Ad Nauseam: The New York Times Notices, Too

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This story in today’s NYT repeats a theme (and several of the actual examples) of “Ad Nauseam” a piece that Dave and Elizabeth did in our current issue on how “Madison Avenue is scrambling to stick ads anywhere it can, from children’s books to bathroom stalls.”

My personal favorite examples of product placement include:

After Israel bombed Lebanon last summer, Johnnie Walker put up billboards in Beirut showing a damaged bridge with the slogan “Keep Walking.” A spokeswoman said the ads were meant to “capture a popular mood about moving forward.”

A recent Broadway production of Sweet Charity was rewritten to plug Gran Centenario tequila. José Cuervo described the change as “elegant, organic, not forced.”

In Instant Def, an online movie made by Snickers, members of the Black Eyed Peas work in a Snickers factory and battle an evil rapper who is a “fabrication justification of some corporation’s imagination.”

But the whole thing is a hoot. Read it here. And sources here.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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