A bit OT but how far will commercialization go?

NEW DELHI: Imagine a shopping mall as the backdrop of the Taj Mahal instead of the picturesque Yamuna.

Is this an architectural nightmare? No, this could soon be the ugly reality. The UP government has started the construction of the Heritage Corridor on the banks of the Yamuna, behind the monument.

The UP government has decided to fill up the river bed behind the Taj in order to build a shopping complex, the work for which has already begun. The Central and the state government have sanctioned Rs 175 crore for the construction of the Taj Heritage Corridor, even as environmental conservationists are decrying the 'scandalous' nature of the project.

Judge Huw Daniel has dismissed a juror at Mold Crown Court in North Wales for wearing one of French Connection's "FCUK" T-shirts in court the Telegraph reports.

FCUKs cheeky slogan was created by TBWA (the 'b' does not stand for 'Beattie') in London 1997 when Trevor Beattie by lucky coincidence spotted faxes that had been sent from the company's Hong Kong office marked "FCHK to FCUK".

H&M have already caused their usual ruckus with their new poster campaign for summer bathing fashions - featuring model Heidi Klum.

Åke Finne, advertising professor in Sweden states "These ads are insulting to women, depicting them as hookers'.

read more to see Heidi topless.

(Claymore/adlist )
Why settle with naming rights for a lousy ballpark or stadium when your corporate beast can take over and rename a real park or forest!?

From the Napa news :

"With the state facing a $3 billion deficit, Massachusetts lawmakers are considering selling corporate sponsors the naming rights to parks and forests, including the Walden Woods immortalized by Henry David Thoreau."

what's next, the Schwarzwald woods being renamed to Schweppes?

You may have noticed as of late, the deluge of X/Xtreme/eXtreme/Extreme names.
So has the Boston Globe who say all this X communication is no accident according to marketing X perts.

The Atlanta Journal has also noted that X marks what's hot.

officially all X names have been X-hausted!

We've been laughing at this all morning - seriously believing that this is a joke.

Alas, it's not a joke, MSN Launches World's First 'Internet Loo' brags a pressrelease from Microsoft today.

Apparantly, The iLoo will be mobile and is part of MSN’s mission to allow instant logging on "anytime and any place".

Their old tag - "Where do you want to go today" could be changed to "Where do you need to go today".

Aaron Brown of CNN, Walter Cronkite and some other broadcast journalists have been hired to appear in "news breaks" produced by a company called WJMK Inc. in Florida. Picking up the baton where Morley Safer left off. Is it pre-packaged news or a thinly veiled advertisment for the drug companies that pay $15,000 for the segments, and are allowed to edit and approve them?

Morley Safer of CBS, has appeared in hundreds of the videos but has concluded that the work "does not meet the standards of CBS News". Safer won't be doing any more ad-news segments for WJMK in the future.

[much more at New York Times]

(Reuters) - Groups opposed to the U.S.-led campaign against Baghdad complain they have been blocked from airing anti-war advertisements on broadcast media increasingly dominated by giant corporations forbes.com reports.

The anti-war group Not In Our Name said MTV refused to air its spots in which young Americans in New York's Times Square talk of their opposition to war. The spots were shot by acclaimed documentary maker Barbara Kopple.

However the "be all you can be" army recruit advertisments run on MTV.

The advertising watchdog in the UK is investigating after receiving complaints that an adidas poster poked fun at the case of the convicted terrorist Richard Reid.

The complaints said the ad depicting a naked athlete wearing nothing but running shoes was inappropriate in the current international climate and should be taken down.

(read more to really see poster)

Auckland , NZ : An advertising agency has been forced to cancel a marketing parody of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra after squabbling with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over whether the campaign was legal.

Nebula Marketing promoted itself with the tagline "Niagra ... the proven marketing performance enhancer". The copy in their promotion continued: "Marketing strategy a bit limp and flaccid? Brand suffering from promotional dysfunction?"

Only problem - they sent heir self promotion to Pfizer (Viagra) - and Pfizer were not amused.

The Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASA) has ordered that a Microsoft ad implying that its software will bring about the extinction of the hacker is to be pulled for being "unsubstantiated and misleading".

"Microsoft's software is littered with vulnerabilities"

To see the ad - which depicts a Mammoth, a dodo, a sabre tooth tiger and the other soon to be extinct species - a hacker , just click on the read more link.

Advertising watchdogs in the uk have banned McDonald's ad campaign for their new Steak Premiere burger after viewers complained that the sandwich shown in the commercial was thicker and better filled than the real thing.

A special lesson to lazy hacks: If one of your accounts is an island paradise, maybe you should get your ass down there once in a while and take some damn pictures instead of relying on stock photography - Otherwise, you're gonna get burned.

formerly a daring fashion move reserved for (bone)heads and their Union Jack Flags - Now even the posh Guardian wants you to label your forehead.

I love football on TV,
Shots of Gina Lee,
Hanging with my friends,
And twins!

Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski - Coors new bodies - eh - spokestwins are rocking the beer-world..... [continue to see them]

John Smiths are in trouble with Nike for their latests adverts - depicting the star of Phoenix Nights kicking a football and shouting "'Ave it" according to BBC news online.

A letter sent to Scottish Courage, which makes John Smith's bitter, by Nike's solicitors Dickinson Dees describes Mr Kay as "an overweight and apparently unskilled footballer".

Onemillionmoms are encouraging mom's to send letters of complaint "urging Nike and The NFL to drop the disgusting commercial" which is currently airing.

Super adgrunts - click to view

"It is unbelievable the depths to which marketing has fallen. It's gotten so that you can't even watch a sporting event without exposing your children to nudity, sex and violence on commercials!"

David LaChappelle's latest video "Dirrty" with Christina Aguilera is a lot dirtier than they initially thought.

Raunchy images of Christina Aguilera dancing isn't the scandal, neither are her exposed buttcheeks or sucking of bottles.. It's the posters in the background added by some set Art Director that doesn't read Thai.

"I had absolutely no knowledge that this poster contained such offensive words, and I sincerely regret the insult." said David LaChappelle.

Microsoft pulled a switch. To be more specific, they posted a cute ad on their sales pages supposedly written by a freelance copywriter who switched after eight years of mac-dom over to XP. It beat the same drum as the apple switch campaign but with a lot less personality. An entire personality it seems.

The slashdot community thought they recognized the woman, and found her to be a Getty images stock photo. Was this a testimonial without a testimonee?

In Stockholm 7-11 are currently running ads promoting their hot dogs. Someone should have told them what their headline means in french .........

Bite Sale! literally means dirty Cock in french.
Wonder if the girls parents knew.... I'm sure she can excuse herself with the classic: 'I was young, I needed the money'...

photo © Lars Hultman