Nothing on the Adscape today, peoples.  But I thought I’d post a couple "food for thought" videos.  Some coworkers and I were discussing having kids this morning (well, not actually having the kids this morning… and not with each other obviously….you know what I meant).  I told him I plan on having 3 or 4, which was a shocker to him.  Seemed like such a big family.  And that illustrates a theory I’ve had for quite awhile - that the human race is getting dumber.  Think about it - I’m 33, good job, believe in proper fitness, educated and all that.  No kids yet.  My coworker is 23ish, so plenty of time there.  Smart, good job, etc.  Three or four kids seems outrageous to him.  Sounds like he’s going for 0-2.  Meanwhile, the lowest socioeconomic classes are popping out babies like there’s no tomorrow.  Smart people are being outbred!

I’ve harbored this notion for quite some time.  And it turns out I’m not the only one.  Check out a great vid from one of my favorite bands - Evolution by Korn.  And then a clip from the movie, Idiocracy, demonstrating the same point.

So, yeah, that’s why I’m having 4 kids.  Hell, maybe even more.  Until sterilization programs* are back in place, the smart people of the world must unite (in the biblical sense)!

Have a good weekend!

*Calm down!  Just temporary sterility.  If you can’t afford to properly raise a child, you shouldn’t be allowed to have one.

I always told the ex-gf when going out drinking with the team after my soccer games that it was to ensure my good health and proper hydration, but she never believed me.  Finally, the evidence is in.

So who’s going to get on this first?  You just know that some brewer is going to start selling beer with "added nutrients for maximum hydration!"

If anyone from the Dept. of Biomechanics at University of Portsmouth is reading this, I’d like to formally request an internship.

Check out GalacticSuite.com, who claim they’ll have a hotel orbiting Earth by 2012.  Allow me to be the first to call “bullshit”.

I don’t have any in-depth analysis to back up my opinion, but it strikes me as unlikely that a company that can master neither flash web design nor English grammar can somehow pull it together and launch the general public into space in the next 5 years.  If you can’t handle proper apostrophe placement, how can I trust your attention to details on, say, a reentry heat shield?  I’ve never built a rocket or space station, but I can tell you that Engineering Physics 1 was a helluva lot harder than English Composition.

Not only that - but the hypothetical stay at this “resort” looks really fucking boring.  I would love to go into space and do a couple revolutions.  Hell, if I had only been a few inches shorter at 18, I might be doing that right now (long story).  But the Galactic Suite package is 3 days.  Sitting in a fucking tube.  I would think even something as magnificent as weightlessness and looking down at the Earth would get old after a day if that’s all you’re doing.  Oh sure, the site claims that the “space tourists will also take part in scientific experiments”.  But come on, how involved could these experiments possibly be?  “See, Mr. Trump?  The liquid has formed a perfect sphere!  Ok, class, be sure to write these findings on page 3 of your Galactic Suite Activity Workbook!”

Thanks to Phil for the find!

I’ve always dug the whole Current TV concept - anyone can submit a video concept, which is then voted on to determine what content makes the tv channel.  Given the utter shit that has taken over much of television (thanks, Reality TV!), stations like Current could be our deliverers.

Little did I know that Current TV was started in part by Al Gore (my god he’s come a long way from Robot VP!).  And now, riding the Live Earth wave from July, Current TV is currently running a “:60 Seconds to Save the Earth” campaign.  Despite the misnomer (really, this is about saving humans, isn’t it?), this is a pretty cool idea.  Yes, user-generated ads is a well-worn path by now, but it takes on a different air when the goal is something bigger than selling Doritos, doesn’t it?  And really, all those ad contests are just following Current TV’s lead.

The :60 Second campaign was kicked off on July 7th with a promo spot by Cameron Diaz.  In a departure from her normal shtick, she opts to go for the “goofy, clumsy, cute, bat-my-eyelashes-at-the-camera” play.  Way to stretch, Cameron.  Anyway, since Environment’s my hot button issue, I’ll be nice.  Users can submit through Sept. 12, after which winning ads will be chosen and used by the Alliance for Climate Protection.  The grand prize winner will receive an SUV… wait, did I read that right?  Hmph.. holy shit.  Yeah, an SUV.  (okay, so it’s a hybrid.. meaning it gets almost as good a gas mileage as my 10 year old Volkswagen)

Be sure to check out AskANinja’s take on the campaign, too.  He’ll blow your mind.

Warning - this has nothing to do with advertising.  But my mouth dropped a little when I read this so I thought I’d share.  In an effort to thwart the rapid filling up of our landfills with dog testicles, scientists have developed a contraceptive implant for male dogs.

Yes.  That’s right.  Some scientists actually got up every morning, kissed their wives on the cheek, and went to the office to work on doggy birth control.  Said the team lead: “This is a major milestone for us.  Now that we’ve knocked dog contraception out the box, we can return our efforts to children’s leukemia.”

This article at The Economist has nothing to do with marketing, and yet possibly everything to do with it in the near future.  A fascinating study found that men with high testosterone levels make economic decisions in an entirely different way than those with lesser amounts.

