Aside from an occasional Egg McMuffin hangover cure from McDonald's, or perhaps a very rare moment of utter stress-peration (stressed-out desperation) that drives me to Jack in the Box for two tacos for ninety-nine cents, I don't pay much attention to fast food chains.

Yikes! Take a look at Wendy's Baconator - the name alone "Bacon Terminator?" - is meant to strike fear into the hearts of every cardiologist, and from the picture, why wouldn't it? It has two burgers, two slices of cheese, and six, yes six, slices of bacon.

The scariest part of the Baconator, however, is not the burger itself. It's the commercial. It's just so wrong.

Yet, it's so right.

France is jumping onto the ad-restriction bandwagon, joining the US and the UK before them in making an attempt at using warnings to curb the climbing obesity rate in the country. Currently, about 30% of the French population is overweight and 10% is obese. The increasing size of the population is being blamed on processed foods and fast food, both of which encourage unhealth, on-the-go eating and are popular with the "youth" of the country. In an attempt to curb the climbing obesity rate in the country, France is jumping onto the ad-restriction bandwagon. Following in the footsteps of the US and the UK, France will be restricting what its viewers can and cannot see in food ads. All food ads are now required "carry cautions to stop snacking, keep active and eat fruits and vegetables." Specifically, the warning will have to include one of the following statements:

• "For your health, eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day."
• "For your health, undertake regular physical activity."
• "For your health, avoid eating too much fat, too much sugar, too much salt."
• "For your health, avoid snacking between meals."

The policy applies to "advertisements on television, radio and billboards and the Internet for processed, sweetened or salted food and drinks." Any advertiser who does not include the health-messages with their ads will be fined a percentage of the cost of the ad.

Restaurateurs have a love-hate relationship with food critics. They love them when they get a good review and hate them when they don't. A lot of seething goes on in the kitchen when the review is bad, but that is usually as far as it gets. Once in a while, however, a restaurant owner will be pushed over the edge, as Jeffrey Chodorow was when he read Frank Bruni's review of his Kobe Club. Chodorow took out a full-page ad (rumored to have cost around $40,000) in this week's NY Times Dining section blasting Bruni ("in crazy-person tiny type") and accusing him of being biased, unqualified and, essentially, of having a personal vendetta against him and/or his restaurants.

The letter was addressed to Pete Wells, who recently came to the NY Times as the editor of the Dining section, possibly in the hopes that Wells would take some sort of action against Bruni. Wells has since said that the Times will take no action and Bruni himself spoke to the NY Post, saying that he has no vendetta against Chodorow. Nor does New York magazine's Adam Platt or The NY Post's Steve Cuozzo - both of whom gave the restaurant less-than-flattering reviews at the same time as Bruni.

[thanks, alanna!]

We are not big fans of Burger King's creepy ad mascot, The King, and we know that we're not the only ones who feel a little uneasy when his commercials come on. Burger King, and the various advertising firms that represent them, likes to take their promotions into that extreme zone, though, so perhaps we should just be glad that their advertising isn't worse than it already is.

For example, take a look at this Burger King Germany wrapper, which contains instructions for building a throne to your Whopper out of ketchup packets and french fries. According to the person who photographed the wrapper and submitted it to Instructables, the directions say that the throne is for resting your burger and worshiping it.

Let's be glad that they haven't incorporated this idea into their King-centric US advertising yet. Can you imagine how strange the commercials would get?

[via tfs]

Last year, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) was involved with the promotion of several measures to restrict the content of food advertisements that were targeted at, or easily viewable by, children. Broadcasting regulator Ofcom instituted a ban on junk food ads that were targeted at 16-and-under TV viewers during non-primetime hours, which was a major victory for those supporting restrictions.

The FSA also supported a ban on online junk food advertising that was targeted at this demographic, a step which many believed was a step too far at the time. Clearly, times and opinions have changed, however, because further regulations have just been drawn up by the Department of Health's Committee on Advertising Practice that will ban "junk food companies" from advertising in magazines, on the internet, on billboards and at movie screenings that are targeted at under-16s.

Fortunately for the companies in question and the media outlets that rely on their advertising dollars, there is no official oversight of all these forms of advertising, which means that following the regulations is voluntary - for the moment, anyway.

