An Achmed Christmas?
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends, news from the world of puppets and ventriloquism, bits of humor and other interesting but useless information. I post every Tuesday and Friday. For information on this puppet's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.
An "Achmed the Dead Terrorist" Christmas?
The November 17th issue of COUNTRY WEEKLY magazine featured Kenny Chesney on the cover. But thanks to a note from Adelia Detweiler, I sought out the article on Jeff Dunham (A Comedian's Crossroads) on page 64. It's a review of Jeff's vent career, beginning in the third grade and he tells about the crossroads of life that brought him to where he is today in his highly successful career. You'll find more from the interview with Jeff if you click here.
Jeff's Christmas Special (Click on link to see clips; they're hysterical!) which was taped at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, WI, is scheduled to air this Sunday, November 16th, at 8 p.m. Central Time on Comedy Central. Don't miss it.
When to Use Synchronized Swimming in Marketing
Thanks to our friends at AdRants for this.
A couple things about featuring synchronized swimming ... water ballet in ads: First ... don't. Second ... don't. That is unless the swimmers look like the real U.S. Olympic synchronized swim team pictured here. (I should have paid more attention to this sport during the Olympics. Do they wear those heels during competition?)
Of course you can use water ballet when you're going for laughs like the classic Martin Short SNL skit.
But don't use water ballet in a spot like this for a birth control product from Nuva. And definitely not in this new spot for Vicks. Yuk.
A New Place for Ads ... Your Closet
One of the tentacles of the rapidly expanding green-marketing movement is turning consumers' clothes closets into a new sort of advertising venue. The New York-based Hanger Network has crossed the concept of an environmentally friendly clothes hanger with in-home advertising strategies. Ads are printed on eco hangers made of recycled cardboard. The end result is a new medium that helps to protect the Earth at the same time it carries big marketers' commercial messages into consumers' bedrooms and other dressing areas.
Let's see ... wire hangers are re-usable, right? That's eco-friendly. And, they're cheap ... that makes them Mannequin American friendly. But these new cardboard hangers come from recycled cardboard which comes from trees, right? That's not Mannequin American friendly. But they're bio-degradable so they're eco-friendly. But wood hangers come from trees and are reusable and bio-degradable. But they're too expensive. But Joan Crawford preferred wooden hangers over wire hangers. But these cardboard hangers can be paid for by advertisers. Okay, I'm getting a headache.
Why You Should Always Check Your Children's' Homework
One of my loyal readers sent me a copy of a drawing his daughter did.
According to the husband, his wife works at Home Depot and the drawing is supposed to depict her selling a shovel. Yup. That's what I guessed immediately. I'm sure the teacher did too.
