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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

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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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Cutting through the BS, one blog post at a time

Chewy bests other brands by connecting with its customers
December 11, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Chewy sets the example for brands by connecting with customers

As the world burns and the rotting edifice of civilized society starts to fall in around our ears, let us celebrate pet-product online retailer Chewy for its exceptional and heartfelt

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Raise your freelance rates easily with this free rate increase email template
November 22, 2022 The Cranky Creative

The best damn freelance rate increase email on the net [FREE template]

Need to raise your freelance rates? Soften the blow for your clients with this free rate increase email template. Last year, one of my dear graphic designer friends contacted me

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vintage photo of epic train wreck
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

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Frame from Pepsi's controversial TV commercial showing Kendall Jenner giving a Pepsi to a police officer at a Black Lives Matter protest
October 13, 2022 The Cranky Creative

No, consumers don’t care about your brand’s stand on social issues

We hear it all the time: “Brands need to take a stand on social issues.” “The public demands to know where your brand stands on social issues.” But is it

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virgin-atlantic-tv-commercial-woke-or-no
August 30, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Fly the freaky skies with Virgin Atlantic

As brands and advertising agencies continue to get woke, Virgin Atlantic and its new advertising agency Lucky Generals join the fray with “See the World Differently,” a 60-second ad that

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publix-back-to-school-with-publix-tv-commercial
August 23, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: ‘Back to School with Publix’ is a heart-tugging failure

I’m going to take some heat for this one. “Back to School with Publix” is a good-looking, heartwarming ad. But it’s not a good ad, despite all of the positive

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Still frame from Chewy's Chatty Pets: Joy TV commercial
August 17, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Ad Review: Chewy’s ‘Chatty Pets: Joy’ truly is

I promise, Cranky readers, I’ll get the cats out of my system soon. But not before I review “Chewy Chatty Pets: Joy,” a 30-second TV commercial from pet-product online retailer

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Ladybug the cute gray tabby relaxes in some grass
August 11, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Florida update #2: A kitty named Ladybug [UPDATE: She’s ours!]

We heard a soft jingle and turned toward the sound. Out of nowhere, a little gray tabby came sauntering over to us in all her striped glory. “That’s Ladybug,” said

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Blackness
July 6, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Sad news as The Cranky Creative blog turns four

I’m sorry, Cranky reader. I’m not in the best mood today. My step-father-in-law passed away last week. He’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. Except he didn’t die of lung cancer.

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The Cranky Creative has some confessions to share. Oh, yes he does.
June 26, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Confessions of a cranky creative

In this post, I share a collection of confessions, opinions, and unvarnished random thoughts that may or may not get me in trouble. Enjoy. 1. I was born to do

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The Cranky Creative blog's new home in Florida
June 16, 2022 The Cranky Creative

Florida update #1: So far, so friendly

We’d just rolled into town — my wife and I, our two cats, and little else — when we stopped into Wal-Mart to buy a few items for our new

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Posts pagination

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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?

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