At the risk of boring the crap out of everyone with yet another take on the suicide bomber viral ad scandal, turns out this isn't the first time Volkswagen has loosed its legal jackals on guys like Lee and Dan.

In 1973, it was National Lampoon that VW had in its sights. All because of this spoof ad the magazine ran. The headline: If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he'd be President today.

Is there a difference between then and now? Believe it.

Oh my, of all the silly things to dress up as for Halloween, how is this iPod ad outfit for starters? Someone wore that to this party. You know that you have made a huge impact on pop culture when weird stuff like this happens - someone please give Art Director Susan Alinsangan a hall of fame award of any kind, we suggest a new category just for her, the "stickiest Art Direction evah Hall of Fame award". Spelled just like that, yo.

Previous ipod chatter: party posters, Download Jesus iPod ad, Presidents bulge, an iPod?, FUEL iPod parody, St. Georges Subway, Toronto. All the ipod films can be found using the search.

Some would say the attitude toward media in the United States has taken a decidedly conservative shift. Howard Stern would probably say that. So would Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Abercrombie & Fitch, too. Others. Now, Sports Illustated is giving subscribers the chance to opt out of the annual swimsuit issue. They say it has nothing to do with the chill in the media air.

I don't know which will be more remembered for the scourge it visited on this planet, Wal-Mart or The Black Death. Few companies have taken more of a beating.

But now the company is fighting back with a new campaign that goes right after its detractors. But is this a good idea?

Yeah, the company is in desperate need of an image makeover. But isn't this new campaign just giving its enemies an even louder voice? There's so many other ways they could have gone.

Sun Tzu might have been a genius on the battlefield. But he looks pretty impotent in a blue apron.

This amused me a lot.. Longtime adlister, adgrunt and pal Leslie Burns was on Jeopardy. In her "Howdy" Jeopardy blurb (real player) she managed to sneak in the line "...an adlister like me". It's like sublimininal advertising! ;)

"Sponsormymelon.com!" yelled some guy a few years back and since then the idea has been top of mind.. (sorry).
The Guardian spoofed it when the Cunning crew said they'd sell it... And now, you can find quite a few on Ebay. Here you can Advertise on this mans forehad!, or if you want to *Advertise your logo or website domain on this guys forehead!, here's one that reads " Advertise Your Logo on my Ass (or Forehead)" oooh, cheeky, how about Advertise Your logo on 3 C.I.K.TV staff forehead and help som local kids TV program get some much needed equipment. Seems a worthy cause.

Andrew Fisher is the man from Omaha that caught the attention of BBC news and channel six news, Omaha this time around.
Hat tip to Researcher

Remember those baby-shirts back in 2000? The ones we had so much fun making more insane slogans for? The thread provided gems like
I eat at Hooters!™ (boy), I'm only here for the Welfare. (coed),
Absolut™ Accident (coed) (penned by Claymore, who else?) and so on....
Good news for those who want to dress their tykes with 'tude - the pottymouth shop has opened!

Pottymouthshop

Comedy Central has somehow managed to rope in Ernest Lupinacci in an episode called "glossing over evil". Watch it here if you are equipped with Windows Media Player.
Don't know Ernest Lupinacci work? Have you not seen Shatner in the priceline commercials?

"It's on - 2002", William Shatner "Uncanny", Shatner/Nimoy #1,Shatner/Nimoy #2,Shatner/Nimoy #3.

With this I would like to apologize to all the webheads who might have followed my link to the SinkYaDrink back in June while I was guestblogging at coudal.com. As I'm a paranoid webhead I did enter the competition after sinking several hundred drinks, and let the site know who I was by filling in a false email "drink" at one of my domains, and real name.
Naturally I didn't win anything, I fear my few hundred drinks record was beat within hours, what a shame. But I did win some SPAM! Yes! Spam! It seems preloaded.com have no qualms about selling email addies gathered via their games to spammers as these days, six months later, that "drink" email I only used on their site is getting lots of offers like cashing chips with the gaming club from Promotions@GamingClubSportsbook.com which doesn't interest me in the least. Shame on preloaded, but I can't say that I'm surprised, it seems that all the fun games and competitions lately are just a way to gather fresh emails.

Maven Networks is announcing the addition of several interactive agencies to its Maven Agency Partner Program including Agency.com, iEntertainment and Tribal. These agencies will use the Maven platform to drive their innovative broadband video marketing campaigns.

Maven Networks, Inc., is the software provider that enables marketers to deliver the most compelling video experiences on the Web.

Take a look at the new Amazon Theater.

Come witness the future of entertainment media. Don't pay too much attention to the content of these short films, unless it is to notice the (sometimes painfully obvious) product placement.

"It's getting colder in Tel Aviv, apparently. Who knew?"
Sarah Jessica Parker poster advertisement for Lux gets more modest clothing after religious groups threatened boycott.

