Nationwide Insurance must be incredibly desperate, because the company went all out to promote its newest spokeswhore, American Idol laughingstock Sanjaya. We would not be proud to have the creator of the ponyhawk pimping out our insurance, but to each his own.
The most disturbing part of this campaign is the ability to Sanjaya-ize yourself, which will give us nightmares for weeks to come. Feel free to create your own and then send it to whitney@mollygood.com. Perhaps we can put together some sort of Sanjaya Hall of Shame.
What was Willard Scott doing before delivering his nonsensical ramblings on The Today Show every morning? He was dressing up as a frightening Ronald McDonald who appeared in commercials to, apparently, throw burgers at small children. It's the creepiest thing we've seen as of late.
USA! USA! USA! "Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is buying into NBC Universal's Olympics coverage. The McCain campaign made a last-minute $6 million ad buy, which tops the $5 million Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced last month it was buying during the Olympic Games, which begin Aug. 8." Because how better to enjoy the triumphant emotions of the Olympics than with consistent breaks for vicious and petty mudslinging?
THE TV EXEC SCRAMBLE "Fox is cutting commercial time next season on its two biggest new dramas. J.J. Abrams' 'Fringe' and Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' will air through out next season with limited commercial interruption. Dubbing the initiative 'Remote-Free TV,' Fox plans to run half the usual amount of commercial and promo time during both shows. That means just five minutes of national commercial time during the hour. Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori introduced the initiative as 'less reason (for viewers) to grab the remote and change the channel.' 'We need to give viewers new reasons to come to network TV.'"
• Best "Afternoon Aural" in a long time. [Queerty]
• Heather Mills will be a contestant on next season's Celebrity Apprentice. Because a $50 million divorce settlement can't buy a person the common sense to not be on a reality show. [DListed]
• When in Rome, film commercials you'd be embarrassed to film in America. [PS]
• "There was a definite shift in my life when I decided to [dye my hair red]." Amy Adams, an actress, actually said that. [INO]
• Ashton Kutcher says he is not opposed to adopting a child. We certainly hope adoption agencies are opposed to letting Ashton Kutcher adopt a child. [ICYDK]
• Teeny-tiny girls in high heels! Thanks, Beyonce, you maniac. [Yeeeah]
• Mickey Rourke has a posse. [CityRag]
Oh, for fuck's sake:
Coolspotters.com, a new Web site that presents what products celebrities are using, launched Wednesday in beta with Pepsi signed on as the exclusive launch sponsor.
The site … has pages for products … and connects them to actors, athletes, business icons, musicians and politicians.
For example, Jessica Alba's page features links to pictures of the actress wearing Timberland shoes or using a Sidekick 3. Pepsi's page has links to YouTube clips of Pepsi commercials featuring celebrities and candid photos of Lindsay Lohan and Alba with the soft drink.
Because it shouldn't taste good to you if it doesn't taste good to Jessica Alba.
SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY "NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, plans to say next week that the entry price for a 2009 Super Bowl 30-second ad will be $3 million, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday. The $3 million mark has never been the starting price for a commercial at the Super Bowl, though individual slots have sold for that much before, the report said. Prices to buy a 30-second spot for the 2008 Super Bowl averaged $2.7 million …"
Justin Timberlake's new Super Bowl commercial showed up on YouTube today. You know what else happened today? JT turned 27 years old. We would wish him a happy birthday, but we're too busy being bombarded with Britney Spears news.
The Spice Girls are making the most of their latest 15 minutes, now shilling for Tesco, a British big-box chain that follows the hubristic lead of Wal-Mart. This commercial is the most clever thing the Girls have ever done and it's not very different from their musical career, also founded on selling crap.
Happy Friday morning. Next time you party so hard on Thursday night and can't drag yourself out of the house the next morning without 9.5 billion jugs of coffee, just think of having your very own "I see dead, yellow, peppy people" moment.
Believe it or not, I have had multiple requests for a video of the commercial Nick Lachey filmed for Axe's new Clix fragrance. Thanks to PopSugar, here it is. Unfortunately, it's made a bit less cool by the fact that Ben Affleck already starred in almost the exact same commerical a while ago for the overseas campaign. Damn you, Axe, for toying with my emotions in making me sort of love the Lachey commercial only to see that you couldn't even be bothered to write ol' Nick an original ad. Damn. You.
Though I still love the part where he moves his album from the number three to the number one slot.
After the jump, Affleck clicks away.
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