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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.

Cranky Ad Review: I couldn't take my eyes off this ad for Medicare
November 22, 2023 The Cranky Creative

I could not take my eyes off this ad for Medicare

Someone at QualifyNow Medicare wanted my attention — and by God, they got it. I don’t know if it was the giant word ATTENTION emblazoned in all capital letters across

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peloton-tv-commercials-are-esg-gold
November 16, 2023 The Cranky Creative

Peloton TV commercials are ESG gold

Luxury stationary bike company Peloton must have gotten really freaking spooked by the backlash it received from professional agitators and perpetually offended amateurs for its holiday 2019 “Grace from Boston”

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Posts pagination

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

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?
  • Subliminal messages in advertising ... and Disney cartoons?
  • Yes, the Gillette Venus Pubic Hair and Skin razor ad goes (down) there
  • This is why companies are pushing LGBTQ+

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