Scott Brown Goes Shirtless, Clueless

The relentless Andrew Kaczynski just posted this at BuzzFeed:

Scott Brown Sent Out An Email Featuring A Vaccine Truther And Conspiracy Theorist

An odd email from the former Massachusetts senator.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is thinking of running for Senate in New Hampshire (He recently sold his Massachusetts home, dropped “MA” from his Twitter handle, and went diving shirtless into frigid New Hampshire waters for charity.)

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He also recently sent out an email from one of his sponsors about the “5 Signs You’ll Get Alzheimer’s Disease.” The sponsor was Newsmax Magazine and the email showcased a video from “renowned neurosurgeon and nutritionist Dr. Russell Blaylock.”

The problem, according to BuzzFeed, is that “Dr. Russell Blaylock also happens to be a vaccine truther” who believes a whole lot of other nonsense as well. Regardless, the once (and future?) senator sent this to all his Brown-eyed fans.

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And etc.

Sure looks like Brown has some brain degeneration going on himself. Presumably he pimped out his email list to make a few bucks, but beam yourself up, Scotto – you really want to be associated with loons like Blaylock?

Even in New Hampshire, that’s a losing play.

UPDATE (via WMUR):

Scott Brown cuts ties with company sending emails to his list of political supporters

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown said he will sever a business relationship he had with a conservative news website after it used his political mailing list Wednesday morning to send an article with the headline “5 Signs You’ll Get Alzheimer’s Disease.”

It was just the latest in a string of emails from Newsmax.com that were sent using Brown’s email list in recent days. The Alzheimer email even struck Republicans as odd . . .

That’s never a good sign, eh?

 

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The Map of Elizabeth Warren’s Presidential Run

Smart front-page piece by Noah Bierman in Tuesday’s Boston Globe about Massachusetts senior (!) senator Elizabeth Warren’s nationwide Good Neighbor Liz tour.

Warren bolsters Democratic party’s funding

Money-raising aids Shaheen, other candidates

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Warren has played the role of dutiful freshman in the Senate, careful to avoid upstaging veteran colleagues despite her high national profile and 2013-11-14T173203Z_1366058710_GF2E9BE1BPF01_RTRMADP_3_USA-FED-YELLENenthusiastic liberal followers. But outside the Capitol, her ability to raise money for Democrats is giving her standing beyond her newcomer status.

The Massachusetts lawmaker has raised $1.1 million for the party’s candidates and helped the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raise $1 million more, according to her aides. This year, with elections in November, she has said she will do more.

 

And this helpful graphic tells you why.

 

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The hardcounting staff estimates there are about two dozen incumbents now on the cuff with Warren – and more on the way.

Watch out, Hillaryland.

Elizabeth Warren is the ragged edge of your worst nightmare.

 

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Strip for Boston’s MFA!

Boston’s premier comic strip artist Darby Conley contributed this to Sunday’s Boston Globe.

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So we sent a note to the MFA:

Dear MFAniks,

You were featured in a Get Fuzzy comic strip in the 2/2/14 Boston Sunday Globe, as we noted here.

Happy?

Unhappy?

Any reaction at all?

Thank you,

Campaign Outsider

We’ll keep you posted, as always.

P.S. “Grand Theft Giotto” goes straight to the Hall of Name.

 

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Ellen DeGeneres Is a Super Joke

Screen-Shot-2014-02-03-at-1.29.02-AM-640x290The hardtracking staff knows the corn is off the cob as regards the stealth marketing racket, but this segment last week on The Ellen DeGeneres Show – which previewed her Super Bowl ad for Beats by Dre – really crossed the line that’s no longer there . . .

See the video at Sneak Adtack.

 

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Our ‘Beat the Press Party’ Bakeoff (John Henry/Justin Bieber Edition)

The dreaded Thursday Curse reappeared in this week’s Great Boston MediaWatch Dogfight after the Boston Globe made an announcement about its new management:

JOHN HENRY ASSUMES ROLE OF BOSTON GLOBE PUBLISHER; MIKE SHEEHAN APPOINTED GLOBE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Boston (Jan. 30, 2014) – John Henry Jr., owner of The Boston Globe, will assume the additional title of publisher and Mike Sheehan, the former Hill Holliday chief executive who has been consulting at the Globe, will become Chief Executive Officer, it was announced today. Sheehan will oversee all day-to-day business operations at the Globe while Henry concentrates on strategy.

Those madcap wags at Two-Daily Town had this to say about the Henryfication of the Globe:

So, to recap:

The Globe’s owner is the paper’s publisher and an adman is its CEO.

Not good news for Globe readers.

Not good at all.

