Anti-Product Placement For Negative Branding 130
An anonymous reader writes "Product placement to promote your brand just isn't enough any more. These days, apparently, some companies are resorting to anti-product placement in order to get competitors' products in the hands of 'anti-stars.' The key example being Snooki from Jersey Shore, who supposedly is being sent handbags by companies... but the bags being sent are of competitors' handbags as a way to avoid Snooki carrying their own handbag, and thus potentially damaging their brand."
clever (Score:4, Funny)
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Like the cast is going to give a shit even if they did pick up on it. Mike Sorrentino is poised to make up to $5 million dollars this year alone through product endorsements, his own workout video, and getting $60,000 per episode. The cast is making more money than they ever thought they would in their lifetimes, I'm guessing. Why should they care whether chanel doesn't want them as customers? There are other designer clothing makers who'll take their money, no problem. And really, how is Snooki any more
Re:clever (Score:4, Informative)
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You posted AC because you knew that this post would show you have way too much information on this show to have a brain.
Heh. Yeah. Because nerd/geek taste in TV is so chic.
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But I do not like those bastards either.
The difference that you seem to be so conveniently missing is this...
Last 200 years the Christians, Catholics, Atheists, Taoists, Mormons and most other religions are not threatening people with Jihad because of cartoons and books.
But you go on missing the point of my signature.
It is not there for those who can't figure it out.
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And the loons talk about a "muslim nation" separate from local laws...
Err, yeah. That's what they want. Much like those christians you were just talking about. How can you NOT see this. Loony?
Fuck that pedo The Prophet Muhammad.
Yeah, because what a man may or may not have done a thousand years ago [... popes, etc]
Muhammad, the goat-fucker, isn't the target of this. People who adore him like children adore Santa Claus are the target.
Or perhaps like the Nazis worshiped Hitler.
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Yeah, because what a man may or may not have done a thousand years ago with one girl is so much more important than what at least the last 2 popes have incontrovertibly condoned being done to thousands of boys by threatening the victims with excommunication if they talked about it.
Erm, he didn't say that. "X is bad" does not imply "therefore Y is not bad".
Then there is the Crimen Sollictationis in effect from 1962 to 2001 which guaranteed secrecy for the pedophile priests instead of a trial a court of the law in the country they resided.
The what who now? *runs off to googlepedia* Hmm. As I see it, that was a church edict now how the church should handle such matters, and didn't exclude legal involvement. All it really says about secrecy is that if you're in the church trial then you can't say anything about it - there's nothing in there saying that if a priest propositions you, you can't make noise about it. Quite the opposite, in fact. Of course, given that we're
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Or "Why did 4chan set me up with a 5 digit Slashdot ID?"
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Huh? Is there some special cachet around a 5 digit UID?
Re:clever (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? Is there some special cachet around a 5 digit UID?
Some people think it's a valid substitute for actually evaluating the quality of your post. So they might believe you not because your words ring true, but because they think you have some kind of seniority and they're far too easily impressed by that. I don't understand it any better than that but I have seen it happen myself.
It's distantly related to giving undeserved credibility to statements made by a government official in complete ignorance of the fact that when there is power at stake, people have more reasons to lie, not fewer, so their burden of proof should be higher, not lower.
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It's really too bad that might be the only valid Wisdom bonus here. I offer my Karma bonus as evidence.
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Not so. At the very least, a 5 digit user ID shows that about 12 years ago, the low digit poster was not (let's say) 8 years old or younger. Or if they were that young, they should probably get the +1 because even if they're wrong it's worth thinking about. It's really too bad that might be the only valid Wisdom bonus here. I offer my Karma bonus as evidence.
My UID is nearly twice your own, yet I have the same karma bonus. That greatly weakens or destroys your evidence there.
It also doesn't account for the people who lurked with an attitude of "read and learn" prior to finally registering an account. The UID alone doesn't give you any indication of this.
Finally, there are people who just refuse to learn. They are set in their ways. They can be wrong for all of those years. They can refuse to listen. They can also have a low UID.
