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DAVID MENZIES calls them as he saw 'em in marketing efforts that were brazen beyond belief in '06
My all-time favourite Yiddish word is chutzpah. It means "utter nerve, unmitigated effrontery, audacity." The world of marketing is full of chutzpah, wherein bountiful examples of audacity abound. Carrying on a glorious tradition that dates back to... er, 12 months ago... here are the Menzoid Awards Roman Numeral Two, recognizing those marketers and marketing campaigns that were brazen beyond belief in 2006.
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY
Way up in northern Ontario, Lakehead U, which, I imagine, offers a superb taxidermy course, decides to run a bizarre ad campaign to bolster recruitment. The copy reads, "Yale Shmale" next to a photo of U.S. president (and Yale University alumnus) George W. Bush. The tag line reads: "Graduating from an Ivy League university doesn't necessarily mean you're smart."
Talk about stupid. For starters, Bush is indeed a very smart man. But politics and personalities aside, how does one rank academic smartness in the first...