billboard Archives - Sludge Central

AD JERSEUM: Shannon Rose – Ireland in New Jersey

Posted on March 18, 2014 by sexyarmpit

While you may be recuperating from a weekend of St. Patrick’s Day parades and imbibing enough liquor to get 3 of Jabba the Hutt’s drunk uncles even drunker, why not enjoy the latest installment of Ad Jerseum? It’s been a while, so here it goes!

Unless there’s some free food in it for me, giving free plugs to chain restaurants is not something I do. I really contemplated posting about this billboard solely for that reason, but ultimately it’s too Jersey too pass it up. I’d much rather give the plug to a local mom and pop restaurant, but today’s billboard literally jumped out at me several months ago.

I took this photo a while back and rather than just sit on it until next year, it would probably be best if I actually posted this before St. Patrick’s Day 2014 comes to an end, wouldn’t you say?

This billboard ad resides on Route 1 South in the Rahway area. It caught my eye thanks to its usage of the state. The comparison is very persuasive. If you’re a fan of Irish pubs/restaurants and you’re cruising down Route 1, I think it would entice you to turn off.

As offensive it might be to some, the fact is, I’m not really a big fan of Irish pubs. It’s more because I prefer Italian and Mexican food over basically any other cuisine, but I have to admit, nothing beats beer, burgers, and those giant fries at an Irish pub.

Shannon Rose, an Irish pub/restaurant chain, has 3 locations and they’ re all in New Jersey. I’ve eaten there many times and I’ve never been disappointed, although I will say that it gets extremely packed, and it’s pretty loud, especially on Sundays during football season. It’s definitely not a spot to go if you’re trying to be incognito, but the beer is cold and the appetizers are great.

AD JERSEUM 13: Boardwalk Empire in Atlantic City

Posted on September 26, 2011 by sexyarmpit

For last year’s premiere of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, the ad campaign was seen all over Atlantic City. The series of posters for the first season were beautifully painted and appeared in magazines, blogs, and naturally, along the boardwalk in Atlantic City. You might have also seen these posters while you were baking on the beach because they were all over the pier.

Not too long ago Miss Sexy Armpit and I saw a couple of billboards for the 2nd season of Boardwalk Empire on the Atlantic City Expressway. These were more of a viral type ad campaign in contrast to the lavish artwork used in the 1st season’s campaign. The Atlantic City Beautification Project is a bit of a ruse if you don’t bother to look at the rest of the billboard. Since Atlantic City has actually made progress in beautifying it’s central area with new landscaping, upscale outdoor shopping, various restaurants, and Jay Z’s 40/40 Club, one might think that the A.C Beautification Project was a real municipal initiative. Either way, the ad indicates that we have Nucky Thompson to thank for it.

When seen from your car before you split off to go to your casino, this smaller version of the billboard is even more realistic. It’s like one of those homemade signs stuck in someone’s lawn promoting a candidate for a spot in the local government. Props to HBO for another cool localized ad campaign. The only thing that could make it feel more real is if it said Nucky Johnson!

Ad Jerseum 12: More McDonald’s Billboards

Posted on July 27, 2011 by sexyarmpit

Michelle Obama recently hailed McDonald’s efforts to make Happy Meals healthier. The Sexy Armpit has also hailed McD’s recently for it’s regional “Toast Your Town” marketing campaign. Although the last McDonald’s billboard I spotted was a bit convoluted (read this link), the two latest McDonald’s Toast Your Town billboards I found are pretty damn cool.

New Jersey’s coastline stretches for nearly 130 miles, but The Garden State is far from tropical. It’s safe to say that any palm tree you see is either of the cheesy fiber optic variety, a blow up pool decoration, or imported from a warmer state. Considering that we constantly get pummeled with blizzards in the winter, the idea of a drink that can make us feel more tropical or exotic here in NJ is welcome. All I have to do to feel tropical is buy a fruity drink from McDonalds? Will the Mango Pineapple Fruit Smoothie automatically transport me to an exotic island? Obviously a mere smoothie won’t whisk you away on a $10,000 dollar getaway to Hawaii, but perhaps Long Beach Island will be in your future? I bet they also recommend the tanning salon for the full effect.

I have to hand it to the McDonald’s marketing team for utilizing the localized ad concept. It’s an effective way to reach groups of people in specific regions. Most of the nationwide McDonalds ads are fairly generic and aren’t very impressive, so these are at least more entertaining. They must be, especially since I felt they were worth a follow up blog post.

The “pumping fists not gas” line has previously appeared on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

A large iced coffee at McDonalds probably would make me want to pump my fists, but not because I want to be mistaken for a guido, more because I would be insanely hopped up on caffeine.

If you read the last installment of Ad Jerseum, you will probably agree that despite whatever controversy exists between New York and New Jersey, The Statue of Liberty is simply not a symbol of New Jersey. People associate Lady Liberty with New York and naturally, the entire United States. I would say more people think of guidos when they hear “New Jersey” mentioned. It’s unfortunate that thanks to MTV’s hard-on for guidos, New Jersey may never overcome that association. Regardless of it being a negative association or not, I’ll admit that the second I saw the words “fist pump” the ad had my attention. I can’t believe fist pumping is as part of New Jersey as plastic surgery is to California. Yay stereotypes!