March 19th 2010
World traveler Jay Ratcliffe sent this one in from the Las Vegas airport. Imagine seeing this ad just after TSA screeners have taken your nail clippers and liquids in containers of >3oz. Who at the airport hasn’t felt a the need for a machine gun, at least for a brief rental? Where else could you imagine this […]
March 12th 2010
The Internet is much more than a network of computers. It is an endless web of people. Men and women from every corner of the globe are connecting to one another, thanks to the biggest social interface ever known to humanity. Digital culture has laid the foundations for a new kind of society. And this […]
March 11th 2010
According to the New York Post, actress Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade for $100 million for pain and suffering caused by their Super Bowl ad. The semi-funny (and non-compelling) ad shows a milkaholic baby named Lindsay (or Lindsey) with a guilty looking baby-husband. Yes, the ad is pretty terrible; so is the legal claim. However, […]
March 10th 2010
Remember my 2010 prediction that brand holders should beware of clowns? I called it the Coulrophobia Epidemic of 2010. Logorama did it with trademarks, and won an Oscar. Girl Talk did it with music, gaining top rankings from Rolling Stone, Blender and Time magazine. And now Eric Faden uses the most copyrighted video anywhere, Disney® […]
March 8th 2010
Last night, a 16-minute animated film, entirely populated by trademarks as both characters and props, won an upset Academy Award. Its producer, Nicolas Schmerkin, explains: It’s about the way we live and the way we react to these logos. The brain can register 14 logos in less than one second. Making the logos characters with […]
March 7th 2010
Some of you may know I enjoy writing about Boston history and architecture on my other blog www.iboston.org. Today is one of the few occasions where both blogs’ topics intersect. On this day back in 1876, Elisha Gray, an inventor from Ohio, filed notice that he had invented the telephone. Unknown to him, Boston’s Alexander […]
March 3rd 2010
The Hitler Downfall meme is everywhere (we’ve already covered copyright issues of the Hitler Downfall video). This weekend, the New York Times even published a primer on making your own version of the scene, in which der Führer’s fury at the collapse of his plans can be translated into the latest pop-culture news. Bob Battle’s Virginia […]
March 2nd 2010
INTA, the International Trademark Association, is a group of nearly six thousand trademark professionals in 190 countries. They protect the world’s brands. They’re being Twitter-squatted. There’s no pretty way to say it. In 2007, someone apparently seized their name as a Twitter handle and posted one five letter word, “srrrr”. This looks like a case […]
February 28th 2010
Bad advertising is the fun pause that refreshes here on UsefulArts. On our previous bad advertising safaris, we’ve: Found the the worst law firm ad ever, and helped get it pulled down. Treated the airport as a museum of misfit ads. Pointed out that UPS has a pretty bad tagline. Chronicled the offensive or silly […]
February 26th 2010
Section 230 Isn’t for Bullies Online communities such as Yelp are usually protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This online law protects publishers; without it, social media would likely never have been. It’s such a valuable protection that I think even lawyers in South Carolina deserve it. However, Section 230 has limits. […]
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