'Cloud' Ads Float Sky-High

Six sponsors out of today's game, others reviewing plans

(NEWSER) - More tangible fallout from the Penn State scandal: About six sponsors, including Cars.com, have pulled out of today's noon game on ESPN, and other marketers are asking the station not to air their ads anywhere near discussion of the matter. "I have multiple advertisers pulling ads from the ESPN broadcast," one ad buyer tells the Wall Street Journal . More»

Fast food chain to jump on the fresh-and-healthy bandwagon

(NEWSER) - Burger King is planning a radical change in its advertising strategy that will end the surprisingly long reign of its creepy King mascot. The fast food chain is jumping on the trend of touting how fresh its food is—its latest campaign, launching this weekend, advertises its new guacamole-topped “California Whopper” with wordless images of vegetables being washed and chopped, USA Today reports. More»

Sexist campaign won't boost milk sales, critics say

(NEWSER) - The ad agency behind the famous "Got Milk?" campaign has created a controversial follow-up focusing on premenstrual syndrome—and targeting men. The "Everything I Do Is Wrong" campaign trumpets research suggesting milk reduces PMS symptoms and asks: "Are you a man living with PMS?" Posters with slogans like" I apologize for not reading between the lines" show apologetic men carrying milk cartons, reports the New York Times . More»

Picture talking pill bottles and constant monitoring, writes Alex Poulos

(NEWSER) - If you think ads are inescapable now, just wait a few decades, writes Alex Poulos in the Boston Globe . Future generations will laugh at our primitive tech know-how; the question is “who will laugh last. And I’m afraid it won’t be the consumer,” he writes. Expect ads that are:

• “Intrusive.” The backs of cabs will have scrolling ads, and pill bottles will have audio messages when you open them.

What's up with the total lack of words?

(NEWSER) - The new Starbucks logo is here: Is it a disaster of Gap logo proportions ? Not quite, but critics are still a bit baffled:

• Why did they remove “those pesky words that say Starbucks Coffee?" wonders Meg Marco on the Consumerist . “Coffee, we assume, was the primary problem. Why? Because Starbucks is a fast food joint.”
• Maybe that’s true—but more importantly, Starbucks doesn’t want to be seen as a chain, Alissa Walker reminds us on Good . The company went so far as to open stores with completely different names that masquerade as independent coffee shops, after all. But will consumers really forget the name—“and all the baggage that comes along with it”—even though that green siren is so well-known?