Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Ad Nauseam

Amtrak: Enjoy the Journey

By Damien Newton | Mar 20, 2009 | 12 Comments

Amtrak is back on the air with a new commercial that uses children’s toys to make the point that taking a long distance trip via train is far less stressful and more enjoyable than either driving or flying. While I personally never lined all my matchboxes up in three parallel lines to create a traffic […]

Campaign Enlists Comedians to Curb Reckless Teen Driving

By Brad Aaron | Mar 9, 2009 | 13 Comments

The Ad Council has some new material in its campaign aimed at teenage drivers. In these spots, a comedic actor (Fred Willard in the ad above) in the backseat of a car with three teens cajoles or threatens the driver into slowing down or minding the road. The gist of the campaign, corresponding with the […]

IBM: Let’s Build a Smarter Planet With Congestion Pricing!

By Damien Newton | Mar 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

IBM launched its "Build a Smarter Planet" campaign to highlight its role in using technology to solve many of the world’s problems. One of their most recent ads highlights and brags about the computer giant’s role in bringing congestion pricing, or as it terms it "smart tolling," to European cities. After spending a year watching […]

Mercedes: Reckless Driving Is Smarter

By Brad Aaron | Feb 23, 2009 | 3 Comments

Here’s a particularly egregious bit of "open road" propaganda from Mercedes. In this ad, currently airing in US markets, a new Benz GLK whips through the narrow streets of what appears to be a small European village, the inhabitants of which are reduced to slo-mo scenery. As the narrator talks up the GLK’s "smarter" performance […]

UK Campaign Drives Home the Cost of Reckless Driving

By Brad Aaron | Feb 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

Warning: Graphic video On the heels of TA’s report on the human toll of driving too fast, we bring you this highly disturbing ad from the UK Department for Transport’s THINK! campaign, showing the difference a few miles-per-hour can make when it comes to avoiding a collision. Ideally material like this (Australia has a similar […]

Ad Nauseum: What Is Jack in the Box Thinking?

By Damien Newton | Feb 1, 2009 | 51 Comments

You know what’s really funny? Pedestrians getting hit by a bus in the crosswalk. At least that’s what the marketing department at Jack in the Box apparently decided before putting together their "Hang in There Jack" campaign which kicked off with a bizarre commercial during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. I can only […]

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