No Endorsements for Darko.

Darko Millicic was the 2nd player chosen in the 2003 NBA Draft. He is from Serbia. He is 7 feet tall and weighs over 275 pounds. He has played fro 3 NBA Teams, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies. He is a bit of a hot head, and he has never been used in any sports endorsements that I am aware of.

Go to: http://freedarko.blogspot.com/

Ads in Schools (good or bad?)

San Diego calculus teacher Tom Farber took the economy in to his own hands at Rancho Bernardo High School near suburban San Diego. Printing of test sheets for his students would cost more than he had budgeted, so her sold ads on the bottoms of each page of test sheets such as the Advanced Placement exam.

Read more (with ads) at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-12-01-test-ads_N.htm

Read this ..........before it disappears.......

Corporate giant Xerox has announced that it is developing auto-erasable paper for everyday office use. Xerox is turning up the publicity drum regarding this product, suggesting that it may be close to a commercial reality. The paper is coated with chemicals that, when exposed to a specific wavelength, create visible text that disappears within twenty-four hours and may be used again and again and again and again. The paper is targeted at offices, where almost half of all printed materials are discarded the day they’re created.

The ultimate green product?

Mult Media to the Max (cue "Minority Report")

How much have we heard of late about multi-media marketing? While the long long list of available media (ripe and ready for your advertising messages) continues to morph and grow, there is no longer a limit to where, and how, and when, advertisers can reach you.

Sure, there is broadcast, direct mail, newspapers, public relations, trade shows, and even good old door-to-door sales. The new list now includes sides of vehicles, satellite broadcasting, airline magazines and boarding folders, cinema advertising and product placement, word-of-mouth advertising, samples, coupons, web sites, banner ads, podcasts, "head"vertising, "Street Teams" and almost anything else that occurs to a fertile mind. The competition is everywhere.

Trim Your Tweets

Great idea........... http://www.tr.im

It is a URL shortening service to prepare long URLs for use with status updates in social networks like http://twitter.com/ or http://identi.ca/

tr.im is better than the alternatives because it is designed, via a tr.im bookmarklet, to tr.im and tweet an URL to your network of choice in one quick step. You return to what you were doing, all without touching the mouse.
With tr.im, you never have to stop what you are doing to tweet a cool site or article again.

Why didn't I think of this?

RFP = Request for Practicality ???

The United States Postal Service is currently soliciting Requests for Proposals from communications agencies to provide communication services to the public, employees, and the media. The USPS proposal clearly states that the successful contractor must be able to handle crisis communications. Who says that no planning occurs at USPS?

Ever seen a Request For Proposal and still wonder what the customer or prospective customer really wants or means? If so, you’ll admire the detail of a bid from San Francisco’s Office of Contract Administration for mowing and brush clearing at the city’s Laguna Honda Hospital. Here are the specs verbatim:

“Clear brush, shrubs, plants, weeds from 22 acres of property
at Laguna Honda Hospital Blvd. Clearing must be performed
by goats and supervised by goatherders who will stay on site
with the goats to monitor cutting activity, moving fences, and
goats. This price to include all transportation, fencing, monitoring,
herders, and all other charges pertaining to proper care and
handling of these animals. The city to be held harmless for any
loss of goats, theft or otherwise. Open space, there are no
electrical fences or enclosures.”

Legal Eagles ???

Don't you need to know how to read and write in order to get a law degree???

A USA federal Judge recently reduced an attorney’s fee request from $180,000 to less than $26,000 after reading a three-page document from the lawyer that was full of misspellings and other errors. Among the misspellings: “Ubited States,” “attoreys,” “plaintf,” and
“reasonbale.” The lawyer argued that he forgot to use spell-checking software.

The Best Lawsuit Ever !!!
One Senior partner at one of America’s largest law firms is threatening the ultimate law suit. It would be based on the contention that “being male” is a legally-recognized disability. Men have a shorter life expectancy than women and have a testosterone level that predisposes them to more aggressive behavior, or so the argument goes.

Start Yelling

“Never strike anyone so old, small, or weak that verbal abuse would have sufficed.”

- P. J. O’Rourke

Sometimes a Picture Says it All.....

Wall Street's wild and crazy ride. October 10, 2008.

How Much Do You Love Sports ?

The all new Sports Museum of America has launched a print and outdoor advertising campaign that replicates different facets of the interactive museum.

