Today’s edition of lunchtime News Chum is dedicated to Stan Freberg, who is currently at SDCC:
- From the “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” Department: Our first advertising icon is 65 years old, still working, and still going strong. Yup, Smokey Bear is still on the job. Although his message has changed slightly, he’s still working to keep forests safe. Aren’t you glad they didn’t go with the squirrel? And aren’t you glad they aren’t permitting sales of Smokey Bear Lighters, Smokey Gas-Fired Camp Lighters… or Smokey Thongs?
- From the “Breakfast of Champions” Department: Wheaties, that bastion of celebrity cereal box advertising, is looking to expand its market to manly men. They are introducing a new variant, “Wheaties Fuel”, targeted at men. What’s different? First, they’ve dropped the folic acid, while adding Vitamin E. Secondly, they’ve upped the suger: it is now 25% sugar by weight. Third, after running the prototypes by a panel of only male athletes, including the Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and the Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett, to consult on both the nutritional profile and flavor, they are running a competition in Mens Health magazine to select the best of the three prototypes. What do they think men want? Two contain clusters that have a cinnamon-roll-like flavor and a third has raisins, cranberries and almonds. Why are they doing this? Their logic is impeccable: “Men don’t use their wives’ razors or deodorants; why would they be eating their cereal?” Yeah. Right.
- From the “Oh Thank Heaven…” Department: Live in SoCal? Like your Slurpees? Then I have good news for you: 7-Eleven plans to take advantage of the poor real-estate market to negotiate leases for up to 600 new locations in Southern California. Soon, they’ll be as ubiquitous as Starbucks. This is a good thing. Right?
