I went to a diet site that I was thinking about possibly reviewing and I found myself slightly offended by the degree to which the web designer had attempted to make the Google Ads look like content. I don’t want to be accused of hypocrisy, I have ads by Google on this blog. They are placed on the page in a very conventional way. I have seen a discussion in the blogosphere in which someone said that a page looks naked to them without these standard, unobtrusive contextual ads.
Anyway, I don’t put ads inside the body of my blog posts, even though that is an accepted practice. The website that I am criticizing has a landing page in which the title indicates that a list is to follow. The title even has a colon at the end. Immediately below the title are a series of ads. When the content starts below the ads, they are almost identical in size and format to the ads. It seems deceptive and dishonest to me.
Below the jump on this page is a long form sales pitch for the Magnetic Diet, which seems to be a scam.
I am posting this because of it’s implications about how big business is in control of how news is reported. I don’t want to be alarmist about the story that FOX killed at the behest of Monsanto. I have a degree in agriculture and I was part of a big discussion about the use of hormone injections in the dairy industry in one of my classes. My professor was very much in favor of the practice. This was during the period of time in which it was unclear which way the Canadian government agency was going to swing on this issue. The use of low levels of antibiotics in feed for animals that are raised for meat production is, in my mind, a much greater human risk and it is a practice that is widespread.
Do you have a message that you would like to have printed on a tiny piece of paper and dropped onto the heads of drunken New Yorkers? Act fast this page that allows you to submit a New Years Message to be delivered in this unique fashion has a fast approaching deadline.
I was a bit dismayed when I saw a blogger telling a bald faced lie on the official Google blog. If you read the official Google blog and you truly believe that NORAD tracks Santa with Google, I have some news for you. There is no Santa Claus. Your parent or legal guardian wrote that letter from Santa apologizing for not being able to get a Wii
A drawn out writers strike may become a catalyst for the implosion of American network television. Television is driven by advertisement and it is filled with as much advertisement as people can stomach. Once viewers tune out the ad money will dry up followed by a accelerated deterioration in program quality. I think this will happen. I also think that much like what happened with AM radio, television will not disappear. What will happen is that it will become something else. I don’t watch television and I haven’t for about 3 years. There are a few guilty pleasures that I view on YouTube now and then but I am mostly unaware of what is on television now.
Here is a fluff piece on FOX. At about the two minute mark, the product called Age Intervention Eyelash gets some very positive press. This is the product that was confiscated from a San Jose factory this past week.
The FDA is recommending that anyone who may still have Age Intervention Eyelash stop using it and discard any unused product. The FDA is also advising consumers to consult health care professionals if they have experienced any adverse events that they may be related to the use of Age Intervention Eyelash by Jan Marini Skin Research, Inc..
Pirelli made this short film. Is this an advertisement or entertainment?
I do not know how or where it is being distributed, aside from YouTube. Going to great lengths to entertain people with a film that is primarily about product placement might be a growing trend. Hollywood allowed product placement in feature films to become so ubiquitous that movie goers actually find it obvious and insulting. This ten minute action movie might be viewed by people who view it as a sort of gift from the tire company.
I saw a really funny website that made it look like Paul Newman had his own line of salad dressings and it gave me an idea for a weekly theme. I have to confess that I have a habit of starting weekly themes and then abandoning them. This could be one of them. I want to believe that is won’t be.
Most sites that were hyping the toxic toy that is a big story today have already made changes. Right at this moment, this site is still selling them in the UK. If the text is still unchanged when you visit, you will get to see how people convinced parents and kids that little beads ‘that magically join with water.’
This just in…THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!!!
Here is a US site that has a big RECALL notice up, but still has the promotional copy saying that they are MAGIC!!!
Just because the reactive agent that caused the chemically coated beads to stick together was water, consumers could be lulled into thinking that it was an innocuous toy. Wake up you idiots!!!
These naked bodies belong to human beings who have been paid to participate in an advertising campaign for Vaseline. Earliest year, I saw this video of a blogger expressing great disappointment that an advertising marketplace had paid a woman $1000 to write their company name on her forehead. I don’t know how he is reacting to the visually stunning achievement that is serving to promote petroleum jelly. The fundamental difference is artistic merit. When something commissioned as an advertisement transcends its purpose and truly feeds the human soul, that cannot be denied. If you think about it, many of the most revered works of art were commissioned to promote the Christian Church. Only a very closed mind can deny beauty because they take offense to an underlying message. The marker writing on the head thing wasn’t beautiful.
