TONY OF ALL MEDIA

What, me worry? In a characteristically slick presentation to advertisers yesterday, Facebook highlighted campaigns by Delta Air Lines and Calvin Klein that have run during the pandemic. What it didn't mention, as the Times reports, was that the very same day three brands — Ben & Jerry's, Eddie Bauer and Magnolia Pictures — joined a small but growing army of advertisers committing to a monthlong boycott of the platform in July over its questionable content-moderation practices, essentially pitting the odd trinity of patriotism, capitalism and common human decency against the soulless media monster that has steadfastly defended its dubious principles regarding what it vomits out every day (at least when what it vomits out happens to come from deep-pocketed advertisers, notably politicians). Ben & Jerry's — a brand well known for standing up for what it believes in, long before and even since its acquisition by global consumer packaged goods giant Unilever — did...

Since launching a b-to-b service in late March dedicated to those on the front lines of the coronavirus fight, Amazon says it has provided more than 100 million items to workers, including masks, ventilators, surgical gloves and sanitizers, as CNBC reports . It's not making a profit on those products — yet one more example of a brand doing good during these weird and perilous times. (Ad Age has been keeping an excellent, comprehensive running tally of these companies — check it out here .) I don't know about you, but I'm doing my own part to make up for Amazon's lost profits and to ensure that business keeps flowing to the world's largest e-tailer and its boss, aka the richest man in the universe. How? By purchasing every little thing off Amazon I've ever even passably considered acquiring for myself. Acacia cutting board as big as your sofa? Check. That weird David LaChapelle coffee table book from like 20 years ago, full of arty pictures of naked and ot...

Bleak. Painful. Historic. Uncontrollable. Calamitous. Yep, we're in a real panic situation. Or, rather, a  PANIC!! situation. The coronavirus pandemic has been a goldmine for media organizations as they attract more viewers, sell more papers and earn more downloads thanks to a public that's hungry for the latest news about the crisis and its effects — nay, sweeping effects. It's also been a gift to those writers and editors prone to the hyperbolic and the hysterical. When they're teaching you to write (as if writing could actually be taught, but that's a topic for another post), you learn to use adjectives judiciously, sparingly. The same goes for adverbs. Stephen King, in his excellent tutorial On Writing, pointed out that "the road to hell is paved with adverbs." Somebody ought to remind today's reporters of that. Part of the reason the general public has such contempt for the press is that we have an annoying tendency of describin...

With all the marketing throwbacks lately, perhaps it would be fitting for Wendy's to resurrect "Where's the Beef?" That's what one dude suggested on Twitter, sharing a snapshot (above) taken at a Wendy's that had run out of hamburgers — only to have reporters from The New York Times and NBC hit him up for permission to use the photo (which wasn't his, as it turned out, but, rather, was a pic he'd taken from a friend's social media feed). "Some of our menu items may be temporarily limited at some restaurants in the current environment," said Wendy's, which suffered the shortage at the same time it was  launching  a gift card giveaway on Twitter, as Ad Age reported . What's been lost in much of the coverage of Wendy's running out of meat — and which was absent from even its own corporate statement — is the fact that it is one of the few burger chains to use fresh rather than frozen meat. Seems to me touting the fact that i...

"Eat More Chicken" pleads the forlorn, sandwich board-wielding heifer in those familiar Chick-fil-A ads. Soon eating more of any kind of meat could be a problem if Tyson Foods' warning is correct. "The food supply chain is breaking," the meat producing giant cautioned in alarming, full-page ads in the Sunday editions of The Washington Post, The New York Times and the company's hometown paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, as the Post reports . Tyson, which has been forced to shut down 13 plants amid the pandemic, argued in the ads that its facilities must stay open to protect the free flow of food (meaning, meat) to American households, even as it defends itself against not properly protecting its workforce from the coronavirus. The ad called on the government to help find ways "to allow our team members to work in safety without fear, panic or worry" — in an advertisement conspicuous for its tone of fear, panic and worry. D.C. labor lawyer Jo...

We could all use a little "WHASSUP?!" right now. This week, Budweiser brought back its iconic TV campaign from the 90s, reframing it for the age of coronavirus, as Ad Age reports . The spot — which was shot using Zoom and was the brainchild of Bud agency VaynerMedia — features retired hoops stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, the WNBA's Candace Parker, DJ D-Nice and Wade's wife, actress Gabrielle Union, resurrecting the classic "WHASSUP?!" line, à la the original commercial from 1999 that became a fin de siècle pop culture phenomenon. As every advertiser knows, nostalgia has a way of making consumers feel all warm and fuzzy, and never more than during challenging moments. Spot-on in tone and timing, this little shot of sentimentality and silliness — albeit with an important message in these crazy times — is just what we needed.

The shutdown of the ad world caused by the coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped one agency holding company from creating a top executive-level post. Publicis Groupe today promoted Justin Billingsley, its president over Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), to the newly created role of global chief marketing officer, where his responsibilities will include product development and marketing, client transformation, new and organic growth, and internal and external public relations and communications. The company said his immediate priority would be partnering with Publicis's global account leads and with clients directly "to ensure they are recovery ready, for today and tomorrow's 'next normal.' " Billingsley will continue his role as chairman of Publicis Emil and Publicis One Touch, the bespoke agency networks for Mercedes-Benz and Nivea, respectively. Under Billingsley's leadership, DACH won both those accounts. Prior to joining Publicis a deca...