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Marketing covers a lot of territory. Commercials. Tiktok. Insta. Billboards. Magazines. Podcasts. Even full-length movies.
Brands cover, well, just about everything. From the clothes we wear to the cars we drive.
Commercialism has invaded every facet of our lives—from the Pampers gift bag in the maternity ward to the pine-box, sustainable funerals that will set you back a cool $5000.
Here you will find information on what marketing is, how it gets you to buy now and what aspects of your life are being invaded for corporate profit.
Sister Wives is not very good TV, though it’s interesting faith
I decided I should watch Sister Wives, a new reality series on TLC–in part because of the topic and in part because the negative press surrounding the show. The topic of the show is the life of a polygamist family. The negative press relates to the husband being brought up on felony bigamy charges. In truth you can’t help but think this was a publicity stunt given the timing and the inevitablity of the charges.
Native Ads and the FTC
In December of 2015, the FTC came out with guidelines for advertisers on how to present native advertising.
Much of this seems to be straightforward. Clearly mark the advertising as advertising. The fact that they even had to say this is fairly surprising, but ultimately necessary.
Mobile Ad Spending Growing Faster than Predicted…and, Ad Blockers too
Not surprisingly, mobile advertising spending is growing exponentially. As we increasingly move from desk top to mobile devices, advertising has followed.
Native Ads Are Targeting Your Teens
Wishbone–a visual voting app–uses native advertising to surreptitiously target girls and young women between the ages of 13 and 25…
New Scientology Commercial
Last night I was watching “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” which I had Tivo’d a few nights ago. The show is a reality series that is trying to find the lead for a revival of Sound of Music being produced by Andrew Lloyd Weber. That’s not the interesting part (though the show is enjoyable and not all as mean-spirited as other reality series).
“Eat, Pray, Love” Movie — All about the Peripherals
While a blockbuster book, the movie Eat, Pray, Love was a bit of a snore at the box office. It could be that the producers didn’t really care about the box office as much as they did about the ancillary merchandise (movies make more money from DVDs and PPV anyway, but here we’re talking about real tchotchkes).
Native Advertising — The Ads You Cannot See
Know anyone who likes advertising? Yeah, me neither. People use remote controls, they buy subscription video services from HBO to Showtime to Netflix, and increasingly they use ad blockers, all so they don’t have to see commercial content.
Marketing Trump: The Stealth Marketing President
Fake news isn’t new. Rather, fake news has been stealthily seeping into editorial for the last few years—not as misleading political stories from Macedonia, but as news stories paid for by corporate sponsors from Oreos to Motorola from Shell Oil to Goldman Sachs. And, now, our president-elect.
Reclaiming Yoga
There was a wonderful story in the NY Times yesterday about one man’s response to the overcommercialization of yoga. In a world where who your yoga teacher is and whether you are wearing Lululemon has become more important than your connection to Spirit, Greg Gumucio has not bought into the hype.
Named as a Significant Woman in Native Advertising
Facebook, Russia, and Black Ops Advertising
It’s not just Facebook’s Russian ads: Hidden advertising is pervasive and growing
Russians were able to secretly insert themselves into our political system because online ads have gone unchecked…
The Secrets of ‘Black Ops’ Advertising. Who is Paying for our News?
It’s a “legitimate con”, according to one former executive at ESI Media, the Russian-owned company that controls London’s Evening Standard and the online Independent. A writer working for Spark, the Telegraph’s branded content division, calls it “creative deception”. For the American communications academic, Mara Einstein, it’s simply “black ops advertising”…
Ladies, the NFL Doesn’t Care About You
I woke up this morning and hit the link for The Daily as I often do. I was a few days behind so I listened to the story about Deshaun Watson. Steam was coming out of my ears.
Deshaun Watson is now the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. He has also been accused by more than 20 women of sexual assault. Mr. Watson contacted these women through Instagram for massage services. They were legitimate therapists, but it seems he wanted a massage of another kind.
Advertising in The Age of Covid
During the worst pandemic in history, marketers are at a loss. Frankly, they should be.
Now is not the time to put out a sales message or anything resembling one. The economy is tanking, retail stores are closed, and nearly 10 million Americans have just lost their jobs. The only things people — note that I do not say “consumers” — care about buying right now is food and toilet paper.
How Facebook and The New York Times Corporatised ‘Fake News’
There’s been a lot of talk about fake news lately. The truth is that fake news isn’t new.
What is new is the extent to which fake news has overtaken the media landscape and the forms that this misinformation takes. News pieces from far-right ideologues like Alex Jones’ Infowars or Breitbart or Fox News constitute one type of propaganda.