• We wonder what the Craiglist posting for the ugly dude’s feet was – “must have feet that have yellowing, ingrown toenails and you’re completely uncomfortably with showing to the world.” We hope the foot model got paid handsomely for this ad.

• “If you don’t have us around, we’ll break your leg.” Journalism is an interesting beast these days. There’s more of it going on than ever, but not nearly as much of the kind that is truly helpful to the community. But we can probably all agree that scare tactics won’t convince people to start reading the paper again. It’s journalism’s job to innovate, not the other way around.

• there’s a point here As poorly as this ad puts it, it does have a point. The nitty gritty of the journalism process is in severe danger of going away. The low-paid scab reporter who willingly covers boring but necessary city council meetings? There’s no equivalent of him or her in the blogosphere (at least not with a paycheck for their work). Local journalism is at a real turning point.
• proving its worth The problem, though, is local news outlets are generally really bad at explaining this point, and when they do, it’s really heavy-handed (see the subway ad above). So, what’s next? We’re guessing one of two things need to happen: One, it needs to be community-supported on a non-profit basis (see MinnPost), or two, it needs to truly innovate. Or both.
• will the iPad help? Tomorrow, many large papers, from USA Today to The New York Times, will release apps to coincide with the release of the iPad. From a outsider’s standpoint, they look great (especially the USA Today one). But really, we want to see what mid-sized dailies will do. USA Today won’t go away. The Kalamazoo Gazette might. And, honestly, we need it more. source

• $900,000 the current average rate for ads for the “Lost” finale; that’s really high
• 400% the amount ABC gets to mark up the ad slots that night source

• The original commercial Dish Network’s main selling point? It’s cheaper, and it offers the same quality of product as DirecTV. It’s not nearly the same as, say, AT&T and Verizon’s competing maps, but it understandably might provoke a response from DirecTV.
• The (supposed) rip-off And here’s that response! It’s honestly a more clever approach, using Alex Trebek in a Jeopardy-style game. However, if you listen about halfway through, you’ll hear the same kind of message as the original commercial in this clip, too. source

• We’re not sure what offends us more about this video – the obvious advertising (we counted Diet Coke, Virgin Mobile, PlentyOfFish.com, Little Debbie, Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip), the use of trash as clothing accessory, the use of Quentin Tarantino’s famous “#*#*@ Wagon,” the awful dialogue between Gaga and Beyonce halfway through the video, the bizarre shot of Gaga making a sandwich, Beyonce’s dreadful “I knew you’d take all my honey, you selfish mother(#(&@#” line, the fact that Lady Gaga poisoned a room full of people, or the fact that the title font is the same font as our logo font. Actually, that last part offends us most.

• Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn’t pay. In a way, that’s what ad blocking is doing to us.
• ArsTechnica writer Ken Fisher • About an experiment that his site tried with ad-blocking that appears to have backfired to some degree. Fisher says that while some people white-listed the site, many more complained about it. Apparently, most of their readers are heavy tech users, the very type of people who will turn off ads despite the fact that they pay for the content people read. It’s all the more stark considering it’s something most non-technology companies can’t stop thinking about. source

• Critical acclaim is not enough to sell this phone. Despite putting all of their efforts into a phone series that’s reportedly pretty awesome, the Palm Pre (and Pixi) have not become the runaway hits their pedigree suggests. Their sales are going to be much lower than anticipated when it first launched in June. Why? PC World suggests it might be an advertising problem. And MacWorld suggests the lack of third-party apps is really what’s doing it in. source

• This approach to convincing people to wear seat belts is a little art-damaged, but it’s definitely effective. Next time we’re riding in a car, we’re going to get a mom and daughter to wrap their arms around us. Just look at how effective they are in this living room!

• That oughta work around that Supreme Court decision. So, let’s say that you’re an organization or a corporation and you’re all excited about that Supreme Court decision that allows you to spend as much money as you want to skew a campaign. Well, the Democrats’ new proposed rules would force more transparency in the process, including our favorite, forcing corporate CEOs to say they approve this message. Bailed-out companies can’t fund ads either. Awesome. source

• The Super Bowl is an American phenomenon. Despite its completely unavoidable presence in the U.S., Super Bowl Sunday is pretty much a nonentity outside of North America, where soccer is king. Even so, it’s still a much bigger moneymaker than any other single sporting event. Here’s a breakdown of how this works out.

Not-so-super viewership

• 106
  million people watched all of last year’s Super Bowl telecast, almost entirely in the U.S. and Canada
• 109
  million people watched all of last year’s UEFA Champions League final, a hugely popular soccer match

Super brand value

• $420M the Super Bowl’s value as an brand, making it the largest brand of all
• $230M the Olympics’ value, despite the fact it’s a much larger event
• $120M the World Cup’s value; it routinely tops the Super Bowl in total viewers

Super ad rates

• $312 million in Anheuser-Busch ads alone since 1990

• $3
  million the amount NBC charged for 69 ad spots last year
• $2.8
  million the amount CBS is able to charge per ad this year source

• Big game, big profits. Despite the fact that it’s just a single game, it often can top the advertising value of both the the World Series and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, which each take place over multiple games.

So why isn’t it spreading?

• complication American football is a much more complicated sport than soccer and basketball, which both have easily and quickly spread into China, for example. Blame the penalties.
• mediocrity The NFL had been trying to tap the European market for years with a secondary league which folded in 2007. Now the NFL has real games in Europe, a better strategy. source