Focus Group Friday

Morons And Their Focus Groups

After a year and a half of design, and 40 -- count 'em, 40 -- focus groups, the London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games introduced its Olympic Mascots this week.

These two monstrosities are called Wenlock and Mandeville (don't ask) and are supposed to help kids "engage with sport." Apparently this is a problem in London.

A design critic named Stephen Bayley said: “What is it about these Games which seems to drive the organisers into the embrace of this kind of patronising, cretinous infantilism?"

I shudder to think what these things would have looked like if there were only money for 30 focus groups.

Stop, You're Making Me Hungry

By popular demand, KFC is extending the life of its Double Down sandwich. The sandwich, made up of bacon and cheese pressed between two fried chicken filets, was supposed to be pulled on Sunday. However, consumer demand has been so high, they've decided to keep this incredibly disgusting thing on indefinitely.

I have a feeling Wenlock and Mandeville would like it.

Ice To Eskimos, Coals To Newcastle, etc
Also this week, celebrity chef Rick Bayless cooked a Mexican dinner for White House guest Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico. Apparently the US Government doesn't think Felipe gets enough Mexican food at home.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

In an amazing bit of irony, Google announced this week that it is closing its online store and is discontinuing the online sale of its Nexus One cell phone.

Conclusive Proof That The Ad Contrarian Is The Best-Spelled Ad Blog On the Web!

Yesterday was a good day for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. They won the Chevy account. It was a bad day for blogger spelling. In reporting the story, AdPulp misspelled Goodby and AdScam misspelled Silverstein.

It's a good thing Messner Vetere Berger McNamee and Schmetterer didn't win it. Which reminds me, maybe what's wrong with the ad business these days is that all the silly names are contrived. They used to be real.

And one more thing. Misspell always looks misspelled.

No Comment

Anything I say about the following story is bound to get me in trouble with someone, so I'm just going to report the facts: According to an iVillage survey of 2,000 married women, 63 percent would rather sleep, watch a movie or read than have sex.

It's Friday... have a drink and try to forget all this crap.