We had a bit of a debate over whether the McDonald's ad that flashed on screen during an episode of Iron Chef America was the Food Network's attempt at subliminal advertising or simply a very poorly edited piece of filming. It turns out, according to a statement released by the network, that it was just a glitch.

A network spokesman said, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a Web site running the slow-motion playback. It has been corrected for all future airings [of that episode]." A McDonald's spokesman said, "We don't do subliminal advertising."

Those excuses are both weak. Every product placement in a movie or TV show is certainly near enough to subliminal advertising (a McD's cup in the hand of a background extra, etc) that denying it seems ridiculous. And for the Network to have aired a split-second clip in the middle of footage from another show is so unlikely that it is far easier to believe the network intended it to air. It's also possible that they just have a poorly trained staff, but an actual technical glitch? Probably not.

Super Bowl is the most-watched television program of the year. Last year alone, over 141 million viewers tuned in. The top ten most watched TV programs in history are all Super Bowl games. As a result, advertisers go all-out for their game-day spots, making the commercial breaks nearly as entertaining as the game.

There is a lot of competition to stand out from the crowd and grab the viewer's attention, so even though Pepsi is one of the biggest sponsors of the game, they will be giving away a one-of-a-kind Pepsi can that is sure to make people sit up and take notice. It is worth $100,000.

The can is encrusted with diamonds and is made of sterling silver. Anyone interested in entering the sweepstakes for a chance to win it can get a code online and wait to see if it is announced during the halftime show.

These days, advertising tends to be on a very obvious (superliminal) level. By this, I mean that most broadcasters make no effort to conceal the fact that they're being paid (or compensated in some way) to promote a product. The show Top Chef, for example, frequently refers to the "Kenmore kitchen" provided by its sponsors and repeatedly uses brand names from other companies. This type of advertising really gets a brand name out into the public arena, but some still believe that sneakier tactics are in order to get the public to try their products and would prefer to use subliminal advertising than superliminal, believing that the subconscious mind has a greater impact on human behavior.

This YouTube video clip reveals an example of subliminal advertising that a viewer found on the Food Network during a broadcast of Iron Chef America. The ad, which is for McDonald's, is only about one frame of film long, but is still noticeable to the conscious mind as a red flash on the screen.

Of course, it could have been a broadcasting glitch and not a purposefully placed advertisement. But that might just be what they want you to think....

[via something awful - thanks, Berkana!]

American Idol fans -- or ice cream fans, for that matter -- may want to take note of the new flavors available from Dreyer's that tie in to the popular realty show. Dreyer's/Edy's is the newest partner for American Idol, joining one of the most lucrative media franchises in history, and has five new Idol-themed flavors for fans to choose from. Each is presented on the Dreyer's website with a profile listing its "hometown," "slogan," and other information in the style of the stat given for a real contestant. Tasters can sample the flavors, which will be released to stores on or around Feb. 1, and then vote for their favorite flavor online. Voters will then have a chance to win tickets to the American Idol season finale.

If you're not interested in the show, at least you'll still get to enjoy some new Slow-Churned flavors as long as you can get past the Idol propaganda on the containers: Take The Cake (yellow cake flavor with blue frosting and sprinkles), Choc 'N Roll Caramel (caramel swirls and mini caramel chocolate cups), Hollywood Cheesecake (cheesecake ice cream with graham and strawberry swirls), Soulful Sundae Cone (vanilla, chocolate ice creams with chocolate peanuts and ice cream cone bits) and Triple Talent (triple chocolate).

Last year, Sun-Maid's iconic mascot, the Sun-Maid maid, got a makeover so the brand would have a new look. Her overall appearance remained very similar, but she was digitized. The newly three dimensional character talks, does yoga and promotes California raisins, but even though she was one of the first ad icons to undergo this overhaul, she isn't the only one. Orville Redenbacher has recently been digitized so that he can continue to convincingly promote his famous popcorn brand over ten years after his death. The first ad to use digital Orville will air during the Golden Gloves and will depict "Redenbacher [pitching] popcorn while jiving to his MP3 player." A preview clip can be seen here.

With the amount of technology that went into the ad, it is the company's most expensive ever, but as we have seen from the movie industry, an expensive venture doesn't always yield blockbuster results. Opinions vary on whether this was a good idea or a bad one. Some, including Redenbacher's grandson, see it as a way to remember the man and even feel that he would have loved the idea himself. Others think that there is "a certain creepiness" to the revival of a long-dead man.

