The 80's Will Never Die #6 (Hellman's Mayonaisse/When Harry Met Sally)

Super Bowl commercials always lean heavily into pop culture and this year's crop was no exception. Check out this parody of the iconic deli scene from 1989's When Harry Met Sally featuring the reuniting of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

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The 80's Will Never Die #5 (Roxette/Repatha)

 

The music in this commercial for Repatha, a drug used to treat high cholestrol, is a cover of the 1988 power ballad "Listen to Your Heart" by the Swedish rock duo Roxette. The song reached #1 on the U.S. pop chart in 1989.

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Streaming Wars: Episode 5

In this latest episode of the Streaming Wars audio blog I discuss: 

• Price increases and regression to ad-supported tiers. 
  
  
• Max successfully rebrands, cuts costs and wins big at the Emmys. 
  
  
• Formation of the Streaming Innovative Alliance.
  
  
• Is Apple acquiring Disney? 

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Board Games of the 1970's Highlighted Americans' Angst

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Board games are commonly defined as "any game of strategy in which pieces are moved on a board." For the purposes of this article, I'm using the slightly broader definition of "any competitive or strategic game played with pieces or paraphernalia on a tabletop."

To be sure things were tense in the 1970's both domestically and abroad. In the previous decade, high profile assassinations, race riots from coast to coast, the Manson murders, chaos at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and southern backlash against the Civil Rights Movement highlighted a decade in which social unrest was more overt than any other time in our nation's history. But as the 70s rolled in, upheaval, threats and alarmism abounded in a much more subversive way — one that created a palpable tension among the American populace. While we distracted ourselves with innocuous AM radio hits like Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, One Bad Apple and Kung Fu Fighting, in our gut we were terrified by the stress-inducing events that were happening all around us. We lamented the Kent State shootings, fretted about gas shortages, shook our head in disbelief at the corruption of Love Canal, worried that Three Mile Island or some other nuclear disaster would cause our doom, and secretly feared murderous wackos like Ted Bundy, Son of Sam and Jim Jones.

So could it be that all of the fear, pressure and angst built up during the 1970's manifested itself in, of all things, the decade’s most popular board games? Consider some of the ones that were best selling and most played at the time and the gameplay each involved:

Operation put our nerves to the test as we tried to steel ourselves and "take out his spare rib for $100." Touch the sides with those tweezers and you’d trigger a loud buzzer indicating you’d botched the surgery and killed the patient. (Talk about stress!) Meanwhile Perfection, which debuted in 1973, had us racing against time to place cut out shapes in their corresponding holes before the timer ran out and the whole thing went kaplooey in our faces. This unforgiving game demanded just what its name specified -- perfection. Getting some or most of the shapes in place meant bupkis so the game's all or nothing, tension-building premise had us all sweating from start to finish.

Perhaps the most ominous-sounding popular games of the 70s — Headache, Trouble, and Sorry — all had us maneuvering our pieces across the board in an effort to either outrace or sabotage our opponents. In its way, it was the perfect metaphor for the rampant consumerism and "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality that drove the US economy in the 70's before inflation took hold during the Ford administration. 

Think this is all a bit of a stretch?...  Well clearly something was going on in the 70's as we Americans, for whatever reason, played out the abundance of stress the decade had to offer with our dice, game tokens and pop-o-matics. An assortment of other forebodingly named games gained popularity during the time:  Kerplunk, Down the Drain, Don’t Tip the Waiter, Ants in the Pants, and of course, Don’t Break the Ice, which can be considered a not so subtle metaphor for the spectre of the US-Soviet Cold War. Similarly, Risk provided a much more literal representation of what might occur if the USSR (or some other communist regime) conquered the globe.

Stay Alive, introduced in 1971 and advertised as being "quite deadly", had the stated objective of simply surviving. The game was wildly popular throughout the decade, possibly because it embodied our fears for our soldiers fighting in Vietnam, as well as for Patti Hearst during her kidnapping and the hostages held in Iran.

