World View is the natural result of subscribing to too many magazines and never finding the time to make a pie graph. It's meant to be vaguely titled (the idea being that these items are things that shape a world view, with a consumerist slant), anecdotal (absolved of drawing conclusions) and hastily written/plagiarized (duh).-- Carrie McLaren

Published by Canada's non-profit Media Foundation, AdBusters is a quarterly magazine chock full of ad parodies, corporate probes and media pranks. The winter 1994 issue delivers all the hot lefty concerns - environmentalism, cyberspace, public schooling - with an all-too-rare (though not necessarily all that funny) sense of humor. Still, AdBuster's most distinguishing trait remains that it's the only magazine of its kind. If it weren't for those pesky advertisers, the February issue of Spy would've been the best issue AdBusters never had. Only Spy could come up with some of these jewels: The Fabulousness-Added Tax (F.A.T.), ways in which celebrity endorsements screw consumers; a test of the death-futures market, where viatical-settlement companies profit from dying AIDS patients; and a survey of Hollywood's star-studded, money-hungry nursery schools. Of course, there's also a three-page defense of the alcohol industry, which probably has nothing to do with any of their liquor ads. Just like the unrecycled glossy pages of AdBusters and the $5.75 cover price have nothing to do with a consumerist mindset.

Over the holiday season, GI Joe and Barbie consumers throughout the United States were shocked to discover the voice boxes on their dolls had been switched. Over 300 GI Joe dolls were reported to be saying things like, "Want to go shopping?" and "I love school. Don't you?" while the new Barbie declared "Dead men tell no lies." The Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO), made up of more than 50 parents, feminists and other activists, has claimed responsibility. "We have operatives all over the country," said one BLO member, who wished to remain anonymous. Unfortunately, no addresses could been found at press time. (AP, 12/29/93)

Screenvision Cinema Network, a NY-based company that sells ad time on about one-third of the movie screens in the U.S., is considering bumping up the length of each commercial program from three to four minutes. Screenvision is also talking with advertisers about running longer ads in the form of three- to five-minute corporate films. So do customers mind having advertising precede a movie they paid over $5 to see? According to marketing exec Howard Lictman, those who don't like ads are "an elite." Lictman insisted that good ads "please 98% of the moviegoing population." (Ad Age, 12/13/93)
Clearly Canadian, a pioneer in New Age beverages, has suffered lagging sales over the past year, in part because consumers no longer identify the clear carbonated thirst quencher as a healthful cola alternative. The company is fighting back by introducing two new products this year - diet Clearly 2 and Clearly Tea - and by increasing ad spending 67% to $7.6 million.


Elsewhere on the innovative beverage front, Daniel Sonners, rumored creator of the Pet Rock, is marketing Clintonic. The $12.50 bottle of water is being billed as "the deficit quencher." Sonners is planning to promote a full line of Presidential novelties, including Hillary's (golf) Balls and has signed a $4 million contract to advertise on Rush Limbaugh's show. For an alternative Presidential beverage, there's Billary Beer. Similarly deficit-conscious, the makers of Billary, Pittsburgh Brewing Co., will donate 24¢ to the Bureau of Public Debt. for each case sold . . . Pepsi will soon introduce Pepsi Max, a midcalorie cola with not one but two artificial sweeteners: aspartame (brain tumors, migraines) and acesulfame-K (still "unapproved"). . . Pabst has created its answer to Zima, a clear malt beverage affectionately named Izen Klar. . . and Taster's Choice will come out with Taster's Choice Flavored Coffee, said to be the first instant black coffee with flavor . . . mmm!
And in international news, it's good to see we're not so behind the times, after all. A Chanel No. 5 marketing campaign very popular in Europe didn't make it in the States. Test markets here associated the ads with violence. They featured a sultry actress whispering to an unseen man: "You hate me, don't you? ...I hate you so much that I think I'm going to die of it. My love" ...

In Germany, clothing marketer Otto Kern has created an ad showing the Last Supper attended by topless women disciples dressed in jeans. Germany's Office for Unfair Competition is taking legal action to stop the ad, themed, "We wish jointly with Jesus that women learn to respect men" ...

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Karwei home-repair centers put an interesting twist on their ad campaign. A new TV commercial depicts a fashion show wherein blue-collar he-men haul toilets and wallpaper while an all-women audience cheers. When it's all over and after the men have come in with building blocks, doors, windows and work benches, the tag line reads: "With Karwei you totally make it." ...

Back in America, it's the Year of the Woman again thanks to Diet Coke. Ad Age critic Bob Garfield describes a couple of the new spots:

"In one spot, a determined young lady comes screeching into town in her '68 Buick, pulls up at a pool hall and angrily disgorges her boyfriend's belongings. His suitcases. His ball glove...even his cowboy hat, which she stomps on. Then she takes a slub of Diet Coke and motors away.

"Another spot shows the proverbial boudoir trail of women's clothing and lingerie . . . But the trail doesn't end where we expect. You don't need a man to satisfy you-just a hot bath, where this lady is luxuriating alone, and a cold Diet Coke."

While Garfield calls these ads "patently sexist," he marvels at the Karwei ads' "erotic resonance." (Ad Age, 1/17/94)

"When the Grammys are awarded March 1, there will be no presentation for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which overseas the Grammys, decided to merge the male and female rock vocal categories because academy voters could not find enough women nominees. In each category, at least 10 performers must make the list before it is whittled to five finalists. NARAS voters could not muster 10 names, so the seven women who received votes were lumped together with the men. However, no women's names appear on the final ballot for Best Vocal Performance." (The Boston Globe, February 4, 1994)

Go to Stay Free#6 Table of Contents.