As I reported recently, Trader Joe’s grocery emporium has been accused of racism for using names like “Trader Ming’s” for its Southeast Asian foods, “Trader Giotto’s” for Italian foods, and “Trader José’s” for Mexican food and drink. There’s apparently also a “Baker Josef’s” line of baked goods, like pretzels, imported from Germany. The company first […]
Category Archives: advertisements
Et tu, L. A. Times? Trader Joe’s decision to keep brand names is touted as “breaking your heart”
August 5, 2020 – 12:00 pm
Gwynnie’s summer luxuries
July 10, 2020 – 1:30 pm
I know you’ve all been asking yourselves, “What on earth is Gwyneth Paltrow doing this summer?” For we always want to know what the rich are doing because, as Hemingway said, they’re different from you and me. Well, Gwynnie has put up a post documenting her summertime activities, which of course involve products she’s bought, […]
The Lincoln project’s latest anti-Trump ads, one in Russian and the other about Russia
July 4, 2020 – 12:00 pm
As you probably know, The Lincoln Project is a PAC (political action committee) composed largely of Republicans who oppose Trump’s re-election in November. They endorsed Joe Biden earlier this spring, and are known for their hard-hitting videos (collection here) that The Atlantic has criticized this way: “personally abusive, overwrought, pointlessly salacious, and trip-wired with non […]
A pro-science ad from Pfizer: “When science wins, we all win”
April 16, 2020 – 8:30 am
You will perhaps pooh-pooh me for putting up this ad, which I saw on the news last night, but I don’t think you should. Sure, it’s produced by a “Big Pharma” company—Pfizer—but its message is still on the money. Just listen to the words and forget that, in the end, it’s advertising. If it just […]
This is why people dislike Gwyneth Paltrow
December 11, 2019 – 1:30 pm
Have you ever seen a more off-putting Christmas ad than this one from goop, featuring their consciously uncoupled (but now remarried) Gwyneth Paltrow? The funniest part is what she gives herself for Christmas. On Saturday I’ll show a much better Christmas ad: the one from Sainsbury’s a few years ago that featured Mog the cat. […]
National television networks refuse to air First-Amendment commercial featuring JFK
September 11, 2019 – 10:00 am
A news release from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) tells us that while this FFRF commercial featuring John F. Kennedy was played three years ago on the ABC television network, it was rejected by ABC for airing during the Democratic debates in Houston tomorrow. This was after ABC refused a much more provocative ad, […]
Steve Pinker’s new humanist ad for the FFRF
March 30, 2019 – 8:30 am
As the Freedom from Religion Foundation explains, this is the first time they’ve done a national television ad in a long time, and reader Paul just saw it on the Colbert show. The ad debuted in January in about 18 regional markets during “The Late Show.” In February, CBS agreed to run the ad nationally. […]
The power of the web for targeted marketing
May 9, 2018 – 4:40 pm
by Greg Mayer One of the creepiest things about using the internet is how many businesses seem to know where you’ve been on the web and what you did there, and on that basis insert ads on other web pages you view. This ability to precisely target particular subsets of people for advertising is, indeed, […]
In which I get a personalized Facebook ad!
May 1, 2018 – 8:00 am
I’ve been complaining on my Facebook page about the volume of ads I get, and how I try to make them more infrequent by clicking on each one and saying “it’s not relevant to me.” My hope, which of course is futile, is that this will eventually eliminate the ads completely, since nothing will be […]
Huff post pretends that ads are articles
April 30, 2018 – 10:30 am
I hate HuffPo with the blazing heat of a million white-hot suns. Well, maybe not that much, but I really do despise its predictable Authoritarian Leftism, ascribable to a new editor and a new editorial position. It’s become the left-wing Breitbart, but in one respect perhaps even worse: it has “articles” that are really ads, […]