Finally, the defining political event of the 1970's was most certainly Watergate and its surrounding mysteries of who committed the actual break in, “what did the president know and when”, as well as who Deep Throat could be. Parker Brothers seized upon these same mystery and crime solving themes with its detective game Clue, released in the U.S. in 1972 within weeks of the actual Watergate break in. And just like Watergate, Clue featured investigation, cover ups, accusations, and efforts to either guess or prove which of several characters committed the crime. 

Whatever you choose to believe about our choice of board games during 1970's, thankfully, the 80's were a lot more relaxed and carefree. (Fyi, that's the decade when less emotionally taxing fare like Trivial Pursuit and Scattergories were best sellers, and just before the popularity of board games in general began to slump, thanks to the rise of home video consoles like Nintendo and Sega Genesis.)

Super Bowl Ads Lean Heavily into Pop Culture... Here's the Reason Why.

If there is any skepticism regarding either the importance or financial impact of leveraging prevailing pop culture to influence consumerism then look no further than this year's Super Bowl commercials which incorporated a parade of pop culture nods, references, and recollections. These included:

• Parodies of Clueless and Caddyshack promoting Rakuten and Michelob respectively

• Comedian Wil Ferrell, in a co-branded spot for GM and Netflix, cruising in one of the automaker's EVs through the worlds of Stranger Things, Squid Game and other Netflix hits

• Another co-branded spot featuring Marvel's Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) enjoying a Heineken.

• Mega producer Diddy bringing one-hit wonders like Haddaway (“What is Love”) and Kelis (“Milkshake”) into a recording studio to shil for Uber Eats

• Ben Affleck (as himself) working the drive-thru at Dunkin'

 

So why did these and so many other advertisers (some of the biggest brands in the world) continue the trend of leaning so heavily into pop culture, both past and present, and use it as the foundation of TV ads that cost an average of $7 million to produce and air?... The answer can be found at the intersection of psychology and one of the fundamental tenets of sales and marketing.

Salespeople in any industry will tell you that the following axiom is true:

“A customer may not remember everything you said during your pitch but they will definitely remember the way you made them feel.”

As a result, good salespeople go to great lengths in their interactions to make customers feel “heard”… “respected”… “satisfied”… and “understood.” Positive feelings like this lead to positive results, e.g. orders, referrals, recommendations and glowing Yelp reviews. And equally important, positive feelings create and perpetuate a positive brand identity.

That, in essence, is how and why pop-culture was leveraged on Super Bowl Sunday. Michelob's Caddyshack spot tapped into our shared experience of laughing at Bill Murray and company and enjoying one of the funniest comedies ever made. The makers of that commercial recognized that Caddyshack brings back fond memories, makes viewers look up from checking their phone, and pauses their planned trip to the bathroom during the commercial break. But more than that, it makes them feel something – amused, nostalgic, giggly. Psychologically, those individual sentiments coalesce into a general overall positive feeling that is then tied to the brand being advertised. It’s something that's working on both a conscious and subconscious level. 

Referencing pop culture (a popular movie, song, TV show, celebrity, etc.) offers one of the most effective ways to tap into something (a shared experience) that has (or had) mass appeal in order to generate recognition and stir up those positive feelings. In this way, pop culture is the gateway into the hearts and minds of, in this instance, 113 million Super Bowl viewers/consumers. You see and hear Travolta doing the number from Grease; you recall and feel something positive, and that positivity is now associated with the brand. And no, most people are not going to see the spot and run right out and switch from their current carrier to T-Mobile. But it is a way to boost the company's Q rating, which serves as a measurement of the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, movie, etc. Studies show a clear parallel between high Q ratings and bigger market shares, so the formula is simple:

A pleasing pop culture reference in the commercial creates positive feelings. Positive feelings lead to a higher Q rating, which translates into increased consumer demand.

