Creating a Hero

Moonvertising...
(Originally written 3/31/2008)

As I was driving home from work the other week I saw a billboard ad with a message portraying this idea. I thought to myself, "This is a horrible idea. Advertising is far too prevalent. I pay to go to the movies and still I am forced to watch commercials. Now, I can't even look up at the full moon without being assailed by a product ad? What the fuck is wrong with this world?"

Well, I forgot about it for a while, but last week I got around to visiting the site. I guess I was not shocked to find that this whole thing is the brainchild of Ron Stablehorn, the VP of Marketing for Rolling Rock beer.

In the past, Rolling Rock has done some very "in your face" advertising campaigns, most of which revolved around viral marketing. Their most memorable being the inoffensive "Beer Ape" ad. The hook to that ad is the apology that Stablehorn gave for the offensiveness of the ad, which, of course, drove viewers to search out the ad to see why it is so offensive. Clever advertising, many would say. I suppose I would agree, seeing as how I felt the need to find out what the big deal was about the commercial. Let's not forget the Friends of Rolling Rock, a group of loyalists who, after the Beer Ape incident were calling for Stablehorn's head. This, too, was a brainchild of Stablehorn in an attempt to fan the flames of controversy. And now, here he is again, stirring up his newest viral marketing campaign.

What makes this really funny is that, while listening to a local radio station today, they were talking about this. Only one of the five people in the discussion questioned the validity of advertising on the moon. He was, however, quickly ridiculed by the other four. Morons.

I think it's funny how Rolling Rock goes through all of this trouble to advertise their products, when there is one simple thing they can do to increase their customer base...

How about making it not taste like piss?