SpongeBob, Rap Don't Mix in Ad, Parents Tell Burger King

He's a great, lovable role model: Mary Elizabeth Wiliams

(NEWSER) - A new study suggests SpongeBob is a menace to kids' attention spans, but he won't be disappearing anytime soon from the TV screens in Mary Elizabeth Williams' house. "The study—and the response to it—say much about adult expectations of children," she writes in Salon . Kids who can stay quiet and still are praised as angels. "But most 4-year-olds, mercifully, are a lot more like SpongeBob," she writes. They like to have a little fun. "That's part of why SpongeBob is such a delight—he's eminently relatable." More»

In honor of BK's King, Time breaks down the weirdest product hawkers

(NEWSER) - Now that Burger King’s weird plastic-faced “King” mascot is done terrorizing us , Time decided to break down the creepiest product mascots of all time. You can check out some of their greatest hits in the video gallery below. 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»

Do you know when you're being sold something?

(NEWSER) - You can tell when you’re watching a commercial, right? Not at all, writes NE Marsden , and that’s a huge problem. A new FTC measure seeks to expose the practice of paid consideration—“stealth advertising” is a better phrase—online by requiring bloggers and marketers to disclose remuneration, but that hasn’t worked too well on TV. You didn’t know producers have to disclose product placement on TV? Exactly. More»

(NEWSER) - SpongeBob SquarePants is 10 years old, and the “happy nonsense” of the show is “as popular as ever,” Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times. What’s more, the wacky, uncynical cartoon has managed to do it “without having disclosed any higher meaning to Bikini Bottom.” Sure, “adults have been trying to detect some sort of subtext”—most famously a homosexual agenda—but no dice. “The mystery lives on.” More»