blog info popup

Author

Bob Garfield

Anthropology of Ad Agency Summed Up in 2 Minutes Flat

Ad for FITC Design & Technology Festival Sums Up Chaos Scenario in Far Less Than 90,000 Words

"The Last Advertising Agency on Earth" is a two-minute video about a fictional agency called MPS&C, which held a death grip on the status quo until one day it simply ceased being.

Full Article 1 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Garfield Says Adieu, AdReview

After 25 Years, Ad Age's Iconic Critic Is Hanging up His Stars, but Not Before Recalling His Hits and Misses -- and Yes, Having the Last Word

I'm retiring from AdReview for a lot of reasons, converging more or less by coincidence on my silver jubilee.

Full Article 46 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Mooncup Makes Sure Your Lady Parts Are Feeling the Love

LoveYourVagina.com Sells This Feminine Device Without Pussyfooting the Issue

How are you feeling about your vagina these days? We ask not without reason. LoveYourVagina.com is the website of a British product called Mooncup, which is a silicone receptacle designed to replace tampons and sanitary pad. These folks don't want you to be vaginally satisfied. They want amor.

Full Article 3 Comments
Author

Abbey Klaassen

Bob Garfield Set to Retire His Weekly Ad Review

Will Write New 'Listenomics' Column for Ad Age

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Next month, after 25 years as the ad industry's preeminent critic, Bob Garfield will retire his weekly ad reviews in Advertising Age to take on two new enterprises.

Full Article 12 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

If Seeing Is Believing, Sharp Is Not So Bright in Its Messaging

In New Spot for TV With Extra Color, McGarryBowen Comes Close to Admitting Paradox of Advertising a TV on a TV

The new Quattron commercial from Sharp not only makes little attempt to demonstrate the product difference, it comes within a whisker of self-consciously pointing up the absurdity of attempting to demonstrate the product difference.

Full Article 19 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Treatment for Couple's Pain Makes Laughter Conceivable

Pharma Marketing Is a Less-Than-Noble Art, but This Infertility Drug Ad Is Amusing and Sympathetic

This is about a funny, knowing and smart direct-to-consumer drug campaign now being tested in Baltimore. But first, just a quick reminder that pharma marketing is a cesspool.

Full Article 7 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Devo's Postmodern Album Promo Hits All the Right Notes

Art Band Is Either Rethinking Its Identity or Ridiculing Crowdsourcing. Or Both

Is it even advertising? Who the hell knows? But it is so cool and funny and wicked and surprising and surprisingly restrained and postmodern in the best sense. In short: so Devo.

Full Article 8 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Part Flo, Part Dos Equis, This Insurance Ad Is Only Part Good

Nationwide Executives Persuade the World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World to Return

Advertising is permitted to mate a donkey with a horse and sell the client a mule. The "World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World" is a nice enough mule. It's not mule-tastic. It's not "mule die laughing." But it is an amusing, benefit-laden, altogether satisfactory mule.

Full Article 16 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

The Ad Review Super Bowl FAQ

Some Readers and Online Commentators Had Questions (and Insults) for Bob Garfield

Bob Garfield took the time to address a few points about this year's Super Bowl Ad Review.

Full Article 2 Comments
Author

Bob Garfield

Finalement, Our Long-Awaited Take on Google's Super Bowl Ad

Sergey and Co. Scrounge Up Some Change for a Charm Offensive

Apparently Sergey Brin and friends came up with two or three million dollars and used the Super Bowl to mount a charm offensive. Naturally, like everything else Google does, it was perfect.

Full Article 11 Comments