Stuff at the supermarket checkout counter are last-minute items: a pack of gum, tabloids about celeb cellulite and a...MYLAR BALLOON THAT SAYS YOU'RE SORRY??!

The rest of the balloons on these checkout lines are of the "Happy This" "Happy That" variety.  Somehow, a message on floating, helium-inflated shiny material that says "I'm Sorry" just seems sad.  Maybe I'm reading into this too much.  Maybe...but I am not sorry. 

supermarkets
Posted by lee sachs at 11:44 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Got the wordplay in the headline?  I'll explain.  Clorox, AKA Branded Chlorine Bleach came out with a new line of products called "Green Works" that's healthy, green, biodegradable, natural, perfect, endorsed by The Sierra Club ... shit, TREES AND MUSKRATS are using this stuff to tidy up. 

green marketing, packaging
Posted by lee sachs at 1:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm wondering if there's a "Prepositional Attorney" who has to review this kind of language.  "Well, you can say 'with' and you can say 'from' but if you say 'off' you that's tricky.  Can you say, 'We make money.  And you make money... too, except we make more than you because we're a profit-making venture and you're just a customer.  We make money ON you.  In fact, we're banking on you to give us more of your money.  Because we're a bank.  Ally Bank.'  Yeah...that's it!

copy for copy's sake, financial services
Posted by lee sachs at 5:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Somewhere there's a cardinal rule that before and after pics should resemble each other.  And after should look better.  The "stay-at-home mom" was so busy shooting her mouth off about how white her teeth got, that when they snapped the pic, she opened too wide.  This also gives us a nice view of her tongue, which has a bit of a roast beef hue to it.  HURL!

bad graphics, bad photos, health, pharmaceuticals
Posted by lee sachs at 9:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For marketing Seroquel, an anti-depressant, the media buyers had a great idea:

Sell it to people out of a job looking for work!  Brilliant, just brilliant!

banners, pharmaceuticals
Posted by lee sachs at 12:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

How?  First you start with a face...



Add some hair...



Then just pick out some clothes!!!

avatars, banners, graphic design
Posted by lee sachs at 10:33 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A newsletter is a great way to connect with customers, communicate innovations and, uh, dunno...let's say, "extend the brand."  Which means....PUNS!  Lots of 'em.  Here the "Mileposts" newsletter, given to all weary Metro-North commuters in the NYC area, demonstrates its consistent efforts to shove a pun in every sentence.

copy for copy's sake, newsletters, puns
Posted by lee sachs at 10:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We're kinda' into a meta-marketing thing here as this door decoration is sorta' advertising to the world, "It's A Girl!."  But we really need to keep our focus on the manufacturer who is selling this excrement.  So what do they put on the package to make it irresistible?

packaging, stock photos
Posted by lee sachs at 11:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Since people can no longer be forced to watch commercials, advertisers have found tons of new places to shove messaging under our noses...or feet.  At the supermarket, this little vinyl mat informs us that the Mission tortilla wraps are now over by the bread department.  (I really hadn't been following their progress through the aisles, but thanks guys.) 

But what is "here?"  Is here there?  Where the bread is?  Or is here on the floor where I roll cart and wipe my feet?  Or is here, in the photo, where the illusion of the tortilla wrap really is.  Is.  Depending what your definition of "here" is...here. 

food, graphic design, groceries, guerrilla marketing
Posted by lee sachs at 11:24 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Let's play "Stump The Gmail Scanner!"  With very little to go on, and mainly the corporate disclaimer from a friend about some writing I sent him, the scanners grasp.  Okay, a few about writing and agents, how to make money (but why $77,000,000?) but my favorite is "You: an electricity fool?"  Moi? 

Gmail
Posted by lee sachs at 10:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

What the hell are they saying here?!  You know they came up with the headline and said, "We need something that says 'easy.'  How do you show easy?"  Well, why not show someone in the impossible yoga pose, "Inverted Crane At Laptop." 

copy for copy's sake, stock photos
Posted by lee sachs at 7:26 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This all looks pretty innocent if totally incongruous: cartoon polar bear on an ice floe with a scarf, chillin on a chaise lounge.  All representing that the cold food stays cold, even when it's hot outside.  Of course, there's nothing "natural" about that.  This is a man-made thing this thermal food carrier.


Just as there's nothing natural about global warming which doesn't exactly leave this polar bear so happy on that ice floe. 

packaging, product mascot
Posted by lee sachs at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

What is the metaphor here?  Feel free to have a go at it, because I'm totally lost...even with the treasure map.  Tall ships?  Going back to school and learning about Columbus??  If you saw this banner live, you'd be able to make the ships move around the circle with your mouse.  What does that mean?  Obama asks Moms to run in circles? 

copy for copy's sake, graphic design
Posted by lee sachs at 12:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For those following along, I posted a flyer found at my just-imploded bank, Washington Mutual, right in the thick of the financial debacle.  Chase bought WaMu and the flyer announced:

"We love Chase.  And not just because they have a trillion dollars."  (original post is here:)

The above "we" is now "unemployed" as the old Chase decimated and crushed WaMu to a fine powder.  Now Chase announces the new WaMu, er uh, Chase.  The Old Chase.  So...LET'S CELEBRATE!!!  <HURL!>

copy for copy's sake, financial services, flyers
Posted by lee sachs at 11:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Another for The EHWAHEC (Extreme Height, Wide-Angle, Hip Eyeglass Creative) Wing of our Museum.

extreme height, stock photos, wide angle
Posted by lee sachs at 11:35 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Geico spends $837 billion a year on advertising.  They've got the Caveman which was funny for about 10 minutes, then I hated it.  They've got the gecko which was never funny and I hated it from the start.  And now they have this pile of money with eyes which makes me hate them even more. 

Let's review: If a lot of people hate your product mascot, that's not good.  Advertisers love to point out that Mr. Whipple and the Verizon "Can You Hear Me Now" guy sell product, but that's because they spent gazillions flooding the airwaves with those clowns.  That's like saying an annoying pop song must be good because people can't get it out of their heads.  (Who Let The Dogs Out?!  Macarena?!  Barry Manilow??  HURL!)



Lastly, this isn't a character?  This is a pile o' money with plastic eyes.  It doesn't even have a nose or a mouth.  You call this a mouth?!

product mascot
Posted by lee sachs at 10:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)