With regard to this year’s Super Bowl ads, the formula proved quite valid. Behavioral research company Veylinx analyzed the behavior of U.S. consumers pre- and post-Super Bowl LVII and measured the change in demand for the products of several large Super Bowl advertisers. The data revealed that the aforementioned Michelob Caddyshack spot helped the brand realize the single highest in demand increase post-Super Bowl at 19%. Frito-Lay also scored high with a commercial that included Breaking Bad's Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) cooking up PopCorners. That spot saw a 12% demand growth, while Heineken realized 11% growth after its Ant-Man ad.

In terms of strongly influencing purchasing decisions, “online buzz” – measured by statistics like impressions, likes, comments and shares – is also a good indicator. According to social listening and data analytics expert Engagement Labs, brands that were highly successful at driving online buzz through their Super Bowl ads included the aforementioned T-Mobile, Rakuten and Dunkin', as well as Crown Royal with its commercial featuring Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters. Engagement Labs also posits that greater online buzz about a brand can result in more offline conversations which (though they are far trickier to measure) also greatly impact purchasing.

To be sure, pop culture was not the one and only path to creating a great Super Bowl ad, creating buzz, or spurring customer engagement. E-Trade, as well as pet food company The Farmer's Dog, delivered memorable spots that created conversation and raised brand awareness. But the overall winner in the latter department had to be Tubi. The AVOD streaming service debuted in 2014 but has since gotten lost in the wash of both premier streamers like HBO Max, Hulu and Netflix, as well as other AVODs like Crackle and Pluto TV. What Tubi needed first and foremost was to make people aware of its existence. Once again the strategy for the ad leaned into pop culture, in this case not so much a specific property, but a shared experience growing out of current pop culture. Don't we all from time to time, in the middle of enjoying a show, accidentally hit the wrong button on the remote and bring up the streaming service's homescreen? Tubi cleverly gave us their own take on this common mishap by producing a commercial that looked like the Fox broadcast, complete with commentators Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen welcoming viewers back to the game. Suddenly, the screen changed to the Tubi menu with someone apparently browsing programming selections. The gag fooled practically everyone and had viewers screaming and accusing each other of sitting on the remote. But more than that, it brought Tubi into the consciousness of millions of Americans who previously had no idea what Tubi even is. The ad gained the streamer tons of “earned media” and fresh downloads of the Tubi app. Those downloads translate into new viewers for the streamer to report, which ultimately allows Tubi to charge more for advertising on its platform.

In the end, the Super Bowl advertising reaffirms that popular culture has moved beyond trendiness and beyond the realm of the short-lived, and is something far more than just simply entertaining. It provides cohesion for us as Americans as we’re able to find common ground in our shared appreciation of a popular TV show, song, movie scene, celebrity, etc. Indeed, popular culture has ingrained itself in our society and now influences the way we communicate, how we act, and with regard to advertising specifically, what we value and choose to purchase.

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Commercial We Loved: Carl's Jr. Flat Buns

Carl's Jr. was once known for its provocative TV ads featuring scantily clad Paris Hilton, Nina Agdal, Kate Upton and other female models and celebs. It's hard to imagine in today's "Me Too" culture that commercials like these were ever even approved to produce -- much less air and become the identity of the brand. But in bygone days we were treated to not only those aforementioned spots but also the 2007 entry below -- an homage to this sequence from Van Halen's 1984 "Hot for Teacher" music video. In contrast to big butt loving Sir Mix-a-Lot, two high schoolers deliver a clever "whiteboy rap" about their affinity for smaller, "flat buns" -- offered by both the restaurant and their teacher. 

The titillating teacher in this commercial is purported to be actress Natassia Malthe, famous for her lead role in the BloodRayne sequels but the resemblance is questionable and there doesn't seem to be any definitive proof of this online. Whatever your opinion about this commercial, with lines like, "Got no heinie, I call you 'your highness', in anatomy class, you got a butt minus", you can't help but laugh.

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What's the Deal with the Serena-Wonder Woman Commercial?

Not sure what the recent fascination with Serena Williams is all about. She's 40, well past her prime athletically, is constantly injured these days, and hasn't won a Grand Slam since the 2017 Australian Open (which began in January of that year -- when Barack Obama was still in the White House!) 

