Skip to content
The Cranky Creative blog

The Cranky Creative Blog

Truth in Advertising — and Beyond

See and share us on:

  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Home
  • TV Ad Reviews
  • About
  • Contact
  • Hire Me for Copywriting
  • Subscribe for Free
  • A rusted, bent shopping cart overflowing with pixelated digital icons like shattered red hearts, a broken blue verified checkmark, and smiling emojis, set against a background of a crumbling, post-apocalyptic city street.
    March 5, 2026 The Cranky Creative

    Age of decay: the enshittification of everything

    Am I the only one noticing that everything is turning to crap? Crap ads. Crap

    Continue reading
  • Pringles Super Bowl LX ad "Pringleleo" featuring Sabrina Carpenter; a prime example of modern advertising’s decline into absurdism and celebrity worship.
    February 10, 2026 The Cranky Creative

    Bad ads for bad brains: the mutual dumbing down of ads and audiences

    Is the advertising industry dying because creatives are lazy, or because audiences are too dumb

    Continue reading
  • Nuclear explosion symbolizing the explosive fallout from calling out hypocrisy in the 'bold' ad industry
    January 21, 2026 The Cranky Creative

    The creative farce: why the world’s “boldest” thinkers are actually the biggest cowards

    If your “boldness” requires a permission slip from the HR department, you are not a

    Continue reading
  • 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

    Continue reading
  • 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

    Continue reading
  • 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

    Continue reading
  • 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

    Continue reading
  • 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

    Continue reading

Cutting through the BS, one blog post at a time

About my recent health scare (high blood pressure)
October 31, 2023 The Cranky Creative

So, about my recent health scare

There I was last Friday at the endoscopy center, awaiting my procedure. I was feeling pretty good, all things considered. Everything was going so well. I’d done the regimen the

Continue reading
Health care provider gives a woman a vaccine.
October 21, 2023 The Cranky Creative

They’re telling the truth behind closed doors [UPDATED]

I had a health scare yesterday. I’ll tell you about it sometime, but right now, I need to tell you something else. Something you won’t read in The New York

Continue reading
My USPS mail truck stuck on a pig trail in a very rural area
October 19, 2023 The Cranky Creative

My short-lived career as a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier

Earlier this year, I’d vowed to get out of marketing. After burning out on writing for university programs, being ghosted by clients who owed me money, and hearing a prospective

Continue reading
GM says it's Earn a Living ad is a celebration of its employees
September 30, 2023 The Cranky Creative

What is the point of GM’s ‘Beautiful People’ commercial?

It’s a valid question. I myself wasn’t aware of the ad until just now when I noticed someone had found my blog with a Google search for the words in

Continue reading
Apple's cringey 'Mother Nature' ad gets climate science hilariously wrong
September 23, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Apple’s cringey ‘Mother Nature’ ad gets climate science hilariously wrong

Apple debuted a new iPhone last week, but that’s not what’s got people talking. No, what’s got people talking is a five-minute video shown during the company’s annual keynote event

Continue reading
Big Brother looks upon citizens in George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, 1984
September 11, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Is Big Tech censoring The Cranky Creative blog?

You bet your free speech it is. I’ve noticed it for more than two years: Every time I publish a blog post saying something that goes against an approved mainstream

Continue reading
A typical commercial break on Amazon Freevee
September 6, 2023 The Cranky Creative

What a typical TV commercial break looks like today

As we’ve been catching up on some popular TV shows we missed from the early 2000s, I’ve been struck by the commercials on free streaming platforms such as Tubi, Pluto

Continue reading
The Cranky Creative blog on marketing and advertising turns five
August 21, 2023 The Cranky Creative

The Cranky Creative blog turns FIVE

A lot has happened since 2018: I left in-house and agency marketing to start my own freelance copywriting business; I found success and satisfaction working directly with clients (and not

Continue reading
Hollywood films reflect the decline of Western culture
July 29, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Hollywood films reflect the decline of Western culture

Modern movies, much like advertising (and especially TV commercials), attempt to reflect — or, some would say, shape — the culture. So it is a searing indictment of these times

Continue reading
Cover art and author photo for the book, Jessica Harper Is Not Woke
July 16, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Book Review: Jessica Harper Is Not Woke pushes back against knee-taking, statue-toppling, man-hating madness

It was bound to happen: the Left are spilling their blue hair dye over Jessica Harper Is Not Woke, “the first anti-woke novel” by new author Jessica Harper. But don’t

Continue reading
Nick Cage running from an exploding building
June 29, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Why I’m calling it quits after 30 years of marketing copywriting

Well, I’m doing it. After nearly 32 years in marketing and copywriting, I am moving on. It’s a strange feeling, leaving a job I’ve done for so long. Interestingly, I

Continue reading

Posts pagination

«Previous Posts 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 15 Next Posts»

Today’s Top Posts

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

Blog Pages

  • Home
  • TV Ad Reviews
  • About
  • Contact
  • Hire Me for Copywriting
  • Subscribe for Free

Site Policies
Content & Comment Policy
Privacy Policy

© The Cranky Creative. All rights reserved.

Browse Posts by Category

  • Ad Reviews (47)
  • Advertising (59)
  • Books (4)
  • Brand Ethics (7)
  • Branding (3)
  • Copywriting (17)
  • Corporate Deception (8)
  • Cranky Case Files (7)
  • Cranky Critiques (1)
  • Culture War (32)
  • Free Resources (4)
  • General (26)
  • Government Deception (6)
  • Graphic Design (8)
  • Holidays (8)
  • Humor (12)
  • Movies (2)
  • Music (1)
  • News (28)
  • Personal Life (27)
  • Rants (39)
  • Super Bowls (7)
  • Systemic Lies (6)
  • Tips (5)
  • Truth-Seeking (15)
  • Vaccines (5)
WordPress Theme: Wellington by ThemeZee.