Comments on: Yeah, yeah I know-- my favorite web comic sucks

Yeah, yeah I know-- my favorite web comic sucks

dersins — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:19:12 -0800

If you've ever worked with advertising or marketing "professionals," you've probably encountered this guy. Or this guy. Or her. Or one of these three guys.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:25:16 -0800

Tracing people out of magazines is for douchebags.

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:31:16 -0800

Are you dissing matthowie? That'd not be wise.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:37:13 -0800

Haha

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:46:40 -0800

Those first two guys? They post here, don't they?

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:47:31 -0800

Bill Hick's take on advertising and marketing "professionals".

By: gimonca

gimonca — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:53:54 -0800

In Minneapolis, add this tag line to any frame: "You know that thing for Target? We did that."

By: jeffamaphone

jeffamaphone — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:54:18 -0800

Hmm... I worked with all these guys when I was earning a crust in Redmond...

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:55:00 -0800

Well, I totally disagree. Because, you see, if you find a truth that can't be denied, then this is the essence and emotion that's in inherent in its value and it will be seen that way by those who see it. The critical time is the process between the creative idea and the viewer. But whatever. That's it. This post is devoid of meaning. I'm done talking, you... you... pixelfuckers.

By: [expletive deleted]

[expletive deleted] — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:56:04 -0800

What? No hate for the vermin who put people in FMRI machines to find more scientific ways of manipulating people?

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:56:23 -0800

Seems spot on to me, but I left the "Ad Biz" about 6 years ago. Do they still wear trucker caps and talk like that, or is that comic a few years old?

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:58:33 -0800

yes, here in europe we're so intrinsically hip.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:02:06 -0800

Only vaguely apropos, but the new AMC TV series Mad Men is a delicious take on the 1960s world of Madison Avenue. Plenty of douches to go around.

By: christopher.taylor

christopher.taylor — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:02:16 -0800

Seeeing as fMRI is the new phrenology, it never lead to the successful manipulation of anyone...

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:03:59 -0800

I'm not in advertising and all. But wap interfaces?? Didn't that fizzle out 6 yrs ago?

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:04:57 -0800

Ok 'fess up people. Who's in advertising?

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:06:48 -0800

Why do I get the feeling the ~~cartoonist~~ lightbox enthusiast who made these is just as big of a twat as his subjects?

By: [expletive deleted]

[expletive deleted] — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:09:54 -0800

Seeeing as fMRI is the new phrenology, it never lead to the successful manipulation of anyone... But it's the thought that counts.

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:13:48 -0800

Please stop making me think about work douchebags on a Sunday.

By: wannalol

wannalol — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:18:16 -0800

<derail> Does anyone recognise the font used in the dialog in these comics? </derail>

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:23:01 -0800

So, who sponsored this episode of the Hipster's Two Minutes Hate?

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:31:50 -0800

do hipsters hate ad people, or just the ad people that pretend to be hipsters?

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:39:46 -0800

Seems spot on to me, but I left the "Ad Biz" about 6 years ago. I currently do web development in an ad agency and it's pretty spot on, as a composite character anyway. Disturbingly so, even. I'm actually wondering if the author is one of my coworkers, as several of the specific brands mentioned are real clients of my employer, and I've actually heard many of these lines at work.

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:52:40 -0800

live in east village? check. listen to obscure beck remixes and propellerheads? check. only go above 14th for work? kinda check. annoyed by midwesterners? check. shit! am i that guy?!? good thing i don't work in advertising, and am not remotely elitist. *looks around nervously*

By: Haruspex

Haruspex — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:58:28 -0800

I anoint the suppurating wound of my self-loathing with the soothing balm of a six-figure salary. That's what I'm supposed to say, yes?

