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Posts Tagged ‘the onion’

Facebook Rejects Breastmilk

One of our clients is Life in a Marital Institution: 20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour It’s a great show, with intimate storytelling by James Braly, who reminds me (and plenty of reviewers) of Spalding Gray.  James tells stories about his marriage to Susan, who breastfed her children until they were 6 years old.

That’s right: 6 years old (and this is not even the strangest story in the show).

So, the producer thought of a  great ad, to be blasted to The Onion readers, and on Facebook:

Got Breastmilk ?

Life In A Marital Institution’s James Braly is “Gifted…and, frankly, just a little strange!” – The New York Times

www.LifeInAMaritalInstitution.com

Alas, Facebook rejected the ad.  Why?

The text of this ad contains language that is unacceptable or inappropriate. Per sections 3 and 8 of Facebook ’s Advertising Guidelines, ad text must relate directly to the content of the landing page and may not include any user attribute unless it is directly relevant to the offer. The text may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, adult or inappropriate language.

Now, I understand that Facebook is trying to protect its site and its users from Spam.  Integrity is a good thing.

But, really, Facebook users can’t take a little milk mustache ‘n breastmilk reference?

Failure Dominates at the Onion: An Inspirational Tidbit

Last night, I learned about the creative editing process at the Onion, the uber-popular weekly satirical newspaper.  Apparently, every Monday, the team comes in with lots and lots and lots of story ideas.  If at least 2 people agree the ideas should be published, the story survives until the next day.

If the story is not up to snuff, it is DOA.

Amazingly, the team can look at 600 story ideas to come up with 20 story ideas that will make it into the final newspaper.

That means there’s a 97% failure rate at the Onion.

That statistic is somehow comforting.  The Onion encourages failure — lots and lots of failure — in order to come up with story ideas that will make people grab the paper, read it, and give a little chuckle at headlines like …

I Couldn’t Help But Notice Your Product Hasn’t Been Endorsed By Anyone Yet

By Tiger Woods