Old criticism, new media

“Their information was taken mostly from the newspapers, and their scripts were heavy with feature stories and personal opinions delivered in parenthetical, snide asides.”

Sounds like criticism of the blogosphere, right? Actually, that’s Walter Cronkite commenting on early radio. Newspapers received similar criticism in their early days too. It makes you think that the “snark” of blogs, while here to stay, has less to do with the medium and more to do with human nature.

FYI, the quote came from Cronkite’s autobiography “A Reporter’s Life”

5 Hours of Energy Damaged by 30 Seconds of Oversight

Anyone else think that the advertising team of 5-hour Energy blew it with their latest offering? If you’ve seen the commercials, you know they all suck but in addition to low production values and a horrible premise, this spot is a victim of timing.

The commercial features a stereotypical skater punk pitching Monster Energy Drink and being rather obnoxious. If you didn’t notice, the X Games just wrapped up in L.A. Almost every athlete is sponsored by Monster and precisely zero of them would appreciate the representation of their culture offered by Living Essentials, the company behind 5-hour Energy.

The commercial doesn’t merely put Monster and 5-hour Energy in opposition. It pits the extreme sports movement against the khaki clad establishment.