There wasn't this much coverage or interest in Serena fifteen or so years ago when she was at the top of her game, dominating women's tennis and winning tournaments on a regular basis. So why do we now seemingly see her everywhere, including this commercial for Direct TV? Click here to see see what I mean.

If you're like me, you probably noticed that somehow, the Amazonian powers that Serena gains not only transform her into Wonder Woman, they also enable the moles on her face to travel back and forth indiscriminately from the right side (0:14) to the left side (0:18). This phenomenon is evident no matter which cut of the commercial you're watching (albeit with different timestamps.)

So did someone somehow inadvertently flip the image and no one noticed until it was too late?... Was the image flipped purposely in order to solve some larger production dilemma, thereby leaving no choice but to have Serena's moles appear to bounce back and forth?... I guess we'll never know. But this happenstance (however it came to be) deserves to examined. 

I seriously doubt this blunder wasn't caught in time. You're telling me, the agency's creative leads, the commercial's director, the video editors and production people involved, the account execs, and the client (i.e., all of the big-wigs at AT&T) -- they all missed this and only realized the error after the spot began airing?... Doubtful.

So the question is, how could the company choose to let the spot go to market like this? I mean, wasn't there a meeting where they weighed the pros and cons of such a decision? 

I can honestly say that I have been in those meetings -- where the advertising agency, after days, weeks or months of production, presents finished creative to the client company. "Last look"-type meetings where the client signs off on said creative, and I can state unequivocally that there is absolutely no acceptable explanation for why something like this shouldn't be fixed... None. 

You spend all of that money producing this commercial; you pay Serena; you pay John McEnroe; you pay the costumer (likely the same one used for Gal Gadot for the WW movies) and have a custom-fitted duplicate outfit made for Serena; and you don't want to spend the cash or take the time and effort to make the spot right by fixing the moles issue?

The result of not doing so is that we're left with a commercial that's something that AT&T and its ad agency should be ashamed of. Even moreso after so many like me have called them out on Twitter. 

Look, replacing TV ads and similar creative already trafficked into market can be tricky and expensive, but AT&T can certainly afford it. So the only explanation is that decision makers there believed the public wouldn't notice or care -- and/or that the mistake (as obvious and amateurish as it is) for whatever reason wasn't worth correcting.

But if AT&T doesn't have enough respect for its brand, for its customers, and for the simple notion of owning up to your own sloppy (or otherwise corner-cutting created) mistakes, then the company really don't deserve your business. 

And as for the advertising and marketing agencies involved in creating the spot -- which include Hearts & Science, a division of Omnicom Group -- they should all be rightfully mocked for their negligence and for being complicit.

Contagion vs. Outbreak: A Timely Look Back

The new film Contagion looks like a pretty darn good thriller... But doesn't it look EXACTLY like the movie Outbreak from back in 1995?

For starters, as you can plainly see, the colors used in the two movie posters are almost identical. They're so close in fact, that it makes me wonder whether this was some kind of conscious choice made by Contagion's marketing and publicity team.

Next, check out this description of Outbreak found on Rotten Tomatoes:

A handful of scientists struggle to prevent the destruction of a small town -- and possibly the entire country. In the mid-1960s, a deadly virus is discovered in Zaire that wipes out an entire village in 24 hours. Government researchers are brought in to investigate, but the military opts to destroy the village rather than risk further infection. Thirty years later, Sam Daniels, an expert on contagious diseases, is called in when the virus re-emerges.

Now here's the description of Contagion:

Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.

And besides the obvious story similarities, consider this:

• Each movie was helmed by a highly acclaimed director. Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot, Troy, In the Line of Fire) directed Outbreak, while Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Girlfriend Experience) handled Contagion.

• Both films feature very strong ensemble casts. Outbreak stars Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding Jr. Contagion has Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and Marion Cotillard

• At the time of their release, both casts brought strong Oscar credentials to the screen. Hoffman had already won two (Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man), Freeman one (Driving Miss Daisy), and Spacey and Gooding Jr. would go on to win (for American Beauty and Jerry Maguire, respectively) by the end of the decade.
  