Researchers made an alteration to the classic game theory experiment where one subject splits a pot of money with another subject.  The splitter obviously wants to keep as much to himself but the catch is, the “splitee” has the right to accept or reject the offer.  Either both get money, or neither.

In a one-off game, pure logic would dictate you always take the offer.  Hey, free money!  But experimentally, this is never the outcome.  People will sacrifice their own well-being to punish Scrooges.  Evidently, especially so for men with high testosterone.  From the article:

As he [Dr. Terence Burnham of Harvard University] describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.

That’s right, the chemicals coursing through our veins actually influence economic decisions.  Can you imagine it?  Marketing groups determining “molecular demographics” and tailoring their marketing accordingingly?  Very ”1984″ (ya know, that ref just doesn’t pack the same punch now that it’s 20 years in the past).  Wait!  Have you ever noticed how the grandma handing out bratwurst samples at the grocery store has a little cup (not a trashcan!) in which to put your used toothpick?!  Holy shit!  They’re taking saliva samples!  They’re already tracking us - get out your hats! 

This is a slight diversion from normal Adchops fare, but sometimes I read something interesting enough that I feel the need to share it.  Men’s Health online currently has a very good article about desire and pleasure, called The Addicted Man.

In a way, it really does apply to the advertising world.  There’s of course the obvious correlation - advertising is all about creating desire - manufacturing want.  But it’s deeper than that.  Advertising folks aren’t like accountants.  The goals of marketing campaigns bleed over into the lives of their creators.  Yes, advertising certainly has its element of self-important douchebaggery, but the industry certainly does have its sex appeal.  It’s a fast-paced, keep-up-with-what’s-new industry that often calls to a certain element attracted to that lifestyle.  More than once I’ve been asked to come out with clients to show them the local sites; by the end of the night, “local sites” invariably ended up meaning Candy’s tits and ass in your face at a local strip club.  Advertising can be a sexy, hedonistic, depraved world.  And I loved every minute of it. :)

We are all addicted.  Don’t think that because you are not drinking at 10am or doing rails of blow off a stripper’s ass, you are entitled to judge.  Sitting down in front of a TV every night is addiction.  Eating another Big Mac when your fat ass is already 30 pounds overweight is an addiction. Nightly Bible Study? Addiction.  The Addicted Man is a well-written, insightful article into what makes us all tick.

Ad agencies, listen up - it’s about time for you to create a new department - Electric Print Media.

Swedish researchers have found a way to cheaply print circuitry onto paper, allowing the creation of touch sensors and audio playback - all on a poster!  You can see a quick demo here.

Of course, I’m overstating the importance a bit.  I don’t think this is necessarily the next “big thing”, but I can envision it catching on with those that want to spice up their advertising efforts on the cheap.  We could soon see movie theaters with interactive coming attraction posters, rock bars that can actually offer music samples of upcoming bands on their walls, etc.

And if they can thin down the substrate and power source, this tech will become ubiquitous.  Imagine a magazine that talks to you!  Playboy will never be the same!  I have a million and one smarmy comments to throw in at this point, but go ahead and just fill in your own here.

Global warming is the issue of our time.  I realize that our grandfathers fought in the Great War.  I realize they ran onto Nazi machine gun nests, liberated Europe, stormed Siribachi.  They are called the Greatest Generation.  But I’m telling you right now, if we beat global warming, we will be the Greatest Generation (or if we do nothing, the Most Vilified Generation).  I have friends who laugh at this notion, but we’ll see who’s laughing in 100 years.  After all, which is more important, stopping a tyrant?  Or reversing 150 years of industrial pollution, saving hundreds of millions of people from famine/flooding, and saving hundreds of thousands of species from going extinct?

With that being said, Green Marketing is just at its infancy, and where every company needs to be.  Some big companies already “get it”.  The absolutely breath-taking Planet Earth series by Discovery Channel has been fully sponsored by Bank of America, who are going even further by incorporating green solutions into their practices.  Mega-oil company BP has also been making large strides toward environmental responsibility, consistently scoring high on green rankings.  And then there’s GE’s Ecomagination campaign - they have committed billions of dollars and an entire branch of their company to mastering sustainable energy.

The planet’s atmosphere is going to be saved by individuals - individuals deciding they give enough of a damn to take personal action, cut down their carbon footprint and lobby their governments.  But a few companies are taking up the fight.  This is only the beginning - increasingly, consumers are going to be checking the Green Creds of the companies they’re doing business with.  I now buy gas exclusively at BP, and am switching my Commerce bank account (that I’ve had since I was 8 years old) to Bank of America.  I guarantee you I’m not the only one!  Getting out front with green ad campaigns is a sure-fire way to get business and be seen as one of “the good guys”.

Some links of interest:

Ceres.org - great site reporting on how business is tackling climate change.

Power of Green - good NY Times article by Thomas Friedman regarding the present and future of the Green movement.

FightGlobalWarming.com - what you can do personally.

Get off your ass.  Write your Congressional representatives!  {stepping off soapbox}