If you’re not a particularly big fan of Project Runway, you probably skipped out on Piers Morgan last night, whose ads spent the day reminding viewers he would be interviewing Heidi Klum. If you’re not particularly a fan of Project Runway and also a fan of 1980s New Romanticism, you would have been sorely disappointed, as the second half of the program featured and interview with 3/4ths of Duran Duran. As far as influence and conversational potential, the decision to advertise one over the other appears bizarre, but with the obvious difference between the two guests, one has to ask– is eye candy not all created equal?

An airline ran an ad featuring a bikini-clad model enjoying a lovely cocktail and basking in the sun, with a banner that says “book to the sun now!” What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, according to the Guardian, the ad by budget airline Ryanair ran afoul of the Advertising Standards Authority because the destinations being offered in the ad–Glasgow, Scotland and Oslo, Norway among others–would’ve hardly been considered warm beach destinations in February and March.

Do you watch the network evening news? Does your Dad? NBC’s Nightly News, CBS’ Evening News and ABC’s World News have long battled perceptions–fueled by the kinds of commercials you see if you watch the newscasts–that their audiences are gray-haired and in need of all kinds of pills, potions and goop to keep their teeth in place. But NBC hopes to freshen up its advertising image with a new pitch: sure we have older viewers, but they pay attention, and they’re cheaper to reach with us than with CSI.

This year’s Super Bowl ads appear to have packed a particularly potent outrage punch. After the news cycle propagated the distaste against the website Groupon for making light of the political situation in Tibet, the response of Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to a Pepsi commercial starring a black couple has put the ad in the spotlight. Tonight, Bill O’Reilly welcomed a panel to help him comprehend just what about the depiction of the jealous couple had allegedly nasty racial overtones.

Normally when you start seeing double, you know it’s time to lay off the drinks. Stoli Vodka new ad campaign, which features people drinking alcohol and talking to themselves, thinks otherwise. And so does Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who, like Hugh Hefner and Julia Stiles before him, interviews himself over some Stoli. The thirty-second video shows Stone geting slightly confrontational with himself, asking, “Did it ever occur to you that maybe Twitter is a constant stream of meaningless babble?”

Ok, how many times has this happened to you? You’re sitting back, enjoying your favorite TV show when the commercials come on and, all of a sudden, the volume shoots up to the level your grandparents keep it at. It’s terrible, right? Well, fear not, television viewers of America (AKA everyone in America), because Congress is here to help. Following legislation from the House, the Senate voted unanimously yesterday to make it illegal for commercials to be louder than the TV shows they’re inserted into.

The Boston activist group Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has filed a petition with the FCC to block the upcoming Nickelodeon cartoon Zevo-3 which stars characters from ads for Skechers shoes and is being developed by Skechers Entertainment (!). The fears that group has is that this show will pave the way for cartoons starring the likes of Ronald McDonald and that children’s entertainment will become inundated with ads. We here at Mediaite fear that any cartoon that’s basically a cartoon will probably just lead to a crappy Michael Bay movie 20 years from now. Clearly, prevention is the key.

Universal Studios and the Los Angeles Times have butted heads, according TheWrap. Over what? The movie Despicable Me. The newspaper published a negative review of the movie the same day the ran a massive ad for the movie — much to the studio’s discontent.

Darryl Willis is the Vice President of resources at BP America. More recently, he became the face of the corporation as advertisements featuring CEO Tony Hayward failed to connect for some reason. Willis visited The Situation Room today to explain further his role in the company, and how victims of the oil disaster can claim some of the $20 billion the company has set aside for those most affected.

McDonald’s has started a television advertising campaigning geared toward welcoming gays into their restaurants. A new ad released in France features a young gay man eating at McDonald’s with his father, who is unaware that his son is gay. The teenage boy is shown looking at a photo of his lover, while his father later states, “It’s a shame you’re in an all boys college. You would have had all the girls chasing you.”

We’ve written a lot about FNC’s record ratings – ratings that have the news network looking to knock off cable competitors outside of the news world. So how does this translate to advertisers? It’s all part of FNC’s new pitch.

