• The youth

    Obama Ushers In Regrettable MTV Revival

    In 1992, suave Billy Clinton was sexin' the nation and wearin' boxers, and MTV had a big ole inaugural ball that was reportedly the hottest ticket in DC, even though Don Henley was the main act, which just goes to show once again that political people are really not cool when you get right down to it. But during the Bush years MTV had no inaugural balls, because Bush was so non-embodying of the Music Television vibe, you know? Well now Barack Obama is president and MTV is once again having a big cool inaugural ball! This is the single worst consequence of Barack Obama's election. [Ad Age; pic via]

    4:12 PM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    1,833 views, 19 comments

    Most discussed Weegee's bored: I was just (like,15 minutes ago), reading a New Yorker piece about the election and learned that the Obama campaign more »

  • advertising

    Could Fewer McDonald's Ads Make Kids Eat Less McDonald's?

    This past summer, the Evil Food Conglomerates of America agreed to "limit" advertising that "targeted children," though their definition of that is loose enough to keep selling a lot of Pop-Tarts to 13-year-olds. They did this to try to preclude some kind of rule that would outlaw their advertising to children altogether. Unfortunately for the Hamburglar, a new study is out that has people actually talking about banning youth-targeted fast food ads, which would really be an incredible thing. "No fatties," the study proclaims: More »

    12:31 PM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    5,045 views, 102 comments

    Most discussed ineffable.me: Uh, yes, because children have all the spending power in the American households of today. more »

  • advertising

    Jocks Cede Role Model Status To Nerds

    Remember in the olden days when pro athletes and Olympians would grace our soft drink ads, urging us to guzzle the nutritionally barren sugar water in order to be a champion like them, cognitive dissonance be damned? Yea, if you listen to athletes now, you are old and laughable. The new (and far more appropriate!) face of Dr. Pepper is a 21-year-old kid who makes a quarter of a million bucks playing video games. Why I never! Lazy kids nowadays! There is simply no way not to sound like some parody of Dave Barry making "these kids!" jokes while writing about this development. But what you need to know is that if you have skills with a Wii controller, you better watch out for the geek paparazzi: More »

    9:53 AM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    1,978 views, 27 comments

    Most discussed Phyllis Nefler: Curses! Embedding disabled! WTF? Okay, so how about this instead: THE POWER CLAW. + Watch video more »

  • Fashion at work

    Brand Names Separate The Real From The Corporate

    You know what's really important to up-and-coming young entrepreneurs these days? What you wear! More important than, for example, economics. This is why older people run all the real businesses, while younger people spend their time talking to WSJ columnists for unintentionally hilarious and depressing features on how kids avoid going "corporate" by buying the correct name brands. Is your CEO "urban" or a "surfer?" More »

    9:35 AM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    9,922 views, 42 comments

    Most discussed Bitrex: Given recent economic realities, I predict an upsurge in "barrel-with-suspenders" couture. more »

  • Bagginess

    Youth To Pull Up Pants For Obama!

    Barack Obama did an interview with yesterday with Sway, MTV's official friendly ambassador from the land of hip hop. A viewer asked him about towns that try to pass laws banning baggy pants. First Obama said those laws are a "waste of time." But then he added, "brothers should pull up your pants!" Is Barack Obama a fashion icon, or your grumpy old dad—or is he both?!?! [UPDATE: Clip of the interview below!]: More »

    12:03 PM on Tue Nov 4 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    51,351 views, 79 comments

    Most discussed ineffable.me: No one wants to see anyone's underwear. The baggy pants law should have a super low rise jean for girls more »

  • advertising

    Ivanka Trump Is Interested In Hearing About Your Lunch Habits

    Are you a weary office drone who chokes down a dry, overpriced sandwich from the local deli in front of your computer every day, wishing that you could take a full hour to relax and eat some quality food for once in your miserable life? Well the ConAgra corporation feels your pain! And in order to help you they've enlisted someone you, the little people, can look up to: Ivanka Trump. She is using a modern "blog" to reach all the depressed, overworked potential ConAgra lunch customers! More »

    9:05 AM on Mon Oct 20 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    3,102 views, 43 comments

    Most discussed CaptainFantastic: Something tells me she's never eaten a hot dog from a gas station with soapless restrooms that haven't been cleaned more »

  • Advertainment

    Cool Gear? Cool Kids? Moby? It's HP, Yo!

    When you watch The Real World on MTV, don't you often wish the episodes were only five minutes long, focused mainly on computerized digital art, and full of awesome Hewlett-Packard products? No? That's cause you're out of touch with the youth of today. Luckily MTV and Hewlett-Packard are in touch with what's hip, and are bringing this fantasy "Real World Of Kids Looking At Computer Screens" to life! Could this be the best digital art-focused corporate co-branded semi-reality advertainment vehicle ever? YES, if Moby has anything to say about it! More »

    10:00 AM on Thu Sep 11 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    2,212 views, 6 comments

    Latest by JesseJb: I really feel like they have gotten in touch with my generation on this one. Thanks guys! Finally corporate America more »

  • advertising

    Cool Guy In Ad Forgets To Mention He Will Cost You Money

    Guileless grownups and equally guileless children both seem to respond well to straightforward ad jingles with a catchy tune. But members of the disaffected 20-something creative underclass need a dash of ironic humor with our jingles, to makes us feel like we're not giving in so easily to corporate mind control. That's why the ads for FreeCreditReport.com are so popular—they show a 20-something guy (just like your friends!) singing a funny little song about how hard it is to work crappy jobs, and how happy he is that he can get a free credit report. Turns out the ads are misleading and the reports aren't free at all! How could you do this to us, guitar-strumming advertising guy? More »

    9:22 AM on Mon Aug 4 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    5,564 views, 72 comments

    Latest by kat: @ineffable.me: any company that is going to make a music commercial needs to look at 877-393-4448 and ask themselves "is more »

  • advertising

    MTV Graciously Decides To Accept Obama's Money

    Whether you ever noticed or not, the fact is that MTV has never accepted political ads. Sure, it's always been rife with promo spots of musicians screaming at you to Rock The Vote, but actual candidate ads were never allowed (although they were allowed at fellow MTV Networks stations Spike, Comedy Central, and VH1). But now it's time to put on your listening hats, young voters, because that's all changed! MTV has announced that it will accept political ads, which of course is part of their commitment to engage the youth in the democratic process, and not just a greedy attempt to get their claws on lots of Barack Obama's sweet, sweet money: More »

    9:27 AM on Wed Jun 25 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    1,346 views, 20 comments

    Latest by LeGagneur: If people are voting because of MTV, I'm tempted to say that they probably shouldn't be voting. more »

  • vanity fair

    How Vanity Fair "Groomed" Miley Cyrus

    There's a technique called "grooming" that pedophiles use on their victims (yes, we just learned about it today, thank you). One definition says "Grooming behavior is intended to make the victim or potential victim or victim's guardians feel comfortable with the molester and even interested in interacting with him." And here's a characteristic of a regressed child molester: "They place pseudo-adult status on their victims and then view them as they would their peers." Now take a look at the following behind-the-scenes pictures from Vanity Fair's controversial new Miley Cyrus photo shoot by 58-year-old lesbian photographer Annie Leibovitz and ask yourself if any of that rings a bell. We're not accusing these stylists of being pedophiles, we're just saying... ugh: More »

    10:58 AM on Mon Apr 28 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    117,520 views, 98 comments

    Latest by kingzilch: "We're not accusing these stylists of being pedophiles..." for reasons of liability and deniability, we're just strongly making the implication. more »