"Sometimes politicians lead our country. Sometimes athletes do," reads one print ad that shows Jackie Robinson shaking hands with Duke Snider just as he crosses home plate. Another ad features Brandi Chastain celebrating the World Cup Soccer win with her jersey in-hand, along with the copy: "Work hard and one day kids may hang posters of you in their bedroom."

See the ads here, here and here. The Gate Worldwide created the campaign and Spero Media handled the media buy.

Yellow - Green = Red

Did you realize that there are almost two copies of telephone directories distributed annually for every man, woman, and child in the United States of America??

That astounding fact has environmentalists and tree huggers seeing red. Most efforts to pass opt-out legislation involving generic “yellow pages” have either stalled or failed in at least seven states this year.

Just say no.

Lost In Translation

There are more general market (originally meant for USA) ads than ever before being used offshore. And it would seem, that often, a detailed translation is the last step in the process. One that gets rushed and comprimised.

Use of a proven translator or translation service, the advertiser should always encourage them to avoid literal translations and to offer insights and suggestions based on cultural issues. Some recent examples of the reasons for this suggestion:

 Kellogg’s had to rename “Bran Buds” cereal in Sweden when it was
discovered that the name roughly translates to “burned farmer.”

 American Dairy Association tried to expand its “Got Milk?” campaign
to Mexico. It found that the Spanish translation of its slogan read:
“Are you lactating?”

The Most Recent Cut is the Deepest

A recent survey of Top 100 National Advertsiers by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) conducted before the disappearance of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.........found that 53% of the respondents expected media expenditures to be reduced within the next six months.

Almost Eighty-five percent say they have been asked to identify cost savings or reductions in advertising and marketing programs. More than 60% said that travel restrictions have
been imposed and that new projects have been eliminated or delayed. The research
also found that companies are already challenging agencies to cut their expenses and costs.

Bankers = Blockheads

Exactly who is running the USA banks these days? Hard to tell. One thing has not changed ---- the fact that bank marketers think they are geniuses. Here's just one stupefying example.......... this one from Citigroup.

The bank needed to rebrand and wanted to deploy a more catchy slogan than “The Citi Never Sleeps.” In an apparent committee decision, they decided on “Let’s Get It Done” after an investment estimated at nearly thirty million dollars.

Apparently, no one was aware that Larry the Cable Guy (star of “Witless Protection” and “Delta Farce”) uses the phrase of “Git-R-Done.” Continuing to exhibit its genius, Citigroup went to Plan B. Its new slogan is “Citi Never Sleeps.” The thirty million dollar exercise resulted in elimination of the word “the.” Brilliant!!!

Stephen King for ESPN Sports Center. (classic).

Love Kenny Mayne --- always have. Also love Stephen King --- always have to. "Christine" still scares me to this day. And "Children of the Corn" freaked me out for a year.

It's great to see King pitching for ESPN. The ESPN ads are always smarter than their audience. Show me a bad ESPN spot and I'll show you 5 great ones.

It also proves that New England can be funny. "No players with telekinetic powers please." Classic.

Psychokinesis is well-established in movies, television, computer games, literature, and other forms of pop culture. In the 1976 film Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Sissy Spacek portrayed a troubled high school student with telekinetic powers. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first psychokinetic character in a film ever to be so recognized (Ellen Burstyn was the second, in 1980's Resurrection).

See it here:
http://gawker.com/5056021/stephen-kings-sports-center-commercial

Good Ad? Bad Ad?

http://gawker.com/5052544/wash-your-hands-or-eat-this

I hate germs as much as the next guy ---- trust me. This ad will make you think more about germs than ever before. Not sure if i love it or loathe it. You decide................

HR = Happens Regularly

http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=130713

Agency HR Exec Sends Out More Details Than Anyone Needed to Know About Pending Job Cuts

OK, business is bad, really bad. People are going to have to be let go. How best to communicate this to the top brass?????

I know...........we can send a copy of the communications plan, talking points, conversation dialogue guides, and other helpful tips to the top three of four folks who need to know.

What?

I sent it to All Agency list?

Ooops.

(Former) Chief People Officer Rose Zory was the one who forwarded the info to the entire agency. Nice work.

Man, Did You See That Logo?

