Nickelodeon Resists Critics of Food Ads

In resisting calls to ban ads for nutritionally questionable food, Nickelodeon argued that its job was children’s entertainment, not nutrition.

    

Perhaps Guy Who Directed ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ Will Convince You to Buy a Lexus

From Team One and director Jonas Åkerlund (whose music video reel includes Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up,” Blink 182′s “I Miss You,” and Madonna’s “Ray of Light”) comes a new campaign for the Lexus IS. As you can see, Lexus is really trying to market their new luxury sedan as a high-fashion, chique automobile, which strays a bit from the brand’s usual “Hey, you want a luxury car, but you don’t want to go nuts?” appeal. And, considering Åkerlund’s impressive resume, who better to pay a ton of money to make your product pop on TV?

Both “Crowd” and “Color Shift” succeed in that they’re flashy, somewhat dystopian depiction of urban wealth looks starkly different than any other car advertising you’ll see during commercial breaks. However, will consumers buy that Lexus is a brand that can adeptly align itself with fashionable, rebellious youth? Credits after the jump.

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Advertising: Longing to Stay Wanted, MTV Turns Its Attention to Younger Viewers

Trying to avoid a decline in viewership, MTV plans to present a nationwide study of 1,800 “young millennials” to marketers and programmers.

    

DreamWorks and Netflix in Deal for New TV Shows

DreamWorks Animation will supply Netflix with a flood of new episodic TV programs inspired by characters from past DreamWorks franchises, which include “Shrek” and “The Croods.”

    

Lord Stanley Never Could Have Envisioned ‘The Smackley Cup’

Usually, city rivalries related to sporting match-ups involve wacky wagers from politicians. The mayor of City X wants 100 pounds of cheese from the governor of City Y if City X wins the Super Bowl. But for the 2013 Stanley Cup between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, the wacky wagers are getting social and, well, smack-talky. The folks over at Arnold Boston and Leo Burnett in Chicago are using the Stanley Cup to launch their own trash-talking competition for charity: The Smackley Cup. Agency employees and random fans from all over are encouraged to tweet using #smacktalkboston or #smacktalkchicago. Once the series concludes, the agency supporting the loser of the Stanley Cup will have to donate 10 cents per tweet and retweet to a charity AND wear the opposing team’s sweater in the office the following day. That sort of masochism always makes for fun water cooler talk.

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Future of 3-D TV Murky as ESPN Ends Channel

ESPN’s move spurred a debate about whether anyone would be left watching in 3-D television soon, and whether anything would be available worth watching.

    

European Trade Ministers Debate Terms of U.S. Talks

A major sticking point — France’s demand to exclude films, TV shows and other audiovisual services from talks — could prompt the United States to require exclusions of its own.

    

Family Guy Makes ‘Pearl Necklace’ Joke in Emmy Bid

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Referencing the famed HBO Girls scene in which the Shiri Appleby character receives a “pearl necklace” quickie from her boyfriend, a Family Guy “for your consideration” Emmy ad carries the headline, “Here’s A Load of Comedy to Shoot on Your Chest.”

Both the scene and the ad were/are bold. But we think the timing is a bit late and even though there’s certainly nothing wrong with “expressing oneself” to another as the Adam Driver character did to Appleby, it’s all a bit gratuitous even by our standards.

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Family Guy Pleads for an Emmy With Racy Spoof of HBO’s Girls

Fox's Family Guy has a new "For Your Consideration" ad for this year's Emmy Awards, because Seth MacFarlane's unfunny Rat Pack schtick hasn't ruined enough award shows yet. The latest ad references an episode of HBO's Girls in which someone received a pearl necklace. Hence the Family Guy headline: "Here's a load of comedy to shoot on your chest." Groan. It's better than the lazy Jew-baiting that MacFarlane and company have been relying on lately, but that Girls episode was beaten to death long before they got to it. But that's to be expected from a show that hasn't been funny since I was in college.

