NEWSLETTER #138 / November 11, 2018
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MARK Z: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MISERY
In last week's exciting episode of The Ad Contrarian Newsletter, we talked about the parliaments of Canada and the UK trying to get Mark Zuckerberg to appear at their "international grand committee on disinformation and fake news." We said they had about as much chance of getting him to show up as I had of becoming Crown Prince of Iceland.
As expected, this week Zuckerberg told them to fly a kite. Meanwhile, three other countries -- Argentina, Australia, and Ireland -- joined the chorus to have the Z-man appear.
What the arrogant tech titans have learned is that they can ignore the toothless demands of elected officials and regulators with impunity. In what CNBC called "an insult to the public" a few weeks ago, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai ignored a congressional request to attend a session to discuss privacy and hateful content. The penalty he paid? Zilch on a stick.
These tech guys have been living in a world that is insulated from the normal boundaries of behavior other businesses are required to observe. The challenge to governments around the world is clear -- can they corral these bozos or will they continue to be allowed to run roughshod over the public?
Is Nothing Sacred?
This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Under Armour sent an email to employees informing them... "they could no longer charge visits to strip clubs on their corporate cards."
What is the world coming to?
This could turn into a major inconvenience for overfed corporate frat boys. Now they're gonna have to hide their infantile shenanigans in phony "client dinner" expense reports.
Chairman and CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, who previously had charged strip club visits on his company card, will now have to pay from his own pocket -- an unconscionable hardship for a guy who is worth $2.1 billion.
In a further change intended to bring its corporate policies into line with contemporary standards, Under Armour also announced that from now on female employees will not be required to wear hot pants on Friday.
From Bad To Worse
According to a press release last Monday, the most idiotic brand name in the history of idiotic brand names is about to get worse.
Oath, the cruelly inhumane umbrella name foisted upon Yahoo, AOL, and HuffPost, is apparently about to be changed to Verizon Media Group/Oath. But, then again, maybe not. Ad Age claims Oath is being dropped altogether. They say Oath is being changed to simply Verizon Media Group.
So are we going to have an Oath or not? I wonder how many branding experts it's gonna take to figure this out?
Quickies
Super Bowl Ad News In November
If we can have Christmas ads in September, we can have Super Bowl ad news in November. Apparently the first two Super Bowl advertisers have signed on. WeatherTech will be extolling the benefits of car mats made in America, while Avocados From Mexico will be doing likewise for produce not made in America.
Who's Going To Jail?
Following up on an item here a few weeks ago, this week the ANA issued a white paper about the FBI investigation into agency kickbacks and other naughty behavior. There wasn't much new in the white paper other than this scary sentence, “criminal charges can be brought against the media buying agencies and those executives and employees who were involved.”
Innovation Never Sleeps
After spending 30 years trying to convince us that 16 blades were better than 15, Gillette now says that two blades are best. Their new Gillette SkinGuard Sensitive razor with “new SkinGuard technology,” has “two optimally placed low cutting force (LCF) blades.” This amazing breakthrough was announced this week at the Gillette Global Innovation Summit. No, you can't make this shit up. (H/T the great Jay Tannenbaum)