Man seeks career as human billboard

LACONIA, N.H., July 17 (UPI) -- A Laconia, N.H., tattoo enthusiast said he has found a way to make extra cash from his hobby by renting himself out as a human billboard.

Victor Thompson, 39, said he is charging $200 per square inch for companies to advertise their products and services with tattoos on his skin, the Boston Herald reported Thursday.
"I'm getting paid to do what I like to do best," Thompson said. "It's a one-time fee and it's a lifetime advertisement."

Thompson, a former restaurant employee, created www.tattmetto.com with his business partner, Josh Youssef. "He's thrilled with the idea because he's getting paid to do what he loves, which is talk to people and he's getting paid to get tattooed," said Yousse, a New Hampshire native who owns a computer store. "It's a win-win situation for him."

Thompson previously made headlines when he announced his plan to tattoo his head to resemble the helmets worn by the New England Patriots, his favorite football team. "Tattoos are my life," he said. "I'm the first person in the world that's got a Patriot helmet tattoo. Now I'm the first person to be a walking billboard."

I Like Print.

According to Deloitte’s 2007 State of the Media Democracy study conducted by Harrison Group, “Over 75% of consumers find online ads more intrusive than print ads. Almost two-thirds of consumers report paying more attention to print ads than online ads.”

Advertising, officially out of ideas.

Let's see, there are ads on / in garbage trucks, broadcast messages in school buses, and airline restroom doors. The mind of man has seemingly run out of ideas for running advertising messages. Alas, there is a company called DoubleTake Marketing. They are producing and selling ads placed on airport conveyor belts. Peeved passengers possessing no perks have ten or fifteen minutes to read the same message as they wait for their checked luggage to appear. (Those waiting for baggage at Memphis International Airport will, of course, have greater exposure to the advertising messages.) First installation is at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Look for the idea to spread quickly as airlines and airports will do virtually anything to create much needed revenue. On the heels of this news comes word that airlines are selling advertising space on computer-generated boarding passes, backs of tray tables, TV messages on safety announcements and more. There is no escape.

Fruitvertising.

Watermelons Tested As Ad Vehicles
By Amy Corr , Tuesday, August 19, 2008

In the grand scheme of fruitvertising, (not that I'm thrilled with the concept), I've always wondered why bananas were selected as the test fruit. Bananas are small in comparison to many fruits, and most fruits are already affixed with stickers, so I'm guessing it had something to do with bananas being a popular, accessible year-round fruit.

Watermelons seemed to be a good choice because the canvas to work with is a substantial one. Only drawback is, they're seasonal. Sundia Corporation, producers of 35% of the U.S. watermelon supply, is transforming its watermelons into billboards this month, with SC Johnson's Ziploc brand stepping up as the advertiser.

Ads will appear on watermelons in the Midwest and Southeast; the lone sticker is a combination of the Sundia logo on top and a coupon for $1.50 off the purchase of Ziploc containers on the bottom. The sticker is large, but in comparison to the size of the watermelons, it's similar in size to the stickers found on bananas. Thankfully, there's a tie-in between the brand advertising and its canvas.

Gear Seven Communications printed the ads and collaborated with Boxtop Media in New York and SC Johnson's ad agency, Ryan Partnerships in Chicago, on the project.

Source: Media Creativity from Media Post, August 19,2008.

You Figure It Out.........

Let's Have Chineese...
An unnamed zillionaire Chinese businessman won an online auction by bidding over $2 million for a lunch in New York City with investor legend Warren Buffett. Sopunds good right? Upon learning that the lunch would be at the well-known steakhouse, Smith and Wollensky, he reneged on his bid, explaining that he thought the lunch would be a buffet.

You Have Been Pre-Appropved......
While economists and pundits and Average Joe's debate the U.S. credit crunch, a six-year-old boy in Illinois, Bennett Christensen, amused himself by accurately completing an application for a credit card. He listed his date of birth as 2002 (correctly) and claimed income of zero dollars (also correct). His application was swiftly approved with a credit limit of $600. Hey - you gotta start some time.

All Politics Are Local.

12 MONTHS TO THINK ABOUT IT

While Detroit isn’t readily known for the excellence or efficiency of its municipal government, a recently-published article about a 2003 incident at its in-plant printing shop may be of special interest to the local community. The in-plant shop honored a request by long time City Council member Kay Everett to print a twelve-month calendar entitled: (ready now) “Hats On Me.” Each month featured a different photo of Ms. Everett wearing a fashionable hat. Taxpayers footed the entire printing bill.

