Tag Archives: HuffPost

What’s Up With RadioShack Re-Branding Itself As RadioShock?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and waltzing through the Wall Street Journal, when I tripped over this Megan Graham piece about RadioShack’s latest marketing campaign.

Some RadioShack Dealers Aren’t Happy as the Brand Leans on NSFW Tweets

RadioShack’s crass new marketing strategy is disappointing some of the brand’s independent dealers, including one retail partner that says it is ending the relationship in response.

RadioShack’s Twitter account, once a source of electronics deals and blast-from-the-past ads, this year became a collection of porn-themed memes, sexual jokes and crypto-related posts.

C’mon – Radio Shack is where I used to buy cassette recorders and fuzzbusters. Now I need to buy into porn, too? What the hell, Doc.

– Buzzbuster

Dear Buzzie,

Yeah, right? Here’s RadioShack’s 2014 re-branding, which was launched in a minute-long Super Bowl ad.

And here’s some of the retail chain’s current re-branding via Twitter.

In July, The Verge’s David Pierce posted this overview of RadioShack’s “increasingly unhinged and sex-crazed Twitter account.”

In addition to tweeting things like “due to inflation 6 inches is now 9 inches” and “Just took an upper decker in @Applebees ama” the company has also gone big into cryptocurrency and NFTs. RadioShack would be an excellent meme stock if it hadn’t declared bankruptcy and then been bought by Tai Lopez’s company REV, the same investor that now owns Dressbarn, Pier 1, Linens-n-Things, and Modell’s Sporting Goods . . .

It seems a bit odd to see a brand go the shitposter route, but hey, it’s worked pretty well for Elon Musk, so why not give it a try?

Pierce also noted that 1) RadioShack nearly doubled its Twitter followers in the first two weeks of the campaign, but 2) the new campaign hasn’t seemed to help the chain’s stock price very much.

The Doc’s diagnosis? Just a RadioShuck.

Exactly How Dopey Does Ron DeSantis Look in His ‘Top Gov’ TV Spot?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Politico Playbook, when I came across this item: “HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE — ‘New DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle,’ by WaPo’s Gillian Brockell.”

Here’s how the Post piece begins:

Clearly, what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was going for was a comparison to Tom Cruise.

Hence the “Top Gov” label at the beginning of his latest political ad, which resembles that of Cruise’s “Top Gun” movies, and the slo-mo shots of the Republican governor zipping up a flight suit over an energetic guitar music track. DeSantis “briefs” an out-of-view team — presumably Florida voters — about the “rules of engagement” for “dogfighting” with the “corporate media.” At one point, he sits in the cockpit of what appears to be a fighter jet, flight helmet on, and says, “Alright, ladies and gentlemen.”

Granted, DeSantis was only 10 years old when the Duke-in-a-Tank ad ran, but no one around him could’ve stopped this? What the hell, Doc.

– Helmet Head

Dear Helmet Head,

Exactly how dopey does Ron DeSantis look in his TV spot? Exactly this dopey, courtesy of the Post.

Also instructive is a compare ‘n’ contrast viewing of the two misbegotten ads.

Let’s start with Mike Dukakis’s tanking his 1988 presidential campaign, as he tried to butch up his image on national defense. Here’s the spot that George H.W. Bush ad ran in response.  (Politico’s Josh King wrote a great piece on “the inside story of the worst campaign photo op ever.”)

Cut to Ron DeSantis trying to butch up his image with some Tom Cruise cosplaying and corporate-media bashing.

Cue the Twitterverse nailing DeSantis as a twit.

For more Twitter mockery, check out David Moye’s HuffPost piece.

Meanwhile, Rule #1 of political campaigning remains: Never put anything – especially anything feathered – on your head.

Hats off to JFK for that.