Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Ad Nauseam

Truffula Buffs Rebuff Mazda: The Lorax Selling Cars? Enough Is Enough!

By Ben Fried | Feb 24, 2012 | 12 Comments

If you read Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax growing up or you read it to your kids today, then the sight of Mazda trotting out the protector of Truffula trees to hawk cars may have stirred deep feelings of revulsion. Our friend the Zozo has a petition on Change.org for you: In these advertisements Mazda and Universal claim […]

Ad Nauseam: Universal’s “The Lorax” Sells Mazda’s “SkyActiv” Cars

By Ben Fried | Feb 23, 2012 | 6 Comments

It’s an ad that could only be made long after Dr. Seuss went to his grave. A cobalt blue Mazda CX-5 crossover SUV (26 mpg city/35 highway) coasts along a remarkably roadkill-free asphalt strip through a bucolic landscape of fluffy Truffula trees. Against an audio backdrop of chirping birds, lightly strummed strings, wistful whistling, and […]

Dear Giant Bicycles, Please Bring This Ad Campaign to America

By Ben Fried | Jan 5, 2012 | 14 Comments

Reader Paul Murphy sends along this ad from the Australian division of Giant Bicycles. The spot, by the Melbourne-based firm Leo Burnett, started airing last summer as part of Giant’s “Real Riders” campaign. Imagine if images of grocery bags slung over handlebars could somehow saturate the airwaves as much as sleek new luxury sedans gliding […]

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Getting Young People Back Into Cars Is Auto Industry Job #1

By Anne Lutz Fernandez | Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments

While the choked parking lots at many suburban high schools might mislead you, young people today are less interested in driving and owning cars than their counterparts in previous generations. This is happy news for environmentalists and complete streets advocates, who see fewer vehicles on the road as key to a healthier, wealthier society. For […]

Unsolicited Personal Image Advice for Jennifer Lopez: Film a Bike Ad

By Ben Fried | Nov 23, 2011 | 16 Comments

Before Streetsblog goes offline for the Thanksgiving weekend, I’d like to reiterate my unsolicited advice for Jennifer Lopez: There is an easy and, I believe, highly effective way to control the damage from the revelation that you did not actually film this Fiat 500 Cabrio commercial on the streets of the Bronx. For those just […]

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The Hypocrisy of Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” Campaign

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 8, 2011 | No Comments

I’ll admit it: I love the Chrysler ad campaign “Imported from Detroit,” which debuted in February’s Super Bowl spot starring Eminem. What can I say? I’m a sucker for hometown pride. I was born about 60 miles downriver from the Motor City in Toledo, Ohio, a town sometimes known affectionately as “Little Detroit.” I remember […]

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