"We found that 85% of guys think their hair is pretty good, but more than half of women don't agree," says David Rubin, director of Unilever hair care. Axe's new line "meets guys' needs and provides a service to women," he says.

That service: turning your man into a preening douchebag. The real deal here is that male hair care is one of the last remaining unexploited categories in the grooming and personal care products sector, and Axe—owned by humongo company Unilever—is trying to create new demand. Consider very carefully the implications of this line from a research report:

"Satisfaction and complacency are barriers to sales growth in men's shampoos and conditioners."

Yes, the problem here is that men are satisfied. In order to solve this problem, the marketing machine will make men unsatisfied. Then they will buy shitty Axe products and act even more self-obsessed. This is the problem with marketing, in a nutshell. [WSJ; pic via]

Read More:
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The Best (?) Of The Sex Tape Turkey Puns

The magazine is opening a store, called the Teen Vogue Haute Spot, in the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey. But the magazine does not intend to sell merchandise.

Instead, the store will be a place for girls to relax, try on clothes and drink smoothies — all while marketers woo them.

Bring your daughter in to charge her iPod and enjoy snacks and relax and be attended by stylists and try on makeup and perfume and clothes and then be escorted to the stores in the mall where she can buy those very items, thereby proving that she supports the media and journalism and free speech in America, Q.E.D. Then get her a mall tattoo. Of a screaming bald eagle holding a Teen Vogue. [NYT]

“After waiting in an area with an open bar and a DJ, we walked up a driveway illuminated by fluorescent lights to a darkened room where we saw 40 nude women. Most of them were wearing strange masks made of wool. “The models stood in the middle of the room - black girls at the front and white girls at the back. Then the entire album played without any introduction or explanation.”

This is the new standard for everything. Maybe not so fun for the ladies, though.

[via LA Rag Mag. Further...art shots at Kanye's blog]

[More at Advertolog, via Adfreak]

[via Adrants]

[Copyranter at Animal]

[via Adrants]

[via the Gallery of Graphic Design]

[via Copyranter]

[via Copyranter]

Everyone's nervous about the Olympics this year. The Chinese government's politicization of the ceremonies reminded sponsors and spectators alike of its human rights record, particularly in Tibet. Broadcasters are pushing back against restrictions on TV reporting. Athletes are concerned about air quality. In short, the Olympics are the same politicized mess they've always been, and more commercial than ever. How to keep everyone focused on the athletic action? Easy, just keep the cameras pointed at the lithe young hardbodies that flock to this competition every four years. And if that seems like a lecherous degradation of a noble event, remember this: the Olympians themselves are notoriously bad at keeping their hands off one another once they get eliminated from competition. Remind yourself by browsing this photo gallery of hot Olympic athletes past and present, curated by intern Nicola Gherson.

Alexis gets her quarterly does of Botox from Dr. Wexler:

Lasik on a purported celebrity, yuck:

[NYT]

[UPDATE: And don't forget Mary Rambin already did a video for Restylane!]

[Copyranter]

• Learn to appreciate men. Men like women who like them.

• Remember that women are biologically wired to succeed.

• Don't assume that men never listen. They listen like a dog does.

• Screw the rules. Make up your own.

According to iRobot's new advertising for its adorable little auto-vac, Mom is in charge of cleaning up after her pig children and jackass husband. Literally! But since it's tongue-in-cheeky, we shouldn't get our panties in a bunch, right? Riiight. Until the writer of the commercial says he's specifically targeting "Chief Home Officers." Ding ding ding goes the sexism alarm!

"The Chief Home Officer in our spot realizes that cleaning up after her family is a never-ending chore," said David Bernstein, executive creative director at The Gate, IRobot's agency. "But at least she can delegate it to a robot."

"Delegate it!" See? Moms can be bosses, too! VPs of Sanitation. Char-women of the floorboards.

And so on. Whatever, just watch it!

Aw, her jackass husband is her best friend. Nice save? And dig that campy 1950s, "Leave It To Beaver"-esque music. See, they think by showing us that they know it's a dated setting makes the insulting stereotypes copasetic.

But sexism aside, the commercial just plain yanks, doesn't it? Humans as barnyard animals! Who'd have thunk that craziness up! The ad is from an "edgy" ad agency that claims to be all about killing "sacred cows," naturally.

Whatever. The product's a goddamned high tech robot, built by a company that makes bomb disarming machines currently helping our brave men (and women) in Iraq and Afghanistan! Where's the cool demonstration of its capabilities? If I'm going to let a robot "do the dirty work," I want to know exactly what the drone can do.

Unless of course, the product isn't as efficient as advertised. But MIT roboticists with a lucrative government contract would never mislead the heroic American Mom, would they?