'Products for Good Times™': How Playboy Learned to Sell Its Sexy Self
Most of the attention paid to Playboy Enterprises, Inc. over the years has revolved around a few things: the persona of Hugh Hefner, the mansion he lives in, and the magazine he founded. But there’s one thing that makes those parts, if not thrive, then survive, and it’s remarkably simple: the bunny ears logo…
American Eagle Uses Bullshit Holiday to Launch Bullshit Marketing Campaign
Today is National Coffee Day, because for-profit organizations that sell coffee keep telling us so. The exact details of how National Coffee Day began are shaky, (because I didn’t look and it doesn’t matter) but I assume that Starbucks and a bunch of coffee manufacturers got together and decided that, dammit, it’s…
Sad Brand Tweets You Would Have Seen If Gay Marriage Had Lost
Same-sex marriage is now legal in the United States, and brands have been losing their minds. Their excitement—much of which has been flooding my Twitter timeline all day—is more than understandable, but it really makes you wonder what the internet would have looked like had the Supreme Court decided against marriage…
Wait a Second. Why Is the New IHOP Logo Crying?

On Monday, IHOP (formerly known as The International House of Pancakes) unveiled, writes Adweek, “a new logo for the emoticon era.” The only significant change in its updated design was the addition of a mouth under the “op.” That newly created smiley face—according to Kirk Thompson, IHOP’s VP of Marketing—represents…
'Wealth Accompanied by Rejection of Creativity': Bye, Lilly Pulitzer
The intense frenzy surrounding the new, blink-and-you-missed-it-because-the-girls-have-been-lined-up-since-dawn Lilly Pulitzer diffusion line at Target has caused many people to wonder: How can such a vibrant, rabid market (and after-market) exist for such phenomenally boring and showily tasteless shift dresses?
Buy These Pajamas & Rescue a Prostitute; Or, Why Rescue Brands Are Dumb
There are a great number of awful things on Facebook, so I wonder if you've managed to see the most awful thing? It is an ad. It shows a beautiful young Asian woman bookended by beautiful white, blonde women, and they are all cozy together on a couch, each in her own unique pair of Punjammies. The copy reads: Created…
Athleisure Is Killing Off Traditional Retail Brands, Victory for Slobs
All you millennials with your tapered joggers and blankets for shirts are killing the retail industry. Slobs are winning. Happy?
DiGiorno Crashes Discussion on Domestic Violence With Pizza Joke
The release of security footage that showed now-ex Baltimore Raven Ray Rice punching his fiancee in the face spurred many female users of Twitter to discuss their own experiences with domestic violence. The ensuing discussion involving women's stories of why they they stayed with or left their abusers was…
Olive Garden Shies Away From Kendra Wilkinson • GGW Assaulter Released From Jail
Do you want the ads for the crap that you buy to be more female-friendly? Well you're in luck! An ad agency called Womenkind just opened its doors in New York City, and its goal is to "use a network of women to conceptualize and execute ads designed to appeal to females." Apparently 85% of all brand purchases are…


