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Truth in Advertising — and Beyond

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  • A wide landscape image of a bustling city downtown with pedestrians and cars, where the right side of the frame dissolves into blocky, various-sized pixels in a retro palette of red, blue, green, and orange.
    April 23, 2026 The Cranky Creative

    The 8-bit human: Why 2026 feels lower-resolution than 1979

    What a road-crossing turtle, a breast-pumping nurse, and a house on wheels taught me about

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  • A weathered laptop and a tropical drink on a tiki bar at sunset, representing the "Cranky Creative" office and the advertising apocalypse archive.
    March 19, 2026 The Cranky Creative

    The very best of The Cranky Creative: a guide to the ad world’s decline

    When I launched The Cranky Creative in 2018, I thought I was starting a support

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  • Image reminiscent of the final scene from the movie Planet of the Apes in which Charles Heston's astronaut character finds the ruined Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes that mankind has destroyed itself
    October 26, 2025 The Cranky Creative

    How advertising created a nation of entitled assholes

    It’s over. I’m done. For years, I’ve used The Cranky Creative to vent about the

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  • A collage of virtue-signaling ad campaigns that flopped: Bud Light, Pepsi, Jaguar and more
    August 20, 2025 The Cranky Creative

    Virtue, Inc.: How progressive politics hijacked business and marketing

    Marketing used to be about connection — understanding what people wanted and selling it with

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  • 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

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  • Today's blog post talks about the top 10 reasons why people hate TV commercials
    February 28, 2023 The Cranky Creative

    The real reasons people hate TV commercials

    Oh, advertisers. It didn’t have to be this way. Once upon a time, consumers might

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  • The Cranky Creative explores where all the white people are in commercials
    January 5, 2022 The Cranky Creative

    What happened to white people in TV commercials?

    If you only watched TV, you might think that white people (including fumbling, bumbling white

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Out of Office, Permanently

The office is officially closed, as the "Great Enstupiding" of the advertising industry is no longer my problem. You can find the best of my work in the archive below. If you are looking for me... I've gone to the beach.

the cranky creative reviews liberty mutual's new truth tellers ads including zoltar
July 29, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Liberty Mutual Ad Review: Zoltar, bad actors, and other dumb ideas

Liberty Mutual’s “Truth Tellers” ads are back, and they’re as bizarre and unfunny as ever. Let’s look at the four new car insurance commercials we’ll all be muting with extreme

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three young women trimming bushes in schick hydro silk trimstyle razor tv commercial
July 25, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Schick Hydro Silk TrimStyle “trimming bushes”

Schick’s “trimming the bushes” TV commercial for its Hydro Silk TrimStyle women’s razor debuted in 2015, raising eyebrows and sparking controversy across the ad world. Schick received a fair few

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business buzzwords and corporate jargon i hate
July 18, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Business buzzwords and corporate jargon I hate

The corporate world runs on business jargon—bullshitty buzzwords that mask the meaning of the things we want to say. Why do so many businesspeople muddle their messages with mush-mouthed words

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the cranky creative blog turns 1 year old on july 5
July 1, 2019 The Cranky Creative

The Cranky Creative blog turns one

The Cranky Creative blog first lit the pixels of computer screens a year ago on July 4, 2018. Frustrated with the red tape, politics, and backstabbing stupidity that pervades the

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ad review allstate mayhem what tv commercial
June 19, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Allstate. Mayhem. WHAT?

“Mayhem” is the character that creates mischief and, er, mayhem in all those Allstate insurance TV commercials. Mayhem is also what nearly happens in my bedroom at 2 a.m. when

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chevy blazer tv commercial showing real people
June 11, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Chevy’s hilariously bad Real People ads

Chevy’s “Real People” commercials have been around for years, but I’ve been fortunate enough to dodge them—at least until last Tuesday when I found myself a captive audience in a

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liberty-mutual-limu-emu-tv-commercials-are-lame-o
May 30, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Liberty Mutual’s LiMu Emu is Lame-O

I’m no fan of Liberty Mutual TV commercials, having savaged the company’s awful “Truth Tellers” ads in January. But soon after, the company rolled out a new campaign. “LiMu Emu

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bad-advertising-and-commercials-are-everywhere
May 16, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Hey, advertisers! People hate you, and you deserve it

Tired of junk mail? Of too-loud commercials blasting your ears? How about those full-screen pop-up ads you can’t close until you play an asshole game of “Click the Tiny X

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flint-mcglaughlin-marketing-optimization-quick-win-clinics
April 24, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Meet Flint McGlaughlin, mad marketing genius

In a world where every Tom, Dick, and Jane on the Internet is a self-proclaimed marketing expert, it’s refreshing to see someone share no-BS marketing insights derived from rigorous testing

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unhappy copywriter drinking surrounded by crumpled papers
March 26, 2019 The Cranky Creative

54 percent of copywriters feel lack of respect: UK survey

The United Kingdom’s Direct Marketing Association surveyed 433 British copywriters and found . . . a lot of cranky creatives. See why they’re so unhappy. The 2014 survey—the first and

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flaming bag of porch poop
March 12, 2019 The Cranky Creative

Please, do not “hit me up” on a Friday afternoon

I hate receiving job requests on Fridays. I work hard all week, and by the time Friday rolls around, I just want to see all of my current jobs through

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Posts pagination

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Today’s Top Posts

  • My short-lived career as a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier
  • Liberty Mutual's branded idiocy: is this the future of advertising?
  • What happened to white people in TV commercials?
  • Yes, the Gillette Venus Pubic Hair and Skin razor ad goes (down) there
  • Subliminal messages in advertising ... and Disney cartoons?
  • So dumb, it hurts: the 'Trust Your Home to Andersen' Ad Review

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