Well this takes “If you see something, say something” to a whole new level. There is apparently a radio advertisement currently running in England encouraging people to, um, keep an eye on their neighbors, particularly ones who keep their curtains closed, only use cash (as is that is something you would know), and aren’t terribly neighborly. Call the police!

Old Spice is on a campaign to get your attention. Throwing out the rulebook that you need to tell your consumers why they can’t live without your product, the new Old Spice message is the exact opposite, letting viewers in on the joke: not only the insanity of thinking your life problems could be solved by smelling good, but the ridiculousness of the entire ad industry’s credo. “The Man Who Smells Like The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” is the latest example of this clever campaign.

Window displays and advertisers have been gearing up for Valentine’s Day. Some storefronts fill their windows with an explosion of crimsons and pinks, while other companies adhere to the age-old advertising law: sex sells. But Armani Exchange may take the cake for this year’s Valentine’s oversexed ads which picture three couples – a gay male couple, a heterosexual couple, and lesbian couple – oiled up and lustfully embracing.

ohn Nichols and Robert McChesney, this was a book promotional event and an opportunity to outline their recommendations to save traditional journalism. It was a setup for a predictable night full of previews of what’s contained inside yet another “save journalism” solution book. Yet, thankfully, David Carr took a topic that has been spoken about to death and breathed new life into the discussion.

As reported in Folio, the Publishers Information Bureau released its year-end magazine advertising report on Tuesday, backing up our suspicions that print is still indeed on the decline. In a surprise twist, boating publications were among the hardest hit with 50-60% losses in ad pages. With big-name players folding left and right over the past [...]

Earlier this summer, the New York Times Magazine got smaller — a little off the top, a little off the side. Well, this weekend the magazine showed that a slim summer doesn’t necessarily preclude a beefed-up fall and winter. The NYT Magazine added a little something to the middle — an 80-page special advertising supplement. The rest of the magazine is 66 pages, including the other ad pages.

As the internet gets more tech savvy, the progression of online ads is feeling increasingly intrusive and at times infuriating. NYT.com and Politico we are looking at you! Maybe instead of paying for content online publications should consider providing a (walking, talking) advertisement-free reader experience. For a fee, of course.

As we’ve reported a a couple of times a number of advertisers have pulled their ads from Glenn Beck’s Fox News program, joining a group of more than 30 following a campaign by ColorofChange.org after Beck’s ‘Obama is racist’ comments. While the efficacy of this program remains in question, it is worth noting that the the Color of Change website is currently down. Is this a result of great publicity or a nefarious cyberattack?

Advertisers, including Walmart, CVS and Best Buy, continue to pull their ads from Glenn Beck‘s Fox News program, joining a group of more than 20 following a campaign by ColorofChange.org that was launched after Beck’s ‘Obama is racist’ comments. However, the fact that Beck’s network, Fox News, isn’t hurt at all continues to be ignored.

Glenn Beck is in even deeper trouble over his remarks that the president is “racist” now that GEICO has joined Progressive Insurance, Lawyers.com, and Procter & Gamble in pulling advertisements from Beck’s Fox News show. Or is he?

This is the kind of viral marketing that executives dare not even dream about. In fact, while outlets like Gawker have come under fire for their use of sponsored content like Bloodcopy, the folks behind AMC’s “Mad Men” are reaping huge PR dividends for free. Their personalized icons have swept over Twitter like a nuclear daisy.

The New York Times knows how to make history pay…off. Between the election of Barack Obama last November and his inauguration in January the paper figured a number of ways to make that historic occasion reap them some financial rewards. Looks like they are at it again today.

Frequent visitors to the NYT.com could not have helped but noticed yesterday that the website is apparently scraping the bottom of the advertising barrel. Well, perhaps not the very bottom — there’s no dancing chickens quite yet — but close! Smack in the middle of the page, right beside a lot of important news, was a very hard-to-miss ad for…shingles. Is this part of some evil Sulzberger conspiracy?

The Publisher’s Information Bureau just released its revenue report for the first six months of 2009. The bad news? It’s not a a pretty picture. The good news? The picture is a lot less ugly than three months ago. Are we headed for the turnaround?