I drew every person in NYC in one day. Truly spectacular... as long as you don't mind I did it from a distance of 720 miles. They all kinda blur together into what the uninitiated might call "a dot," but, trust me... they're in there.

Fear has been, almost since the beginning of ads, a really popular psychological ad device. Fear of displeasing or losing your spouse, fear of being a "bad mom/dad/wife/husband," fear of not being as good as someone else, etc. This ad, while clearly abhorrent by modern standards, is pretty mild when compared, for example, to the Luck Strike ad that told women, "To keep that girlish figure, reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." There's enough good, psycho meat in that sammich to chew on for a decent senior thesis.

Coffee ads have featured things like a dad losing his job because he couldn't stay awake without coffee and another husband/dad losing out on a promotion because his wife served "the wrong brand" at a dinner party.

On the flip side, Postum, a non-caffeinated brew, featured an ad where a kid who drank coffee did badly at school because of his addiction and inability to concentrate.

My favorite fear ad, though, has to be "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride," one of the first major campaigns for Listerine in which they introduced that term. Poor Edna... as she approached that critical 30th birthday, all her friends were getting married. And though she was as pretty and charming as they... she remained always a bridesmaid, etc. Since she had halitosis. Which, the ad informs you, you don't even know if you have, since you can't smell your own breath.

Based on this campaign, Listerine sales went from $100,000 a year to $4 million a year in less than 8 years. Listerine didn't invent mouthwash; they invented bad breath. Fear, fear, fear.

Brilliant. Evil. Brilliant.

@13: "It can't truly be understood except in the context of the 1960s."

Gotcha. Right. Another Baby Boomer experience that anyone born after 1960 must nod and pay homage to or seem a shallow, bitter tool.

It's a good movie. Parts are great. Parts are obtuse. And some of the parts that are obtuse are interpreted as great by folks who equate "long and slow" with "deep and thoughtful." Not always the case. Sometimes slow is just slow.

"Childhood's End" would have been a better film.

@13: "It can't truly be understood except in the context of the 1960s."

Gotcha. Right. Another Baby Boomer experience that anyone born after 1960 must nod and pay homage to or seem a shallow, bitter tool.

It's a good movie. Parts are great. Parts are obtuse. And some of the parts that are obtuse are interpreted as great by folks who equate "long and slow" with "deep and thoughtful." Not always the case. Sometimes slow is just slow.

"Childhood's End" would have been a better film.

Ignore this comment.

Great sci-fi book on this subject, "The Truth Machine," by James Halperin:

http://worldcat.org/oclc/35590869&referer=brief_results

Shameless plug: my review of the ad for this product... one of the worst tv spots in a long, long time:

http://www.tinkerx.com/index.php/2007/08/26/badvertising/

@ #6 themagus: You can improve on books by giving people choices. I know people who love paper and will probably never even give ebooks a chance. That being said, I now read more leisure books on my Pocket PC than in paper.

I was so excited by Neil's offer, and I voted for "American Gods" even though I've read it (in paper). I was psyched to re-read it on my mobile. Oops. Never mind.

The free thing *does* work. I read the first few free books from the "Belisarius" series off'n the Baen Free Library. Then I bought the last two ebooks. Free advertised fare.

I've also bought ebooks for books that I already own in print. I have a nice, big, fat, juicy print version of "Cryptonomicon." Love it. But when it came time to re-read it, I paid out around $6 for the ebook, 'cause my phone weighs about 1/20th what the tome does.

I'm now reading the Vorkosigan series on my mobile. I read the first two books in paper, on loan from a friend. So, again... free (borrowing a paper book) leads to fare (I bought the next two books for $5 each online).

The "American Gods" thing is a shame. Just more dumb control phreaking.

Or you can find 1 of 43 copies the book at a library near you:

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2518944&referer=brief_results

Or you can find 1 of 43 copies the book at a library near you:

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2518944&referer=brief_results

The "Meow Mix" ad jingle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDIkpY6QsQU

For a couple hours. Oh, yeah. That's torture.

Your imagination may look better than that, but can your imagination do all the friggin' math/rolls necessary for even a minor confrontation? Hell, I'd use this thing in a room where everybody is playing on laptops right in front of each other if it would take over the dice/tables crap.

Yeah... we had these for "Byers" here in Columbus back in 2001/2002. The best response (can't find a video, oh well) was from another dealer, Fred Ricart. His wife Lynne (who's in a lot of the ads) is driving a car and being pestered by an obnoxious salesman. She hits the "trunk monkey" button, you see the trunk pop up, and then you see a guy clobbered with a guitar... help by her husband, Fred (who often played guitar in his ads). She then sends him back to the trunk.

Self-parodying Fred Ricart trunk monkey guitar beatings. Why ain't that on YouTube?

You can have a very simple, straightforward EULA... but it will be a bit more scary than most people will want on their chocolate milk:

"By purchasing this product you relinquish all rights regarding its use or future value with regard to the manufacturer, distributor or retailer. It is yours now. Go away until you need another one."

More words! More words! What a

At Charley's Grilled Subs (Philly style cheesesteak sammichez), you can get cheddar/ranch/bacon fries. Nutritional info here:

http://www.charleyssteakery.com/downloads/nutrition.pdf

One serving has 1250 calories and 103 grams of fat.

It makes my heart hurt just looking at that.

Who said the Indiana Jones movies are OK for kids? At least not all kids in the Lego age-group. My 8-year-old is mad for Legos (as am I), but "Raiders" would scare the crap out of him. Snakes from skeleton mouths, guys being impaled, melting faces... that's a lot for a 2nd grader to handle.

Cat crap? DO NOT DIS THE STIX! I got the cat crap knocked out of me on the kindergarten playground because I packed space food sticks and the juice-box heroes of the day totally coveted them. They didn't taste like food, but they did taste like space. RESPECT!