.ili. Devil Shat Forty Four .ili. ------------------------------------- The Great Ethical Advertising Beast ................ by Morbus Three Word Poem ................................ by ed nodbarb The Great Unethical Advertising Beast ..... by Cameron Barrett This is Devil Shat Forty Four released on 01/14/99. Devil Shat is published by Disobey and is protected under all copyright laws. All of the issues are archived at the Disobey website: http://www.disobey.com/ Submissions, email, and news should be sent to morbus@disobey.com. Your comments are welcome. What do you want us to write about? Send an email and let us know. I wish C & C Music Factory were still popular. ----------------------------------------------- .ili. The Great Ethical Advertising Beast .ili. ----------------------------------------------- by Morbus Advertising is so great, isn't it? What's that, you say? You hate commercials? Whatever for? They intrude on your favorite TV show? On your favorite movie? They shorten a three hour movie into two and a half? What the hell are you complaining for? You've got a free movie coming to you, obviously one you wanted to see. And hell, advertising can be ENTERTAINING in and of itself... otherwise, there wouldn't be awards, million dollar commercials during the Super Bowl, or TV specials interrupted by crappy commercials while they show you the better ones. Let's cut to the chase, though - advertising is about money, YOUR money, and getting it into THEIR pockets. This isn't anything that's a surprise... I could probably have done away with that sentence altogether. But, not only is advertising about getting your money, it's about getting your attention... which is probably why advertising can be so fun to watch. Where else can you see the "Devil Bug Eyed Girl" from that Welch's White Grape Juice commercial? She definitely won't be getting another part any time soon - she probably only did the damn thing because they promised to give her a dark shade of glasses to hide her eyes (so all the kids wouldn't make fun of her anymore). Where else can you see elaborately designed sets like in that 10-10-3000 (??10-10-something-or-other??) commercial? Yup, two actors who get to sit in comfy chairs with big ass numbers behind them talking about this great service about you not knowing a phone number. Where else can you watch a movie like THE SAINT, and see the hero driving around in some sports car. Not just any sports car, no, no, no... the commercials told us that it was THEIR car in the movie, and THEIR wonderful exterior that caused him to look super cool. This isn't condensed (Campbell's) Chicken and Stars, this is some big Velveeta. Advertising doesn't have to be in your face.... It's enough knowing that Jerry Seinfeld drinks from a red cup with a white and gray wave down the side. It's about knowing what the hell kind of shampoo we're supposed to be using when we see that green bottle. It's about knowing that Casey Becker is making Jiffy Pop (mmMmMmm, Jiffy Pop) before she see's her boyfriend gutted. I like advertising because it showcases a great American Dream. One that every little boy loves to hear about - of being determined, innovative, likable, charismatic, fighting against all odds, and eventually getting enough fucking money to get out of the shithole ghetto that you're living in. Ahhh... smells like sun freshness. --------------------------- .ili. Three Word Poem .ili. --------------------------- by ed nodbarb This is deep ------------------------------------------------- .ili. The Great Unethical Advertising Beast .ili. ------------------------------------------------- by Cameron Barrett A few years back, we were subjected to one of the most horrific displays of immoral advertising I've ever seen. I'm, of course, speaking about the Coca-Cola and Nike advertisements that were thrust upon theatre-goers across the nation. Remember? You'd go pay your eights-bucks-a-head to see the most recent blockbuster and the first thing you'd see, even before the previews, was a commercial. Yes, a commercial. If my memory serves me right, there was some public outcry about this absolutely immoral and unethical form of advertising. Consumers weren't going to the theatres, and paying money, to be subjected to something that most people despise. And we haven't really seen much action in this arena since. But the Great Unethical Advertising Beast has arisen again. This time in the form of advertisements placed in front of video rentals. This weekend, I was taking a much-needed mini-vacation at my brother's house, the snow falling silently outdoors, the computers warming up for a very long game of networked Diablo and the VCR standing by for a movie break when we got tired of computer games or were killed by King Leoric or the Butcher. And that's when the Unethical Advertising Beast struck, right between some preview and the main attraction, Lethal Weapon 4. A [long] commercial for Microsoft Windows98 masquerading as a plug for DVD. I was so angry. I didn't pay $3.50 to watch some stupid Windows98 commercial. Damn, how immoral. How much more unethical can Microsoft get? Worse, how long before the rest of the corporate monoliths follow Microsoft's lead and we start seeing shoe commercials, long-distance ads, and psychic network plugs in front of every movie we rent? The movie rental industry is huge, no doubt. Just look at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. Are Warner Bros., Viacom, Fox Home Video, Paramount and the rest of the movie distributors so hard up for money that they're forcing unwanted advertising and commercials onto their unsuspecting consumers? Has corporate greed gotten so bad that we've come to this? Shame on Microsoft for throwing their money around and convincing Warner Bros. (the distributor) to let them put their commercial on their tapes. Shame on Warner Bros. for being so crass and uncaring towards their consumers. I urge you to send negative feedback to Warner Bros. Let them know how unethical they're being. Tell them we don't want to see pre-movie advertising to become the norm. Tell them that it's wrong to subject their PAYING viewers to this type of advertising. http://whv1.warnerbros.com/cgi-bin/tame/store/email.tam Now, I know that some of you are going to say, "Just hit that Fast-Forward button if you don't like it." Well, I think you'd be missing the point. People rent movies for one reason and one reason only: to be entertained. Do you really think that Microsoft is sitting around in their conference rooms thinking about how to entertain us with their commercials? No, I don't think so. They're simply playing the repetition game they know so well. Their goal is to get people to associate the name "Microsoft" with DVD technology. While it's true that most new Microsoft-enabled PCs are capable of playing DVD movies, I very much doubt that the family is going to crowd around their PC to watch a two-hour movie. Before long, we're going to hear reports from the field (usually Best Buy employees) saying that customers are asking for those new "Microsoft DVD" computers. Note: I watched another movie this weekend, The Negotiator. It too had the same Windows98/DVD commercial in front of the feature presentation. This movie is distributed by New Regency, for whom I can find no email address anywhere on their web site: http://www.newregency.com (c) 1998 Cameron Barrett. All Rights Reserved http://www.camworld.com/journal/rants/98.12.30.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The website edition includes images, a nice design, and all of the email we have received about this issue. Go there and um, er, have fun: http://www.disobey.com/devilshat/ Copyright 1997-1999 Disobey. You may not steal, maim, hold for ransom, kill, or rape any part of this issue. http://www.disobey.com/ TO SUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Subscribe DevilShat TO UNSUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Unsubscribe DevilShat ------------------------------------------------------------------------