1. Looking for a fight? You've come to the right place. We begin this week's updates on the streets of Los Angeles, where a guerrilla marketing campaign for Roger Waters's upcoming The Wall Live tour involved street artists wheat-pasting posters onto random walls. But when one of the posters ended up on a beloved Sunset Drive memorial for the singer Elliott Smith, who died in 2003, an L.A. Weekly blogger screamed of "well-funded vandalism." Mr. Waters apologized and commentators pointed out to the blogger that the poster was easily removed. No harm done? Check. Publicity bonanza? Check.
2. Not enough anger for you? Then head down to Washington, where the libertarian-minded Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) complained to the Federal Trade Commission that the new General Motors TV commercial claiming the car company has "repaid its government loan in full," is deceptive advertising, because GM is still billions in hock to the U.S. government. (Not to mention Ontario.) Republicans are asking for an investigation, and we're inclined to concur. Still, we always have trouble feeling sympathy for the CEI, because it's so dead set against government interference in public affairs - except when it could, of course, use the government's help.
3. Marketers might want to call the CEI for some tips on wrangling the government, because a draft version of an online privacy bill is giving some ad groups the hives. The draft, which was released this week in the U.S. House of Representatives, would compel websites to receive explicit permission from visitors before collecting information about them. One clause even says the anonymous but unique Internet Protocol identifying numbers of computers is equivalent to "personal information," noting that marketers use them to track online behaviour and serve up relevant ads. (In case you wondered why you keep getting those Viagra banners.)
4. Too much conflict for you? Thinking it would be nice to leave the world of marketing behind for a couple of hours and escape to a more innocent time - like when we were all babies? Good luck. , a winning documentary that follows four infants (one each from Mongolia, Namibia, Tokyo and San Francisco) through the first year of their lives, is arriving in theatres this Mother's Day weekend on a wave of publicity generated largely through partnerships with about a dozen marketers, including Pampers, Johnson's Baby, Kodak, and YoBaby yogurt. We just want to know: Is Mongolian YoBaby made from yak milk?
5. Okay, back to the fights. After spending about $100-million (U.S.) on an international ad campaign last fall that fizzled, appears to be pursuing a new tack, which includes taking direct shots at Google. According to The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story this week, one of the new ads boasts Yahoo, "doesn't hustle you out the door." The new-new campaign, which costs $75- to $85-million, introduces a new-new slogan: "All your favourite stuff in one place. Make Yahoo your home page." Snore. If we predict another failure, will Yahoo pick a fight with us?