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No, he is NOT Pope Francis I
When you speed to market, you often trip and fall.
March 13 marked another day when the media would report, report, report something that was wrong, wrong, wrong.
For those of you stuck in a cave for the past 12 hours, Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected the Catholic Church’s 266th pope. His selection marks a lot of firsts: the first Jesuit, the first from the Americas, the first to take the name Francis.
Cardinal Bergoglio is now Pope Francis.
He is NOT Pope Francis I.
Why not?
Because to be Pope Francis I, you have to have a Pope Francis II. Like to be Mr. Elmo McButterpants Sr., you gotta have a Elmo McButterpants Jr.
Get it? No?
The Vatican spokesman confirms my point.
From CTV:
He will be called simply Francis, without a Roman numeral. Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said it will become Francis I only “after we have a Francis II.”
He will be called simply Francis, without a Roman numeral. Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said it will become Francis I only “after we have a Francis II.”
But everyone on TV is calling him Pope Francis I!
I don’t give a shit what everyone on TV is doing. Television reporting is regularly wrong because they’re even worse about “speed to market” than us other clowns in media. Remember 2006′s Sago mine disaster? And the bad coverage that mushroomed from that? Or how about something more recent – like the Supreme Court ruling on the federal health care law?
In big stories such as these, it’s better to stop for a second — or five — really think about what you’re broadcasting before hitting the publish button.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, a splinter from my soap box has stuck in my ass. This concludes today’s Crabby Editor Lecture.
Super Bowl XLVII: Never pretty, never perfect
Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens QB and Super Bowl MVP, drops the f-bomb on live TV.
Wonder what the FCC will have to say about that?
UPDATE: Joe Flacco calls cold-weather Super Bowls ‘retarded’
(H/T to Slam Dunks for the reminder.)
REWIND: J’adore, tu adores: Charlize Theron for Dior’s J’adore
ED’S NOTE: This post was originally published December 2011. It reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising, search-engine optimization, and viral marketing. No agencies or products are endorsed. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.
In what is a nice break from the nearly insufferable, panic-inducing holiday ads of the season, EDITED 11-30-2012 Prime-time viewers are getting an eyeful of glamour, thanks to Dior’s J’adore ”film” by Jean-Jacques Annaud, that features the always-gorgeous Charlize Theron, and co-stars such greats as Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, and Marilyn Monroe.
The commercial, which was filmed in the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles, isn’t new; it was released in early September. However, it’s getting airtime this holiday shopping season, as it should, because the spot easily and smartly appeals to both sexes: the women who want to be Charlize Theron, and the husbands and boyfriends who want to be with Charlize Theron.
What caught my attention was the music that propelled the viewer through the couture-show setting: 2009′s Heavy Cross by Gossip — with Beth Ditto‘s punk princess vocals and Brace Paine’s hypnotic bass riff — was compelling enough to make me grab my iPhone and Shazam it. (I have since played this song to death.)
At the time of this writing, this clip on YouTube had 1,211,325 views, 4,404 likes, 84 dislikes, and 474 comments.
From the YouTube comments:
I have a theory, each of the girls represent a perfume:
Grace Kelly (Miss Dior Cherie)
Marlene Dietrich (Hypnotic Poison)
Marilyn Monroe (Dior Addict or J’adore)
Charlize Theron (J’adore obviously)<3 Dior!
~ franzchick66,
YouTube member
Nice theory, franzchick66. I can’t afford to smell that good, so I’ll have to take your word.
The subscribers to Dior’s YouTube channel are active and enthusiastic about the “films.” I’ll readily admit that I know nothing about couture, but even so, I still remember Dior’s 2007 smokin’ hot, 30-second “film” that has Charlize striding through a mansion, elegantly disrobing as only she can to Marvin Gaye’s 1978 Funky Space Reincarnation.
And that, kids, is what they call an impression.
About the Dior Channel
(As of Dec. 13, 2011)
- Total Upload Views: 3,535,200
- Joined: Oct. 14, 2005
- Subscribers: 7,288
Allstate’s Mayhem: A study in car maintenance
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising and social media marketing. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers. No agencies or products are endorsed.
You know you need new wiper blades, so why don’t you take 10 minutes to replace them?
It’s an irritating task that we never do when we’re supposed to, and the ad folks for Allstate (Nasdaq: ALL) know this. So in a new 30-second ad, posted on YouTube on Sept. 26, Allstate’s Mayhem is our worn-out wiper blades that leave us defenseless against the torrential downpour we’re guaranteed to encounter just hours after we say to ourselves, “I need new wiper blades.”
Worn-out wiper blades represent a self-imposed risk we take when we procrastinate, a mark of our stupidity — not necessarily Mayhem in its truest form.
But when we look at the Mayhem ads with a more critical eye, we see they’re funny and engaging, but nothing that happens is really devastating. A kitchen fire is kinda funny. A dryer fire? Hilarious. And really, who among us doesn’t love it when a drunk football fan runs in front of our car? No, Mayhem isn’t that ominous, which is why the character Dean Winters portrays is a great product character: He sells insurance that is supposed to help us when shit happens — without making us fear the possibilities of kitchen and dryer fires, or bad referees who run screaming from the stadium.
