These odd little print ads for an old-fashioned barbershop caught my attention because I love old timey places. I like barber shops where the only person working is an old man and you sit and read the local paper and talk about the price of soybeans while you wait your turn. I also love going to small towns and finding the local cafe or deli and hanging out with the townsfolk. I'm not being sarcastic, I really do love such places. It reminds me of where I grew up.

My only minor problem with these barbershop ads is the one that boasts the shop is so old timey it doesn't have a phone. Call me crazy, but maybe that's one modern convenience you should have, unless you expect people to send you a letter when they want a haircut.

No, it's not a new game show on NBC featuring a celebrity host and a bunch of girls with giant noses that might contain money, it's a new advertising idea from the folks at the financial paper.

As Chris mentioned earlier, they're a new version of the old "scratch and sniff" ads called "rub and sniff," which actually sounds like some sex position, or maybe a play that will be run in the Super Bowl coming up in February. These ads will use a technology different from the typical peel and smell ads (like cologne ads) you see in mags like GQ and Esquire. It's a rub, not a scratch.

For now the ads will just be included in newspaper inserts, not as part of the newspaper itself.

I'm not sure what to think of this ad. It was created for an environmental organization and shows two trees standing side by side, their trunks smoking and spewing flames like the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The text on the ad reads: "For nature, everyday is 9/11."

Setting aside the argument of whether or not the ad is insensitive, or if it's too soon to evoke such images, I wonder if the ad actually makes a clear point. I understand it wants to demonstrate how the environment is "under attack," but there are no specifics. The idea of comparing it to 9/11 may be jarring and controversial, which is obviously the point, but I want more detail. I want to know exactly how the events of that day and our treatment of the environment are similar. I have no problem with an ad trying to shock people, but such an ad would have a much larger impact if it was more obvious why such a connection is being made.

Okay, I'll admit it: despite being 30, I'm still pretty much a kid. I'd rather be left in a room with a few containers of Play-Doh than a glass of beer. It's not a matter of arrested development, though, it's more about needing a creative outlet so I don't go completely insane. If terrorists ever wanted to get information from me, all they'd have to do is deny me any form of artistic expression. After only a few hours I'd tell them where the uranium was hidden.

I only mention this as a way to explain why I thought this print ad and poster for Child TEMA, an environmental action group in Turkey, was so amazing. It would be cool to think someone actually created the entire landscape out of Play-Doh, but I think it was probably some kind of digital imaging thing. Of course, I have no idea how it was done, which should be clear when I use phrases like "digital imaging thing." Either way, it's a great piece of work.

• If you rub some of the ads the Wall Street Journal is planning to run then you'll be able to smell them. The paper promises that the scented ads will be much classier than the fragrance inserts in glossy magazines.
• It's hard to figure out what the actual advertising angle is to this story about the tabloids coverage of Jennifer Aniston's rumored nose and boob job. Seriously - can anyone tell me how this is news?
• If you like to shop in New Jersey (and who doesn't) you're probably looking forward to the 2008 opening of the Xanadu Meadowlands retail complex (read: mall). To finance the construction it's offering $2.5 billion in naming rights to different areas within the mall.

I was attracted to these Mentos ads because I loved the artwork on them. I'm a total sucker for anything artistic, especially in advertising. I think you have to go back a few decades to find ads that can truly stand as works of art in their own right.

Anyway, I was so enamored by the images it didn't even register that not only are the geniuses depicted in these ads eating a mint that didn't even exist yet, but that the ads are also suggesting that somehow the chalky mints give people ideas. Actually, it was LittleJohn at Advertising for Peanuts who pointed it out. Regardless, I still think they're great, and I'd love to see more ads with that kind of artistic detail. It really is a throwback to the print ads of the '50s and '60s.

• First, those who didn't win the bidding for 18 of Time's titles were notified that they would not be taking on the huge operating expenses associated with print publishing.
  
