More ad crap

+ Host Clifton Joseph has spent eight months investigating the relationship between hip-hop and materalism for a show called "Rhyme Pays: Hip Hop And The Marketing Of Cool", a Marketplace special airing on CBC-TV tonight at 8 in Canada.
"You can admire some elements of them taking charge, but when you're dealing with a genre of music that has prided itself on coming from the streets and being real and (on) its history of political-social consciousness and you look at what's happening now ? you can clearly see that they've turned mainstreet rap into a marketing tool," he posited. "As materialism and getting paid have moved so much to the forefront of the music, it has de-emphasized politics and culture."

+ Where have ad jingles gone? Licensed music kills them. What makes a good jingle? "According to Steve Karmen: "It's a memorable melody married to that perfect phrase - the lyric that rolls off your tongue without any effort, the tune that you whistle as you walk down the street." Karmen, a veteran jingle writer, added: "It's the job of the jingle to provide an arresting sound that will grab immediate attention and hold the audience - at least until the next commercial." But where have all the jingles gone? Turn on the television, and it seems as though the music for 90 percent of the commercials features old rock songs rather than custom-written jingles."

+ KFC jumping on the Trump bandwagon and taking what falls off. "KFC Corporation (KFCC) announced today that it is extending an offer to one of the nation's best and brightest business minds -- the runner-up from this season's hottest new reality show. After seeing the "out-of-the-bucket" thinking exhibited during the most publicly grueling job interview of all time, the company has a real challenge in mind for this would-be corporate titan...In lieu of the original offer of an annual $250,000 salary, KFC pays its new CSO $25,000 for the week and a year's supply of KFC products...The new CSO has the ultimate and very real challenge of coming up with a fresh way to sell KFC's Oven Roasted menu items to the entire country, and gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the view at the top of one of the world's most iconic brands." I'm not quite sure how being on a reality TV show automatically makes this person "one of the nation's best and brightest busines minds." I also love how KFC has a "chief concept officer". Too damn funny.