THE PILLSBURY NO BOY

The town of Pillsbury, North Dakota (it's a real town) has appealed to North Dakota officials for guidance to solve its latest constitutional crisis. Every one of its 25 residents forgot to vote in its mayoral election. The incumbent mayor expressed surprise because, in most elections, “at least a half-dozen people usually make it to the polls.”

Tag The Brands You Love.......

Ever wanted to spout off about brands you love..... (or brands you hate)??

Now's your chance.

Brand Tags: Is presented as a "collective experiment in brand perceptions". All tags for most popular brands are generated by regular Joe's and Jane's and take no particular path or process. Brand Tags is a NoahBrier.com project ...you can even ask him to add a brand for tagging. Check out the press page to see what others have said about brand tags. Oh, and of course, now there's even a brand tags blog.

Start tagging now.

http://www.brandtags.net/

Will Clarke Can Write.

Lord Vishnu's Love Handles is the story of a man who is teetering on the edge of financial ruin and insanity until a couple of secret agents teach him what it really means to lose his mind.
Travis Anderson has a psychic gift. Or so he thinks. So far he's milked his premonitions only to acquire an upper-middle-class lifestyle--pretty wife, big house, and a shiny Range Rover--without having to make any real effort. But recent visions threaten his yuppie contentment. Haunted by omens of impending cancers, stillborn babies, and personal train wrecks, he is compelled to make a series of inaccurate and horrifying prophecies that humiliate him in front of his fellow country club members. The IRS gets Travis's number, too, demanding an audit of his sloppy bookkeeping.

Drowning in mounting financial problems and apparent mental illness, Travis tries booze, pills, even golf to stay afloat, but nothing works. His wife and friends are forced to stage an intervention. Travis is in danger of losing his family, his career, and ultimately, his sanity. That is, until he meets a Hindu holy man in rehab who claims to be the final incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Suddenly, the tragically shallow Travis is saddled with the responsibility of bettering mankind and saving the world.
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Vishnus-Love-Handles-Novel/dp/B000KHXBUE/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1

Clarke's novel, subtitled "A Ghost's Story," is a winning comedy of collegiate (bad) manners, set at Louisiana State University. The narrator, an affluent frat boy named Conrad Avery Sutton III, tells us right off that he's dead, murdered by fellow Gamma Chi Ryan Hutchins, a psychotic hiding behind a charming Big-Man-on-Campus veneer. Conrad makes it his afterlife's work to bring cocky Ryan down, with the help of the frat house's salty cook, "crazy" Miss Etta. She knows Conrad is still on Earth to protect hapless fraternity pledge Tucker Graham, who, like most of the world, sees Ryan as "a big, bright, rising star." It sounds a little like a sitcom, albeit an edgy one, but Clarke fashions a hilariously addictive yarn, with crackling prose and sharp observations that consistently entertain and surprise. He drives the plot over the top with portraits of hypocritical religious fanatics and unrestrained party animals, and into baby Grand Guignol territory with a swath of outlandish killings—but it all works as black farce of a high degree.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743273168/%20middlefingerp-20

You Cannot Make This Stuff Up.......

There must be a full moon...............

"Fat, drunk and naked is no way to go through life Son"
http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/local/doc487386a5560e9843354250.txt

"Damn kids, get out of my yard!"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033266/Yobs-threw-rocks-house-years-But-father-fought-arrested.html

"Just what exactly are you afraid of?"
http://www.cracked.com/article_16472_6-absurd-phobias-people-who-actually-have-them.html

Beers and Busses -- they just go together
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3033e4bd-8dea-45d7-a0db-c5fa61ddaef3


"You Smell Somethin?"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2274995/Cow-farts-collected-in-plastic-tank-for-global-warming-study.html

Work is Killing Me.....

Taken from the New York Times:

Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one notice that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for five days before anyone asked if he was feeling okay. George Turlebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack I in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday moring when an office cleaner asked why he was working during the weekend. His boss, Elliot Wachiaski, said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself." A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died.

That story is NOT true. Look it ip on www.snopes.com. My point is that people are gullible and will believe most anything, especially if you embellish details and weave in a good story.

Every Body Needs a Vacation.

