Princess Merida, the young Scottish girl who broke tradition and took a decidedly feminist stand against being married off to the winner of an archery competition in Disney’s “Brave” (by using her kick-ass marksmanship skills to win her own hand) has officially been inducted into the sacred sisterhood of the Disney Princesses, taking her place alongside the likes of Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel.

But before Merida could join the ranks of her more mature counterparts, she had to undergo quite a makeover. First, her dress — a functional frock, suitable for her outdoor adventures, was replaced by a much brighter, frillier, more low-cut number, reminding young girls that looks trump comfort. And because there’s nothing feminine or damsel-like about packing heat, her beloved bow and arrows were apparently confiscated.

Equally disturbing were the changes that were made to her previously young-girl-like figure: her waist had clearly been cinched and her bust noticeably increased, she was given flirtatious lashes and rosier cheeks, and her adventurous, slightly defiant-looking smile gave way to a sultry smirk. After critics lambasted the made-over Merida for over-sexualizing what was supposed to be a young girl to whom real young girls could relate, Disney quietly pulled the image from their website and replaced it with the Pixar original.

We’re not surprised the backlash was so intense, because while we agree that the over-sexualization was a major problem, we think it went beyond that. Read more

Clearly, the promoters of the soon-to-be-revived cult classic “Arrested Development” did not “make a huge mistake” when they organized yesterday’s NYC giveaway of “Bluth’s Bananas”, a frozen treat featured on the show.

Diehard fans waited as long as 30 minutes in lines that stretched nearly two blocks for a chance to get their own chocolate-dipped frozen bananas from the authentic-looking replica of the Bluth family’s stand.

“I am such a major fan,” 21-year-old Sharah Stanley told the New York Daily News as she waited in line. “When I found out it was going to be here, I raced up. I hope the line doesn’t take too long because I’m on my lunch break.”

Stanley is not alone in waiting on bated breath for new episodes of her beloved show. Arrested Development, which originally ran from 2003 to 2006, will be reborn with a new season scheduled to be released by Netflix on May 26.

Rejoice, ye college kids (and grown-ups who still spend their weekends in an ever-expanding pile of beer cans and pizza boxes while playing Halo)! You no longer need to suffer through the painstaking effort of pausing your game, dropping the controller, and picking up the phone to order dinner – Pizza Hut and Xbox Live have heard your cries of desperation and are here to help.

In what can only be called the most diabolical dietary partnership since Eric Cartman’s pairing of Hot Pockets and World of Warcraft, Pizza Hut has made their full menu—including customizable pizzas—available through a new Xbox Live app, which allows Xbox 360 owners to place orders using the controller, voice commands, or the Kinect sensor. In order to streamline the pizza’s progress from delectable idea to tangible belt-loosening poundage, users can even connect their PizzaHut.com and Xbox accounts to simplify the ordering process.

Larry Hyrb, Microsoft’s Director of Programming for Xbox Live, said of the pairing:

“We’re always looking at ways to give our audience more of what they’re interested in. If you look at our audience, they love pizza. I mean, who doesn’t? It has international appeal, and Pizza Hut is a recognized brand that matches up well with the Xbox brand.”

Now there’s a man who knows his audience.

So now, if you can just program your robot vacuum to answer the door for you, you may never need to leave your living room again!

If you ever find yourself responsible for promoting a client whose hook is just too dumb to pitch, we’d like you to know that it can’t true. Don’t believe us? Consider the recent media coverage of SexCereal and Bacon Condoms, two products clearly designed to inspire headlines (and little else).

Neither of these products were April Fools’ jokes, but they both managed to win mentions in mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Fox News, Good Morning America, LIVE with Kelly and Michael and even WebMD. How? They had hooks so dumb that folks just had to click. And we all know that producers are just dying to fill airtime with news about stunt products like a condom that helps “make your meat look like meat” and provides “the utmost safety for when you’re makin’ Bacon” or the “world’s first and only gender-based whole food cereal”, which promises to promote “good nerve function, healthy hormone levels, and an unobstructed blood flow to the pelvic area.”

