What’s the best way to sell your movie when you’re painfully aware that it ranks only marginally above a Twilight fan-fiction in artistic merit? That’s right, a shocking and attention-snatching poster! It’s no secret that people love controversy, and often advertisers use this to their advantage in promoting films (both good and otherwise). Below are [...]

As time has progressed, we’ve seen music become much more sleeker and refined, designed for mass appeal from the get-go. Songs have become polished products like trinkets you can fit in your breast pocket and admire from the palm of your hand. It used to be that music had splinters and rough edges and a [...]

“The best movie you’ll ever see will never be made. It will exist only in your mind.” (James Cameron) That fake quote from Cameron makes a relevant point about trailers, and is very appropriate since this is an article about fakes. A great trailer can sometimes promise an unbelievable movie that the actual full film [...]

It is estimated that we are exposed to thousands of commercial messages every day in one form or another. Most of them are boring as hell, but once in a while, a shocking ad makes us stop and wonder. ‘Shockvertising’ is like a sword with a double-edged blade. Do bold and controversial print ads incite [...]

Another American election has come and gone, and no matter what your political opinions are you have to agree that the 2010 campaign had its fair share of baffling ads. Commercials like the infamous Demon Sheep and “I’m not a witch” became viral hits, but there were plenty of other insane ads out there that [...]

Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to civilization. The fascinating history of beer dates back to ancient Sumeria, the ‘cradle of civilization’. Clay tablets that tell the story of Gilgamesh describe precisely how beer was prepared, the various types of beer, how its brewing and selling were carried out, how it was [...]

We might like to pretend we’re above the infomercial, but recent research shows as many as 1 out of 3 Americans have pulled their credit cards out during a pitch. The track record of success spans nearly every aspect of business: beauty, personal care, business opportunities, collectables, weight loss products and house wares. The appeal [...]

Though you may not know it, the billboard has been around since 1867, but today it’s probably not what you think of when you hear the word advertisements. You probably think something more along the line of a pop-up or those annoying commercials that come on the radio. While many of them are still simply [...]

Something about the gimmicky, hyper-formulaic template of a stereotypical infomercial makes it so silly and contrary to expensive ad campaigns that they hardly seem to pose a threat to our hard-earned money. Big businesses, and the advertising companies that work for them, spend millions of dollars to make TV commercials effective. In contrast, infomercials haven’t [...]

Product placement has become downright pervasive in movies and TV, but that doesn’t mean that every brand we see onscreen is something available in stores. When licensing real world products isn’t possible, filmmakers often resort to using made up brand names in their place. Some of these have become director trademarks, while others have become [...]