As I've mentioned here several times before, I'm a huge fan of TV commercials, especially the history and what goes on behind the scenes of campaigns and slogans (I think it's 60% why Mad Men is one of my favorite shows). Advertising Week wants you to vote in their poll to name the best advertising icons of all-time and the best slogans of all-time. This poll happens every year, and you can see past winners who are now in the Walk of Fame at the link above.
This year the choices include Ronald McDonald (as well as the slogan "I'm Lovin' It"), that creepy Burger King guy, the Maytag repairman, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, "Got Milk" and more.
What would have if some Saw-like serial killer was killing TV commercial icons? That's the premise of the video below. It looks like a movie trailer but it's really an ad for an event called Night of the Adeaters, a party that's going to be held in various cities on September 25, celebrating the best in ads.
Both of these fast food mascots will haunt your dreams. The masks they wear, the way they don't talk much (if at all), the way they show up in unexpected ways. It's like getting Jason Vorhees to be the mascot for Dunkin' Donuts. Here are two recent commercials. Let us know which one gets the "creepier" nod.
Ads for fast food kids' meals usually try to appeal to children. Not the child in all of us, actual children.
Burger King's new Kids' Meal ad doesn't just try to appeal to the parents in the room who don't care about their child's cholesterol intake. Its choice of music tries to appeal to the parents who are deaf.
The ad features a new rendition of Sir-Mix-A-Lot's classic big butt anthem "Baby Got Back" that talks about how he now "likes square butts and cannot lie." The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood isn't as amused and has started a letter writing campaign against the restaurant chain and the Nickelodeon network to express their disgust for cubed booty.
Fourteen million. That's not the number of dollars that are being lost in the stock market every second (I'm sure it's much, much more). It's actually the number of views that Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy reached during three weeks on the Interweb. Now, if he only got those numbers during the initial run of Family Guy on FOX.
To those that are totally lost because you've been staring at your 401K numbers for the last month, Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy launched on YouTube on September 10th. Sponsored by Burger King, it featured original animated content from Seth MacFarlane and his gang of miscreants. In a press release from Media Rights Capital, Cavalcade became the number one most-viewed channel on the video website a mere 48 hours after its launch. Since then, it has garnered not only the 14 million views mentioned above but 100,000 subscribers to the 'sethcomedy' channel. Making it one of the most subscribed YouTube channels of all time.
For years Seth MacFarlane has worked in the small animated universe that contains Family Guy, American Dad and soon The Cleveland Show(with some wading in the Robot Chicken pool). During that time he has provided voice and picture to the trials and tribulations of two typical American families. Yet, deep down inside, you knew that he wanted to do more than work with the Griffins and the Smiths. You could see it with in the amount of fantasy sequences placed during a typical episode of Family Guy.
Now, thanks to a combination of Internet and fast food, Seth is getting his chance to explore the world outside of his FOX Sunday night offerings. YouTube -- the dusty video cabinet of the World Wide Web -- will be hosting all new MacFarlane cartoon shorts under the short title Set MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. Sponsored by fast food giant Burger King (and featuring the giant-headed king in the opening sequence), the YouTube channel will show one to two-minute cartoons featuring all new characters and scripts. According to a press release sent to TV Squad, there will be 50 shorts that are custom-made for the web (and eventual DVD release, I'm sure.)
For once I'm not talking about any of the Burger King spots that have that creepy King guy, with his terrifying blank stare and equally scary son. No, I'm talking about the commercial with the guy hiding in a motel late at night, eating one of the new Cheesy Bacon Tender Crisp chicken sandwiches. A cow shows up at the door to confront him ... because the guy isn't eating burgers.
Huh? Why would a cow -- which is made of burgers -- be upset that a customer isn't eating him or his friends? Does he own stock in the company and wants customers to eat burgers instead of chicken? That wouldn't even make sense because even if the cow did hold some BK stock* selling chicken would be just as good as selling meat. Or maybe this is an example of the "death wish" type of advertising that Pete Campbell talked about in the Sterling Cooper pitch to Lucky Strike?
Even those cute M&M guys don't go around saying "eat me."
*This will probably be the only time in my life that I write about cows owning stock in a corporation.
Super chef Gordon Ramsay has admitted that he goes to fast food places like Burger King and McDonald's and orders food at the drive-thru...in secret. He goes in a car with tinted windows and calls ahead. Though I wonder who but a celeb would call ahead for a meal at Burger King or McDonald's.
He says that "there's something very sexy about the way they flame grill a Whopper." Um, alllllrighty.
But he's really not a fan of fast food establishments. He says the food is bland and that it's bad for you. Another famous chef, Marco Pierre White, recently said that McDonald's offers great value and Ramsay calls that "utter crap."
The new season of Hell's Kitchen premieres this Monday on FOX.
I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.
CC Insider points to a funny satirical piece from The Onion about Cook's new HBO special, Burgasm, in which the young comedian riffs on Burger King's Texas Double Whopper for a full hour. In the article, Cook explains his plans for the special:
Last year Adult Swim and Burger King teamed up for a "Have It Your Way" sweepstakes in which the winner got to decide the Adult Swim lineup for one whole evening. Last year the winner included lots ofAqua Teen and Venture Bros., and this year the winner must like themselves a lot of anime, because that's all they've chosen. I don't watch much anime, but I do love FLCL, so it's nice to see the late night/early morning marathon will kick off with a mini-marathon of every FLCL episode. The viewer-chosen episodes will start the evening of August 5, so if you enjoy shows like Paranoia Agent, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop, start popping those caffeine pills now. You could also just record the episodes, but that's not very manly.
Not sure how long these are going to be available, but right now you can download episodes of 24 for free from MySpace. It's being sponsored by Burger King, so I assume it's only for a limited time. Two episodes are available to download or stream, and they're good ones if you ask me:
As I've mentioned here several times before, I'm a huge fan of TV commercials, especially the history and what goes on behind the scenes of campaigns and slogans (I think it's 60% why Mad Men is one of my favorite shows). Advertising Week wants you to vote in their poll to name the best advertising icons of all-time and the best slogans of all-time. This poll happens every year, and you can see past winners who are now in the Walk of Fame at the link above. 
Ads for fast food kids' meals usually try to appeal to children. Not the child in all of us, actual children. 
Fourteen million. That's not the number of dollars that are being lost in the stock market every second (I'm sure it's much, much more). It's actually the number of views that Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy reached during three weeks on the Interweb. Now, if he only got those numbers during the initial run of Family Guy on FOX.
For years Seth MacFarlane has worked in the small animated universe that contains Family Guy, 
For once I'm not talking about any of the 
Super chef Gordon Ramsay has admitted that he goes to fast food places like Burger King and McDonald's and orders food at the drive-thru...
I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.
Last year Adult Swim and Burger King teamed up for a "Have It Your Way" sweepstakes in which the winner got to decide the Adult Swim lineup for one whole evening. Last year the winner included lots of
Not sure how long these are going to be available, but right now you can 
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
