Tag: Advertising

Sacramento Bee Online. Really?

http://www.hulu.com/embed/1kxT2gV3iJ9EicMKMFNeWQ

Have you been to sacbee.com lately? Good grief has it become an advertising battleground. Do you remember that scene in Airplane! when Rex Kramer is trying to walk through the airport and has to fight off one activist after the other? That’s what browsing sacbee.com is like for me right now. The last straw was the “your free content will start in….” lightbox pop-up that you can’t close.

I get it, times is tough all over and you have to keep the lights on, but really? Really?

More about common decency

Whatever happened to common decency?
Whatever happened to common decency?

I had lunch at Mezcal Taqueria today on West El Camino near Truxel Road. It wasn’t bad (Hey, Taco De Sacto, can we search your site to see if you’ve reviewed a restaurant already?) and I would go back again. What was bad, though, was the mixed messages in the restroom.

As I walked in I noticed a sign indicating that workers are required to wash their hands before returning to work. You know the sign, we’ve all seen it. However this one had a little twist…

“Common Decency and the State Law Health and Safety Code Require That You Wash Your Hands Before Leaving This Room to Resume Work”

Perfect for passiveaggressivenotes.com, huh?


Whatever happened to
common anything?

My lesson in common decency continued when I noticed this sign advertising a taxi company (it’s a horrible camera phone shot, I know) having to do with a girl that is unattractive at 10:00 p.m. but more desirable throughout the night until it is time to call a taxi, or something, I’m not quite sure. Has anyone else seen it? So odd.

Jinglethievery

How can the folks at Bonney Plumbing live with themselves, knowing their new radio jingle COMPLETELY rips off the old Sacramento vanilla_ice-to_the_extreme_album_coverUnion one?

No long-term Sacramentan could ever forget the Union’s “Four forty-four fifty five five five. That’s the number for the classified!” Fast forward a couple of decades, and now Bonney is singing the “four forty-four” tune. That is SO not cool.

This might go down in the annals as one of the landmark copyright cases. I’m just reminded so much of that Vh1 interview of Vanilla Ice explaining that “Ice Ice Baby” has one more quarter note (actually, I think it’s a hemidemisemiquaver) than Queen’s “Under Pressure.” And I quoth, “See Queen’s is din din din dindindindin, and mine is din din din dindindindin ch.” (The “ch” is the high hat — you know, with the souped up tempo. I’m on a roll; it’s time to go solo.)

Note to Mr. and Mrs. Bonney (who seem like lovely people, by the way): Just don’t touch the old “GET IT NOW! AT FLORIN ROAD TOYOTA” with the entire staff singing along, and we’ll be fine.

Our first sponsor

synergyToday I’m pleased to announce our first sponsor, SactoClassifieds.com! It’s a new free classifieds service targeting the Greater Sacto area. Please click on over and make it worth their while to sponsor the snark.

And if you know of any local businesses who are looking to attach their brand to a rising star of the Sacramento blogosphere, send them our way. Competitive rates and loyal customers await.

Are Political Ads in the Online Bee Fair?

Since I read the Bee online, I have noticed a trend that makes me a bit uncomfortable. The Bee imbeds political advertising in political articles.

Of course, this is smart targeting of voters. People who read articles about the election are more interested in politics than those who don’t. No brainer.

My problem is when the advertising is sold to candidates about whom the articles are written.

Take a look at an article today here. It reports on the debate between the Republican primary candidates for the 4th Congressional District, which will be won by either Tom McClintock or Doug Ose. While reading the article, the reader gets to listen to and watch series of advertisements for McClintock who is (of course) slamming his opponent, Ose. Readers have to turn off the ad if they do not want to watch it or mute it if they do not want to listen to it. Even if they do so, a big “McClintock for Congress” remains on the page.

Continue reading “Are Political Ads in the Online Bee Fair?”

Finger Clickin’ Good

After working all weekend excavating about 10 tons of dirt and clay from my East Sac home, I kicked back with a bucket of chicken from our local KFC:
View Larger Map

This fact gives me my Sacramento tie-in to a delightful story that I just had to share with the rest of the ‘Raggers:

Those of you who have gmail know of the targeted ads posted on the sides of your inbox that “correspond” to the subject of your emails. After writing to one of my Nintendo contacts requesting some information, I noticed a target ad that stated “Like Super Mario Bros.? You’ll love this” with a hyperlink to a flash-based game for the PTEA-sponsored site Kentucky Fried Cruelty, adorably titled “Super Chick Sisters.”

From a quick perusal of Kentucky Fried Cruelty, it looks to be a celebrity-promoted, anti-delicious fried chicken, website spearheaded by the great philanthropist/philosopher Pamela Anderson. Thankfully Pammie also brought her think-tank of great minds to support her cause, including: Pink, Ryan Gosling, and Rev. Al Sharpton. Worthy of note is that the Dalai Lama is also one of those in Pam’s entourage who does not dig on the Colonel, which stunned me because I didn’t even realize that they had KFC’s in Dharamsala, India- go figure.

Continue reading “Finger Clickin’ Good”

Elk Grove essence

The City of Elk Grove is requesting feedback from the general public on a variety of new logos and taglines to go with. I’d put up a sample of what they are considering, but apparently I’d have to get permission first and hell if I do that. You can check out all the different logos and taglines here.

Personally, I think that a picture of an elk standing in front of a grove of big box stores would be the best logo, but hey, that’s just me.

(Note to City of Elk Grove: if you don’t want people to steal your pictures, don’t put them on the internet.)