The Boston Herald’s Press Partyniks, meanwhile, had this to say about Henry’s self-hire.

(SPOILER ALERT: THEY DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE THE WAYNE’S WORLD WEBCAST STREAMS ON THURSDAY.)

 

 

Instead . . .

On Press Party this week we talk about the State of the State and the State of the Union speeches, a former journalist who will never be a lawyer and the media’s obsession with Justin Bieber.

But no John Henry. Do we see a pattern emerging here, guys?

[To be sure graf comes here]

To be sure, crosstown at WGBH’s Beat the Press, Henry was relegated to the Rants ‘n’ Raves caboose.

 

 

[To be fair graf comes here]

To be fair, the Beatniks were as big Beliebers as the Partyniks. (Full disclosure: We failed to watch this segment.)

 

 

[To be clear graf comes here]

To be clear, this may be One Town, Two Different Places, but when it comes to self-indulgent punks, Boston is Bieber Strong.

 

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Ask Dr. Ads: What’s This ‘Addressable Advertising’ Rumpus About?

DrAdsforProfileWell the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

A case of suds is riding on this.Unknown-1

I saw the following item in Politico’s Playbook the other day:

“DIRECTV and DISH Revolutionize Political TV Advertising Landscape with Combined Addressable Advertising Platform Reaching 20+ Million Households” – Release: “DIRECTV and DISH Network … have joined forces to offer an addressable advertising platform of unprecedented scale and reach for political campaigns. The strategic relationship will allow participating statewide political campaigns to target their TV ads at the household level within 20+ million DIRECTV and DISH homes.” 

My buddy says addressable advertising means they’ll send a letter to your house.

I say it means they’ll send a letter to your work.

Who’s right, Doc?

– Direct Dish

Dear Direct Dish,

You’re both idiots . . .

Read the rest at Ask Dr. Ads.

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That’s Just So Wrong! (Robin Roberts/Amanda Knox Edition)

From Saturday’s New York Times:

Amanda Knox, Found Guilty in Italy Killing, Vows to Fight Extradition

Appearing stunned and fighting back tears, Amanda Knox said Friday that she “will never go willingly back” to Italy and would fight any effort to extradite her “to the very end.”

“It’s not right, and it’s not fair,” Ms. Knox said in the interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the day after an Italian appeals court upheld her 2009 conviction for the murder two years earlier of Meredith Kercher, with whom she had been sharing a student apartment in Perugia.

The court sentenced her in absentia to 28 ½ years in prison.

And here’s the photo that illustrated the story.

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The hardworking staff doesn’t mean to be hard-assed, but there’s no way a news anchor should be holding hands with an interviewee.

Then again, Good Morning, America isn’t exactly a news program, is it?

More’s the pity.

 

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Why the WSJ Is a Cool Newspaper

In the runup to Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Jersey’s unroofed Meadowlands Stadium (Good Morning, Jimmy Hoffa!), the Wall Street Journal commissioned an ice sculpture of the NFL commish Roger Goodell.

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Caption:

Why rely on a meteorologist to predict the weather at Super Bowl XLVIII? Instead, WSJ Sports commissioned a life-sized ice sculpture of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The test? To see if it melts before game day. #willGoodellmelt

Fun!

As a super bonus, there’s an excellent Waiting for Goodell parody at ESPN Playbook.

Samuel Beckett would be loud and proud, we’re sure.

 

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Ask Dr. Ads: Got Any Love for Bud’s ‘Puppy Love’ Ad?

DrAdsforProfileWell the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

(Actual letter – tip o’ the pixel to Double One in the great American Heartland.)

Dear Dr. Ads,budweiser_ad_2_012914

So what do you think of the Budweiser “Puppy Love” ad for the Super Bowl?  Let’s hear it straight from the Dr’s mouth—yea or neigh?

Remember …not every horse lover is an a–.

Regards,
The old gray mare

Dear Old Gray Mare,

First let’s look at the ad in question . . .

Read the rest at Ask Dr. Ads.

 

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Chipotle Chips Away at Advertising/Entertainment Separation

It’s the latest episode in advertainment.

Chipotle Mexican Grill will soon release Farmed and Dangerous,  a “four-part comedy series on the TV-streaming service Hulu that takes a satirical look at industrial-scale farming,” according to a New York Times report.

 

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Farmed and Dangerous,” billed as a “Chipotle original series,” hopes to promote the company’s concerns about sustainable agriculture and the humane treatment of animals used for meat. This stealth marketing strategy, Chipotle executives say, is not about “product integration,” but “values integration.”

It’s what Hulu calls “brand-authored content” – aka ads in sheep’s clothing.

Here’s the trailer . . .

Read the rest at Sneak Adtack.

 

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