The Roger Rabbit Of Super Bowl Commercials

A popular story behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit says that it would have been impossible to get characters like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse onscreen together were it not for the insistence and industry weight of Steven Spielberg.

Part of me wonders if the same was true of this Super Bowl Commercial for MasterCard. (The rest of me thinks these companies were actually grateful.)

Ewwwww!

This Is True

GOTHAMIST: You grew up in New Jersey. Are you surprised that people assume that New Jersey is just an unpleasant place?

TOM SCHARPLING: Yes I am. New York is fine. I like New York. Maybe I even love New York, but I grew up with New York half an hour away my whole life. Unlike all the people who live there now who grew up in Delaware, South Carolina, or wherever and then they act like, "I'm a New Yorker because I lived here for five months." They're going to tell what's going on. I went into New York every week with my parents to help them with their business my whole life. I had a pretty good handle on New York. I have a driveway, a back yard, a car, a dog that isn't all cooped up, and I go a half hour through the tunnel and I'm in the city. I use New York, I leave New York, and then I go back to my house. People think that New Jersey is some monologue joke with toxic dumps. Take a look at New York. You might want to take a closer look at where you're actually living. Ultimately, if people don't want to come to New Jersey, fine. It's more room for the people who get it.

[via Gothamist, obvs]

Times Are Tough, Orko

[From here]

Out For Blood (or at least anwsers)

A new Gallup Poll claims that the majority of American want—at the very least—some kind of investigation into potential criminal activities by the Bush Administration.

While I agree with them, I also understand that navigating this current economic crisis means all hands on deck and that alienating the whiny babies in the GOP is a luxury we can't afford yet. [via TPM DC]

Newsweek's "The Hills"/"The City" Parody "The District" Is Way, Way Better Than It Has Any Right To Be

It's also (as my high school aged brother pointed out) a surprisingly comprehensive recap if you haven't been following presbo's first 100 days.

Episode 1:



Episode 2:

Lousy Trend Pieces on the Facebook "25 Random Things" Explosion!!!

What have we done, ppl!? In the future, be careful about doing things that can lead to lousy trend pieces. [via Gawker]

Cash4Gold Attempts to Clean Its Search Results Of Criticism

No Superbowl ad can hide the fact that Cash4Gold pays you a 3rd of your gold's value and is trying to hide that fact by bribing journalists who write about it. [via bEEPbOOP]

Keep It Up, Andrew Lin

[via The Mountain Of Sadness]

No to "Yes Pecan" Ice Cream?

This reminds me of an Onion headline I pitched earlier this month (that didn't make it past the Monday 700), "Obama's Economic Recovery Plan To Emphasize Campaign Mug, Tote Sectors."

Dude's image is like a recovery plan unto itself; and this fact seems to be developing into a serious "brand equity" issue for the administration:

White House lawyers are examining ways to control the use of the president’s image, while recognizing the worldwide fascination about Obama’s election, First Amendment free-speech rights and easy access to videos and photos on the Web.

“Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Obama’s calls for change and his “Yes We Can” campaign mantra are being evoked to sell assembly-required furniture in Ikea’s “Embrace Change” marketing campaign, bargain airfares during Southwest Airlines Inc.’s “Yes You Can” sale and “Yes Pecan” ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. shops.

[via Bloomberg]