‘The coal companies are lying to you. Coal energy is not clean energy. It is the dirtiest form of energy generation we have. The coal companies are spending millions of dollars hoping you’ll forget this. A slick ad campaign doesn’t change the truth.’

Too Much Joy’s Tim Quirk tells the story of his band’s jingle for Budweiser in the early 90s, and how he feels about bands and advertising then and since. A good companion to Matt LeMay’s ‘Art vs Content’ post from late 2010 (http://www.mbvmusic.com/2010/10/19/living-in-the-age-of-art-vs-content).

Enablers.

“If you didn’t hear, yesterday Charlie Sheen joined Twitter. Today he very well may reach 1 million followers (as I type he’s already passed the 900K mark). How did it happen? Why all of a sudden did he wake up and decide it’s Twitter time? And how was it that Charlie Sheen went from non-twitterer to hardcore twitterer overnight? Short answer: he got a lot of help from a team of experts at Ad.ly, a small Beverly Hills start-up that focuses on celebrity endorsements via Facebook and Twitter.”

Hehe.

Good rundown of some great and not-so-great logo redesigns in 2008.

"the Department of Health is considering plans to force tobacco manufacturers to sell their cigarettes in plain unbranded packets." "They'd be taking one of the most carefully branded products in the world, and de-branding it. And since they've already banned tobacco advertising, cancer sticks don't really have much else left except their branding. They'd be stripping them back to just their name, taste and cost."

A nice scrapbook. "...we’re wading through a sea of lame to mediocre ads, photographs, illustrations, and websites. What can we do but start collecting the worst of it and shame it until it disappears? Of course there’s the other end of the spectrum, too. The beautful uglyiness of urban decay and childish drawings and David Bowie. I hope that stays, and I will do what I can to add to it."

On shortsighted advertising schemes and the power an arbitrary number assigned to products could have on the decisions of consumers.

The head of a company that makes videos go viral explains exactly how it's done. The commenters go crazy. Very interesting in the specific sense, but even more so in the overall evolution of media.

Awesome advertising campaign that arranges album artwork to create a bigger image.

Another take on the "NYC" portion of the recent and much-maligned NYC taxi redesign. It is praised. The logo on its own is quite interesting, and the possibilities shown with it as a "vessel" are cool.

"A series of professional observations about package design practices within specific product categories," including Razors for Women, Low-Carb Lifestyle, and Packaged Rice.

A "table of brand element terms."

Very nice, very creative business cards, but don't expect them to fit in your wallet or Rolodex. Check the comments for bonus footage from "American Psycho."

A list of corporate and organization identity guidelines. A good sampling of conventions, though many of them are terribly designed and poorly organized.

"23. Hand Woven by the Mountain People of New Mexico."

The sad dumbing-down of one of the most visited and trusted news sources in the country.

Japanese versions of the Apple ads with Mac and PC.

"a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use"

"Do you see any freakin' sasquatches around here?"

The most famous of the movie trailer voice actors. "In a world where..."

The band was asked to do songs for Coca-Cola, an anti-smoking PSA, and English cell phones. Don't miss parts 1 and 2; all three (short) songs are available for download.

Easy and worthwhile.

"Singin' in the Rain" remix, with breakdancing! Sweet.

Informative and creative pieces of art: commercials and more.

"The elimination of the poles helps to accentuate the ominous feeling of being beneath these signs as well as serve to disconnect the signs from the ground and reality."

"Get rid of that not-so-fresh 'the Web has corroded to nothing more than a marketplace' feeling!"

"'My problems are not with the American people,' says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. 'They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything.'"