Based on the traffic logs, some of you are not regularly visiting my other website, wakeupnaptown.com. Maybe this is because I took, like, a week and a half off from updating it. My bad. But your patience has been rewarded, because today there are so many updates, a three-toed sloth would need all the digits on one of his hands to count them.

Here's a pretty decent New York Times article about a mini trend in ad campaigns that has them expressing 'disruptive' emotions about the state of our world.

Example:

The campaign has an edge to it, Mr. Pletch acknowledged, but it also has “an empathetic tone that tells them, ‘We understand what you’re going through.’ ”

That edge is also seen in a Harley-Davidson campaign, created by Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. “We don’t do fear,” asserts a headline on a print ad, which is laid out to resemble the American flag.

“Over the last 105 years in the saddle, we’ve seen wars, conflicts, depression, recession, resistance and revolutions,” the ad begins, referring to the founding of Harley-Davidson in 1903. “We’ve watched a thousand hand-wringing pundits disappear in our rearview mirror.”

“But every time, this country has come out stronger than before,” the ad goes on, before concluding that the right response to the national mood ought to be, “Let’s ride.”

Naturally, I think this is brilliant.

Speaking of movies, I'm moderately pumped about Tropical Thunder after seeing a preview for it in front of The Incredible Hulk ... especially since it has Robert Downey, Jr. as a white guy who's surgically altered to be black. (The opposite of Michael Jackson?)

Anyway, today I read that Paramount is releasing the fictional energy drink Booty Sweat (which is supposedly product-placed throughout Tropical Thunder) in the real world. Moderate enthusiasm for the movie aside, how hilarious would it be to be seen drinking a can of Booty Sweat?

Unfortunately, according to the article, I'll probably have to buy it at Hot Topic.

Apparently, there's going to be an Arrested Development movie. That article is trash but the news is very good.

Speaking of advertising, MTV will now accept political ads, which apparently they haven't ever done in the 26 years, 10 months and 25 days they've been on the air so far.

But you have to read all the way down to the bottom of the linked article to understand the significance of what's going on here:

MTV's announcement of the switch follows a report in the New York Times on June 22 that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's campaign wanted to do an MTV buy. It's also probably not a coincidence that Mr. Obama, who is opting out of public funding, will likely have plenty of money to spend on youth-directed ads. A political expert said the most immediate beneficiary of the switch is the Obama campaign.

Who is this "political expert" -- Captain Obvious? Let me get this straight: Barack Obama's campaign mentions it wants to advertise on MTV and MTV suddenly reverses its lifelong policy of not accepting political ads? I'm tempted to say it's just a money thing but why have the policy in the first place if you're going to drop it for the first candidate who comes along that will clearly benefit from more young people being involved in the process?

So right now in the world of advertising there's a moderate controversy going around about a so-called "ghost" J.C. Penney spot that won an award at the advertising version of the Oscars.

What is a ghost spot, you might ask? It's an ad that some people feel shouldn't be eligible for awards because it had a very limited release. But this spot goes a step beyond that because it was never approved by the client, who thinks it's offensive and misrepresents the company. Meanwhile, the agency is claiming they had nothing to do with it -- that it's a rouge ad created by an unaffiliated third party (who happens to be a former employee of said agency).

The client has demanded the agency "remove the ad from online circulation" -- in other words, yank it off YouTube. The agency has agreed to do this ... but since they've already said they don't have an ownership claim on this ad, they certainly can't have it pulled on copyright grounds. (The client might be able to make a trademark claim but that's a different story.)

Anyway, what is it that has everyone's panties in a bunch? This:

Now is that commercial edgy? Yes. When the tag-line comes up at the end, even I feel a transgressive tingle ... and you know the kind of ads I like making. But isn't being edgy the point? I mean, J.C. Penney is a tired, toothless brand without a real identity and this ad oozes the kind of energy they need to be relevant to today's consumers. Go big or go home.

So I just read how House star Hugh Laurie announced the ultimate celebrity perk is a Burger King gold card -- which allows free, unlimited BK purchases for its owner. Of course, Hugh Laurie didn't even have one of these at the time ... although as a result of his announcement and the free publicity it has spawned (such as the blog post you're currently reading) the BK gods decided to award Hugh the object of his desire.

The article quotes Jay Leno, another celebrity who possesses one of the coveted twelve cards, as he shares his experience using it for the first time:

"So I order my food, and the guy says, 'That's $11.' So I say: 'Fine, here you go,' and hand him the card. His reaction was amazing: 'Whoa ... where'd you get this?' He was not impressed that I was on 'The Tonight Show' or even that I was driving a Porsche Carrera GT. He was more impressed with this piece of plastic."

Which, of course, reminds me of the time I was buying tickets at the Star Wars convention, surrounded by people in full Stormtrooper and Darth Vader outfits and the chick taking my order flipped out over how "futuristic" my American Express card looked.

Speaking of Star Wars, the real news is that George Lucas has one of these BK cards, which really underscores the absurdity here. Because if anyone can afford to pay for his own food, it's George Lucas.