a lot of heat after its competitor, All Year Cooling, flipped the phrase this summer. "YOUR WIFE IS NOT HOT! Because you called All Year Cooling to replace your A/C rather than the other guys,"...

The Washington City Paper reports that the team's vendors were selling beer to patrons while they made use of the facilities last Sunday during their game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The report says a poster named Gracelander first complained about the washroom sales more than a year ago on the Redskins' official message board ExtremeSkins.com. "[W]hat made me mad was when I went to the bathroom at the start of the 3rd quarter and this guy was in the BATHROOM selling beers to guys who waited for the urinals. I found this just wrong on so many accounts." While...

Video Description - Quote: October 12, 2009 All presidents have periods where they lose popularity. So companies tying their brands to individual politicians are either naive about politics, or they and their ad agencies are run by people suffering from groupthink. Were they all drinking the Obama kool-aid? Had they not considered what might happen when Obama inevitably fell from messiah status to that of mortal politician? Category: News & Politics Tags: barack obama pepsi politics inaugural inauguration dc ny nyc marketing advertising democrats republicans protest protests t-shirts vendors

This month, like every October, a sea of pink ribbons washes over products from sneakers to snacks. While the effort raises research dollars, it leaves some breast cancer survivors feeling that companies are profiting from their pain.When KimZielinski was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 33, well-meaning friends inundated her with products bearing a little pink ribbon. Each product’s maker promised a cut of the sales price to a breast cancer charity, and these friends felt they were supporting the cause and, by association, Zielinski. A petite brunette who’s now 35, she was enormously grateful for...

Having spent much of the past thirty years of my life in the advertising industry, the flaws of President Obama’s health care message are apparent and massive. Most people outside the ad business will tell you that commercials try to beat you over the head to make you buy what you don’t need or want. In truth advertising that doesn’t address the public’s needs or wants does not work. On top of that if a consumer keeps being exposed to a message that does not meet a need, they begin to tune it out quickly, it’s called wear-out. Finally if...

Microsoft is fessing up and apologizing for altering a Web site photo to change a person's race. A photo on the Seattle-based company's U.S. Web site shows two men and a woman sitting around a conference table. The ad reads, "Empower your people with the IT tools you need." For the U.S. audience the men are Asian and African American. But on the Web site of Microsoft's Polish business unit, the black man's head has been replaced with a white face. When you look real hard, its clear there is something off about the white man sitting in the middle...

LOS ANGELES: Software giant Microsoft Corp is apologising for altering a photo on its website to change the race of one of the people shown in t he picture. A photo on the Seattle-based company's US website shows two men, one Asian and one black, and a white woman seated at a conference room table.

LOS ANGELES — Software giant Microsoft Corp. is apologizing for altering a photo on its Web site to change the race of one of the people shown in the picture. A photo on the Seattle-based company's U.S. Web site shows two men, one Asian and one black, and a white woman seated at a conference room table. But on the Web site of Microsoft's Polish business unit, the black man's head has been replaced with that of a white man. The color of his hand remains unchanged.

I finally had to sit down with my 11-year-old daughter for “the talk.” Despite my best efforts to preserve her innocence and protect her from growing up too quickly, I simply had to tell her some important facts of life. No, we didn’t have a talk about how babies are born. This talk was about America’s assault on girlhood. The time finally came for me to explain to my daughter the relationship between media and marketing and money, and why some people think nothing of exploiting girls if it increases their ratings, sells advertising and beefs up the bottom line....

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama's ban on a wine that features a nude nymph on the label became a business opportunity for a California vintner who is preparing a marketing campaign to capitalize on being "Banned in Bama." The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the label. Board attorney Bob Martin said the stylized, art-nouveau rendition of a nude female with a flying bicycle violated Alabama rules against displaying "a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner." Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif.,...

A Missouri car dealer is giving away vouchers for a free AK-47 assault rifle with the purchase of a pickup truck.