There's just no su
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It also doesn't account for the people who lurked with an attitude of "read and learn" prior to finally registering an account.
That describes me exactly. I started reading Slashdot 10 years ago. I was even graduated high school already by then.
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It also doesn't account for the people who lurked with an attitude of "read and learn" prior to finally registering an account. The UID alone doesn't give you any indication of this.
I know for a fact that I was reading Slashdot as early as 1998. I don't think I bothered registering until 2002ish when I was working at the PSU computer labs and dreadfully bored during the 12am-8am shifts.
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No, it perfectly reinforces my point that karma as a bonus is fairly worthless, as opposed to say, something like a bias bonus for a 5 digit user ID.
I thought it was obvious that I was offering my karma bonus as ironic evidence that mod bonuses are pretty lame.
Of course these are all generalizations, as your list of "exceptions" illustrates.
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Huh? Is there some special cachet around a 5 digit UID?
Yes. It means that there are thousands of Slashdotters who started contributing pithy bits of wisdom/humor/information before you. And apparently, there are more than a million (really? Holy crap!) who unleashed the full force of their wits after you did.
Re:clever (Score:4, Funny)
I dunno, I've never seen the point in being impressed with a 5 digit ID.
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Nope :)
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No.
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For a minute, I thought this was from my Advertising Age newsfeed... I'm utterly mystified why it showed up on my Slashdot newsfeed.
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What's "jersey shore"?
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Why is the box for posting in so damn small? (Opera on Ubuntu?) Looks like someone cant write HTML properly!
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Whenever I open a article from the RSS and see it is idle.slashdot.org I remove the idle. this causes it to rerender the page with the normal code. I have never gotten idle code to work properly, I can't minimize posts after reading, which annoys the hell out of me.
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Got it, thanks.
I worked out that it had to be a beach. I further figured that since it probably wasn't anything to do with islands in the English Channel, it had to be either jumpers or that place where The Sopranos was set.
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Well I can answer that:
1. High-fashion handbags are often plastered with a giant brand logo across the side. These logos are so freaking huge, Dell and the car manufacturers look downright conservative in comparison.
2. When they aren't, women can still tell exactly what they are at a glance, the same way a car nut can identify a car down to the chassis model code just by seeing a glance of it, or tell you what engine is in a car, what condition it's in, and what modifications it probably has just by hearing
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If we can just get the cast of Jersey Shore to swim around in the gulf for a few hours all of the oil will be absorbed by their hair. No more industrial strength pomade for the boys, and no more seagulls that look like they came out of Tolkien's nightmares! Win/win.
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Just make sure they swim in the gulf *after* they shower or they'll just be adding to the oil spill.
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Exactly what I was going to say, they probably have enough oil in their hair to rate another gulf oil spill.
Don't know who that person is (Score:2)
Seriously, even "idle" has limits.
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He mentioned Snookie in his press correspondents dinner speech but then he said he don't know who Snookie is in his appearance on the view.
He also didn't write his speech (that's what writers are for. Doubly so for the jokes). He did write his improvised dialogue on The View (mostly).
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All I know about Snookie is that's she's a character on this Jersey Shore show. And I sometimes watch MTV for The Dudesons and Nitro Circus.
MTV is great for Stunts, Pranks and Stupidity. They should split all that stuff into another channel called SPSTV. They could add in the "human tetris" gameshows, Scare Tactics and Wipeout. It'd be a channel of nonstop lulz.
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I still don't get it... Why are people watching TV shows featuring people that annoy them?
Unlikely to work (Score:1)
FAIL!!
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Unless they are complete shitheads and cannot get any free swag from ANY company no matter how infamous. Like those Jerky Shore dispshits. Nike will be sending them Adidas just to make sure. I would, to protect my brand. My brand? Nuts & Gum. I'm sending them a whole shitload of Planters Peanuts. Those fucks!