  Contagion matches that with Winslet, Paltrow, and Cotillard all having taken home the golden statuette. (Fishburne and Law were both nominated but lost.) Damon did earn an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, but won it for screenwriting.

Finally, take a look at the Contagion and Outbreak trailers. Pay particularly close attention to the common plot points and also the scenes with Sutherland, Hoffman and Law as they present the data and projection for how quickly the virus will spread. The clips and the dialog are awfully close.

Commercials We Loved - Fruit of the Loom and Big Fig

Here's two from the 70's featuring grown men dressed as fruit.



There were several of these Fruit of the Loom spots. Looking at them now, they're not very politically correct. What's with the stereotyping? Why does the black guy have to be the grapes?... What, a black man can't be an apple?... Or a lime?... Or a damn tangerine?... "Right on" my ass -- your underwear is racist!

As for the fig newton commercial, I picture the guy thinking, "Four years at Yale Drama School and I'm dancing around in pantyhose, curly toed shoes and a dried fruit costume."

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Commercials We Love - "You Will"

This 1993 commercial (narrated by Tom Selleck) always seemed kind of vague, even cryptic. Now of course, it all makes perfect sense and it's obvious that a lot of what AT&T was referring to was the development of its cellular network infrastructure and the technologies that were greatly advanced as a result. Unfortunately, by the time all of these technologies were finally realized and became available to the everyman, this commercial and the others in the series were long forgotten.

What AT&T needs to do is a followup. Something like this:
"Hey, remember all that cool shit that guy from Magnum P.I. told you about back in the nineties? Well you can do all that stuff now... Oh and by the way, guess who made that possible?... That's right, US... AT&T!... So all you ungrateful bastards, quit bitching about dropped calls and get down on your knees and start kissing our blue and white asses!"


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Commercials We Loved - "Terry Tate - Office Linebacker"

This one is for Reebok -- "Terry Tate - Office Linebacker" -- from the 2003 Super Bowl. The acting in this is great, especially the guy wimpering behind the recycling bin, and also the guy who plays Terry, Lester Rasta Speight, who I remember was also very funny when he appeared as a semi-regular on My Wife and Kids.

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Seating Arrangements for The Brady Bunch?

Something has been plaguing my mind lately... How the hell did the Brady Bunch fit nine friggin’ people into their station wagon for that cross-country trip they took to the Grand Canyon? 

Granted, I haven’t seen the episode in question in several years, but if memory serves, I believe it was Mike, Cindy and Carol in the front seat… but then it gets fuzzy. How did they get six more people in that damn car? A coworker just told me that back in the 70s, station wagons used to have TWO back seats, in addition to that cargo area in the back. But I found the above ad for a Brady Bunch-era station wagon that's remarkably similar to the one used in the show and it has no such "jump" seat. Even if it did, it still seems like it would be awfully crowded for nine people (plus their luggage and camping equipment) on the long journey from California to Arizona. Maybe they got out a lot to stretch their legs... They also probably got a nice break when they stopped in that ghost town to hang out with Jim Backus, but still…

Commercials We Loved - "Laptop Hunters"

Don't know if it's her bubbly personality, the red hair, her Lisa Loeb "geek-chic" look, or the fact that I use a PC too (sorry all you condescending Mac lovers), but I am seriously crushing on Lauren.

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What the Hell Happened to Maxim?

I took a look at some of my old Maxim magazines and noticed that back when it was in its prime (around the late 90s, early 2000s) the magazine was substantially thicker (i.e., it had way more content) than it does now. The December 2000 issue with cover girl Tara Reid, for example, topped out at a whopping 292 pages, the below recent issue featuring Hilary Duff was a measly ninety-six. I know that in the magazine business, ad dollars are way down, and fewer ads means less content -- but 292 down to 96? That's a two-thirds reduction in pages. 

I was on board early with Maxim (issue #3 with Carmen Electra on the cover) and always liked its smartass, unapologetically sexist tone, as well its focus on the things that truly matter to us men -- sex, sports, entertainment, gadgets, and of course, women. 

