Subject: Advertising

• Su®f City

  Because nothing evokes the true spirit of surfing like the smell of lawyers and advertising executives in the morning, we can all rejoice at the news that Huntington Beach is now officially "Surf City USA", in the very real and legally binding sense of those words. According to the L.A. Times, "[The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office] has awarded the city an official registration number, giving it the right to use "Surf City USA" to advertise, market and promote the city, officials said." And wha

  May 13, 2006

• 'Loin to Love It

  Jack in the Box's new commercials openly mock the McDonalds Angus third-pounders as being inferior to the new sirloin burgers. But are they? Certainly the commercials are better. McDonalds' bizarre appeal to Californians to eat lots of Angus burgers so they'll catch on and people in Boston can have them next was odd, to say the least—why do we give a damn what they want in Massachusetts? They elected Mitt Romney, after all. And the only Mickey D Angus burger I tried was kinda dull, even

  May 25, 2007

• Best LA Times Page EVER!!!

  Today. Friday, March 10, 2006. Los Angeles Times. Page A8. Along the thinnest of news holes, with just enough room all six columns to tuck in an inch of type per column and this headline in, eyeballing it, what appears to be 30-point type across four of those columns: "United Nations Report Says 1.1 Billion People Lack Safe Water." Cool, huh? Oh, but that ain't the best of it. For the casual reader is not drawn to that little strip of type. No, they are drawn to the color photo of a sculpture

  March 10, 2006

• Ahnuld Terminates Fair Elections

  Perhaps you've seen those commercials showing Phil Angelides walking backward--the same direction the Democrat nominee for governor wants to take the state, according to the folksy narrator. These, of course, are not to be confused with Angelides' response ads, which show someone who looks a lot like The Terminator riding a motorcycle moving backwards--the same direction Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken the state, according to the folksy narrator. We don't recall who funded the anti-Arn

  July 12, 2006

• Crazy-ass Reg letter o' the day!

  (Category: World-Is-Going-To-Hell) SELLING LUST, NOT HAMBURGERS "I am appalled every time I see the new Carl's Jr. ad about 'flat buns.' These ads certainly are helping to destroy our culture. The ads degrade both teachers and students. Please tell Carl's Jr. and the television channels that air the ads, I am ashamed of Carl's Jr." -- Micki Smith, Orange Hey, Micki -- heard those Del Taco radio commercials yet?

  September 12, 2007

• Another Reason to Hate Carl's Jr.

  February 13, 2008

• Most Shameless Register Puff Piece Ever!

  It's one thing for newspaper reporters to write about advertisers only because the advertisers buy ads, quite another for said reporters to cover an important community individual. The latter scenario is very much where Orange County Register reporter Tom Berg's Sunday story on mega-developer William Lyon falls. "The General" is one of the most important people in Orange County history, in the same way Serra was, so almost anything the man does affects county residents. We add the "almost" qua

  April 7, 2008

• Advertising Age

  May 6, 1999

• He Who Forgets History is a Damned Fool

  March 9, 2000

• A Naked Chick, Please!

  June 7, 2001

• Im Here to Help My Friends

  July 26, 2001

• OC Register to Lay Off 110, Including 30 in Newsroom

  *Bumped to the top, with new info as it comes on the bottom... The following letter from Register publisher Terry Horne landed in my junk folder this morning, right about the time it apparently reached LAObserved. Not a whole lot to add to this, except our wishes that all this self-destructive madness will stop. Orange County Register Communications announces a reduction in workforce October 29, 2008 - The following note is confidential and written for associates only, per Register President

  October 31, 2008

• Argyros, Arnel Management and Those Infernal Signs

  Over the years, John Jaeger has kept an eye on the signs posted around central Orange County for units available at Arnel Management Co. properties as well as OC Weekly's voluminous coverage of Arnel's owner, Newport Beach self-made businessman, developer, GOP power broker and former ambassador to Spain George Argyros (right), who is currently ranked at No. 559 on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires with $1.3 billion. To refresh our memory, Jaeger just email over a copy of this September 20

  June 2, 2009

• More From Jingle Ball!

  This guy next to me is eating a baked potato. That's like the weirdest thing you can eat at a concert. Well, in the realm of possibility, at least. I guess like, elf meat would be weirder. Because elves are fictional, natch.They're playing all sorts of goofy videos between sets, like thinly veiled commercials for "Entertainment Tonight" and the Britney Spears "Womanizer" video, which seems wholly inappropriate given the ages of most of the crowd. Now some hunk from "Twilight" is here! (Kellen

  December 6, 2008

• Do OC Weekly Food Critics Practice Payola?