With one word Monday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele helped the GOP get back in the fight over health care and the entire Obama agenda. The word was “experiment.” “Candidate Obama promised change,” Steele said in a speech at the National Press Club. “President Obama is conducting an experiment.” Steele went on to accuse Barack Obama of carrying out dangerous experiments with the nation’s health care, with the economy, with taxpayers’ dollars.

Grand Strand marketers turn eyes toward Europe. BY MIKE CHERNEY MYRTLE BEACH — When it comes to attracting foreign visitors to the Grand Strand, some local tourism leaders are looking to Congress for help. The Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which has been introduced in the House and Senate, would create a nonprofit corporation to advertise the U.S. as a travel destination in foreign countries. The campaign would be funded by industry contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who do not have to pay for a visa. The travel industry, including the U.S. Travel Association and the American...

The princess industry has been booming in the past few years -- not just the Disney dolls and scratchy toy-store ball gowns that are a rite of passage in most American girlhoods, but a brazen new breed of princess products that target a far wider age range and tap into less seemly attitudes. The hot-pink, leopard-print princess backpacks, T-shirts, purses and bedspreads that girls are now buying (or, rather, their parents are buying for them) have little to do with indulging sweet princess fantasies and everything to do with catering to over-indulged princess egos. [Taste] Sara Schwartz Take the popular...

Happened upon Obama's page on health care, and the words in all caps STAND WITH THE PRESIDENT, and DECLARE YOUR SUPPORT stood out to me. You might also sign up to be Barack's friend, and keep in mind that the page is POWERED by HOPE. If you click through to maybe sign up there, you read this innocent statement: I support President Obama's three principles for real health care reform, and I call on Congress to enact a plan upholding them in 2009. If you didn't read the previous page carefully or don't care, you're about to sign up for...

CHICAGO (AP) — Reporters at the Chicago Tribune say they believe the marketing department in recent weeks solicited subscribers' opinions on stories before they were published, a practice they said raises ethical questions, as well as legal and competitive issues. An e-mail signed by 55 reporters and editors, sent Wednesday to Editor Gerould Kern and Managing Editor Jane Hirt and obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, questions why the newspaper was conducting the surveys and what stories were used. They also wanted to know which readers were surveyed and whether any story had been altered as a result of reader...

America is raising a generation of children on porn - and your child just might be one of them. According to the London School of Economics, nine out of 10 teens who go online will view pornography. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 70 percent of those who viewed porn stumbled across it - many while innocently doing their homework - and had not been looking for it. The purveyors of hard-core porn are so fixated on creating addicts out of our sons and daughters that they have made it virtually impossible for children to escape their clutches. Even one...

At Stanford University, California, two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred. Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing. 'Didn't we send you enough shoes?' they asked head coach Vin Lananna. They had, he was just refusing to use them. 'I can't prove this,' the well-respected coach told them. 'But I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.' Nike sponsored the Stanford team as...

It's an advertiser's nightmare. Layoffs multiply, spreading anxiety. Americans spend less, hurting businesses big and small. And companies slash marketing budgets, raising the stakes for remaining ads. Like all of Nikki Becker's personal training clients, Dawn Hanson (on ball) benefits from a $4-a-session price break in this economy. Becker introduced her "stimulus package" last fall as a way to help her clients -- and her business, Miss Fit Adventures -- weather the recession. "It's different from just a particular industry going bad," Becker says. "Every industry is going bad." Most avoid mentioning the lousy economy. After all, why remind consumers...

Background: Volvo Cars (owned by Ford Motor Company) claims their all new Volvo XC 60 to be the world's safest car. The consequence: The Toyota people have worked themselves into a rage and now take legal actions. (The following is a translation of a Swedish article. My English isn't perfect, but I hope what follows at least is comprehensible:) "Toyota disapproves of Volvo's claims of the new XC60 to be the world's safest car. Toyota now sues Volvo in the Swedish Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen). In their application to the court, Toyota argues that there indeed are cars around the Globe...

