BUSINESS BUZZ – Always wanted to release the superstar within you? Now you can, with Be Kanye®. Call now. This is clearly an ad for something, and it’s not a powder that turns you into Kanye West. Vodka? Whatever he’s selling, it’s worth watching for the tiger.

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BUSINESS BUZZ – Hey kids! JC Penney wants you to know, “Today’s the day to get away with it.” The ad shows two horny teenagers practicing putting their clothes back on in under 18 seconds so they can go down into the basement and fool around without the fear of getting caught by mom. What remains unclear is what this has to do with JC Penney — they make easily put-on clothing? Update: Despite winning an award at the Cannes Advertising Festival, it’s a fake. YouTube has the video but you can also watch it here.

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The Best Links:

1. Watch The Teen Sex Ad Here Since It Is Not On YouTube
2. “Just Watching Some TV” is a Euphemism for So Much More

BUSINESS BUZZ – An online banner with the ubiquitous Ray wearing a scarf that may or may not be a keffiyeh has been pulled after a conservative outcry. Michelle Malkin was shocked, shocked! Will Keffiyeh Gate rally the blogosphere to her fashion cause? Or has the scarf been passé long enough now that all she’ll garner is a collective “meh”?

The Best Links:

1. They Yanked Her Ad for a Keffiyeh-Like Scarf!
2. Surprise! Michelle Malkin Mulls Boycott
3. Stupid Moves, Dunkin’ Donuts
4. The Only Thing Offensive Here is Her Outdated Fashion
5. This is Not Actually a Saturday Night Live Skit

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BUSINESS BUZZ – Don’t get all excited, there’s nothing to see here. You may have noticed an ad campaign online over the last month or so for a TV show called Scarlet, starring Natassia Malthe. As it turns out, there is no show, only a new line of LCD HDTVs from LG, as disappointed celebrities like Lindsay Lohan found out at last night’s “premiere.” Ha ha! Hoaxes: The new marketing frontier.

The Best Links:

1. “The nontraditional campaign hasn’t exactly ignited “Scarlet” fever online”
2. No, There’s No Show. Move Along
3. New Fake Show Pushes New Real LCD HDTVs
4. S C A R L E T - The Official Site (For the TVs!)
5. OMFG - They Tricked Lindsay Lohan and People From “The Hills”!!
6. “Things Aren’t What They Seem” Turns Out to Be Boringly True

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STYLE BUZZ – This time, Ford has pissed off the Italians. One ad in a campaign for his sunglasses has been labeled “markedly vulgar” by an Italian ad organization and must be reprinted. Worth noting: Another ad in the campaign, which was not banned, features a naked woman grabbing a man’s crotch.

The Best Links:

1. Is This “Markedly Vulgar”?
2. WWD Reports the Ban
3. Ford’s History of NSFW Ads
4. “Am I missing something?”
5. Sexism, or Sexy?
6. Huh, The Banned the Only Ad in the Series NOT Featuring a Naked Woman

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TV BUZZ – The ad campaign for the return of the CW teen show is raising eyebrows. OMFG! Teens having sex!

The Best Links:

1. “OMFG” is Kinda Weak, Eveb For the Jr. High Set, Non?
2. The “Gossip Girl” OMFG Slideshow Trailer
3. OMFG Cexy!
4. More Exploitative Than Ground-Breaking
5. Them Ads? They For Reals
6. Are the New Gossip Girl Ads Too Racy?

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BUSINESS BUZZ – A new anti-smoking ad featuring two cigarettes standing in for the Twin Towers is just the latest in the 9/11 exploitation ad genre. From advertising newspapers to various public service announcements, 9/11 is apparently now fair game if you’re hawking something.

The Best Links:

1. Slick Newspaper Ad That Uses 9/11 As a Cheap Trick
2. Get It? The Cigarettes Are Like Burning Towers!
3. Too Soon?
4. Rating Things: 9/11 Much Less Important Than Bad Water
5. Hmmm, Silver Lining?
6. Yes, But Can You Spot Waldo?
7. More Cigarette 9/11 Ads! Its Own Sub-Genre?
8. “If you don’t quit smoking, the terrorists will have won.”
9. Lego? For Serious??
10. Old 9/11 Political Exploitation Ad

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CULTURE BUZZ – A new ad campaign targeting men who father children with underage girls makes everyone feel uneasy (thanks for the tip!) These ads are disturbing, sure, but nowhere near as disturbing as the high incidence of statutory rape in Milwaukee, where they originated.