So in honor of the magazine's better days, here are some of our best photos from Maxims past (pulled from the Pop Culture Fiend Archives:) 

Cameron Diaz - 2002 

Caprice Bourret - 1999  

Danneel Harris - 2008

 Paula Garces - 2001

  Amanda Beard - 2004 

Diora Baird - 2008 

Related Links:

Maxim Online

Airline Magazines, Godfather III, and Madonna... What's the Connection?

Was flipping through an in-flight travel magazine (Departures) and came across this cool ad for Louis Vuitton, featuring five-time Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sophia.

I met Francis Coppola in the early 90s. I was at a really nice movie theater (at least it was back then) –- Loews Ridgefield Park, which is in northern NJ, very close to Manhattan. This theater had ten screens, which back in those days was a lot. It was an odd night because all of the auditoriums were open to the public except one that was hosting a non-publicized special screening of Frankenstein, starring Kenneth Branagh and Robert DeNiro. I look over and there, by the concession stand, is the film’s producer, Francis Ford Coppola himself. He was doing nothing in particular, so I walked over and told him what a fan I was of his films (the three Godfather movies, The Outsiders, and The Cotton Club, in particular.) The greatest living American director (sorry Spielberg, Allen, Tarantino, and Scorsese) was then nice enough to autograph my popcorn bucket. 

As for  Sophia, back in 1990 she was bashed quite a bit for "ruining" The Godfather Part III. The criticism isn't really fair but I will say that when you watch the film, it’s painfully clear that Sophia's part was too much for her. Her father and others should have recognized this and recast the role. 

Few realize that the pivotal role in question, that of Mary Corleone, was supposed to be played by Winona Ryder. But Ryder was suffering from exhaustion -- she had just shot Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael, Edward Scissorhands and Mermaids back-to-back-to-back. What's more, the actress had experienced some very long work days shooting the last of these films because the production had fallen behind schedule after the original director (Lasse Hallstrom) was fired. When Mermaids did finally wrap, Ryder began shooting G III in Rome, but her then boyfriend, Johnny Depp, reportedly wanted her back with him in the US. Ryder claimed exhaustion and dropped out a month into the shoot. Sophia, who had almost no acting experience, was cast by her father (who had creative control of the picture) as a replacement. The part was rewritten to better suit Sophia and the sexuality of the character was toned down. And again, all of this took place after principal photography had already begun. So all of this considered, it's amazing Godfather Part III turned out as good as it did.

After being skewered by the critics, Sophia pretty much gave up acting but did go on to write and direct the critically acclaimed The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Despite Sophia’s poor performance, Godfather III is still a must-see that’s better than 99% of the movies out there. It has an intricate, compelling plot; maintains continuity with the two preceding films; features great performances by Andy Garcia, Joe Mantegna and others; and was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture of 1990.

Here’s the extended trailer:

Lastly, if you’re a hardcore fan of The Godfather films, I recommend the The Godfather Companion by Peter Biskind, which has the complete story of the production of the trilogy and lots of interesting details about Part III in particular. For instance:

• Diane Keaton wanted too much money to reprise her role as Kay, so Coppola was forced to cut her part down significantly.
• Mario Puzo wrote the first outline for G III way back in 1978. In it, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is a Howard Hughes-like recluse; the Mafia and the CIA are at war; and the film's climax tales place during a Bicentennial parade. (All of this is drastically different from how the final screenplay turned out.)
• During casting, Julia Roberts was the first choice to play Mary. Madonna was also considered but at 31, it was decided she was too old for the part.
• Later, Madonna was seriously considered for the role of Grace Hamilton, the reporter who sleeps with Vincent (Andy Garcia.) At the time, Madonna was coming off the hugely successful Like a Prayer album and was arguably the biggest name in music. Perhaps partially because of this, she demanded a salary of more than half a million dollars (for what amounted to about 15 minutes of screen time) and the producers passed, eventually giving the part to Bridget Fonda.

