Craig McNamara writes

What's it like to create advertising for a living? What’s it like to work at an ad agency?  What’s to like – or not like – about certain ad campaigns?  What do I like in how advertising in portrayed in movies and TV?   Find out here, in essays, articles, podcast scripts, and blog posts – nothing too heavy and written with wit and style.  Like the writing on this blog?  It's like that, and more. $9.99 softcover – $4.99 ebook Read excerpts and order  here .

In early 1990s, this radio spot for a local auto dealership didn't just break the mold of hyperbolic sales managers hyperventilating for their sale prices -- it chipped away some of the hucksterism that has helped give car salesmen one of the least trusted professions in America (the ad biz is never far behind, but that's a topic for another day). As delivered in a thoughtful deadpan, the commercial took on one of the most prevalent and ridiculous sales gimmicks of car dealers. The genius of the spot is how benign it sounds, yet how lacerating the words truly are. Recently, Jim Paul of Valley Olds Pontiac GMC was driving to work when...he noticed a large inflatable gorilla floating above another dealership.  He'd noticed several of these inflatable devices floating above car dealerships lately and he asked himself some questions.  Did anybody ever go into that dealership and say, "Great gorilla.  Makes me feel like buying a car."  Why don't other businesses u...