You all know this stuff, and it’s obvious that I do. That’s why this is my last post on the Mayhem character. What began as a roundup of clever ads that caught my gnat-size attention evolved into an experiment in search-engine optimization that ultimately hijacked this blog and its theme: I ended up focusing solely on funny advertisements, and even then, I wasn’t able to write about them as critically or in-depth as I would have liked. As it happens, my time is to blog is very limited these days, and I can’t spend it writing about Mayhem. I’m grateful to Allstate and the users of YouTube (and Facebook) for all of your support, but it’s past time for me to focus on other campaigns, other marketing elements. (That last part is code for: I’m ready to geek out over product packaging and placement! Who’s with me?)
That said, I’ll conclude this post like I’ve concluded the other Mayhem posts, with a nod to Mayhem’s popularity: At 6:30 p.m., about five hours after it was posted on Facebook, the video had 8747 likes 232 comments, and 773 shares.The timestamp on YouTube says the video was posted Sept. 26, 2012; as of 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27, there were 341 views, 0 likes and 0 comments — but it was early still.
EARLIER: A roundup of 2011 Mayhem commercials
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, the agency that brought us product characters such as the Marlboro Man, Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam.
Toyota Venza girl angry about Triscuits
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest in advertising as a marketing student. No agencies or products are endorsed. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.
Our heroine from the Toyota Venza commercial can be seen in the new Triscuits commercial.
That’s all I have to say about that right now because I have to go to dinner.
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RELATED: Toyota Venza Girl plugs eBay
EARLIER: Toyota Venza Girl on Yahoo!
EARLIER: More on the girl in Toyota Venza commercial
EVEN EARLIER: Toyota Venza: ‘That’s not a real puppy’
RELATED: How Lady Gaga helped me get off Facebook
Allstate’s Mayhem: A quick case study in bad DIY
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising and social media marketing. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers. No agencies or products are endorsed.
Why haven’t we seen this before? In a 15-second clip, posted on YouTube on Aug. 5, Mayhem tries to use an electric buzzsaw. (Phhhht.) At the time of this writing, it had 303 views, 56 likes, and 1 dislike (though I might click the thumbs-down myself.) At 9:48 p.m. Aug. 5, the clip had been posted on the Mayhem Facebook page for about an hour, during which 2,091 people liked the ad, 496 had shared it, and 66 people had commented on it, including Amie who said:
Crushin’ on Mayhem!
No one ever crushed on the Geico lizard, did they?
EARLIER: A roundup of 2011 Mayhem commercials
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, the agency that brought us product characters such as the Marlboro Man, Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam.
Allstate rewind: Large espresso lawsuit
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising and social media marketing. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.
Allstate is reuploading its Mayhem videos to YouTube, and because I subscribe to their channel, my phone is blowing up. Of course, this mean I stop everything to post a fan favorite. In this 30-second spot for the insurance company, Mayhem as the guy who’s going to sue you because you hit him and he spilled his large espresso in his lap.
Your 15-minute insurance may not cover my $90,000 car, so I sue you because that’s what I do.
~ Mayhem,
The guy who is going to sue you
Mayhem fans visiting this site may notice some videos are marked “expired.” I noticed this just tonight when I was checking some links. I will update the Allstate posts as soon as Allstate finishes updating its channel. Thanks for your patience — and for reading.
‘Mayhem the Guard Dog’
EARLIER: A roundup of 2011 Mayhem commercials
More from Allstate: It’s March and it’s Mayhem
UPDATE 5-31-2012: Allstate is updating its YouTube channel, and some videos are working and some are not. I’m trying to update the links as soon as Allstate reposts them. Thank you for your patience.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising and social media marketing. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.
I’m a slave to you people. Allstate uploads a Mayhem video and I stop everything to post it. Yet another one for March Madness. Mayhem is a power forward from your alma mater and …
You couldn’t look away if your kitchen were on fire!
Hey! Your kitchen’s on fire!
~ Mayhem,
The Power Forward
NCAA fans will get an eyeful of this one as we sink our teeth into the Sweet 16. This clip is super fresh — at the time of this writing, posted on YouTube on March 22, had only 115 views. At 3:45 p.m., the clip was not yet posted on the Mayhem Facebook page. However, the “Final Four” clip, which was posted on the Facebook page (finally) on March 18, had 4,475 Facebook likes, 181 comments, and it’s been shared 1,094 times. On YouTube, it has 37,468 views, that’s up from 1,827 on March 16.
‘Final Four Mayhem’
EARLIER: A roundup of 2011 Mayhem commercials
Who’s J?
I am Jane Q. Public: consumer and citizen. As I go, so goes the nation. Sometimes.
(But really, click the link.)
At work
No, really, who’s J?
Jacqui Barrineau
Editor. Writer. Consultant.
I'm an editor and writer with certifications in public relations and e-Commerce. I also have a background in information technology. (In another life, I was a systems analyst.)
When I'm not editing copy for USA TODAY, I write an occasional short story or poem. My work has appeared in Calliope and the feminist journal So to Speak, and I'm a regular flash-fiction contributor to Paragraph Planet and Doorknobs & Bodypaint. Also on occasion, I interview editors for The Review Review, a comprehensive guide to literary journals and the people who produce them.
My points-of-view are collected on such esteemed outlets as Wordpress, Facebook and Twitter. The views expressed here and elsewhere are mine, not my employers'.
I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., with my husband, Trey, our Shetland Sheepdog, and two unhelpful-but-funny cats.