    

Children Compete to Be the Best at Not Doing Drugs

From the power trio of Atmosphere Proximity, The Parternship at Drugfree.org and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy comes the above spot for the “Above the Influence” campaign which asks the question, “Who better to convince kids not to drugs than their peers?”

Of course, this begs a second question. “Wait, which of your peers is the BEST at not telling you to do drugs?  That is the peer we need.” And so, things got interesting. After all, what’s more American and capitalistic than making this shit into a contest? This isn’t about the message anymore. No sir, this shit is about TALENT. You got talent? Stand up, let’s hear it. No talent? SIT DOWN. Do some drugs until you’re able to talk about them in a raw, powerful way that is better than that other kid’s way of talking about drugs. Then, you win.

Before you submit your awesome ad idea at Above the Influence on Facebook, start strategizing. What kind of shenanigans will your peer group use to their advantage? Perhaps they lost a family member to drugs. Perhaps they’re recovering addicts themselves. Remember, this isn’t about drugs. This is about winning, and being the most popular kid at school for appearing in an anti-drug commercial. This is about fame. This is about being the best.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Venerable Format of ‘NewsHour’ Struggles With New Era of Media

Layoffs and a financial crisis have exposed tension at the long-running news program, with some calling for a major overhaul.

    

Gatekeepers of Cable TV Try to Stop Intel

Intel’s plan to create a virtual cable service is running up against a barricade being guarded by cable and satellite distributors.

    

Advertising: In Short Season, N.H.L. Ad Celebrates the Emotional

Looking beyond the lockout that canceled 510 games this season, a new ad recalls the competitive history that has attracted fans to the game.

    

‘Steve Harvey’ Talk Show Gains an Extension

The show, which had its debut in September, will remain on television through at least 2016 thanks to a series of deals announced by NBCUniversal.

    

Greece Shuts Down State Broadcaster ERTGreece Shuts Broadcaster ERT in Bid to Show Resolve

In a surprise move that angered labor unions, the coalition government said the state-run broadcaster, ERT, was a “haven of waste.”

    

Greece Shutting Down State Broadcaster ERT

In a surprise move that angered labor unions and its junior partners, the conservative-led coalition government said the broadcaster, ERT, would shut down at midnight Tuesday.

    

Apple Wants to Make You Cry, Will Be as Cloying as Possible Until it Happens

“Designed by Apple” is the third and newest spot in TBWA\Media Arts Lab’s recent reinvention of Apple’s TV ads. The first two, “Photos Every Day” and “Music Every Day” offered a refreshing take on the iPhone, moving it out of Apple’s white world and into the real world. It seemed as though Apple was hitting its stride, until today.

Now, it’s difficult for tech companies to do sentimentality, but it’s not unprecedented (see Google). But, “Designed by Apple” is trying so damn hard to make you feel anything that it misses the mark by a mile. Perhaps it’s watching grown men absolutely lose their shit when Tim Cook mentioned “Finder windows” during yesterday’s Worldwide Developer Conference yesterday, or have the press react to Jonathan Ive‘s pastel-tinged redesign of iOS as though it was 2013′s answer to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This is so saccharine that it’s silly.

Maybe the most misguided part is the tagline, “Designed by Apple in California” (check out the web video here). After all, as anyone who’s ever owned an Apple product knows, the words “Assembled in China” always immediately follow that statement on every device.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Dan Harmon Will Return to NBC’s ‘Community’

Dan Harmon, the creator of “Community,” will return to that NBC comedy as its show runner for the coming season after being pushed out of the top job a year ago.

    

New Executive Producer Named for ‘American Idol’

Per Blankens, who spent five years at the helm of the Swedish version of “Idol,” will be among the people charged with reviving the American version.

    

PBS Joins With Univision to Show a ‘Frontline’ Film

A Spanish-language version of “Rape in the Fields,” about sexual assault of migrant farm and packing plant workers, will be shown on Univision.