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You overlooked the fact that the individual in question might not be famous enough to be given gifts by designers, but is major enough to be photographed / recorded. That is what the article is talking about. Certain brands do not want to be associated with certain types of people who are popular enough to be noticed. Therefore they send them brands other than their own in hopes that the individual will never pick up their brand.
It makes perfect sense (in so much as advertising ever makes sense). Big mo
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Anyone who is famous enough to have what they wear be a major advertising event is unlikely to use unsolicited items send through the mail.
FAIL!!
You'd be surprised how many serious celebrities go nutzo for free crap. Especially clothes, shoes, jewelry, electronics (cell phones and such.) They take the free stuff and use it, even though they can afford to buy whatever they want.
Apple figured this out a long time ago. It gives out lots of free crap in hollywood, and boy does it ever get exposure.
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Though there was a big spaz a few years ago when it was made clear that they would have to pay taxes on the Oscar gift bags and such.. (I presume they legally had to do so all along, just like people think "no taxes from online purchases" in most states, even though they are legally required to pay "use taxes" equal to the sales tax.)
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
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What the hell is a snooki, and why are we talking about it on slashdot?
Because this is Idle and it's a slow news day. If your name is snooki there's a real good chance I don't give a shit about you or your handbag.
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What the hell is a snooki,
NSFW
and why are we talking about it on slashdot?
because it's NSFW
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
A "Snooki" is a delightful woman from a documentary about typical New Jersey residents, which should be fascinating to Slashdot readers who can't get enough such news from geek sites like TMZ. I commend the posting of this informative story.
Re:What? (Score:5, Informative)
As a NJ native... the cretins on that show are *nothing* like typical NJ residents. They are typical only of a sub-type of seasonal NJ residents (just like the personalities on that show, most of the NJ guidos are from elsewhere).
New Jersey actually has about 6 or 7 culturally distinct regions... and the one region supposedly represented by the show is not like that at all... the BENNYs depicted on that show are despised by shorefolk in New Jersey as a whole.
Now, before I let my butt-hurt get out of hand...
I don't really mind if people think poorly of NJ; it keeps people from overcrowding the good parts of the state. But let's be honest... the cast of "Jersey Shore" is about as indicative of NJers as the cast of "Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel" is indicative of addicts in general.
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(I keed, a large part of my extended family is from there)
(from there, not still there)
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Good parts? Joisey? What exit?
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If it was real reality TV, it'd be eleven people waking up in the morning, going to work, hating their job, coming home, eating dinner, then sitting in front of the television watching reality TV shows. I mean, who'd watch that?
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"I don't really mind if people think poorly of NJ; it keeps people from overcrowding the good parts of the state. "
The brutal taxes and restrictive laws help even more, which is why leaving NJ for freer, less expensive areas to live in is commonplace. The property taxes on a home in Jersey would pay a mortgage elsewhere.
That said, Jersey has some beautiful old towns and semi-rural areas, but you need to be wealthy to live there. Not being wealthy, I GTFO. (BTW the Carolinas look like Jersey did decades ago,
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Well, it's a tradeoff. Sure, the taxes are brutal, but the public education system is among the best, if not the best, in the country. There are other public services that are also very valuable.
Not to say there's not corruption, graft, and other waste in the cesspool of NJ public administration...
It's also important to note that the higher taxes and higher cost of living in NJ is offset some by the higher wages.
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BTW the Carolinas look like Jersey did decades ago, and are vastly cheaper to live and retire in
Yeah, that's what I tell folks about the part of New Hampshire I live in (we've got mountains, you've got chiggers). Most of my semi-rural NJ schoolmates live in Eastern PA now. Very few can afford to live where we grew up as NYC has finally consumed it.
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what the hell is a snooki
A snooki is a blanket, with sleeves.
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OK, I needed to know this as well. Here's the context for the anti-branding; Snooki is a young female of airhead demeanor on a reality show called Jersey Shore. Apparently this show has caused a lot of controversy with activist Italian organizations, who called for its banishment and censorship from television. Many original sponsors of the show have since ceased there commercial advertisements, like Dell Computer and Domino's Pizza.
