My attitude to "junk" and unsolicited mail

Like most folks, I receive my fair share of junk and unsolicited mail of various kinds; one good thing that has come out of the economic downturn that has affected many parts of the world since 2007/2008 is that the volume of spurious commercial junk mail has lessened considerably.

Another major category of unsolicited mail is political leaflets. For some years I have "immortalised" these in my blog, irrespective of the source, because although I have quite partisan political views, I see no reason not to acknowledge in my own fashion all such propaganda. However, my strong feeling is that I cannot imagine that anyone's voting decision has been or will ever be swayed by political leafleting. So the question is, why do political Parties utilise their funds in this way? I can only imagine they have been seduced by the peddlers of dreams, because I doubt there is much empirical evidence that this expenditure has much if any effect

Now if only the English and Scottish FAs followed suit ...

- a television advert by the Dutch FA lamenting the lack of 'out' gay footballers.

Honesty in advertising, if not at all pretty

I daresay if you're in the market for a "pre-owned" stained, damaged and scummy "trailer-park" home this might be just the thing:



(thru Kenneth in the (212))

Oh, and a Happy New Year to everybody!

Could this work at Nairn railway station, do you think?

(thru put 'em all on an island, a New Zealand-based blog I've read for some years and specifically this article)

Shepherding on steroids ...

Just amazing!



(thru Barcepundit)

An SNP supporter's tipple of choice (for pay)

Well-known SNP supporter, Sir Sean Connery, drinks that well-known brand of [not Scotch] whisky from Japanese producer Suntory. Presumably this ad. gets played to introduce the one-time 'Bond, James Bond' when he attends SNP functions?



And he looks so happy, don't you think?

Wickedly subversive

... and banned:

Telling it like it is ...

Remember the UK until 1979? I do - it was depressing in the extreme. Unsurprisingly Labour got us there. They've done the same thing again over their 12 years in power since 1997. When will the British people learn that Labour governments always end in failure and economic chaos for the country?
The makers of the torylogo.com website forgot a basic lesson - a weapon can be used against those that created it. No surprise there then - it's what Labour are. Useless at anything and everything they attempt. (The fact that there is a link to labourlist.org in this website tells you all you need to know about this so-called 'independent' website!)

(thru Dizzy)

Midweek YouTube - what the British voted for in 2005

Or at least some of them did. Does it still seem like such a good idea, 'comrades'?



All political advertising is of course completely over-the-top 'optimism', or for the 'attack' variety it tends to be unrelieved gloom and disaster.

In any case I think it will be interesting to compare Labour's message last time around with what they come up with when they next present themselves to the electorate; I suspect there will be a fascinating change of tone, not to mention a radical rewrite of practically everything they (and those who voted for them) foisted upon us in 2005; the choice of background music and sound-effects will be particularly instructive.

Not quite what it seems

- banned in France, but it appeals to my sense of humour. One of the benefits of being a two-car family, I suppose.

"Seek immediate medical assistance for erections lasting more than four hours ... "

No I haven't finally gone totally 'ga-ga', or at least I don't think I have! This is an extract from an advertisement for Viagra which punctuated all three of the commercial breaks during a 45 minute interview on CBS with US President-elect Barack Obama; I've not been to the US for quite a few years (and not at all during the Presidency of the 43rd President - a deliberate choice on my part) so had not seen this particular very 'cheery' advertisement for the ubiquitous sex-enhancement drug before which ends with the phrase 'Viva Viagra!' (to the tune of 'Viva Las Vegas!'). See the full interview embedded here (scroll down the page a little), although I have now discovered how to embed it here myself, too:


Watch CBS Videos Online


It is refreshing to see a future US President who seems so normal and can respond spontaneously to diverse questions in complete sentences with humour. We haven't seen one of those for, oh I would say for roughly eight years! Mind you, and to be scrupulously impartial, I'd have to say that Mrs Laura Bush, just like Mrs Michelle Obama, seems an articulate and charming individual, too, so one must assume that her husband does have some redeeming features not immediately obvious to outsiders.

Whether Obama will prove to be a successful President is yet to be seen, but I think the omens look hopeful, at the very least.

Brilliant! I like this a lot ...

THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD.
NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE.

Read more here.

(Thru Andrew Sullivan. Not everyone feels the same, though.)

Government 'spin' disallowed by advertising watchdog

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an advert by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, for implying that a newly-qualified teacher could earn substantially more (70 per cent more!) than the pay-scales allow for. Whilst the Agency says it will abide by the ruling, it disputes the ASA findings although the justification it offers is not particularly convincing. Government departments need to know that their advertising campaigns (i.e. propaganda) must abide by certain minimum standards, unlike and very unfortunately a lot of the pre-election promises of political parties.

What an artist did for some publicity - and it has worked ...

... although perhaps not in precisely the manner he had anticipated.

Yazmany Arboleda decided to rent a small vacant store in Midtown, Manhattan (New York) and to publicise his art exhibition stencilled the folowing on the storefront window:

“The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama.”




