marketing

America Demands Slightly More Expensive Burgers

Hamilton Nolan · 09/26/11 12:36PM

Americans are not the sort of slobs who are satisfied with simply consuming a drab, tasteless burger in a hobo-infested fast food restaurant hastily rebranded as a "cafe." Americans are the sort of slobs who want their burgers fast—but casual. Americans want a slightly wider selection of toppings available on their burgers, and they want to consume those burgers in a very slightly more attractive setting than a Burger King bathroom. Americans demand this!

'All Natural Food' Means Nothing

Hamilton Nolan · 09/20/11 08:22AM

Are you a pretty savvy and health conscious person who maintains a slim and attractive physique along with the body of a much younger human by dining solely on "all natural" foodstuffs? Congrats, good for you. You are dumb.

Kids These Days Are Sellouts

Hamilton Nolan · 09/12/11 02:05PM

Want to know what's wrong with kids these days? Good. I'll tell you. In my day, we had a concept known as "selling out." These days, there is new concept, called "selling out." Kids love it!

The Middle Class Is Dead

Hamilton Nolan · 09/12/11 10:48AM

Historians tell us that the United States of America once boasted a fabled "middle" class of residents. They were not too poor; they were not too rich; they were just right. Crazy—but allegedly true.

Big in Romania: 'Black Man' Cookies

Hamilton Nolan · 09/09/11 03:30PM

"You know what I could go for?" said one Romanian to the other. "A 'Black Man' chocolate-flavored cookie. Looks like a black man, tastes like a cookie." Replied the other Romanian, "Here."

Tweeting for MTV Is Seriously Just Like Being a Rock Star

Ryan Tate · 09/08/11 10:53AM

Page Six Magazine, august journal of taste and glamour, this weekend will feature a blowout article on a profoundly influential group of power brokers, "Modern Mad Men," a.k.a. people who tweet professionally. Because there really is no job more elegant than social media manager, right?

ConAgra Forced to Apologize for Tricking Bloggers Into Eating ConAgra Food

Hamilton Nolan · 09/07/11 08:35AM

Food conglomerate ConAgra, maker of all remaining food, hired the PR firm Ketchum for a fun promotional stunt: it would invite a bunch of food bloggers to a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant, then reveal that they'd actually been served frozen ConAgra food-like products instead of real food. Mirth and delight would ensue! Alas, ConAgra and Ketchum should have watched the old Chris Farley skit more closely.

Europeans Love Nonalcoholic Beer

Hamilton Nolan · 08/30/11 12:16PM

Nonalcoholic beer has long been the beverage of choice for everyone from delusional recovering alcoholics to people too drunk to notice they accidentally bought nonalcoholic beer. Shouldn't you be drinking more nonalcoholic beer, if you know what we mean?

Urine Leaking Into Your Pants Is No Reason to Feel Unsexy

Hamilton Nolan · 08/18/11 09:11AM

Here's a thing that the genius multibillion-dollar marketing industry did, probably at a cost of millions upon millions of dollars: instead of saying "incontinence," now we say "light bladder leakage," because that term is "less stigmatizing." See how much better it sounds? "Light bladder leakage." It's not all medical-y. It's just very plain and upfront to let people know, yes, urine is leaking from my bladder, lightly, and hey, I'm still human.

Devastating Anomie of Modern Life Cured by Velveeta Cheesy Skillets

Hamilton Nolan · 08/11/11 11:45AM

Velveeta™ brand products are much like America itself: chemical-laden, unnaturally orange, and composed primarily of Cheez. So it's unsurprising that Velveeta convenient meals division brand manager Adam Grablick's comment on the process of chemically concocting, packaging, rolling out, and promoting the new Velveeta Cheesy Skillets would serve to crystallize the fundamental hopelessness that has overtaken us as a people more clearly than anything else.

Nobody Likes Miller Lite

Hamilton Nolan · 08/03/11 11:10AM

Bad news, people who go to the store with the express purpose of purchasing Miller Lite™ brand beer: Ad Age reports that Miller Lite is growing steadily less popular. And during the "all-important summer beer-selling season"!

Chicks on the Rag Ruin Hilarious Milk Campaign

Hamilton Nolan · 07/22/11 11:24AM

The people who sell milk (who ARE those people?) started an edgy and viral marketing campaign last month based on the scientific(?) fact that milk can help ease PMS symptoms in women. The edgy part was that the campaign was aimed at dudes, the ones who suffer most when chicks are on the rag! "Slip your bitch some milk," I think was the underlying message.

Food Companies Voluntarily Agree to Change Nothing

Hamilton Nolan · 07/15/11 11:01AM

You can't accuse Big Food companies of failing to care about America's health. If Americans die, who will buy all the Cheetos and Kool Aid, for example? That's why Big Food is willing to make minor cosmetic concessions—for you!

Americans Love Paying More For Less Food

Hamilton Nolan · 07/12/11 10:58AM

If we as a nation were to answer the question, "What are your two biggest problems?" the response would be "We are fat and broke." Well, you can't have it all, America. But you can be broke and skinnier!

PepsiCo Is the Only Thing Keeping Poor People Alive

Hamilton Nolan · 07/07/11 08:34AM

The only thing standing between impoverished rural Indians and total physical collapse is the good will of international sugar-water conglomerate PepsiCo, which soon hopes to be making $30 billion a year by selling "good for you" products to people so desperate that they will turn to PepsiCo to find something good for them. "Good," in this context, means "not Pepsi cola." Please allow the WSJ to present tonight's specials at the Rural Indian PepsiCo Cafe:

'Fast Drunks' Coming to Drive-Thru Near You

Hamilton Nolan · 07/01/11 02:34PM

Our nation's fast food outlets are all in that "teenage phase" right now, in which they all try to "find themselves" by trying on various new identities. Denny's is a "diner. Panera is a hippie haven. Everywhere else is now a "cafe." The only thing that our nation's fast food outlets can all agree on: they need more drunk people on their premises.

The Year's Very Best Pedophile Ad

Hamilton Nolan · 07/01/11 08:14AM

The top 684,392 advertisements of the past year have now been honored with "Cannes Lions" awards. We've already shown you one of this year's winners in the "pedophile" category; but edgy ad guru Copyranter argues that the ad above (click to enlarge), out of Poland—in which an ad agency placed cards touting a "child safety foundation" inside children's underwear on sale at a kids' clothing store—is the single most disturbing Cannes Lion 2011 winner.