• Then, The Bonnier Group was told that it had won the bidding. There was no price specified but it was likely between $200 and $300 million.
  
• Finally, Jonas Bonnier explains what he's going to do with all those titles, including reiterating his belief that the U.S. market still has plenty of potential.

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.

• Mediaedge:cia has been picked by Federated Department Stores as their new agency of record. The change came after the complete lack of review and will include national planning and buying for Macy's.
• The drastically reduced print spending by major auto companies is at least one factor - albeit likely a big one - in Time's decision to cut almost 300 staffers. The decreased ad revenue was just too big a hit for the publisher to take.
  
• It should be as no surprise to anyone who's seen the spots that Orville "Deadenbacher" is creeping consumers way the heck out. A reanimated dead guy who wears as iPod while he's microwaving popcorn...yeah...it's creepy.

Even though advertisers seem to be fleeing newspapers and going to the web and other places, and despite an an offer from former GE chairman Jack Welch and advertising veteran Jack Connors, The New York Times says that The Boston Globe is not for sale.

Janet Robinson, the chief executive of the Times Company, told Boston business and political leaders yesterday that the newspaper is a very important asset to them and they seem things improving in the future. This comes the same week that the Globe revealed that they are laying off 125 works at the paper and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and another 55 jobs would be outsourced to a firm in India.

Many people are unhappy with the stock structure that the paper has, and say that is one of the reasons for the financial problems.

• VNU is no longer VNU. It's now going under the name of Nielsen as a way to more closely associate the company with its best known for. All the various business units will adopt the re-branding over the course of this year.
  
• The question asked in the title of this article is Will Google/CBS Start an Online Media-Buying Auction? The answer, of course, is yes. When Google's system goes live it will give online media buying for TV legitimacy and will lead to more adoption.
• The Chandler Family, which sold the Times-Mirror Co. to Tribune Co. seven years ago, has now put in a bid for the Tribune as the company seeks to...I'm not even sure what their goal is. The $31.70/share they're offering is just barely over the $30.95/share the company is currently trading at.
• Wow. 289 staffers were laid off at Time today.

The hell?

Remember those commercials with Woodsy The Owl, the ones that told kids and adults to "Give a hoot. Don't pollute!"? I haven't seen them in a while, but I think the USDA Forest Service is still using the icon in their campaign. But they're also very serious about how people get rid of their Woodsy The Owl costumes. You can't just throw them away, you have to incinerate the entire costume, and it has to be done in front of a USDA Forest Service official!

As some of the readers at Boing Boing have wondered, why such strict rules? Are they updating the character and want no trace of the old model? Is it environmentally friendly to burn the costumes? Hmmmm.

• CBS is negotiating with Google about a variety of things, including how the network might put their content on Google Video and how CBS radio stations might begin using Google Audio to sell ad inventory.
• Hearst Magazine president Cathleen P. Black says that while the company might have made some early mistakes in terms of web strategy there's still time to right the ship and make progress online.
  
• The Parents Television Council once again is warning advertisers to shun the increasingly violent programming on TV or, I don't know, the group will glare at them or something.

Continue reading AdAge Consumes 60 More Seconds of Your Life

I'll give them credit for trying something different with this ad for the Chilled Mars Bar, but I just don't think it works. As you can see, the man's "package" in the ad has shriveled up to nothing. In fact, it's pretty much gone camel toe. That's the first strike against this ad, the idea that "shrinkage" means "turns into a vagina." Second, I don't know if the gag is especially obvious. I didn't catch it right away because to me it was just a guy in a swimsuit, and I didn't feel compelled to examine his crotch to see how well it filled out his suit.

I'm not saying the idea itself isn't funny, because it is, but perhaps it would have worked better if the ad showed a man standing naked before a woman with a mortified look on his face while she laughs at him; something that suggests his minimized manhood rather than showing it. Of course, even then there's the question as to whether or not you want men to associate your product with wang shrinkage. I think I would have sent this one back to the drawing board a few times.