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:00:13 -0800

Isn't it almost a decade too late to make fun of people who like Beck and Propellerheads?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:03:05 -0800

wap interfaces? Yeah, pretty much all of the things on that bingo card have peaked and are useless now. I think the guy who made these is a pretty middling ad guy himself, actually. And ... yeah it's all pretty accurate.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:04:28 -0800

Isn't it almost a decade too late to make fun of people who like Beck and Propellerheads? Wait, you're right, uh. Between that and the outdated tech... maybe we've stumbled upon a black hole to 1997! Or maybe that's why this guy is so bitter, hah.

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:10:54 -0800

Encountered them? Hell, I know where the bodies are buried.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:16:40 -0800

Back further. This could be a grumble from the bullpen of McMann & Tate. Just sub the tech with "that new Linotype" gizmo. And add George Lois storming in with a .38 for moving the headline down 12 pts.

By: majick

majick — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:28:21 -0800

I'm not in advertising, but some of these caricatures strike me as being as much New Yorker douchebaggery as "marketing douchebaggery." But then, the marketing folks I know are douchebags in completely different ways than these advertising douchebags are.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:31:08 -0800

from his blog: Oh, and there's also talk of an Ad Douche Movie in the works. So if that happens you will all be the first to know. I think there needs to be a new character added: inexplicably-thinks-his-one-note-internet-joke-thats-kind-of-amusing-for-3-seconds-needs-to-be-a-feature-film guy.

By: Justinian

Justinian — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:49:36 -0800

Oh yeah? Well people who live below 14th street annoy ME. So there.

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:55:05 -0800

or is that comic a few years old? I first saw these circulated a year or so ago, so they're at least that old.

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:04:28 -0800

1. Douchebaggery is in not vocation-specific. 2. Using the word "douchebag" is the easiest means of becoming one. 3. Your favourite stereotype sucks.

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:06:57 -0800

huhuh... Peter Johnson... huhuh

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:22:21 -0800

That above/below 14th street dog hasn't hunted in years. If you can afford to live in Manhattan at all, face it, you're too rich to be boho.

By: unwordy

unwordy — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:28:34 -0800

I'm a recovering adman and I have to say, once more, that all of those people exist in abundance. Upon looking at the the creator of those "comics" URL, though, it's clear he's just another one of the people he mocks, perhaps even worse. His awareness of those around him is null and void since he can't see that he is one of them. And his ironic, too-cool-to-care, "professional sell-out" self-tag--how clever! Clearly, admitting you're a sell-out makes it better. Looking back, I can't believe I worked in advertising for nearly 6 years of my life. Once I realized how empty I felt and that I was doing more harm than good in that line of work, I changed, and decided to leave the business. Now I feel sorry for ad types the same way I do for people who still smoke cigarettes. Wake up, people. You only live once! Why not make it matter?

By: strontiumdog

strontiumdog — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:43:46 -0800

These were all posted over a year ago. This comic is based on an actual guy I worked with back in 2000. He and I moved with a company from Atlanta to San Francisco to make internet cartoons. We worked in the "interactive department" of a small ad agency in Atlanta. That's what they called the web side of the ad house. The senior account whatever worked some deal with a developer of a "walled garden" website for children. He then took me, the Flash animator, and Mongo, the web art director, and an illustrator with him on his march to San Francisco and internet stardom. Well, we made a bunch of crap cartoons for two years. We even won an award for one of the less shitty ones!! When it inevitably crashed and burned along with the rest of the intarwebs, everyone went their separate ways. The CEO (senior account guy from ad agency) pulled up stakes and went back to Atlanta with the illustrator. I stayed in SF and Mongo took off for NYC and some big name web house that also crashed and burned eventually. That was the last I had heard from any of those guys. And then about a year or two ago, I saw Mongo's viral ad on youtube - the very viral campaign of which this toon makes fun. I don't know if any Mefites are familiar with this train wreck. I cringed when I saw it. This link goes to the only evidence I can find that it ever existed. The guy on the left in the small picture is Mongo. I only know this because I'm familiar with the situation. When I first knew him I wanted to punch him. He was to me a typical Northeasterner - not a typical ad agency type in my mind. Atlanta's ad industry had egos but nothing so enormous as Mongo's. I didn't know douchebaggery at the level depicted in those toons. I just thought it was a New York thing. Well my post was rambling and pointless, but just thought I would share.