PR wins all around. And yes, there’s a stupid video after the jump: Read more

We have to tip our hats to Reebok today for taking the hint and dropping rapper/fake gangster/failed sneaker spokesman Rick Ross from its celebrity roster. In case you missed it, the company found itself in a PR bind when someone noticed that the lyrics to Ross’s latest single seemed to tell a tale of date rape via champagne spiked with ecstasy. Yesterday Reebok announced that, while they do not feel that Mr. Ross’s verse actually condoned sexual assault, the brand “holds [its] partners to a high standard” and believes that the rapper “has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse” despite some desperate attempts at a last-minute apology.

This was a no-brainer for Reebok. Of course, the proactive individuals at UltraViolet who created the anti-Ross petition probably had a bit more to do with the decision than this humble blog, and we’re not the sort of people to take credit for others’ work, but we’d like to think of ourselves as members of the chorus.

On a final note, if Reebok or any other brand wants to hire a spokesperson with “street cred” in the future, they might want to refrain from choosing a guy whose entire backstory is a product of his own imagination. Just sayin’.

The biggest “must read” story making its way around the web this week is New York Magazine’s profile of BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti and his enviably successful approach to paid content.

To sum things up, Peretti, who also helped launch The Huffington Post, was a math student at MIT who grew fascinated with the concept of viral memes and later created BuzzFeed as a tool to identify and facilitate the spread of said memes via algorithm. His goal was to truly capture the magic behind “word of mouth” buzz (the cat GIFs and political reporting came later). Most of the Internet and quite a few of the biggest brands in the world agree that Peretti has uncovered a secret formula for creating native advertising that might just go viral. Here are some revelations from the profile:

• BuzzFeed editors work directly with marketing specialists from partner brands to create content in a “newsroom”-style environment.
• The vast majority of traffic for both BuzzFeed originals and paid posts comes from social sharing.
• The site’s most popular posts don’t go viral after a single big-name personality shares them — they’re simply picked up by several isolated individuals who share them in small groups (average nine Facebook friends) that spawn small “share” groups of their own.
• There’s a science to this. Peretti has literally devised a formula.

Read more

Today we are sad to announce that Prince Harry will probably never again amuse us with tales of drugged-up strip poker that double as viral marketing for Las Vegas tourism. He probably won’t have to leave his world of privilege behind for another “apology tour” in Afghanistan or simultaneously fend off the paparazzi and the Taliban, either.

According to The Telegraph, the young prince has finally found his missing piece — a “personal secretary” who will double as Mr. Bad News Ginger’s “right hand man” and just happens to be both a military veteran and a communications professional at finance-focused firm RLM Finsbury.

This lucky chap, who goes by the incredible name Edward Lane Fox (and may or may not have been voiced by George Clooney), will begin this challenging assignment right after the Prince returns from a “US tour” seen as crucial to the rebuilding of his reputation. Wait, did Harry ever have a good reputation? Most importantly, what will he do on his stateside jaunt? Click through for our best guesses:

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There is no greater evidence that a public relations debacle has become part of the cultural consciousness than making Saturday Night Live — so today we offer our very bittersweet congratulations to Rutgers University for finding its way into the zeitgeist via a big old PR fail.

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The spot doubles as a sort of video retrospective and a vehicle for the premier of her new single “Grown Woman”, but we’re still a little disappointed. Where are the robots, Bey? Oh well — such are the trials and tribulations of a “brand ambassador.”

A Jay-Z post deserves a Beyoncé follow-up, right? Well, this week everyone’s favorite star-spangled pop star made a very…strange video announcement. We only know this thanks to the clip below and the #BeyHereNow hashtag. It’s not an Oasis reference, but it is trending on Twitter as everyone tries to figure out what the hell the announcement is all about: A new single? Another baby? A government grant for robotics research in Beyoncé’s name? Whatever it is, it’s a great promotion.

All this six-second clip tells us is that Queen Bey will make an announcement about something tomorrow and that she has officially begun to make the transition from human to machine.

Do you guys have any idea what this is all about?

(H/T to Flavorwire for the tip.)