Here's the reason for this anti-branding silliness:
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See this is the problem with Wikipedia references.
I haven't seen the show, I'm in the UK, but I know the reason Italian-American interest groups are offended is because of a recent incident where "Snooki" was punched [nypost.com] by a man who fits the stereotype they object to.
The interesting thing is MTV's hypocrisy over dealing with the issue, they blacked out the assault when shown on TV and offered a link to a support line after the show but showed a male being assaulted during another show about teen pregnancy.
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Please explain (Score:2)
Snooki who? Carrying in the sense of having in stock? I suppose if you know what's going on, you know what's meant with the above, but it's gobbledygook to me.
;-)
Perhaps it's good thing I normally don't look at idle posts
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I want to bone snookie (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry i f you disagree, but I think she's cute. I'd love to give her my toqerstick.
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I had no idea who she was, but after your comment I had to go look.
Dude.
She looks like Jabba the Hutt's infant daughter.
Snooki Phone (Score:2, Funny)
Ducks.
Speaking of Android Phones (Score:2)
Why do you think Microsoft paid Verizon to have their Bing app irreversibly integrated into all Verizon's Androids? Was it because they want Bing on the Androids, or because they want to do everything they can to slow down the Androids until they can launch their WP7? The more miserable they can make the Android experience, the better off they are. An integrated universal search app that can't be deactivated, removed or retargeted is just the kind of app you would want to be running to make the entire ph
Options for athletes / D-listers (Score:2)
Maybe this trend will mean more revenue options for athletes and D-list actors who are off beating their spouses and driving their cars into trees.
The can now be rewarded for their behavior by being paid to not wear Nike or not drive a Mercedes.
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Now we have Anti-Product placement ....
Next Anti-Crime : Whitemail - Threatening to tell about the Mafia Boss's donations to charity unless they pay ...
When Competition Becomes Opposition (Score:5, Interesting)
Never, it seems, is there a lack of anti-capitalist rhetoric on slashdot - but perhaps it is more proper to say there is never a lack of pro-capitalist rhetoric: pro-capitalist ideals being assumed as pro-competitive.
There is something wrong when competition turns into opposition. When an entity actively obstructs the progress of another, not through a product of better fit, but through the slandering or image-tarnishing of a competitors product.
To be fair (someone has to be), evolution has shown that, as a concept, offensive advertisement works. I therefore leave it to you, the reader, to decide if there really is anything wrong with (philosophically speaking) being a skunk.
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That's the story of corporate America. From Ballmer dissing open source to incumbent telecoms lobbying to keep competitors off the airwaves. Politicians too numerous to list.
Its devolving into a bitchy little cat fight. What ever happened to doing your best and standing on your own reputation? Answer: Most of your market doesn't have such high moral principles. So let's sling the mud. The few people we lose with our tactics will be more than made up with the riff-raff that buy it. Particularly if you can g
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In an ideal free market, people compete by making the best possible product, not by attacking each other. When a company attacks another company, however, that's a type of competition which does not benefit, and in fact harms, the consumer. Thus, any kind of offensive tactics (this includes negative advertisement, "don't buy any of our competitor's product and get 10% off", hitting competitors with lawsuits, etc) violate basic free market principles and should be scorned for this reason.
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If we're talking about lawsuits, I'd tend to agree, though most of those lawsuits are about IP which I think is what really stands against free market principles; not the lawsuits per se. Lawsuits for false advertising or fraud or libel are, I think, perfectly legitimate.
Whether the rest is anti-free-market really depends on whether or not me seeing some idiot on an idioti
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Once you start saying what can and cannot be used as a criterion, how is it still a free market? If I get a visceral pleasure from hurting Brand B by buying Brand A, Brand A is providing me more value.
