The Cranky Creative Blog

A young female marketer carrying a cardboard box as she leaves the office on her last day of work

November 11, 2024 The Cranky Creative

How to survive The Great Marketing Shakeout

If you haven’t noticed, the marketing and advertising fields are a bloodbath right now. AI is surely one reason for all the layoffs, but mostly, I think it’s a reckoning

As AI advances and takes over tasks traditionally performed by human creatives, the days of copywriters and designers may be numbered.

October 17, 2024 The Cranky Creative

‘Writers have two years left. Designers a little more.’

So says Nick Galanadies, founder and creative director at TAXI FOR NICK, in a LinkedIn thread in which he shares his candid assessment of the marketing jobs market as artificial

In 1957, researchers experimented to see if subliminal messages could be used to increase sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola

May 8, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Subliminal messages in advertising … and Disney cartoons?

A phallic shadow. The word “SEX” etched in ice. The American public has been bombarded with subliminal messages for decades, and the practice continues to this day. In 1957, researchers

October 25, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Why is modern advertising so terrible? A comparison of ads, past and present

The advertising industry has lost its way. It’s obvious every time we turn on the TV or open the mailbox. But what makes today’s ads so bad? Recently, advertising industry

The Cranky Creative explores where all the white people are in commercials

January 5, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Let’s talk about forced diversity in TV commercials

If you only watched TV, you might think that white people (including fumbling, bumbling white males) are a minority in the United States. Depending on the commercial break, you might

Cranky Creative blog the new vice president from hell

October 29, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Cranky Case File: The communications VP from Hell

In the spirit of Halloween, this Cranky Case File tells the tale of my first-ever meeting with a new VP of communications — an encounter that might have scared me

September 29, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Doritos dares us to make a better Super Bowl ad

When I called out Doritos for its dopey and overproduced Super Bowl 2023 commercial with its trite focus on “triangles,” I did not expect a response. But now, a year

cranky creative ad review of Pepsi chase cars advertising campaign

September 13, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Short Pepsi film shows how obnoxious brands have become

Just when you thought ads and advertising couldn’t get any more obnoxious, here comes Pepsi with a ‘short film’ showing everything that’s wrong with the industry and the culture today.

Marketing disguised as content - whether a webinar, an ebook, a whitepaper, or a blog post - is one sleazy tactic

July 7, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Marketing disguised as content is sleazy AF

Gah, marketing. The land of “free” consultations that turn into high-pressure sales pitches, “thought-leader” articles written by glorified SEO jockeys, and infographics so cluttered with logos they look like a

June 9, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Why Google is not your friend

(Alternate title: The World Wide Web is neither free nor fair under Google) Remember when Google felt like a helpful search engine, a gateway to all the world’s knowledge? Now,

Out-of-work job seeker frustrated by a difficult job market

April 9, 2024 The Cranky Creative

The Great Creative Layoff: why finding your next job feels impossible

It’s become a bad joke: One moment, I’m reading a LinkedIn “news” story touting a booming jobs market — and the next, I’m doom-scrolling through endless posts from out-of-work creatives.

The Cranky Creative reviews Jessica Harper's new book, Jessica Harper and the Culture War Murders

March 13, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Book Review: Jessica Harper and the Culture War Murders

Calling all mystery novel fans! Jessica Harper and the Culture War Murders (The Misadventures of Jessica Harper Book 2) is a fun and funny read for anyone who loves a

Humblebrag definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary

March 4, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Mastering the LinkedIn humblebrag: my journey to social media stardom

The following is an actual humblebrag I tongue-in-cheek posted on LinkedIn — dedicated to the LinkedIn “thought leaders,” “rockstars” and “gurus” whose humblebrag posts inspire me to, well, keep scrolling

A young black girl in a business suit prepares for a job interview

February 19, 2024 The Cranky Creative

Forced quotas or fair chance? The debate around ‘racial parity’ in hiring

In the current push for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), some businesses are focusing on “racial parity” in their workforce demographics — that is, prioritizing the hiring of people of