The name game
Welcome to the vicious new world of corporate name-creation, where $75,000 buys you a suffix and competing shops slur each other over the competing virtues of Agilent and Avilant.
(11/30/99)

Why is Madison Avenue gripped by insanity?
After pondering the "cultural meat values" of Peparami, the only question remaining is: What are these guys smoking?
(09/29/99)

Hypnotizing slackers for Starbucks, and other visionary acts of marketing research
Through hypnosis, deconstructive theory and other advanced techniques, marketing experts have definitively established that champagne is associated with romance.
(09/28/99)

The return of the hidden persuaders
Driven by a booming economy, a corporate obsession with brand-building and a feelgood philosophy, a motley crew of ex-grad students, starry-eyed admen and hypnosis gurus are probing the consumer unconscious to sell soap.
(09/27/99)

The contrition peddlers
When you're a big corporation and you step in racial doo-doo, you call Chisholm-Mingo -- your full-service agency for repentance, prevention and brand-burnishing.
(07/20/99)

Budweiser: Bad for your waistline -- and bad for America
Dick Morris is telling his clients to start running political-style hit attack ads. Here's Salon's exclusive look at the first crop.
(06/14/99)

The ad from hell
Can a company successfully sue an agency for making a commercial that really, really sucks? Stay tuned for a word from our courthouse.
(05/28/99)

The woman in the gray flannel Mao jacket
After two months as an ad woman, Ruth Shalit surveys the historic depiction of her profession and decides she'd rather be a late-capitalist soul-snatcher than a cringing drunk or a thieving ho'.
(05/11/99)

Out of focus
A peep through the one-way mirror at that great American institution, the focus group, reveals a glittering lineup of cheaters, repeaters and sad sacks who wash their hair with Jell-O.
(04/23/99)

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