By: TrialByMedia

TrialByMedia — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:46:08 -0800

One of the perks of living in a flyover state is that douchebags fly right over. Hicks, for all their faults, seem to exhibit a measure of sincerity now and then.

By: humannaire

humannaire — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:49:20 -0800

This is how cultural throwbacks in out-of-the-world places like Somewhere, USA and Littletown, Inc. imagine how it is in actual destinations such as Anybigcity, Earth. *superhumanly suppresses depressing shudder* However, why it is FPP'd in Blue is one of those if you play you lose sort-of tests, isn't it? Alright then. Here I play not.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:53:19 -0800

humannaire, trialbymedia: take it from this city-dweller, there are as many sincere hicks in the big city as anywhere else, and there are plenty of pretentious douchebags in any small town. So give the silly city mouse/country mouse fight a rest.

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:53:45 -0800

The only thing that makes me feel better is that almost none of these guys are actually natives of my home city. They're all from Ohio or wherever the hell they grow pod people.

By: strontiumdog

strontiumdog — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:03:54 -0800

Damn, all I had to do was search Metafilter to find more evidence: Agency.com

By: Senor Cardgage

Senor Cardgage — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:07:58 -0800

Propellerheads? Did I bump my head and wake up in 1998?

By: mongonikol

mongonikol — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:35:06 -0800

For the record, strontiumdog, that guy sucked not because his name was mongo but because he failed to live up to the name. With great power comes great responsibility. I should know.

By: humannaire

humannaire — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:55:29 -0800

[copy-rewrite for jonmc/not my market but other respected consumer:] People see other people as seeing things this way? How small-minded. Where's the creativity or humor? It makes me nauseated. I really appreciate stuff like this that is done well. But this is like the some idea of ad agency foibling done piss-poorly.

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:06:41 -0800

Well, as far as naming names goes, this one calls out Agency.com pretty explicitly.

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:16:55 -0800

I gotta remember to refresh the page after I get back from dinner and before I post...

By: doublesix

doublesix — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:17:56 -0800

Creative Department douchebag doesn't know how to spell Neil Peart. Plonk.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:43:18 -0800

Or "fellatio."

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:59:05 -0800

Sorry, but I don't think the name Mongo has anywhere left to go but downhill after this guy.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:22:18 -0800

Am I missing something here? All the links in the FPP are just blank pages except for a link labeled "next" that goes to another blank page.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:26:09 -0800

Oh nevermind, I turned off AdBlock and could see them after a refresh. Kinda lame anyways.

By: ethnomethodologist

ethnomethodologist — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:56:09 -0800

Why does everyone from New York think the rest of the world cares about them?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:46:32 -0800

delusions of grandeur.

By: unwordy

unwordy — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:30:15 -0800

I'm a New Yorker and I don't think the rest of the world cares about us. However, speaking as an American, I just know ;^) the rest of the world cares about us. We're like, the only country that matters. Duh!

By: salvia

salvia — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:11:27 -0800

"Yo, let's go to Jamba Juice and brainstorm."

By: evilgenius

evilgenius — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:39:39 -0800

reggie digest: the new term is douchepuddle...

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:55:55 -0800

My New Advertising Technique Is Unstoppable

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:03:41 -0800

douchepuddle Douché.

By: mongonikol

mongonikol — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:14:09 -0800

Sorry, but I don't think the name Mongo has anywhere left to go but downhill after this guy. miss lynster, are you telling me you know not of the greatness of Blazing Saddles? That Mongo is Alex Karras aka Webster's dad! "Mongo like candy" "Mongo like Sheriff Tate" ...or my personal fave... "Mongo pawn in game of life" I've heard 'em all, like, for life. In other news, Mongo was also the name of the giant gingerbread man from Shrek.