The BadAds Weblog: May 2002

Sounds Like a Bad Idea

As if giant ad banners towed by planes weren't bad enough – Aerial Sign Company hopes to add sound to the mix.

According to Media Life magazine, the company's flying ads reach audiences at beaches, sporting events, concerts, parades, and in their cars during rush hour. Planes and helicopters can place ads in locations that other media can't, like some beaches and in areas where billboards are restricted. "We chase audiences," says Aerial Sign Company president Jim Butler. (Audiences that, in all likelihood, are trying to run away.)

At up to seven stories high, these ads are hard to ignore. The banners can be animated and three-dimensional, and can have moving parts.

Aerial Sign Company is still testing the idea of adding sound to the ads. Please write the company and let them know that blasting audio ads down at unwary consumers is obnoxious and intrusive.

May 21, 2002

UK Ads Drawing Ire

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority received complaints about a rec ord number of advertisements in 2001, according to an article on Ananova. There were more than 12,500 complaints about a total of 10,001 ads, more than at any other time in its 40 year history. Complaints about direct mail increased by 51% to 3,106 last year, making them the biggest source of concern. There was also a 50% rise in complaints about ads on the Internet, which totaled 750 during the year.

That's great news for UK consumers, as their outcry may result in action against unscrupulous advertisers.

For those of us in the US, the Federal Trade Commission is the agency that handles deceptive marketing claims. The agency's voluminous advertising standards are available online, and there's also a form you can use to complain about deceptive ads. You may also want to send them complaints about intrusive advertising practices.

Thanks to J. D. Falk for the tip!

May 14, 2002

Miss June Gets 30 MPG

We now have proof that advertisers can buy ad space on any surface known to mankind.

We know you read Playboy for the articles, but you probably have noticed that every month they have a centerfold featuring a pulchitrudinous Playboy Playmate. Well, not this June. Next month, the lovely Miss June is being bumped to the lesser pages of the magazine, and in her place will be a centerfold of BMW's new Austin Mini. That's right – the legendary Playboy centerfold has been turned into an ad. BMW paid for the equivalent of six ad pages to usurp Miss June.

What you can do: Write to Playboy and BMW and tell them what you think of their latest advertising scheme.

Playboy: dearpb@playboy.com

BMW: customer.service@bmw.de

Note 5/14/02: Contrary to the news in the Wall Street Journal, we discovered that Miss June is where she should be, in the centerfold. The BMW ad is actually a parody of a centerfold, replete with fake Party Jokes on the back, and appears much earlier in the magazine.

May 10, 2002

Court Disconnects Spammer

After more than a year of battling with bulk e-mailer MonsterHut, a Rochester-based Internet service provider (ISP) has been given permission by a New York State appeals court to disconnect the company it says is a notorious spammer.

The Washington Post reported that the decision reversed lower court rulings last year that kept MonsterHut.com online even though PaeTec Communications of Fairport, N.Y., near Rochester, said MonsterHut had contravened its anti-spam policy.

Niagara Falls, NY-based MonsterHut, whose bulk e-mail promoted "natural marriage enhancers" and "BeSlimmer" weight-loss products or carried messages for such clients as Overstock.com, ProFlowers.com and Beaverhome.com, launched a lawsuit after PaeTec served notice that it would terminate its Internet access contract.

May 7, 2002

Ads Within Ads

Abercrombie & Fitch crosses a line in advertising by selling ad space in its quarterly catalog, which is of course an ad itself. The mind boggles!

According to an article on the Advertising Educational Foundation Web site, for the first time, the company, which regularly comes under fire for the nude photograph s that appear in the catalog, known as the A&F Quarterly, is selling advertising space in the publication to other marketers seeking to reach consumers ages 18 to 24, the primary market for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Several other retailers and apparel marketers have already opened their catalogs or magazines to outside advertisers, among them L. L. Bean, Louis Boston, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom.

What you can do: Write to the catalogs that accept ads and ask them to stop bombarding you with outside advertisements. If you fill out an online feedback form, we suggest you enter a throwaway e-mail account such as Yahoo! or Hotmail instead of your main e-mail address.

Abercrombie & Fitch
Online feedback form
(Be sure to uncheck the "A&F Mailing List" box.)

L.L. Bean
Freeport, ME 04033-0001
Phone: 800-4415713
Fax: 207-552-3080
Online feedback form

Louis Boston
234 Berkley
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 617-262-6100
Fax: 617-266-4586

Neiman Marcus
Customer Relations
P.O. BOX 650589
Dallas, TX 75265-0589
Online feedback form

Nordstrom
Blake Nordstrom, President
1617 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101-1742
Phone: 206-628-2111

May 6, 2002

Point, Click, Buy

Consumers are starting to fight back against blatant commercialism in schools – kicking ZapMe and Channel One out of many classrooms, starting organizations like the Center for Commercial-Free Education, and overwhelming CNN Student News with complaints when owner AOL Time Warner considered putting commercials on its in-school news service.

But advertisers just won't give up targeting students. This time they're placing ads on mousepads, hoping to squeeze some cash out of college students while they learn on the computer. "Now advertisers are vying for students' attention in a previously sacrosanct environment – where they study," says an article in Media Life magazine. "They are doing so by positioning their logos at students' fingertips by placing them on mouse pads, which are then distributed to computer labs and classrooms."

Word of Mouse has exclusive contracts with more than 6,000 academic institutions to provide advertiser-supported mousepads for their student-accessed computers. According to its Web site, "Your mousepads turn into Desktop Billboards when we install them inside high-traffic computer labs and classrooms that have 183 million student uses per month." They also brag on their site that their mousepads work because they're in an "ad-free environment" and because they offer a "subtle school endorsement."

Companies advertising on mousepads include AT&T, Amazon.com, Princeton Review, CNN, Sports Illustrated, IRS, United Airlines, U.S. News Online, BMG Music Service, Columbia House, PowerBar, ESPN, monster.com, American Express, Microsoft, Pfizer, Merriam-Webster, CollegeClub.com, Power Students Network, General Magic, Moosejaw.com, FrogMagic, Memolink and VolunteerMatch.

Please contact Word of Mouse and these other companies and ask them to stop invading classrooms with their ads. You can find their contact information at Hoovers or Big Yellow.

May 1, 2002

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