One month ago, we called the new Dairy Queen campaign the "The Old Spice Campaign Your Dairy Queen Ad Could Smell Like." One commenter said the comparison was "base and thoughtless" and that he did not see the comparison at all.

Well, two more Old Spice Dairy Queen ads have popped up (watch above and below). Who's on a horse now?Continue reading...

When it comes to advertising manly products, there seem to be limited approaches to take. Axe (or Lynx, in certain markets) uses sex appeal, as with its falling angels campaign. Gillette likes to get straight to the point with athletes, at least one with a few tricks up his sleeve.

But if they're trying to be funny, they'll be held up to the Isaiah Mustafa Old Spice commercials. But what happens when you run out of manly ideas for your manly products? The temptation is to pay homage to the masterful Mustafa character.

We understand, Old Spice wannabes, but we're begging you — knock it off with the knock-offs.Continue reading...

Easter weekend saw kid-friendly Rio hold onto number one at the US box office, even as Morgan Spurlock's new doc blew up our Google News alert on "product placement."

This weekend's second-place finisher, Madea's Big Happy Family, also featured some interesting product placements. And while much has been made about differences in the mainstream audience and the Tyler Perry audience, one product placement in particular proves we are not all that different.Continue reading...

Old Spice Man, we hardly knew ye. The character, made famous by Isaiah Mustafa, has been replaced — but only outside in the US.

Above, check out the latest spot by W+K for the P&G brand, featuring a white tuxedo-clad actor touting the brand's Danger Zone collection in a spot that was filmed in New Zealand. The James Bond/Indiana Jones wannabe is no Mustafa-like smoothie, however, as he survives a near-miss with a truck — only to turn into a half-skeletal ghoul.

Mustafa, meanwhile, is keeping busy. He's costarring in Tyler Perry's upcoming Madea's Big Happy Family, which opens Friday, and recently shot a spot for Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore's DNA Foundation.

Czech out a non-English version of the new Old Spice campaign, below, and click here for the details on the spot's CGI effects.Continue reading...

President Obama unveils US budget plan to trim deficit, with $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years, keeping Medicare and Medicaid, and curbs on charity write-offs. The 2012 race in mind, Barack and Michelle Obama also plan to appear on Oprah's May 2nd show.

Apple's iPhone 5 said to be coming this summer, while do-not-track tool added to new Safari browser. Sony, meanwhile, lands top spot for consumer electronics in latest Harris Poll.

Barry Bonds found guilty of osbtruction of justice.

LeBron James bumps Kobe Bryant for the bestselling NBA jersey, as Bryant accused of anti-gay slur.

BP cleanup funds come under scrutiny.Continue reading...

Is China's ad industry knocking off commercials the same way the Chinese tech industry is knocking off gadgets? That's a question posed by Chinasmack, a blog that covers all things China. It serves up a few examples of foreign-produced ads that are re-appropriated for the Chinese audience.Continue reading...

We recently checked out the new Dairy Queen campaign ("a guitar that sounds like dolphins") and asked if it was a ode to, or a spoof of, the now-iconic Old Spice Man spots with Isaiah Mustafa.

Behold the latest installment in DQ's campaign above. "We don't just have rainbows, we have rainbows on fire"? "Old fashioned shaving bunnies?" Amusing, but derivative. If that's not evocative of the Old Spice campaign's brand of hearty absurdity, what is?

The comments on this one agree — look at how many times the word "random" is used.

Six months ago, at the peak of the Old Spice Guy phenomenon, we wondered how long it would be before we saw "other brands hopping on the bandwagon to take advantage of… whatever the hell those Old Spice commercials were."

Now, Dairy Queen has produced what is easily the most faithful parody of the Old Spice Guy commercial not actually starring that guy, or about Old Spice.Continue reading...