(with a shout out to Hugh MacLeod and http://www.gapingvoid.com/)

It's good to get away from it all for awhile. Every body needs it. Unplug. Unwind. Recharge. Relax. Go off the grid. It's amazing how long it takes, once away, just to get relaxed and set for days away from the daily grind.

And while I don't ever seem to get away as much as I should.............. I always come back better for it. In very describable ways...........

New persepctives, new way of seeing things, new attitude, new senses.

Too Many Lawyers? Too Many Chimps?

While the specialty area of "animal protection law" is one of the fastest-growing areas of the legal profession, it may have gotten out of hand. There is an Attorney in San Francisco (surprised?) by the name of Bruce Wagman who now has a complete law practice devoted exclusively to this specialty. He even co-authored a book, entitled: Animal Law, now in its third edition — the first casebook for animal law courses in law schools. But wait.........it gets better. He took it a step further and has recently announced that his practice will now be confined solely to legal issues focused on chimpanzees and apes. I cannot make this stuff up.

http://www.schiffhardin.com/BruceAWagman.htm

Can You Take It With You ?

Do you know who Frederic J. Baur of Cincinnati is? Chances are you have enjoyed one of his simplest and noble inventions. Something he was proud of, and an invention well ahead of it's time. It literally changed the way snacks were packaged, marketed and sold.

Baur died in May 2007, after a battle with Alzheimers, he passed away quietly in a Cincinnati hospice at age 89. While his life and his life's work was not mourned much outside of his hometown, his professional life was a microcosm of breakthrough marketing (good and bad).

On the good side, he showed just how you can turn a really simple idea into a wildly successful product by innovating and marketing it creatively.

Pringles potato chips in a can was his baby. He designed it in 1966, it was patented in 1970, and chips have never been the same. In later years they even sold advertising screened on to each individual chip!

On the down side, Pringles lowers the bar for everyone else. All of the chips are exactly the same. (Where do they keep the mold chip by which all others are formed?). And other chips soon copied his invention.

And on the really weird side, Baur put in his will that he wanted to be cremated and buried in a Pringles can. His family chose the "Original" can.

You can't take it with you.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1811730,00.html

You Know Who You Are.......

My favorite new book is: LIFE’S LITTLE ANNOYANCES: TRUE TALES OF PEOPLE WHO JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE by Ian Urbina.

There are over 50 cases of regular Joe and Janes who have been driven insane by their own, special, selected pet peeves:

My favorite quirk: someone who couldn’t stand Starbucks calling its smallest-sized coffee
“tall.”.

Most like me: "Above Average Driver"

Get it. Read it. Feel better about yourself.

Marshall McLuhan Was A Genius !

Some of his better quotes.........................

(Let's open with the best known one)......

"The medium is the message."

"Today each of us lives several hundred years in a decade."

"Tomorrow is our permanent address."

"All advertising advertises advertising."

"The future of the book is the blurb."

You must remember that McLuhan wrote most of this in the early 1960's.

Ahead of his time? Or incredible media visionary? or both?


From Wikipedia: Herbert Marshall McLuhan, C.C. (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar — a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions "the medium is the message" and the "global village".
McLuhan was a fixture in media discourse from the late 1960s to his death and he continues to be an influential and controversial figure. Years after his death he was named the "patron saint" of Wired magazine.

Triskaidekaphobia

Are you afraid of 13? A published study in THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH claims that businesses in the USA suffer a loss of $800 million to $900 million each time there's a Friday the 13th. Main reason is that there is always increased absenteeism on that day (people literally will not get out of bed) and that some have a deep seated reluctance to make important decisions or even travel on that date.

It’s estimated that less than 10% of Americans are affected adversely. If you want to sound smart -- you may like to know that the technical name for this rare condition is
paraskevidekatriaphobia.

June 13th is the next Friday the l3th. Stay in if you feel so compelled.

Get to it......

“When the going gets tough, the tough get blogging.”

- Novelist Christopher Buckley

Are We There Yet?

Wishing the election was over. Now. Reminded just how much I hate political advertising, and how it lowers your IQ just watching it all unfold. Seems like they've been at it for years now.

Wake me when it's over.

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

- H. L. Mencken

Spring has Sprung. Earth Day Rules. Beware the Ides of Ads.........

