i'll take "smart phone ads" for $200, alex

[rone]

[SFX: didgeridoo]

ANNOUNCER: Huh ta speak Ostrayleen.

[Sleazy guy walks up to well-endowed woman and puts both hands on her breasts.]

ANNOUNCER: Multi-touch interface.

[Woman knocks out sleazebag with a right hook.]

ANNOUNCER: Haptic feedback.

[Enormous can of horse piss is slammed on the counter.]

ANNOUNCER: Beeah—*BZZZZT*GAAAH!

Comments

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, gods, yeah. I think I saw a few of these Fosters ads while I was in Boston last year. They're cringe-inducing.

Bonus: Fosters is being bought out by SAB Miller. Apparently rather a lot of people are upset about this.

[baljemmett.livejournal.com]

... why? *looks baffled*

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Why are they buying it, or why do people care so much?

For the former: Fosters is a huge brewing company (it's not just the Fosters brand) and SAB Miller don't have anything here so it lets them expand into this market.

For the latter: a lot of people are getting wound up about nasty foreigners buying Our Stuff(TM).

Note that the biggest brand Fosters owns is actually VB, and that's 20% of the Australian beer market all on its own.

[baljemmett.livejournal.com]

Ah - OK, didn't realise they owned the VB brand, that would explain it! I thought Fosters was, well, just Fosters; was under the impression that nobody particularly cared for it as a brand, in an only-fit-for-export kinda way.

(Good job no nasty Australians ever buy anybody else's stuff *grin*)

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell, Fosters owns most of the major brands here. I knew they were big, I just didn't quite realise they were this (http://cub.com.au/beer/) big.

AIUI, Fosters was originally just a single brand ("Fosters") up in NSW. Made lots of money, bought lots of other companies including Carlton United, which is where they got VB.

Fosters itself is pretty popular in NSW, it's the local basic beer up there.

You may think of Rupert as an Australian, but we think of him as an American.

[baljemmett.livejournal.com]

Blimey, yes, that's pretty sizeable -- rather like (the former) Scottish & Newcastle over here, now owned by Carlsberg and Heineken. In fact, I believe they hold the license for Fosters (the brand) in the UK... That certainly explains why people would be a little upset. (See also Kraft buying Cadbury, but don't get me started on that; public in ignorant knee-jerk reaction, film at 11.)

As for Murdoch, fair enough -- and I suppose technically he is, of course -- but I also had in mind the huge chunks of British broadcast infrastructure which are now owned in large part by Macquarie (through Arqiva and Red Bee). But it wasn't a serious criticism, by any means :)

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten about Macquarie. I plead self-defence mechanism, they're a bunch of hateful sods even here. They own many of the big toll-roads and airports. And politicians.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Naomi is going to smack you in the head for this one.