Two great guides to social media and logo failures

Came across these on the Twitternet the other day and loved both.

The first is by Intelligence in Social Media and it’s a must watch:

 

The second is from the always-great AdFreak and, inspired by the recent horrible redo of The Gap’s logo, it’s a look at 30 other graphic failures. 

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Chevy harkens back to a time when women were things

Chevy used the above last month as a billboard to celebrate last month’s Woodward Dream Cruise classic-car event. But if you missed it you can get your own copy at the company’s online store.

Ah, yes. The good old days. Back before the voting rights act and when you could still legally pay women less for doing the same work. Also, there were more Polack jokes. It’s been so long since I heard one of those. And carmakers didn’t have to add all those pesky (and expensive!) car safety features like … seat belts.

Can I get my money back from GM? And I don’t mean the bailout “repayment” they made by borrowing money from the US government to payback the US government.

Via AdFreak

Hook, line & sinker: Alleged smart blog falls for marketing effort

Turns out my beloved BulletProofBaby site is actually a viral marketing effort for the upcoming movie Shoot ‘Em Up.

You got me… right where it hurts…

Kudos, as usual, to AdFreak.

Co-brandings I didn’t see coming: Dunkin’ Donuts & MapQuest

It lets you plan road trips and find DDs across the country. Adfreak saw the best quote in the story:

“It’s really important for us to defend our leadership in iced coffee,” Scott Hudler, client director of marketing.

The reason I didn’t see this coming? I live in Boston where our Dunkin locator device is called looking left AND right. If there’s not one in immediate view then you are not in Boston.

Goats and donkeys and death, OH MY!

• Headline of the day: McDonald’s wins “McCurry” war. As Delbert McClinton put it, “I’ve been in a lot of battles that aren’t even worth being won.”
• Churbuck has a funny one: “A Swiss man caught speeding on a Canadian highway has blamed his actions on the absence of goats on the roads.”
• Latest development in death as a marketing opportunity: “Die-hard fans of Boca Juniors, Argentina’s favourite football club, may now rest in peace in a cemetery featuring a section just for them. Home of football greats such as Diego Maradona, Boca had already started making available coffins bearing the team’s blue and yellow colours.” Don’t they know God is a Notre Dame fan?
• Questions I don’t want to know the answers to: Could donkey milk hold the secret to skin health?
• Borrowing your way to salvation? New Enlightenment Visa Card Helps Earn Points Towards Life Enriching Rewards or to Support Socially Conscious Organizations. “More than just a credit card, the Enlightenment Visa Reward Card is a card for people who want to make a positive difference in their world with every purchase they make,” says CEO Christopher Miglino. Want to make a real difference? Purchase less and give the money to someone who can do something with it.
• Congrats to my colleagues at AdFreak (hey! that’s twice in one week!) for sussing out that when Paris Hilton claimed to be rushing for a burger when pulled over for DUI — she was allegedly going to an In-N-Out Burger, not a Carl’s Jr. which is the chain she was paid to endorse. Congrats also to AdFreak for restraining from making the obvious joke about Ms. H and In-N-Out. Sadly I have no such restraint.
• Hooray for me! Someone linked to CD from a discussion threat at DailyKos earlier this week and since then I’ve been getting about 400 visits a day. That’s double what it was before. Thanks, gang!

Don’t you hate it when they beat you at your own game?

The very funny Information Nation saw my piece on deep fried Coca-Cola and then went and did some … gasp … research. Click here to see what I hope is the definitive list of foods that have been deep fried (Haggis?!?! Dear God, won’t someone think of the children?). Although I don’t know how definitive the list can be without including Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag which fried and then served a tray covered with food, utensils, a wine bottle and such. “This baby can flash-fry a buffalo in 40 seconds!”

Speaking of being beaten at my own game … kudos/curses to AdFreak for finding the story about Hillary and soon-to-be -former Sen. Santorum wearing corporate sponsorship suits a la NASCAR before I did. Grrrrr. And extra kudos to GOOD magazine for coming up with the idea in the first place.

You may say potato, but Idaho says …

… high tech. Some state lawmaker wants to get rid of the slogan on Idaho’s license plates that currently reads “Famous Potatoes.” Reuters quoths Republican Sen. Hal Bunderson as saying “Other than as a consumer, the majority of people in Idaho have no connection to ‘Famous Potatoes.'” That tag line was put on the tags 46 years ago. Now the tater has tottered from its pre-eminence in the state’s economy. Currently the state’s top export is high tech. The spud also ranks behind milk and livestock as the state’s top-earning agricultural commodity.

Quote of the day honors have to go to Frank Muir president of the Idaho Potato Commission: “We don’t have to be embarrassed by our agricultural roots. Why not be proud of your potato?”

BTW, the story is datelined – I’m not making this up – SALMON, Idaho.

If Idaho passes on Famous Potatoes, I know another state that would be willing to use the name. Tim Nudd over at Adfreak dug this one out of the Portland Press-Herald: “The Maine potato industry got an unexpected prime-time plug Sunday night when Homer Simpson, America’s most famous cartoon glutton, endorsed the state’s spuds. In a subplot that had Homer’s bountiful body sporting tattoo advertisements for various products, ‘Eat Maine Potatoes’ was stamped across one arm. Homer, who was in bed, told his blue-tower-haired wife, Marge, that the tater reference wasn’t an ad, but a reminder. He then reached over the edge of the bed into a bag of—yup, ‘Maine Potatoes’—and started munching on one.”