A note to PR/marketing folks planning to build campaigns around C-list celebrities: just because the public hates them doesn’t mean we won’t get offended on their behalf. Despite the fact that recent polling found the Kardashian family to be slightly less popular than the U.S. Congress (which boasts as dismal 9% approval rating), the Ford Motor Company still had to apologize this week for a couple of very weird overseas print ad spots, one of which depicted Kim and her sisters in a…compromising situation in the back of the brand-new compact Ford Figo driven by one Paris Hilton (ugh).

The strangest thing about this story is probably the fact that the spot, created by Ford’s Indian ad agency WPP, was never meant to be seen by the (Indian) public.

Read more

The halcyon days of 2008 seem like a distant memory to most of us, but the predictable lamestream media has yet to recover from its fascination with former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

When Sarah went shopping in LA’s Studio City this week, the trusty paparazzi were there to capture all the action—and the resulting photos led gossip blogs to speculate about her apparent weight loss.

Never one to let the story get away from her, Palin (sort of) responded in an email to People magazine, stating that her family “…is writing a book on fitness and self-discipline focusing on where we get our energy and balance as we still eat our beloved homemade comfort foods!”

Palin and husband Todd have always identified as proud hunters–and Sarah has commented on her “high protein”, Atkins-style diet in the past. In her first post-election interview way back in ’08, she spoke with Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren while preparing a moose chili that sounded quite delicious. We think she may be onto something here!

As of this morning, no publisher or date for the book has been announced.

Will Sarah hire Nancy French, ghostwriter of daughter Bristol’s memoir, to pen this meaty tome? Will this new project help revive the Palin brand? More importantly, why didn’t Kris Jenner think of this first? “Kooking with the Kardashians” practically writes itself!

It would appear that imitation is indeed the greatest form of flattery, especially when it comes to Halloween costume sales in an election year.

According to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, sales of Halloween masks often mirror the popularity candidates enjoy with the public and hint at the ultimate winner of presidential elections. Spirit Halloween, one of the largest costume retailers in the U.S., says that the Obama mask is leading with 64% of the retailer’s nationwide mask sales.

Spirit Halloween’s “Presidential Index” based on mask sales has accurately predicted election winners since way back in the glory days of 1996. Nothing about this survey is scientific, of course, but PR experts know that our business has as much to do with timing and circumstance as psychology and hard science.

PR professionals are trained to extrapolate meaning and patterns from even the quirkiest of correlations and relationships. This type of data is our Mars Rover, and seeing human behavior in a new and revealing way for the first time is our ancient Martian streambed. In other words, this is PR geek stuff. Read more

It’s been two whole months since we’ve mentioned the Kardashians. According to “insiders” at the New York Post, this is just one more sign that the K-Klan is losing its mojo.

An article in the paper today says the ratings for their reality show have dropped and they can’t sell magazines or their own products. And it was the Kim-and-Kris divorce that was to blame.

Forbes takes the time to pick this apart and says it ain’t so: their magazines cover sell, they’re still being paid big bucks for appearances, their shows are ratings winners, and Kim was not replaced by a dog in the Skechers ads. So there you have it. In between our “Sh*t XXX Say” videos and episodes of Toddlers & Tiaras and watching stupid GOP campaign ads, we still care about the Kardashians.

Sadly, I was having this very conversation with a fellow Mediabistro-er this week, with my colleague explaining that the fake marriage was the reason why she stopped watching the E! show. What prompted the conversation? We were talking about whether or not Khloe is a real Kardashian. Noooooooo!