The Best Links:

1. “D-Cupped Right Into Our Faces”
2. A Commenter Speaks up on Copyranter to Defend the Ads
3. Raising Awareness While Insulting Intelligence
4. The Execution Here Leaves A Lot to be Desired
5. “Disturbing PSA Makes Folks Feel Extra Pervy”
6. Ugh, This Makes Us Feel Sick in a Potentially Worrisome Way
7. Can You Spot The Photoshopped-In Typo?
8. Helping or Hindering The Cause?

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TV BUZZ – Once again, violent antics and broad stereotypes win the day. Despite some assertions that this year’s crop of ads would be kinder and gentler, the majority of Super Bowl spots couldn’t help basing their jokes on brutal pratfalls and thinly veiled racist jokes. Here’s a roundup of what you missed while replenishing your snacks.

The Best Links:

1. The Commercials of Super Bowl XLII: A Summary
2. Ad Age Rates the Ads: Overall, a Failing Score
3. Super Bowl XLII Commercial Awards
4. FThe Ten Most TiVo-ed Super Bowl Ads
5. Why the Panda Psychic Didn’t Have an Accent in That Racist Salesgenie.com Ad
6. AMP Energy Jumpstart - Nipples, Meet Starter Cables
7. Audi R8 - Nod to “The Godfather,” With Lots of Screaming
8. Bud Light Proves That Will Ferrell is No Longer Funny
9. Pepsi - Justin Timberlake Gets a Mailbox to the Crotch, Repeatedly
10. Planters Peanuts - Their Scent Inspires Pratfalls, Broken Bones
11. The All-New Corolla - Man Killed By Badgers
12. Cars.com - A Deathmatch With Glondoor
13. Doritos - A Man in a Mouse Suit Delivers a Brutal Beating
14. Bridgestone - Screaming Forest Creatures
15. Ice Breakers - Man Tackled By Carmen Electra’s Handlers
16. Bridgestone - Threatening to Run Down Richard Simmons is Still Funny
17. Bud Light - Breathe Fire, But no one is Hurt
18. Bud Light - Man Flies Into a Jet Engine, Har
19. CareerBuilder.com - Watching a Live Heart Leap Around Made us Feel Sick
20. SalesGenie - Nice Racist Accents, Guys!
21. SalesGenie - Nice Racial Stereotypes, Guys!
22. Superbowl XLII Recap
23. The Best Super Bowl Ads Were…
24. The Super Bowl Commercials Live-blog
25. Did This Year’s Super Bowl Commercials Live Up to the Hype?
26. The Only Super Bowl Ads Worth Watching
27. Most Distasteful Super Bowl Ads
28. All The Super Bowl Ads on You Tube

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FOOD BUZZ – Hershey’s is stopping production on candy they say looks too much like street drugs. After catching flack from police and teachers for creating a breath freshener that glamorizes drug use, Hershey decided to pull Ice Breakers Pacs. Joining the ranks of bubblegum cigarettes, we’ll now have to look for ‘dime bags of freshness’ on the black market.

The Best Links:

1. Hershey Stopping Production of Mints That Police Say Resemble Street Drugs
2. Packaging World’s Analysis of the Ice Breakers Pacs Brouhaha
3. “Worldwide Leader in Weird: Drug Death, Thy Name is Hershey’s”
4. Community Offended by Hershey’s Mints That Look Like Drugs
5. Video of Dallas Police Discussing Ice Breakers Pacs
6. Is Hershey’s Cracked?
7. “I Was Wrong: Hershey’s Ice Breakers Are Brilliant”
8. A roundup of opinions about Ice Breakers Pacs
9. Dime Bags of Freshness
10. New Ice Breakers Look Like Illegal Drugs
11. Hershey Pulls Mints That Look Like Illegal Drugs
12. New Ice Breakers Look Like Illegal Drugs
13. Ice Breakers PACS Look Like Drugs

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