The Taco Bell chihuahua was a popular advertising figure and mascot, voiced by Carlos Alazraqui, and developed by TBWA and used by Taco Bell, which is a division of Kentucky, United States-based Yum! Brands. The Chihuahua is a breed commonly associated with Mexico, as are the tacos the restaurant serves. At least two dogs were used as models: the original was named Dinky, but was replaced shortly thereafter by a dog named Gidget. Dinky and a dog named Taco would also be stand-ins for Gidget.

It’s one giant leap for robot-kind. New Shadow Shaping technology creates images on the Moon that can be seen from Earth. Robots are used to create several small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names, memorials or even portraits. Talk about the Man in the Moon! You can even carve your initials in a heart to impress your sweetheart.

The advertising potential is mind-boggling. Never in history have companies been able to penetrate every market on Earth, reach every person on the planet, and touch them at an emotional level only possible with the beauty of the Moon on a starlit night. Twelve billion eyeballs looking at your logo in the sky for several days every month. And since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, the images last for thousands of years.

“Finally dependency on government to travel beyond Earth is over,” says inventor David Kent Jones. “This new commercial incentive will turbo charge space technology development. Shadows are just the beginning; eventually robots will be planting crops on other planets.”

Beginning July 20, 2009, the fortieth anniversary of man’s first step on the Moon, exclusive licensing for this patent pending technology is publicly available. Moon Publicity is accepting bids from accredited investors and companies for 44 lunar regions until October 20, 2009. You could license moon-imaging technology potentially worth a fortune in advertising value for about the cost of an SUV. Minimum bids start as low as $46,000. For more information visit MoonPublicity.com.

It should come as no surprise that Apple isn’t a big fan of Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunters” ads, but some may be surprised to learn the Mac maker’s lawyers reportedly called a senior Microsoft executive and demanded the ads be removed.

The topic of the TV ads, which feature prospective buyers comparing the prices and features of Apple laptops and Windows-based laptops, came up at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, was at the conference to announce that Microsoft was planning to open its first stores this fall, with at least some of the locations likely to be right near an Apple store.

But the most intriguing part of Turner’s speech was when he recounted a telephone call he says he got from Apple’s legal department demanding that Microsoft remove the ads.

They should have just gone for the jugular:

We look at five ads that had to be yanked recently, where they went wrong, and who came out ahead. Read and learn:

First up: What happened: Nike’s ad depicting a b-ball player getting posterized sports an unfortunate tagline to go with the unfortunate image, and plays on a baseline of macho homophobia. The ad is pulled just days after the company feels the awesome power of mildly piqued blog readers.

The lesson: Sports must be slightly more gay-conscious.

Winners: Gays, basketball fans (in the long run), Adidas, which makes cooler shoes.

Losers: Nikes, macho guys, those who will be deprived of this perspective on Hyperdunk technology.
See ad here.

See the rest at Gawker.

Vinod Gupta, the chairman and chief executive of InfoUSA in Omaha, the parent of Salesgenie.com, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that a commercial featuring two animated pandas speaking with what were intended as Chinese accents would be withdrawn.

“We never thought anyone would be offended,” said Mr. Gupta, who developed and wrote both commercials himself.

“The pandas are Chinese,” he said. “They don’t speak German.”

Still, “if I offended anybody,” Mr. Gupta said, “believe me, I apologize.”

Mr. Gupta said he planned to keep running the other Salesgenie commercial, featuring an animated salesman named Ramesh who speaks with an Indian or other South Asian accent.

The reason, Mr. Gupta said, was that “more people seem upset about the pandas than Ramesh.”

“People have been making fun of my accent for years,” said Mr. Gupta, who described himself in the interview as half-Indian and half-Jewish. “And I love it.”