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Twigs, grahams, and puffs
An experiment in earnestly healthful food: Kashi® GOLEAN® cereal (from “Kashi: The Seven Whole Grain Company”). From the back of the box: the perfect choice to help you achieve your healthy lifestyle...
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Paternity
Today’s Bizarro, in which two commercial icons confront one another: That would be the young Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy, claiming the equally white and puffy Michelin Man as his progenitor....
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easier fed than understood
From the Ball Park brand, the latest in a ad campaign going back a year, this time for Ball Park Beef Patties, in the “sofa commercial”: “Men: easier fed than understood” is the theme of the campaign....
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Going against nature
A Styx underwear ad that apparently can be found in underground stations all over Prague. Showing a gay couple in Styx underwear, advertised as a present for Valentine’s Day. Elizabeth Daingerfield...
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Size again
Passed on by Peter Korn, this ad for Canon in Russia: The slogan: Size doesn’t matter. Of course, many gay men think otherwise.
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Crimplene
The latest vintage men’s fashion ad, on a postcard sent to me by Max Vasilatos: To which I’ve added the snarky sexual caption: The four of them were Deeply into Polyester sex. Previous postings with...
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Colored bottoms
A comment on my Crimplene posting: Since you’ve been into ads in a big way recently, I think you’ll appreciate this one if you haven’t already seen it It’s a Joe. My. God. column with this image, seen...
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scruffilicious
Yesterday it was “Scruffalicious”, with photos of 7 handsome men (in the public eye in one way or another) who sometimes appear with scruffy faces. Then it occurred to me to wonder why the portmanteau...
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ship my pants
Passed on by Karen Chung on Facebook, a HuffPo piece (with video) about a Kmart ad with ostentatious taboo avoidance: ‘Ship My Pants’ Kmart Ad: For The 12-Year-Old In All Of Us Looks like Kmart has...
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The news for penguins
(Mostly about penguins rather than language.) From Chris Ambidge in Canada, a package cover for Brownies — brownie-like cookies in penguin shapes (shown at about half actual size). I wonder how...
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A five-pack
From recent images sent on by Chris Ambidge, five that could have gone on AZBlogX (though they are not visually X-rated) but would also fit here. 1. Toby Young. One of the genres that Chris specializes...
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Cigarette phallicity
A link from Arne Adolfsen on Facebook to this 1976 ad for Winston cigarettes: (#1) Length as a theme in cigarette ads was all over the place. Here, the ad has the guy saying that he doesn’t judge his...
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Mock Old English
A Progressive Insurance commercial “Castle” (viewable here) currently running on tv engages in playful imitation of archaic English. As usual, such attempts are seriously inaccurate, but merely give...
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Zesty Anderson Davis
(Not much about language, but about gender and sexuality — and phallic symbols.) In my recent mail, an image from Chris Ambidge of an ad for Kraft’s Zesty Italian salad dressing: (#1) Handsome, naked...
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Stimulating and desensitizing
(Sexually explicit language to follow.) An ad for MovieMountain and GameLink (sources of porn movies) today features a variety of products classified as lubes. Some are simple sexual lubricants, but...
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Naked came the ad
In the spirit of “Zesty Anderson Davis” (with the actor skirting nudity in the service of Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing), Chris Ambidge has pointed me to two other ads that go all the way (while...
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Moose Knuckles Canada
From Chris Ambidge, this photo of a window in a camping supply store on Rideau St. in Ottawa: (#1) Moose Knuckles turns out to be the name of a brand of sportswear — distinctly Canadian, and also...
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More dubious portmanteaus
For the Fourth of July (Independence Day) weekend, an advertising campaign on the TLA Adult Gay Video site: Celebrate Foreskindependence (intended: foreskin + independence). Meanwhile, for some time...
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It was 42 years ago today…
From John Lawler via Facebook, a link to my 1971 Linguistic Inquiry squib on manner-of-speaking verbs (like snap in Kim snapped that it was time to leave), along with a captioned image of the Rice...
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Sexy olive oil
Ad agencies use both sex and playfulness to sell things; see near-naked Anderson Davis in ads for Kraft’s Zesty Italian salad dressing (here) and lots of naked people (with the naughty bits cleverly...
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