Obama and fried chicken, Heineken logo rip-off

The Orangemaster writes in 24oranges:

Forget the fried chicken story: there’s no real Dutch angle to it, unless you want to celebrate the 400-year friendship between The Netherlands and New York City, although it’s a stretch. It’s a Brooklyn restaurant called Obama and people protested in front of it because implying that African Americans eat fried chicken is racist. Do they serve watermelon for desert?

Look at the logo of this Obama fried chicken joint: do you see the resemblance or is my coffee playing tricks on me? That red star caused enough problems for Heineken, are we going to go on a commie witch hunt soon, too?

(Link: meatandmeal.nl, Photo by Paul Lowry, some rights reserved.)

THE OBAMA BRAND

From the Guardian

The global reach of Obama's message of renewal is making both subliminal and not so subtle appearances in controversial advertising campaigns from Washington to Jakarta. There is the new flavour of Ben 'n' Jerry's ice-cream: "Yes Pecan!" A new Hennessy Cognac with 44 (Obama is the 44th president) on the label. There is even an Indonesian advert for a form of indigestion tablets featuring a lookalike of the man himself.

Obama's formidable marketing potential was immediately apparent on the morning after the inauguration, when thousands of extra copies of newspapers were printed across the globe to meet demand for readers wishing to keep souvenir copies. Readers of the Daily Express, however, will have noticed their front page made no reference to the new President. It was taken up instead with a full-page advertisement for a Fiat 500 which, it turned out, happened to share its first birthday with the date of Obama's inauguration. "It's a big day for firsts," the slogan said. Rival newspapers contained a simply worded advertisement for Veet, the hair removal company: "Goodbye Bush."

If Fiat and Veet sought to quirkily exploit inauguration day, other companies appear committed to tapping into the longer term marketing benefits of Obama's presidency. Pepsi has unveiled a new red, white and blue logo which has an apparent resemblance to Obama's campaign motif, as part of a longer advertising campaign centred on themes of optimism and renewal.

For instance: another blatant example

YOUR 'LIFESTYLE' MATTERS TO VPR

Today I heard on Vermont Public Radio two ridiculously inane "sponsorship advertisements." One was by a shoe store in Montpelier that sells footwear to enhance "your Vermont lifestyles." The other was from a bed and breakfast in Hanover, New Hampshire, which is located in a "country setting." A nice get-away from the hum-drum, one would think. Not totally - and here's the disconnect - the place offers "wireless internet connection throughout the house."