Legends And Rituals

From The New York Times about a week ago:"According to a study... boomer households account for unexpectedly high percentages of sales of products considered mainstays of younger consumers. That includes beer, 59.7 percent; carbonated beverages, 58.9 percent; and candy, 54.2 percent..." To the enlightened readers of The Ad Contrarian, this should not be surprising. On many occasions we pests here

Death Fatigue

Despite all the lurid headlines, pardon me if I don't get too hysterical over swine flu.You see, I'm living on borrowed time. I'm playing with house money.By now, I should have been long dead from SARS, or bird flu, or mad cow disease, or ebola virus, or Legionaire's disease. You remember those, don't you? They were the other "pandemics" that were going to kill us all.They didn't actually do the

Advertising And The Universe

As regular readers of this blog know, I'm a former science teacher.The downside of that for you is that every now and then I have to sneak in a little science lesson.Today we're going to talk about the universe.You know that stuff you learned in school about how everything is made of atoms, and atoms are made of neutrons and protons and electrons, and there are four types of forces, including

Play It Loud

Stop what you're doing and watch this.

Yesterday's News Today

Here at The Ad Contrarian, we try very hard to stay at least a year behind the times.We do this to gain some perspective and avoid looking like the fools who 9 months ago assured us that Facebook apps were the new greatest thing ever, and widgets would change the world.Today, we are going to talk about the news, and why it's so much more beneficial to read last year's newspaper than today's.You

Brand New Look. Same Old Bullshit.

Here at The Ad Contrarian world headquarters, we've been getting mighty tired of looking at the same old ugly layout every day.So we told a team of designers to work on a bold, daring new look.Unfortunately, all they could come up with was this.Whether you're a fan of the old look or the new one, one thing we'll never compromise is our longstanding dedication to bringing you the best

Across The Twitterverse

I checked today to find out what's being said about this blog in the merry old land of Twitter. Here's a sampling:"Ad Contrarian = occasional smart thinking awash with a hatred for the universe." Not true. It's only the inhabitants of one little planet I don't particularly care for. The rest of the universe is awesome."Love the Ad Contrarian even though he hates everything I love.""The only