  Last month, I took issue with The Filling Station in Orange because I felt they overcharged for merely good food. Over the weekend, owner John Hughes (not the same genius behind all those Brat Pack films) left this humdinger of a comment:I always found it funny that OCweekly [sic] gives great reviews for people who advertise. Thus we never advertise. Food price is based on a 25-30% cost basis. Make your own omelet for $3 at home and you will have achieved something. So I'm confused, you thorough

  January 21, 2009

• Filling Station Owner Still Won't Apologize for Payola Insinuation

  Last week, after quite the active back-and-forth on a post about how Filling Station owner John Hughes accused Edwin and I of payola, Hughes finally responded. Did he give the apology he owes us for his serious accusation? Is his food a bargain? Here's Hughes' note:It appears the touchy one is you! There is no need to use defamatory language while representing the OC Weekly. It seems reasonable to point out to a reviewer who states "I thoroughly enjoyed my turkey chili cheese omelette" and "Th

  February 9, 2009

• Orange-Based TV/Film Production Prez Launches His Own Blog

    Todd Yates, the president of Gear Monkey, an Orange-based, full-service TV, film and infomercial production facility, has started a new blog dedicated to his business. The latest Behind the Orange Curtain post asks, "Where Did the Work Go?" in reference to this shitty economy. "I don't know of any business in our industry that has not been affected, many significantly, by the current, unprecedented crisis," Yates writes. "In the current economic environment, the phrase 'runaway prod

  February 17, 2009

• Let's Give the Nissan cube the New Old College Try

  Cal State Fullerton communications student Elizabeth Heath contacted the Weekly about a contest her Brand Campaigns class has entered to come up with the best advertising campaign for the Nissan cube.The cube is a car. It looks like a boxier Toyota Scion. Like the Scion, it is meant to appeal to young drivers who have no use for your rounded corners, sports-car looks or capital letters, maaaan!Heath has obviously taken a long beer-bong gulp from Nissan Springs."This versitile, hip and technologi

  February 26, 2009

• [CD Review] Steinski, 'What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective' (Illegal Art)

  June 12, 2008

• Exit Poorman

  Add KDOC to the long list of Jim Trenton's former employers

  January 3, 2008

• Privacy Policy

  September 29, 2005

• Apocalypse Now

  May 9, 2002

• Back up to Speed

  February 8, 2001

• Trendzilla

  Ass-branding

  February 22, 2007

• About OC Weekly

  March 29, 2007

• Orange Countys Radical Culture Czars

  August 26, 1999

• Full House

  Dennis Argenzia, director of marketing, the Grove of Anaheim

  October 26, 2006

• Letters

  August 31, 2006

• Sometimes Dead Is Better

  March 16, 2006

• A Very Special Introduction

  December 15, 2005

• 'Wooooooooooow!'

  October 27, 2005

• Dull Blade

  September 1, 2005

• The Blade and the Damage Done

  July 21, 2005

• !Ask a Mexican!

  February 24, 2005

• 30 Seconds of Art

  June 10, 2004

• You Cant Beat Their Meat

  December 4, 2003

• The Ugly Truth

  September 19, 2002

• Shoe Business

  July 18, 2002

• VH1 Says Were Hip!

  April 4, 2002

• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

  March 28, 2002

• Trailer Trash

  February 28, 2002

• See Owen Run

  December 6, 2001

• Im Here to Help My Friends

  September 6, 2001

• Ad Infinitum

  June 28, 2001

• Edisons Con Game

  May 31, 2001

• Pete Weelson! Eeeeek!

  November 30, 2000

• New! Hot!

  April 6, 2000

• Award-Winning Ad Makers Want to Turn Red County Blue

  Photo courtesy of DMedia Inc.Eugene HedlundOrange County is, of course, screaming with Republican campaign consultants but a couple youngish guys from here are making their mark creating campaign ads for Democrats--while clinging to the far loftier goals of helping to overturn Prop. 8 and turn this red county blue.Under 35ish Eugene Hedlund and Bryan Choate--CEO and president, respectively, of Irvine-based DMedia, Inc., in recent months have received five national advertising awards for their ca

  May 8, 2009

• GLAAD Claims KDOC-TV Aired Anti-Gay Infomercial

  OCProgressive.com gets the credit for catching this first, but the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says it received complaints about the re-emergence of an anti-gay infomercial titled Speechless: Silencing the Christians--and among the stations around the country that just showed it apparently was Santa Ana-based KDOC-TV/Channel 56.According to glaadBLOG, a West Hollywood resident contacted the alliance after seeing Speechless on KDOC from 7 to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Other viewers

  June 23, 2009

• Sick Puppies

  July 2, 2009