Related Links:
The Godfather Companion

Commercials We Loved - "Be Like Mike"

Getting pretty sick of that "What's G?" commercial, where a bunch of recognizable (and not so recognizable) athletes simply scroll past a black background. First there was Gatorade, then somewhere along the line we got Gatorade Fierce, Gatorade Rain, Gatorade Tiger, Propel (also a Gatorade product), and G2. And now original Gatorade is just supposed to be called "G"?

Really people, how many versions of this product do we need?... IATSS! (It's all the same shit!) And now it's supposed to be called "G", as if shortening to just the initial is somehow hipper?

Get over yourself Gatorade. Get back to basics, ditch the fancy new advertising and resurrect this old school commercial.


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If You Liked Planet Terror...

Was watching TV the other night and saw a commercial for House of the Dead: Overkill -- a new zombie-killing, first-person shooter -- and was immediately struck by how much the graphics, gameplay, and characters remind you of Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror feature from 2007's Grindhouse. Looked into it and it seems the game's creators were indeed "inspired" by Rodriguez's ode to good ole 70's exploitation splatterfests. Just like in the movie, there's a hospital setting, bulbous, gelatinous mutants that explode in sprays of blood, plus a stripper character that's a dead ringer for the film's star, Rose McGowan. And the entire game has that worn out B-movie film look. Even the game's packaging looks like the Grindhouse movie poster. 

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House of the Dead: Overkill trailer

The Photo That Launched the Nike Empire

Ever wonder about Nike’s famous "Jumpman" logo – the symbol of the world-renown Air Jordan brand basketball shoes and other Jordan-brand apparel? Want to know the story of how the logo was designed and selected? 

Take a look at this scanned magazine photo from the Pop Culture Fiend Archives. It’s 25 years old and it’s had quite an impact on both the advertising world and the legacy of one of the world’s most successful companies. 

Back in 1984, Life magazine, then its second incarnation, ran a cover story on the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Photographer Co Rentmeester shot a spread on American gold medal hopefuls that included hurdler Edwin Moses, boxer Mark Breland and University of North Carolina basketball star, Michael Jordan. Back then, Jordan was a college junior and was most famous for making the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship game. At the time the photo was taken, Jordan was the College Player of the Year but no one really had any idea he would go on to become the greatest player in NBA history.

Around the time Rentmeester’s photo appeared in Life, Nike signed Jordan to a contract -- after he decided to forgo his senior season at UNC -- and the company got to work on a signature shoe. 

The first two generations of Air Jordans featured a  basketball and a pair of wings (I had some exactly like the one above) -- but when shoe designer Tinker Hatfield and the Nike team decided to completely redesign the shoe for the third generation, they looked into the past and to Rentmeester’s photo for inspiration. The photo was reproduced in a studio and thus was born the Jumpman logo. The Air Jordan III’s went on to become the best-selling Jordans yet, and after Michael wore them in his now epic 1988 NBA Slam Dunk Contest win, the shoes became must-haves. (I should know, I was working at Foot Locker at the time.)

Largely due to the success of the Air Jordan brand (and this logo) Nike, which at the time was fiercely competing with Converse, Puma, and Adidas, would go on to become the most successful sportswear company in the world… and it’s all because of Rentmeester's picture.

Related Links:

Air Jordan Collection

Commercials We Loved - Super Mario Land 2 (Wario)

Never played this one but the commercial was way cool...



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Deal Or No Deal Girls Branching Out

Recently noticed that Deal Or No Deal briefcase model Hayley has a role in the new movie Fired Up, opening February 20th. Judging from this trailer, it looks like Bring it On meets Sorority Boys with a smattering of American Pie Presents Band Camp.

In any case (no pun intended) it seems Hayley is a trained actress with a number of screen credits on her resume. Who knew?

It's nice to see the DOND girls are getting more exposure. For the record, I'd like to see more of...

Jenelle...

Megan...

Lindsay...

Lisa...

and Anya.

Anya, by the way, is featured in this commercial for Skinit.com.