"If you crave insight into the wacky, zany, madcap--albeit very serious--business of advertising, this is a great place to begin."--Miami Herald

A witty and frank look at the ad biz from one of its most respected voices

Advertising has become an endless stream of clichés, cheesy productions, miscast celebrities, and gratuitous sex--and take-no-prisoners Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield has had enough.

In the often hilarious, always dead-on And Now a Few Words from Me, Garfield looks at the best and the worst in today's advertising as he tells advertising pros that it's time to swallow their own egos, return clients' rights to the forefront, and--once and for all--eliminate bad advertising from the face of the earth.

As the advertising industry's Dave Barry, Garfield has written the influential ad criticism column "AdReview" for Ad Age for 17 years and is cohost of NPR's On the Media. His first book, aimed at advertising pros, is a brazenly funny take on the industry practices that Garfield loves to hate. "Most advertising is unnecessarily terrible," he writes, proceeding to enumerate the reasons why: a misguided emphasis on rule breaking and originality; misuse of sex, celebrities, humor, special effects and profundity; lack of contact with consumers; and sheer bad taste and immorality. Garfield supports his claims with passionate attacks on specific ads. Calvin Klein turns out "thinly disguised kiddie porn," while McDonald's "we love to see you smile" campaign is "preposterously false." The criticism, however, isn't always consistent. Garfield occasionally knocks highly successful ads, e.g., CK's famous Brooke Shields jean ads. Furthermore, he praises campaigns that violate his own prohibitions. Garfield's apparent ego (he less-than-wittily compares himself to God and declares, "[W]ith well in excess of a thousand ads subjected to my pitiless scrutiny, I've really blown the call only eleven or twelve times") can also wear thin. Oddly, the critic loosens his choke hold on the industry in the final chapter, ineffectually defending it against other critics and halfheartedly attempting to restore the pride of the very audience he has been so busy mocking. Despite the weak finish, though, Garfield offers a mostly humorous and hard-hitting book. 
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"...a must read for all young people who want to get into advertising..." -- Jerry Della Femina, author of From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor 

"Do people in advertising realize how lucky they are to have a critic so clear-eyed and sensible...?" -- Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century 

"Garfield...has the guts to tell it like it is." --Sergio Zyman, author of The End of Advertising as We Know It 

"No one knows the ad biz...better than Bob Garfield. This book offers sorely needed advice." -- Jack Trout, author of Differentiate or Die

Advertising's most influential critic discusses what is wrong with today's ads--and how to make it right

For almost two decades, Bob Garfield's "Ad Review" column in Advertising Age has been a weekly must-read in the marketing world. Garfield's sharp, witty observations have buoyed--and buried--thousands of campaigns.

In And Now a Few Words from Me, Garfield looks at today's advertising and decries the emperor's lack of clothing. Why has "breaking the rules" become such a virtue? What are the ten commandments of advertising that are virtually guaranteed to work--and almost universally ignored? Garfield asks the tough questions and provides piercing--and always dead-on accurate--answers.

Lost in today's endless stream of fast-cut production and shock for shock's sake is the idea that advertising, at its essence, is about nothing more complex than communicating a convincing selling idea to a prospective customer.And Now a Few Words from Me reminds us that sound and fury alone have always--and will always--signified nothing. Using the uncompromising approach that has become his trademark, Bob Garfield calls for a return to the rules and discipline that make great advertising great.

"Each year at least three hundred thousand ads are produced--maybe it's three million--and a shocking percentage of them violate the rules, too, under the pitiful, misguided belief that such is the road to Greatness. But that is not the road to Greatness. It is the road to Extreme Suckiness..." 
--From Chapter 1

Bob Garfield, the voice behind Advertising Age's widely-read column "Ad Review," is today's most respected advertising critic. And right now Garfield is angry at how off-target--and just plain awful--an increasing percentage of ads that cross his desk have become.

As Garfield himself writes, "No wonder I drink."

And Now a Few Words from Me is Garfield's call-to-arms. Sparing no sacred cows, he rails against the mindset that has reduced much of today's advertising to sophomoric silliness that doesn't bother to sell the productor even further the client's strategy. Wielding his pen like a flaming broadsword, Garfield writes:

• "Consistency of ethical principles has never been the advertising industry's strongest suit."
• "Agencies themselves struggle with an inherent conflict of interest, because the kind of advertising that best serves the client doesn't necessarily win awards."
• "My goal here isn't to leave you a bit infuriated. My goal is to enumerate transgressions so extravagant and insane that you actually bleed through the ears."

Amid his take-no-prisoners observations on the transgressions of advertising, Garfield also provides examples of--and lays out rules for--good advertising. Rules that, while seemingly common sense, are too often forgotten between the initial "brainstorm" and the final reel. Rules that apply "from TV to print to Internet to bas-relief molded in the sea-coastal sand." Rules that, if enforced, would compel advertising practitioners to swallow their bloated egos, return clients' rights to the forefront, and--once and for all--eliminate bad advertising from the face of the earth.

And Now a Few Words from Me shines a blinding searchlight on what is wrong with today's advertising. Fast, funny, and vintage Garfield, it names names, deflates balloons, and provides a few simple-to-follow rules to get advertising back on track.

Bob Garfield is a prominent and influential columnist, critic, essayist, pundit, and personality. His weekly "Ad Review" in Advertising Age singles out individual ads for well-deserved praise or scorn and is the most watched and discussed column in the advertising industry. Garfield--who also cohosts NPR's "On the Media"--has been a columnist for USA Today, contributing editor for the Washington Post Magazine, and contributor to the New York Times, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications.