Stuart Elliott
It is time again to ask questions about advertising, marketing, media and popular culture. Does Microsoft get a refund if one of its television commercials showing a computer buyer choosing a PC over a Macintosh is followed by a commercial for Applebee?s?
Are beer drinkers in Baltimore crabby about a campaign for Natural Light beer?sold by the Anheuser-Busch division of Anheuser-Busch InBev?because the new nickname for the brand, ?Natty Light,? echoes the nickname for a local beer, National Bohemian, known for decades as ?Natty Boh?? How many students? summer vacations were ruined by an advertisement for Wal-Mart in Parade magazine, promoting a back-to-school sale this week on Elmer?s Glue, notebooks and Crayola crayons?
Will the copywriters at Saatchi & Saatchi creating advertising for the coming test of Tide Basic?a version of Tide detergent, sold by P&G, that will cost 20%less than standard Tide?be able to resist using slogans like ?Basic will Tide you over till the recession is over??
Why are commercials for Coors Light beer, sold by MillerCoors, centred on the concept that new Cold Activated Cans provide ?cold insurance? when all the spots include disclaimers superimposed on screen that declare, ?There is no insurance for cold beer??
If Experian can advertise FreeCreditReport.com, which requires enrollment in a credit-monitoring service that costs $14.95 a month to obtain its ?free? reports, what is to stop, say, Tiffany from advertising FreeDiamondRing.com, which would require enrollment in a diamond-polishing service costing $5,000 or $10,000 a month?
Is it disrespectful or tone-deaf that as American troops fight two wars Medline Industries is selling Curad Camp Camo bandages, in camouflage patterns and colours, with print ads carrying the headline ?The Cure for your little soldier??
Did senior managers at Kraft Foods have to intervene after executives in charge of the Oscar Mayer brand ran print ads proclaiming that a bologna sandwich has ?just 4 grams of sugar? while a peanut butter and jelly sandwich has 16?a comparison that may have left executives in charge of the Kraft jelly brand ready to serve a knuckle sandwich to their counterparts at Oscar Mayer?
Were readers of salutes to the 100th anniversary of the French cosmetics giant L?Oreal, published by Advertising Age and Women?s Wear Daily, surprised that timelines outlining events in the company?s history jumped from 1939 to 1945 ?leaving out whatever took place during World War II?
Was it an aural coincidence that a commercial during ?NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams,? featuring Ellen DeGeneres selling the Cover Girl line of cosmetics from P&G, was followed by a spot for another line of Procter products, Olay Regenerist?
How many shoppers did double-takes at coupons in recent newspaper ads for JC Penney that proclaimed, ?No exclusions! Take an extra 15(PERCENT) off sale and regular-priced purchases in stores only with this coupon,? but included footnotes that read, ?Except cosmetics and fragrances?? Does anyone at Goya Foods, which is running a campaign carrying the theme ?If it?s Goya, it has to be good,? remember a famous campaign for Borden that carried the theme ?If it?s Borden, it?s got to be good??
Why is it that reading aloud the names of many new lower-calorie beverages seems like reciting the results of scores from some new kind of sponsored sports league: ?Trop50, vitaminwater10; G2, Coke Zero??
Will an advertising columnist who has trouble distinguishing among Alli, the weight-loss drug; Ally Bank, the new name for GMAC Bank; and Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, be admonished by Laila Ali, ?You ask a lot of questions for someone from…?