Gross promo #1 (Better late than never):
The poster of a girl bears a chilling message: REWARD for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the murder of Jessica Rogers.
But the posters are just an ad, for a movie. Parents of murdered children are not amused.

Gross promo #2:
The "Seed of Chucky" Sperm Bank... Gross or Brilliant? Oh, I'm torn.... The condoms are funny though.

Adfreak (Adweeks Blog, not to be confused with *AdFreaks) tells the story of HSBC's email server censorship. Amusing. My nomination for prudest mailserver in the world however, goes to BBDO Detroit which has a problem with the phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword".

Gareth Kay, an ad planner over at Modernista!, has a web blog with a brilliant entry about Donny Deutsch, "The cult of personality."

But the reason for posting this today is my friend has just discovered this picture of a commemorative plate that Donny had made for himself. Quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever seen - and it's a real thing, not a photoshop joke. It's also pretty scary seeing he is the public face of US advertising.

Click on the link to see the plate. Donny might be able to make some extra cash by selling these plates to skeet shooting adgrunts. ;)

Because this story just won't die yet!

Now I'm layed up in bed with some pooick tummy bug that my 3 year old daughter brought home from nursery, so with my new found down time, I could not resist finding out the latest from the guys who are eating away at the ad establishment.
So to date the big agency is still keeping schtum about www.ogilvymather.co.uk domain, the url was scooped up just 24 hours after it became available; but its evil minions seem to be rallying round below.
And one strange voice has been heard that disagrees with the rest of the webs resounding support for this viral stunt, but as we say, every one to their own though, and this is after all a free web.
But, after reading this INDEPTH and somewhat personal attack especially on the agencies creative director Ben Wheatley, by the site Netimperative, the viral jesters obviously felt that it was only right, and modern to have their say back. Yet, on the original netimperative site, and although they describe themselves as a community, there is no provision to comment in any way publicly, even worse there is no authors name given either.

But as one would expect from the ASABAILEY team they have taken the matter into our own hands. And guess what? Having their say was as simple as taking the netimperitive.co.uk domain name. Oh dear indeed.

Oh no not again, first the AD, the superbowl commercial, then the Gold lion, the mint condition copywriter - and now the Viral Marketing agency POZZ. All for sale on Ebay, of course.

Pozz, specialists in Advertising Video Viral Marketing are offering a viral campaign for the minimum bid of 3000 Euro on Ebay.fr.

What I want to know is, what does that cheesy porcelain angel thing go for?

Claymore quipped: "Looks like Honda has a potential hit single on their hands."
The song in their latest Honda advert with the chorus Hate something, change something, make something better is getting popular, so popular in fact that w+k are considering releasing it as a single. The whisky voice of Garrison Keillor stars in the song written by w+k creative Michael Russoff.

Proof that it is getting popular enough to spoof is at w+k UK blog where you can hear Christian O'Connells take on Hate.

Claymore has a knack for spotting word trends, all these links have been sniffed out by him. He says: "I think we're seeing the birth of the new "extreme/xtreme"... empower!"

It's a vacuum cleaner! EmPower!
It's a toothpaste!EmpowerMint! It's a shirt!
It's a detergent! It's a spray gel! It's a mattress! It's an adaptor!
It's a penis mightier!
It's a buzzword!
empowerment: The corporate mantra of the late '90s used to deceive subordinates into believing they actually were allowed to think and make decisions on their own.

Jo Ito has found an mage that seems to solve the mystery of that bulge under the presidents coat. it might be an ipod. Right!
Interesting debate in the comments ensue, not about the iPod spoof but about the copyright in cases where you can't find the author, creative commons et al. You should check it out. The image seems to have appeared at Happy Go Larry previously (October 13th).

Woman advertises for Husband on a huge Billboard. A Chinese-Australian woman has taken out a giant billboard in a busy part of Sydney to advertise for a husband. "If you can put up a sign advertising Coca Cola, why not write one about a husband?" she said. Good point, miss. Heck if Blaire can do a website called Marry Blaire.com why not a billboard?

Audrey Davis, the creative director of Maisonneuve Magazine is interviewed at Blogfonk

Back in 1946 Salvador Dali and Walt Disney collaborated to create a short animated film called Destino, it was finished finished 57 years later by Roy Disney using Dali's storyboards. Those who think this is a combo to die for should head over to NPR where they can see to realmedia clips of Destino. Disney is planning to release a DVD with a documentary that tells the whole story.

Claymore said it best when he punned that headline - personally I was speechless. This LiveJournal user has the scoop and images, of the new "Toy" you can find in specially marked boxes of Kelloggs® Rice Krispies®. Yes it's a clever little electrical toothbrush for the kids... But snap the brush part off and the vibrating bit can do double duty as moms best friend!

too good not to share, Brent wisecracked on adlist: "It fights cavities AND it fills 'em!"