The Budweiser Outtakes

I was in a restaurant today looking at a nice Budweiser Christmas card, a display on the table advertising their product and wishing us a good holiday.

There was nice picture of the Clydesdales and the spotted dog they have.

It made me think of how they're featured in the touchy feely ads, marching through the snow. The dog -- what's the dog do? -- sitting on the seat of the wagon.

Then it made me think of how they make the ads. Since you can't have a horse dropping a load in the ad or the dog peeing on something.

In all this thinking, it occurred to me that someone at Budweiser, or the ad agencies, must have quite a bloopers reel of the horses and dog. With the director shouting, "Cut! Put down some white snow there, backup, we'll shoot again in 15 minutes!"

Record Club Ads -- The Monkees

I always loved looking at record club ads in magazines when I was a kid. I never had any money to join them, but it was great to dream.

Now, thanks to the wonderful world of Google, we can see the ads again ... some of them anyway. They have full copies of old Life magazines there, which is quite a deal. The picture is from a two page ad for the RCA Victor Record Club, Dec. 22, 1967. Since I loved the Monkees (still do), I see they had three albums. I don't know why they didn't have the Pisces album on there, but it looks like the ad is clipped at the right hand side a little much. Maybe it was at the margin.

Of course I put the little Monkees covers at the top for this illustration, since they were scattered across the ad.

It's cute on Headquarters they highlight "Band 6," as though that's a great track to promo! And I wonder why, for the little cover they put a blue background.

The New Pregnancy Tests

I just saw a commercial for a new pregnancy test that doesn't leave any ambiguity. If you're pregnant, it says "Pregnant." If you're not, it says "Not Pregnant." Can't get any clearer than that.

I've seen the commercials in the past and it seems like they had a PLUS or MINUS. Say you wanted to be pregnant, a PLUS wouldn't be ambiguous. But if you didn't want to be pregnant, how would you take a PLUS sign?

It's been a while since I've been a new father. It was so long ago, I can't remember, but I think it was like film. You had to pee on the strip and send it in for developing. I don't know. I actually don't think they even had a system like this. You had to go to the doctor's office.

So that's been a while.

There's another commercial that says their pregnancy test is supposed to tell you a day after or three days after. When I hear that, I like to joke around, "Let me check my schedule. I can tell you three days in advance."

Terrible, I know. A definite MINUS.

As for the new test, it's neat looking on TV seeing the actual word pop up. Kind of like the Magic 8-Ball. You could have all kinds of tests. A test for party animals, let's say, that says "PARTY'S OVER" or "PARTY ON." A test for women having affairs with Congressmen, that says "JACKPOT" or "TRY AGAIN."

But I don't know about "TRY AGAIN." That could discourage sales of the tests, because we're used to seeing those words under losing bottle caps. We've seen it so much we just ignore it.

"I Approved This Message"

I don't think the tag line "I approved this message" is all that helpful. It's like we need more of an explanation of why, because with John McCain's heinous ads, I'm saying, "Really? Are you really that bad of a guy?"

Is there any slime that this snake won't slither in?

McCain: Changing The Subject

Wonderful World

Obama's Ads Go on Attack

Obama is doing it like this, more positive, visionary ads nationwide, more ads attacking McCain locally.

Good article, NY Times, and a great comment from Steve McMahon, a Democratic advertising strategist, the same guy we know from TV, I'm assuming: “It’s ‘game on, the money’s in the bank, we’re going to have a huge financial advantage, let the McCain campaign chase us around the country, if they can find us.’ ”

McCain Scuzbaggery

You have to be a real scuzbag to use kind words people say about you and disguise that as endorsing you for president! That's what John McCain is doing in his latest ad, his seemingly unending journey down the low road.

In the ad he has people like John Kerry, Howard Dean, and even Barack Obama praising him. By the end it's pretty clear, the only people who don't want McCain for president would be his Republican base! All the Democrats are on board, that's for sure.

That's the way it would appear, until you give it a second's thought. We all know these people support Obama for president, so what's the deal? Well, as it turns out -- who knew? -- over the years, in normal human relationships, we say nice things about others! We're even friends and so we're friendly. We aren't walking around with a cloud over our heads, snarling at one another.

In the Senate, for example, it's "My Distinguished Colleague from Arizona," "My Good Friend from Massachusetts," "The Honorable Gentleman from Iowa," etc. It doesn't mean you would presume upon these ceremonial kindnesses and actual friendships to claim an endorsement where none exists.

But that's what "The Distinguished Scuzbag from Arizona" did. String together enough of these pleasantries, and, guess what, everyone loves you!

That's an interesting way to exploit your friends.