The promotional machine behind Epic Movie, yet another "comedy" that mines the pop culture of the last couple years for cheap laughs, is attempting to piggyback on the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon with a series of spoof videos on YouTube featuring Carmen Electra. If you love comedy, then I suggest you click here, stand up, walk out the door, and go to your local comedy club, 'cause Carmen ain't dat funny -- unless fake boobs are funny, which they're not unless you paint clown faces on them. That's just a suggestion if Carmen ever decides to get into stand-up comedy. Call me if you need a manager, C.

[via Best Week Ever]

The hell?

Is this a real commercial? It's from the 1980s, and it's an ad for something called "Synth coke," which seems to be like real cocaine, only not as expensive (but who knows if the effects were the same, better, or worse). The ad, which has all of the charm and production values of 80s porn movies, says that it's the way to a girl's heart (and other things) and that it can be found in "adult bookstores and boutiques throughout Manhattan."

I don't remember seeing this on VH-1's I Love The 80s.

[via Boing Boing]

Continue reading Test whether you're a Mitchum Man

So many dumb moments in business, so little time. But Business 2.0 mag has their picks for the 101 dumbest of 2006.

Wal-Mart is #1, for hiring a big firm to create their "Candidate Wal-Mart" campaign. #2 is Northwest Airlines, for giving their employees a "How To Save Money" booklet after laying them off. #3 is the contest McDonald's held in Japan, with the winners getting free mp3 players with a virus on them. The rest of the top 10 are GM, Kazakhstan, Steve Wynn, The New York Times, Spirit Air, Porter County, and Comcast.

There are 101 in all, so grab a hot beverage and get comfortable. You can't see the entire list on one page, which is a little annoying, but there is a handy scroll function at the bottom.

You've seen the commercials: a guy puts on some Axe body spray and/or body wash and he goes from being a nebbish to being mobbed in a way somewhere between the way that the Beatles were mobbed by women in the 60s and a Caligula-era orgy. I was wondering: does this really work? Is there some ingredient in Axe that makes the ladies go crazy?

Short answer: no. Long answer: no.

I used the stuff last week for three days in a row. I used the body wash and also sprayed the stuff on, and in three different situations I was completely ignored by females. Unless you count the clerk at the supermarket asking me "Do you have your Shaw's card?" as foreplay. Same thing at Border's Books and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Of course, I'm not saying the stuff doesn't work. Maybe I'm using it wrong?

Funny satire of Second Life, the game that is sweeping the nation (though I've never played it once, gone to any sites about it once, or read much about it). It's called Get A First Life, and there really isn't much to the site (no links to click, etc). It's more of a one page parody of the entire Second Life genre, how people can actually access the real world outside of their homes.

"First Life is a 3-D analog world where server lag does not exist."

"Fornicate using your actual genitals."

Ha! You can get T-shirts too.

[via Boing Boing]

I always thought that the term "Snow Fresh" was only used when someone was talking about peas, or a particularly randy comment by Frosty, but it was also once used when describing cigarettes.

In the old TV commercial for Kool cigarettes below, the guy tries to convince you that they are "as cool and as clean as a breath of fresh air," not a throat that's raw and smoky from too many cigarettes and too much coughing. It's amazing how many ads use ice and water and refreshing cool weather when trying to sell smokes.

The guy has a great "announcer" voice. I know I've heard it on many ads from that era. He probably got it from smoking.

I think this commercial clip actually comes from an episode of The Tonight Show when Jack Black was a guest. That would explain the audience laughter heard when a young Jack Black pops up on the screen. The commercial is for Pitfall, one of the best Atari games ever. Pitfall helped me improve my running, jumping, swinging and falling-into-things skills. Also, it taught me that if you stand on a crocodile's head, it can't eat you. Also the best way to avoid a rattlesnake is to run straight at it and jump over it. If I ever become lost in the jungle, I should be able to survive with no trouble at all.

[via CC Insider]

• Google advertisers' statistics are being skewed because Yahoo! searches seem to be indexing AdWords keywords and such.
  
• Yahoo's Finance section got a major revamp, the motivation for which was at least partly fueled by the desire for some of that personal finance advertising money.
  
• Yahoo! is having some amount of success in pulling in new members to its partnership with hundreds of newspapers.
  

• Google hates bloggers because they changed the AdSense rules to disallow other contextual ad networks on sites.
  
• Google hates bloggers because they now don't allow other ads that visually resemble AdSense blocks.
  
• Nevermind. No, you can't put up ads that look like AdSense ads but they're not really blocking you from participating in other contextual networks.

Introductory Note: Rounding up all of the goodness that is the world of television cross-promotion.

Continue reading Cross Promotion Junction: 1/19/06

Continue reading Cinema Shilling Shenanigans: 1/19/07