shouting loudly

Change is afoot at Change.org.* Following up on this summer’s dilemma of success, (when controversy emerged around their sponsored petition contract with the anti-union education reform group, Stand For Children) Ryan Grim reports that the organization has adopted a new advertising policy “to allow for corporate advertising, Republican Party solicitations, astroturf campaigns, anti-abortion or anti-union ads [...]

The news broke yesterday that NBC will be canceling 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and Community. (…On the bright side, I suppose I’ll be more productive next year when there’s nothing interesting to watch on television.) As a media consumer, I was shocked.  Everyone who watches Community knew the show was in ratings trouble.  But [...]

The Spider-Man Movie Network is looking for a male and female to be the “Face of the Fan” for its online Spider-man 3 promotions online. It’s a savvy move to turn to the internet for help when marketing properties with a huge, existing fan base—see Nancy Baym’s blog, Online Fandom, for some great examples—and it’s [...]

In yet another example of the abusive use of DMCA Title II, Disney has effectively silenced a weblog critic who was waging a successful PR campaign against one of its stations for patently offensive content. The blog, Spocko’s Brain, posted audio files of right-wing talk show hosts from Bay Area ABC affiliate station KSFO. As [...]

Music companies and others who have a product to sell (e.g., Coke) are using P2P as a marketing tool. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Jay-Z (who provided the material for half of the Grey Album and never thought of suing; btw, read this letter) is using peer-to-peer traffic to promote his tour and [...]

General Motors has invited the general public to create their own ads for the new Chevy Tahoe. They’ve provided a decent amount of footage of the new SUV and some sound beds and told folks to go crazy. Thousands of environmentalists and other SUV critics have gone Adbusters and created viral videos criticizing the SUV [...]