Would it be better for society if I didn't have that desire
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We're already deciding what can and cannot be used as a criterion. For example, Brand A cannot send soldiers to trash Brand B's factory. If you do not accept that, then you have an anarchy not a free market. I'm not arbitrarily deciding what can and cannot be a criterion, I made a very clear rule: making your product better = good, making others' product worse = bad. Your argument about hurting Brand B being the product falls apart (unless you happen to advocate anarchy) once you realize that sending soldie
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That's not a criterion a customer can use... that's just using violence to raise B's costs. And applying violence to a consumer is commonly called "robbery." The question is how can you eliminate a criterion from a customer's consideration and still be considered a free market? Not that a free market is the best thing in the world... regulation to deal with racism for in
I call bullshit (Score:2, Insightful)
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Video games get truly negative impact press every time they're decried for their violence, sexuality, etc.. If a school shooting agitator played game X prominently then you can be darn sure that the patents would be screaming from the roof tops for a ban, and knowing places like Walmart, the games would get pulled for no other reason than to appease the mob.
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First rule of PR: There is no such thing as bad publicity. No PR hack worth his MBA would deliberately generate publicity for a competitor's product.
It's a popular cliche, but I have no faith that's true.
One sniff of child molestation charges or overt racism has ended many a celebrity's career. Not always mind you, but often enough. It really depends on how far and how bad. Mel Gibson and Gary Glitter being popular examples.
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And it makes no sense. Anyone who hates the show won't be watching it, so they won't get the "anti-message". If there's any truth in it at all, which I doubt, maybe some companies got third parties to send their stuff so they could remain aloof, say they don't endorse the show , but still cultivate the market. But no one would ever deliberately use "anti-product placement". It would be ineffective, and risks blowback.
Ha! I told my wife (Score:2)
In all honesty (Score:2)
This is nothing new (Score:3, Informative)
24: Jack Bauer and his buddies drive around in Fords, the terrorists tend to prefer GM products or imports.
I'm sure I could come up with a dozen more examples if I wanted to.
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Same in the latest James Bond IIRC: James drives Fords (even an old Bronco at one point), bad guys drive GMs or Land Rovers (again, IIRC...feel free to correct me).
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Knowing Transformers fans, this means that Ford, Audi and GM all got product placement? Because Trans-fans think ALL giant robots and their vehicle modes are cool. They don't discriminate by faction, in my experience.
The real divide is between jet geeks and car geeks. ;-)
A La Carte Cable (Score:2)
This is another reason why I won't get cable until I can select each channel individually. Otherwise I am guaranteed to paying for Sumner Redstone's MTV Networks (including Jersey Shore), The Golf Channel, and other stuff that I don't watch. Why should I pay Disney's ESPN 4 bucks a month [wikipedia.org] when I really don't care what they have to say? It's not enough for me to see commercials when I'm watching, but to pay monthly too?
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This goes back a long way (Score:5, Informative)
Over a century ago Edison was making sure Alternating Current was used in the Electric Chair [snopes.com], in order to make it seem more dangerous and associate it in people's minds with electrocution.
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Just goes to show that political spin isn't a new concept.
Hmmmm (Score:2)
Denial of service. (Score:2)
Where is her dumpster?
I can't help wondering (Score:2)
How about political campaign robo-calls? (Score:2)
I tend not to vote for anyone that campaigns using telemarketing techniques, and have wondered if the more obnoxious ones are really coming from their opponents.
It would seem to be underhanded but effective!
Sounds dangerous (Score:2)
This might backfire!
Wouldn't be the first time to have some stupid anti-celeb turn into a (B-)Celeb and actually start a fashion trend.
I noticed this.... (Score:2)
... in an insurance ad the other day. They were saying something to the effect of "so-and-so got $OUR_INSURANCE, and when a leaky roof destroyed their Swedish Foam mattress, we sent them a check and now they have the Sleep Number bed. So-and-so's sleep number is 25."
Blatant negative branding.
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Don't do that! I'm getting ready to eat dinner, and I'd like to enjoy it.
[shudder]
Or more recently... (Score:2)
Transformers 1 (A GM ad with bitchin' Michael Bay action scenes), good robot was a (GM) Chevy Camaro, bad robot was a Ford Mustang, the Camaro's competition.