Want to know when you’ve lost the PR battle? When you get headlines like this: Taco Bell Defends Beef, Calls Suit ‘Bogus’ Taco Bell’s real problem is that this lawsuit doesn’t sound that outlandish. It just confirms a lot of people’s secret suspicions – whether true or not. Taco Bell’s brand promise is cheap, pseudo-Mexican-themed [...]
Archive for January, 2011
Taco Bell goes retro with “Where’s the beef?” defense
Posted: January 27, 2011 in Food, humor, Marketing, Marketing blunders, Satire, Taco Bell, vegetarianTags: humor, Marketing blunder, Meat, Satire, Taco Bell
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FDA announces recall of “Toxic Waste® brand Nuclear Sludge® Chew Bars”
Posted: January 18, 2011 in Brand Issues, Brand Names, Candy, FDA, Irony, Marketing, Marketing blunders, Marketing to kids, Penguins of ironyTags: Candy, FDA, Marketing blunder, Marketing mistakes, Marketing to children, Recall
NOMINITAVE DETERMINISM IN ACTION! There’s really nothing you could possibly add to that headline but if you want to read the FDA announcement go here.
Starbucks goes after Big Gulp crowd with new “trenta”
Posted: January 18, 2011 in Brand Names, Brands, coffee, Marketing, Names, StarbucksTags: Brand Names, coffee, Marketing, Starbucks, Trenta
Quoth the Washington Post: The new, nearly quart-size cups — meant only for iced coffee and tea — are available in 14 states starting today, and everyone, everywhere, should be able to indulge by early May. As the National Journal has pointed out with a handy chart, you will be indulging in a drink larger [...]
Goodbye to my major claim to fame: Carl Kassell’s voice on my answering machine
Posted: January 10, 2011 in Carl Kassel, Marketing, national public radio, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell MeTags: Carl Kassell, National Public Radio, NPR, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me
Time and progress have come to the CollateralDamage household and we are getting rid of the land-line telephone. So we no longer have a group phone. That phone line is where, for the past 12 years, Carl Kassell‘s voice has resided. Unfortunately when I wrote that script for Carl (I should really put that on [...]
Our Yitzhak Rabin moment?
Posted: January 9, 2011 in PoliticsTags: Arizona, Dupnik, Giffords, Politician, Politics, Shooting
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for [...]
Vogue’s hot, new fashion trend: Sexually exploiting children for fun and profit
Posted: January 7, 2011 in BoingBoing, child safety, Dumb Ass Ideas, Marketing, Marketing to girls, Marketing to kids, Offensive, Sexual exploitationTags: Marketing blunder, Marketing blunders, Marketing mistakes, Marketing to children, Marketing to girls, Marketing to women, Offensive, Sexual Exploitation, Vogue
Here’s what Xeni Jardin said at BoingBoing and I can’t do better (click here if you want to see one of the pictures.): The December issue of French Vogue, edited by Tom Ford, features an extensive spread of child models presented more or less like whores. The girl above is 6. Lemme spell that for [...]
Around the world it’s Word Of The Year®™ time!
Posted: January 6, 2011 in Germany, Marketing, Russia, Word of the yearTags: China, Denmark, Dutch, Flemmish, Germany, Marketing, Philippines, Swiss, Walloons, Word of the year
Countless (and pointless) places are taking a moment to declare the word of the year, if for no other reason than it lets them pretend they’re working. Here are the ones I’ve been able to find: Merriam-Webster: Austerity Germany picked two: One is “niveaulimbo” which translates as “limbo level”, and refers to the constantly lowered [...]
American Girl’s Hawaiian doll is a Caucasian
Posted: January 3, 2011 in american girl, Broke Hoedown, Disney, Hawaii, Marketing, Marketing blunders, Marketing to girls, Marketing to kids, Mrs. CollateralDamage, Racism, Tex AveryTags: american girl, Broke Hoedown, Dolls, Marketing, Marketing blunders, Marketing mistakes, Marketing to girls, Racism, Tex Avery, Those Darn Cats
When last we checked in with American Girl™®© they were selling a doll which they described as homeless for a mere $95. But that’s so 2009. They are kicking off this year with their 2011 Girl Of The Year®, Kanani Akina™ who “loves welcoming visitors to her Hawaiian home.” No big deal if it weren’t [...]
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 190,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at [...]
