Photo by Peter Van Hattem

​Want to see Trampled by Turtles?

City Pages is working with Jack Daniel's to bring you a Studio No. 7 performance!Trampled by Turtles will be playing at the intersection of Cedar Ave. S. and 9th St. March 9th!

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via Mod Sun's Myspace

​​Rolling Stone announced today, via a press release and a very kind article in the New York Times, their collaboration with hair product line Garnier Fructis in a nationwide search for their dignity an "up-and-coming band" to grace their cover.

Where to start?
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Now, grammar isn’t exactly the first thing one thinks about when heading to a strip club. It’s not like a person is going to debate the appropriateness of an oxford comma while getting a lap dance. But when an advertisement is this glaring, well, it’s time to make Lynne Truss proud.More »

It's no secret that political advertising can get really annoying. Enter this Wednesday's "Worst Political Advertising in America Awards," an event lampooning the most ridiculous, confusing, inflammatory, and distorted commercials blaring from our TVs this year. More »

Who doesn't want approximately $2.79 worth in candy? This is the logic behind KMart's new seasonal television/internet synergy campaign, which promises free bags of goodies. Last Wednesday the megaconglomerate began airing commercials with a "secret code" on one of the gravestones in the background. Those looking for their free sugar fix simply have to report the code to KMart.com.

The catch?

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Manhattanites aren't too pleased to find little red double-decker buses trolling through their city as part of a recent Target promotion. Seems the Minneapolis-based company thought it'd be a grand idea to promote British designer Luella, who has partnered with Target for a preppy-punk clothing line, by parading around town double-decker buses outfitted with the Target bullseye logo. Last August, when Target struck a deal with the New Yorker to become the sole advertiser for one issue of the magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times called it "the most jaw-dropping collapse of the so-called sacred wall between editorial and advertising in modern magazine history." Has Target, and advertising in general, gone too far? Or would New Yorkers be more comfortable with the onslaught if this were a company like Gucci?

Watching the British Television Advertising Awards, it's easy to get lost in the foreignness of the whole thing--accents, unfamiliar logos, actors who, for all you know, might be famous in their part of the world. But then along comes an international brand like Pepsi and you find yourself asking, "Why do we get smiling celebs holding cola, while the Brits get a studiously choreographed kung fu scene where the opponents are literally hauled around like human puppets? Huh?" I can't say for certain that British advertisers are more clever or innovative because I don't know what America's top ad agencies have to offer (I refuse to watch the Super Bowl). But the BTAA has some pretty high standards; that super rad Pepsi commercial didn't even medal!More »

If you thought Cowboy Hootie , Subservient Chicken, and "Wake up With the King" were disturbing advertising concepts, behold Burger King's latest surreal gimmick: Coq Roq. The members of this fictional beak-wearing thrashcore band look like KISS meets the heavily-rouged parrot from Zoobilee Zoo. Phallic puns aside, Coq Roq's "band" name alludes to BK's latest culinary mutation, Chicken Fries. Mmm, pressed meat!

Rogue agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky has obviously been entrusted with major creative freedom. Apparently, the Coq Roq website even contained a caption that read "Groupies love the coq!" until complaints neccessitated its removal.

Meanwhile we await the inevitable Vagina Monologues Happy Meal.

The Hold Steady will soon be making their screen debut in Odds Against Seven, a short film by Target. Yes, Target. Sure, calling it a screen debut is a stretch, since this is a film release limited to computer screens. But some film-school student went to great pains to create this wannabe-John Hughes-ian short, which is ostensibly about a college kid trying to find a band to play at his school's first party. Of course it's really about the lil' red discount store's "hip brand identity," and what better way to shout it loud than via a Crucifixion Cruise?

Or the company could go another route to market to a young, media-savvy demographic, perhaps using a song about ass fetishes that employs a whip as a sound effect. Click here to launch the new back-to-school commercial, "Baby Got Back...Packs."

These logos are bananas!

If you spent hours snickering at Joe Camel's nose back when questionably-snouted cartoon characters were allowed to hawk smokes to kiddies, then you'll enjoy The Phallic Logo Awards. And remember, maturity is highly overrated.