Now he says he's surprised and claims (free registration required) that the secret service is violating his rights; I suppose they may have been a little heavy-handed to begin with, but can you blame them? Obviously both Obama and Clinton, and I would imagine McCain as well, are under secret service protection as potentially the next US President (Clinton no longer, at least in 2008, one supposes). Mr Arboleda says his "exhibition is supposed to be about character assassination. It’s philosophical and metaphoric".

(thru Kenneth in the (212) )

"The Power of Dreams". Smashed.

Were you watching Channel4 on Thursday evening (29th May)? I was. Well, if you were too, you may recall having seen an advertisement during the 'Come Dine with Me' programme which was quite spectacular - I think it was the mid-point advertising break around 8.30pm - basically it showed some stunt parachutists jumping out of a light aircraft and free-falling in formation, whilst spelling out the name of the car manufacturer one of whose advertising slogans is included in the title of this post; I speak of course of 'Honda'.

As usual with Honda ads it was innovative and highly-sophisticated - so sophisticated that nothing so vulgar as showing an actual car was included. Here's a link to a story carried in a UK tabloid the next day (the Sun) about the stunt. Here's another link to a story about the advertisement.

So far so good. After the parachutists had spelled out the name, we saw them breaking formation and pulling the ripcords to release their parachutes. Excellent stunt, another 'winning' advert for Honda!

Unfortunately yesterday the stunt team must have been undertaking another flight and it seems to have gone badly wrong - for reasons as yet unknown the wing came of the light aircraft and the parachutists had to attempt to jump to safety - however, two were killed (the Spanish pilot and one of the parachutists, a Brazilian). The accident took place near Toledo. Spanish news reports here (in Spanish) and here (in English). There is a brief BBC report here.

One wonders what other visual wizardry Honda has got up its sleeves for our 'edification' and amusement in days and weeks to come? I wonder, in particular, whether the ad will have the follow-on on Sunday suggested by the Sun in the linked story above?

Some will probably say that such advertising is both dangerous and wasteful, quite part from the fact that it is employing huge resources in support of sordid economic gain. If such criticisms are levied I would wish to dissociate myself from them. Life is sometimes dangerous and 'dreams' sometimes involve a risk. The 'health & safety' merchants would have us wrapped in cotton wool, fearful of stepping out of our doors, but I hope Honda will not allow its somewhat whimsical approach to advertising its products to be stopped in its tracks by this tragedy.

News Corp. and slick advertising

I don't like Rupert Murdoch and do not read any News Corporation publications, nor do I subscribe to Sky, but credit where credit is due: the company has a very slick piece of advertising today to celebrate its acquisition of The Wall Street Journal.

In the newspaper I take, The Daily Telegraph, the adverisement covered two and a half full pages - I expect it was the same in other national newspaper across the UK and probably world-wide in major markets. Two of the pages were a timeline of the progress (and astounding it is, for sure) of Murdoch from his rescue of the Adelaide News (one of his daddy's newspapers) in his native Australia in 1954 to the purchase of The Wall Street Journal this year. What particularly struck me was the entry for 1981:

"Time is runnin' out." We save The Times from closure. Today it's Britain's most respected nespaper.

I just bet The Daily Telegraph loved printing that last sentence! On the other hand, I suppose they may just have said to themselves that as it was paid advertising and not illegal they were prepared to take Murdoch's money and print any old rubbish. I rushed to check the Telegraph's editorial page and was reassured to see that they haven't echoed the 'paid for' claim there.

Midweek YouTube - Monganga medicated soap (Zaire)

This advertisement is in French, but the style of presentation is typical for this kind of product; the lady in the ad. is wearing a white coat to imply that she is some kind of researcher or perhaps has medical qualifications. The ad. dates from 1993 and is not so different from similar items that one might see in this country; after the medical bit at the beginning the shots change to images of happy people using the product and getting 'satisfaction' from it.

(NB/ The version of this video-clip embedded originally has disappeared, because according to YouTube the account associated with it has been deleted, but fortunately another version exists currently in YouTube, so I have updated the embedding on Sunday 19th January 2014 - see also * below.)

The punch-line at the end has the presenter saying that the product "merits its name"; the name Monganga is the Lingala (a west African language) for a doctor.

* The second link originally placed here (from an educational institute in South Africa) has also disappeared, so I have replaced it with a similar although less detailed article about the family of languages to which Lingala belongs - please click here to read it.

Midweek YouTube: Andy Warhol 'plugs' now-defunct airline Braniff

It's very difficult to put oneself in the hoped-for mindset of the target audience for this advertisement; it looks as if it dates from the late 1960s, or perhaps the 1970s. Braniff is not an airline I ever flew with, but it is difficult to imagine I could have been prevailed upon to do so after watching this cringe-making ad:



Read the Braniff story; like Pan-Am it was once a major airline. Both have now passed into history.

The shambles that is the Olympic Logo

Frankly I am amazed! How did the UK Olympic organising committee neglect to do what, it seems, every advertiser that uses moving images for broadcast has to do?! These jokers have apparently actually contravened OFCOM guidelines in releasing it for broadcast without doing elementary safety checks! Let's hope they have better professional expertise available for the design and construction of all the facilities in a timely and safe manner!

So. One day after the official launch of the ugly logo, a segment of the official brand video has to be cut out. You really couldn't make it up!