Click past the jump for a vintage Orville Redenbacher commercial.

It was almost a year ago that we were first introduced to the concept of scented packaging for food products, but ever since our first whiff, the idea has really taken off and the idea has hit the mainstream.

Scents are a way of setting a particular product or advertisement apart from the competition, forcing people to take notice before turning to something else. Just look at the bus station ad for the Milk Board, which was an extreme example, but clearly generated a lot of attention. In a crowded marketplace, this type of unavoidable advertising is just what some companies need.

Recent products to jump on the scented ad bandwagon include Kraft Jell-O and White Fudge Chips Ahoy, which got full-page scratch and sniff ads in People Magazine and Diet Pepsi Jazz, which has scented coupons and "store signs infused with the new soft drink's [fragrance]." LG even used chocolate-scents to market their new Chocolate phones, although it probably triggered a chocolate craving before one for mobile phones.

Fanpop came up with the brilliant, although somewhat unsettling by its very nature, idea of determining the creepiest fast-food mascots of all time. And there have been some scary ones. Number one on the list is The King, the Burger King mascot who seems to spend the majority of his time lurking, creeping, sneaking and turning people off actually visiting the restaurant for fear of encountering him. The other dubious icons on their list include the "Quiznos Rat/Hamster Thing," The Dominos Noid, Jack (from Jack in the Box), Grimace, Colonel Sanders, Mister Softee, Modern Ronald McDonald, Old-School Ronald McDonald (proto-Ronald) and the Tastee Freez Twins.

I actually kind of like the commercials that star Jack, especially when compared to other fast food commercials. The standard of writing is higher and Jack's delivery is usually great. The other choices, however, all seem like they deserve to be here. Anyone have a favorite from these contenders?

I admit that I did not think it was possible for the King, the strangely masked man of Burger King TV commercial fame, to get any creepier. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Burger King is promoting Sneak King, an inexpensive and ad-laden Xbox 360 game that features - you guessed it - the King. Instead of standing around and fraternizing with attractive women, he hides, creeps and sneaks around the virtual world in which he lives, jumping out from behind objects to force burgers on unsuspecting people. The image of being stalked by the King (as seen in the above trailer) is enough to make you sleep with the lights on just to be on the safe side.

The only reason to buy the game ($3.99 at Burger King) is (a) if you just shelled out for an Xbox 360, don't have the budget for better games and are really desperate to play it or (b) you have some crazy fantasy about being the King, which who the player controls in the game. If you're buying it for the first reason, that's somewhat understandable. If it's the second...

All year long, there has been discussion about whether the TV advertising regulator, Ofcom, would institute a ban on junk food ads on programs that were targeted to kids. Recently, Ofcom said that they would be instituting guidelines for advertising, but that they would not restrict the commercials shown during prime time, a statement which prompted some to believe that the restrictions might not be too severe. Ofcom, however, has just published its guidelines and they call for a "total ban on junk food advertising around all children's programming, on all children's channels" and on any show that would specifically appeal, for any reason, to under 16-year-olds. Due to their decision to include kids up to the age of 16, some awards shows and music channels will be affected.

Ofcom has given marketing companies until March 2007 to comply with the new regulations and to change their ad campaigns, but TV channels that are kids-only networks have until the end of 2008 to comply, so as not to cause such a significant loss of revenue.

If you haven't watched PBS, Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel lately, a new study says that you may be surprised to see that a significant portion of the advertising, as well as the sponsorships, in the case of PBS, comes from food companies, including McDonald's, Chuck E Cheese, and others. Those who support limiting the "junk food advertising" seen by children are using this as ammunition, saying that children are too young to make "critical judgments about advertising" and that they are heavily influenced by the products they see. In short, they feel that advertising is a leading cause in making children crave high-fat, high-sugar foods and leads to an increased risk of obesity.

The networks, for their part, insist that they have cut back on food advertising and that many ads are not accepted unless they are in some way promoting education, social development or physical activity.

In the past, studies have shown that the average American child from infancy to 6 watches one hour of TV per day, while 8 to 18-year-olds watch 3 hours daily. This means that they could be seeing as many as 40,000 ads. An alternative solution to heavier restrictions on advertising is that the concerned parents behind the study could simply stop allowing their children to watch that much TV. If the numbers drop even by half, they would have that much less to worry about from advertising, no matter what products were being promoted.