Despite a near collapse that required $45 billion in federal taxpayer bailout funds, Bank of America sponsored a five day carnival-like affair just outside the Super Bowl stadium this past week as President Obama decried wasteful spending on Wall St. Brian Ross investigates the bankers who sponsored Super Bowl festivities.The event – known as the NFL Experience – was 850,000 square feet of sports games and interactive entertainment attractions for football fans and was blanketed in Bank of America logos and marketing calls to sign up for football-themed banking products. The bank staunchly defended its sponsorship, saying it was a...

During the 2008 Presidential campaign for empty-suit Obama image and advertising was everything; remember the hour-long infomercials he saturated the TV airwaves with? However, since he became President, Obama realized capitalism is bad and advertising must have government imposed limits. Read on

"Yes we can,'' the Obama campaign proclaimed. "No you can't,'' says the Obama White House of the varied attempts to cash in on the brand Obama built. Or maybe they can, or can't. The lawyers are looking into it, Bloomberg News reports" ### President-elect Barack Obama has created his own brand - represented both by the iconic images of the candidate who campaigned for "change'' and by the "Yes we can'' and "Change We Can Believe in" slogans generated by that campaign. Now the Obama White House, mindful of the "worldwide fascination'' about his election, First Amendment free-speech rights and...

Barack Obama’s popularity makes him a marketer’s dream. Now, the honeymoon may be over for those trying to profit from his appeal. White House lawyers want to control the use of the president’s image, recognizing the worldwide fascination about Obama’s election, First Amendment free-speech rights and easy access to videos and photos on the Web. “Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Obama’s calls for change and his “Yes We Can”...

The nation's best-selling beer is giving its cans and bottles a makeover next year, with a focus on the color blue and the brand's new emphasis on refreshment and what the brewer calls "drinkability." The change comes as analysts say more people are buying beer instead of higher-priced wine and spirits. Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based U.S. unit of Anheuser-Busch InBev, introduced the concept of drinkability with a series of ads in early October telling drinkers the Bud Light brand has flavor and won't fill them up. Next, Anheuser-Busch, bumped up the release of the second wave of its $50 million...

Finding An Honest SEO International Internet Marketing Company In London By Joel Leyden United Kingdom News Agency Tel Aviv -----October 14, 2006......One of the greatest challenges facing any international export or import business in London today is being found on the Internet. The Internet has changed the fundamental means for how we conduct international business. It provides instant, real time answers to many of our daily commercial and personal questions. But now that you have a Website, can your site be found when one performs a search on Google, Yahoo, Live.com or AOL for your company's product or service? Chances...

Great article describing what I noticed very early in Obama's campaign. Obama ran as a brand rather than a traditional candidate. I think this explains the early loyalty, particularly by young or new voters, to a man with very little experience and a track record, what little he had, which clearly did not match his rhetoric. Obama is the proverbial empty suit, but due to precise and effective branding he is perceived as the more preferable candidate to his target audience, the youth and persuadable voter.

Win or lose, many marketing experts agree that Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency will provide the blueprint for political campaigns to come. There is the message and design discipline, the embrace of social media, and—most importantly—an openness to the idea that candidates, like brands, are built from the bottom up rather than the top down. As Scott Goodson, founder of agency StrawberryFrog says, "He is not a brand in the traditional sense, he is a cultural movement." Call it Politics 2.0. Headed by chief strategist David Axelrod and manager David Plouffe, and with help from new media director Joe...

A Hemline Index, Updated By TAMAR LEWIN More suicides? Fewer male births? Less back pain? More laxative sales? Data points litter the landscape as economists, sociologists, psychologists and marketers examine the societal changes, big and small, trivial and traumatic, that accompany a bad economy. And with this particular version of a troubled economy — a stock market that goes into convulsions at 3 p.m., a looming global recession, a $700 billion bailout plan that may or may not work, and a jittery public wondering what is coming next — changes should flow as freely as profits in good times. It’s...