Mad World

Well, it's time to go back to school again. And you know how I know? Because of television commercials, which give me all the information I need on what it takes to be a cool kid these days. (Hint: channel your favorite High School Musical Version of Glee character, then press fast forward.)

The Huffington Post regularly uses women's bodies as an internet marketing strategy to entice viewers and generate ad revenue.

Celebrities and advertising are like birds of a feather, so it's no wonder that even our most beloved public figures (I'm looking at you, Queen Latifah) usually end up trying to sell us something. And hey, sometimes it works. I mean, would any of us have tried delicious Jell-O pudding pops without the endorsement of a certain celebrity?

Verizon doesn't exactly have a reputation for being an organization that's empowering its users. After all, it is Verizon that's leading the fight against net neutrality, which would amount to an Internet that is basically the opposite of user-friendly. Perhaps that's why they've launched a new ad campaign designed to convince us that, through powerful transmitters, Verizon is on our side in the fight against prejudice. (I know, right?)

When a conversation turns to branding (and don't all of your conversations turn to branding?) the efforts of Absolut Vodka, the little alcohol company that could, are inevitably evoked. There's good reason behind this, too. Although ads for alcohol are extremely problematic, Absolut has certainly made a name for itself with a distinct brand. In fact, I'd bet that most of you can conjure up an Absolut ad, complete with their unique typeface and slogans, without even having to consult your Google image search.

That's why I've been a little surprised lately to see Absolut eschew their brand for an over-the-top cinematic spot (one loaded with messages about gender, of course). Behold:

Most people with a finger on the pulse of pop culture (and I'm guessing that includes you if you're reading this) know that the new season of AMC's Mad Men premiered on Sunday. Now, for those of you who are waiting for it to come out on DVD, fear not: This is our weekly advertising forum, so no plot spoilers will be revealed here. I want to talk instead about the ways in which advertising is being dealt with within the show so far. (If you're interested in a plot discussion though, I like Slate's TV Club. Good stuff.) Now, on to the advertising!

Every time I go to download files from a BitTorrent tracker site I am constantly bombarded with ads for sex/dating sites or straight up pornography and I'm sick of it. Women are engaging in online technologies as well and we are repetitively told that we don't belong.

Last week, we had our first-ever Mad World Book Club meeting, and it was great! As many of you know, we discussed Jean Kilbourne's Can't Buy My Love, and everyone had lots to say about gender, persuasion, advertising, and fried dill pickle chips (we met at Bernie's Southern Bistro). However, as many of you also know, most of our readers don't live close enough to meet us in person for pickle chips, which is why we're hosting this virtual version of the Book Club.

Our very first post in this series was a discussion of the "I'm on a horse" Old Spice commercial. Some of us loved it and felt guilty about it, some of us loved it and felt great about it, and some of us just loved to hate it. Whichever camp you're in, you might be interested to know that Old Spice just released a follow up:

We had a conversation in the comments section on another Mad World post a while back regarding ads that use real people instead of actors to sell their products. Do these people get paid? Are they actually just actors in disguise? Why are we strangely compelled by their "real" presence in commercials? Well, dear Mad World readers, to get to the bottom of these issues, I recently went undercover as a "real" person in a commercial photo shoot (well I guess I wasn't technically undercover since I am actually a real person, but you know what I mean) and got the scoop.