2012-01-03
post/15252910712
2011-07-29
post/8192860846
Advertising Standards Authority:
On the basis of the evidence we had received we could not conclude that the ad image accurately illustrated what effect the product could achieve, and that the image had not been exaggerated by digital post production techniques. We therefore concluded the ad was misleading.
(image source; story via, via)
2011-04-06
post/4384585826
2011-03-18
Peak QR Codes: SXSW 2011
South By Southwest this year was plagued by QR codes. The two-dimensional pixel squares seemed to be anywhere that was even vaguely flat: on plenty of posters, but also on t-shirts and the sides of buildings. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were even temporarily tattooed on people’s arms.
I’m sure that this will be the high point of QR codes, though. The thing is: they don’t work. Not technically, but socially: I didn’t see anyone scan one in, and neither did anyone else I’ve asked. (Did you? Call now for your reward: some QR code scanning software!) After all, when you’re running between breakfast tacos, panels, lunch, talks, barbecue, cocktails and beer, the last thing you want to do is stand around and wait thirty seconds - or more - waiting for your phone to figure out what the URL you’re looking at is.
Even in Japan - where QR codes are still common - they’re dying out, at least in the obvious use case of encoding a URL, which (as the article points out) had special challenges. In the US, where you can have a nice, memorable URL, they make almost no sense at all. If you want your company to be a mystery, great, but obscurity is probably more likely than people saying “I found out about Product X through this exciting code!”
Next year, the fad will have ebbed. There’s one possible reason that won’t happen: if Apple adds QR code reading to the Camera application (as opposed to just an API method) then it might be even worse. Really, though, I hope they quietly die off.
2010-08-22
post/991807574
Olivia Solon in Wired UK: The secrets of the ads that ‘stalk’ you. Via minority report, where Martin adds “I had noticed ads getting a little more targeted lately. I felt a bit like Expedia was following me…”
I wonder, though: if you block third-party cookie sites and don’t have Flash enabled (which means the advertisers can’t use Flash cookies), doesn’t that stop this working? Mind you, only paranoid wonks (like me; hi!) have settings like that.
I suppose I should test it, but I’ve got museums to visit.
2010-03-10
post/438781154
Reaching for Stars When Space Thrilled and Paranoia Ruled - an article in the New York Times on the upcoming book, “Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962.”
There’s some great stuff in the “interactive viewer”, and unlike the Wired ads, which inspire more mirth than admiration, a lot of these are actually beautiful. I’m looking forward to getting a copy of the book.
2009-06-19
post/126513828
iamdanw on Pizza Hut’s possible rebranding to “The Hut” (via Lee, marco)
Yes, this was just a UK thing, and more to the point, it was pretty much a naked publicity stunt. Entirely unsurprisingly, a poll after a few months (on Facebook, if I’m remembering correctly) resulted in the name reverting, with a huge majority for the Pizza Hut brand.
This is all remembered from last week’s episode of Radio 4’s Bottom Line, which featured Jens Hofma, chief executive of Pizza Hut UK, and which you can still hear with Listen Again (possibly only in the UK). He doesn’t quite admit it was all done for the coverage, but he doesn’t exactly deny it either.