Why do bad (and undisciplined) mass market advertisers seize each and every calendar opportunity to gin up a new ad to get every available ounce of impact out of stale creative?

That's at least 365 opportunities to do some really bad advertising all in the name of carpe diem.

You can almost hear the pleas from bad marketers..........


"Hey, let's have a big Spring sale!"

"April Fools Day would be a great time to kick off our new product launch".

"What are we doing for Earth Day?"

"Tax Day could be BIG for us!"



That's original.



Let's take every red circled date on the calendar and make it part of our strategy. We should be doing something around every major Holiday known to man. Just think, a truly great marketer could literally "own" the days of the week! Pure genius.


Or we could burn through a small budget quickly and leave no trail of anything that worked.


Gotta run. May Day is coming and I have a few ideas.

From: www.someecards.com

Those Who Cannot Create .............. Critique.

I am so tired of Ad Critics.

They exist solely to frustrate those who actually do the work and make the ads.

Most have never crafted an ad. Ever. Couldn't if they tried. But the power of the pen, or the keyboard, gets them at least a small audience, which they almost always abuse with this prviledge.

Watch as they pick away at tiny details, gloat over bad casting and acting, and shine a 10,000 watt spotlight on poor executions. How hard can that be?

It's so easy to be crritical.

Maybe All Awards Shows Should Just Stop.

Would we really miss them? Or Joan Rivers. Or Ryan Seacrest. Just think of all the red carpets we could save.

Maybe it is time for all of those insipid award shows to just roll up the carpets and call it a career. Move it all in to storage. Give people hours of their life back.

Vermont and Ted Riehle Hate Billboards.

The State of Vermont is celebrating 40 years of NO BILLBOARDS.

Their revolutionary billboard law (passed in 1968) prohibits outdoor ads in that state to override the bucolc mountains and pristine fauna that gives it the name of ----- The Green Mountain State.

This is a true testament of the work of one dedicated lawmaker -- and how he made a difference.

Ted Riehle, a state legislator, and a very interesting guy -- somehow convinced the state that it could benefit both aesthetically and fiscally by taking billboards down that had already been placed and banning any / all new ones fromm going up.

Riehl died on New Year's Eve 2007 at the age of 83. His obituary can be found at: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801050325

What he accomplished was quite a feat when you stop to consider that (A) he was only in his second year in the Legislature in the late 1960s when he started drumming up support across Vermont to get buy in on his novel idea. His Son said he was fervent about his mission, even when threatened and challenged.

Riehle had a nice run in the State legislature and then went on to work as planning director for Gov. Deane Davis, coordinating the state's first Green Up Day program, which has become a model program for roadside cleanup.

You must also consider that (B) that Vermont had many farmers who made a decent supplemental income from renting their farmlands to billboard companies and that Riehle had to presuade them to let this go for the greater good.

Acccording to Wikipedia: Vermont ranks 45th by total area, and 43rd by land area at 9,250 square miles (24,000 km²), and has a population of 608,827, making it the second least populous state (second only to Wyoming). The only New England state with no coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont is notable for the Green Mountains in the west and Lake Champlain in the northwest.

Originally inhabited by Native American tribes (Abenaki, and Iroquois), the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France but became a British possession after France's defeat in the French and Indian War. For many years, control of the area was disputed by the surrounding colonies, notably between New Hampshire and New York. Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state. Vermont became the 14th state to join the United States, following a 14-year period during and after the Revolutionary War as the independent Vermont Republic.

And, you won't see any billbaords there --- Thanks to Ted Riehle.

Sure is Gettin Crowded Out There

First there was a Massachusetts school that sold commercials that ran in school buses as a non traditional revenue stream. That's bad.

Now we learn that McDonald’s has taken this to a new level. With incentives added.

Mickey D's bought advertising on kid's report cards in a Seminole County, Florida school system of over 25,000 students. The students who received A's were recognized and were offered free food from the Golden Arches.

I realize public school districts are tight on available budgets, but is this really the right way to get more money?

Oh, it also adds to the incredible clutter factor that all advertising faces, and could cause young people to pay even less attention to ads.

Brevity................

Consider that The Gettysburg Address contains a total of 272 words. Total.
By comparison......

Words on a bag of Lay's potato chips = 401
Words on current IRS Form 1040 EZ = 418
Words in average cover story of USA Today = 1,200