Need Advice?

I have become pretty numb to banner ads, text ads, etc. on web sites. i am sure this is true for most avid web users. However I finally started paying attention to an ad that appears on the right side of the screen whenever I look something up on my new favorite website, answers.com. There is a smartish looking guy with glasses offering me advice on (apparently) any topic. I am less interested in the service and more interested in making him say funny things. Specifically, I need mustache advice. Ha ha. I am bored...

Archetypes

There are two sterotypes that I seem to see everywhere in advertising. These two particular groups of people simply don't exist in the real world in the same proportion they do on TV, print advertising, etc.

Stereotype 1: The Sassy Black Woman

Characteristics: Colorful clothes, excessively cheerful, dread-fro, non-threatening.
Frequently Sited: Hanging out with an asian woman and a white woman... with the white woman in the middle, upwardly mobile, in a Hanes commercial.

Stereotype 2: The Handsome, Virile, White-Haired Gentleman

Characteristics: White or Gray hair that is not receding, confident, impotent, Anderson Cooper.
Frequently Sited: Schilling for Cialis, Mutual Funds, or AARP (even though the actor is clearly not old enough to qualify).

Internet Memes

I ran across this great collection of Internet phenomenon or "memes" as us snobby Communications majors like to refer to them as. How many of them do you know?

Internet Phenomenons

One of my favorites is still limecat.

Suggestive Selling Run Amok

So I got this in my inbox today. I honestly want to know what previous purchases convinced the Amazon robot to make this suggestion.

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Since you have purchased extreme sports gear or beef snacks in the past, we thought you might like to know that Slim Jim, Original, Case of 12 15-Ounce Canisters is now available for ordering. Order yours by following the link below.

Hmmm, based on his buying patterns I bet this guy would order meat sticks (in bulk) through the mail.

Karate Kommandos

As a follow up to my last post I have started TIVOing Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos (1986). This is a shameless Chuck Norris and friends cartoon that involves Chuck battling "The Claw" and "Super Ninja".

My favorite scene so far involves Super Ninja hijacking a Space Shuttle. To accomplish this he... wait for it... launches various ninjas and CROCODILES from a catapult on a boat in the harbor at the launch site. The ninjas AND the crocodiles deploy parachutes (wtf?) and one of the crocodiles actually crashes through the window into the room where Chuck and his team are viewing the launch. Chuck wrestles the croc to the ground and throws it into a closet. Mind you these aren't radioactive or mind controlled crocodiles. They are just run of the mill crocodiles that have, apparently, been trained to use parachutes and attack only Chuck and his team of Karate Kommandos. This all happens within the first 45 seconds of the episode. awesome.