John Sears | August 24, 2011
I’ll give them credit for original marketing at the very least: Free contest for horror fans! Enter to win an appearance in the zombie world of The Return Man — an action-packed undead thriller coming in March 2012 from publisher Hodder & Stoughton. One winner’s name will be immortalized as a character in the actual [...]
John Sears | July 18, 2011
A short time ago we declined to switch our checkout system to Google Checkout because of their rather onerous censorship policies, which as free speech advocates the ZRC cannot condone. Now it seems that Paypal wants to irritate us too: At a company event today at its headquarters in San Jose, PayPal provided at least [...]
John Sears | July 2, 2011
You know how sometimes life throws you a curve-ball and you end up seeing something that really transforms your view of the world, or some tiny portion thereof? Now, we’ve seen Anti-Zombie and Zombie Friendly commercials here at the ZRC before; I am not unschooled in the art of using Zombies to market a product, [...]
John Sears | June 24, 2011
We had this item passed to us by numerous individuals on Tuesday, but I believe The Horror Society, our long trusted correspondents, got it to us first: Yes, that’s right; a chart that claims to categorize all Zombies by two axes: speed and intelligence. Nevermind that the idea of a single, easily quantifiable measurement of [...]
John Sears | June 23, 2011
This is a random little gem of Undead sympathy in advertising that I came across.. somehow or other… in my internet journeys and wanted to share. I have no information on whether the arthritis treatment it’s hawking is the least bit effective, but their humor and sympathy for a man who’s come back from the [...]
John Sears | June 21, 2011
Sure, the way that noted Anti-Zombie merchants at Think Geek may have chosen to market this product is highly unethical, but the ZRC would be remiss if we failed to inform you that cuddly Zombie (and Vampire) plush toys are currently on a major sale: $17.99 (save 56%) On Sale $7.99 In stock I have [...]
John Sears | June 7, 2011
Ignoring the thick layer of scorn heaped on the Differently Animated by the usual suspects at Dread Central, this sounds like it could be a winner: Let’s face it … just because you’re a rotting, shambling, undead thing with a hunger for human flesh doesn’t mean that you don’t need anyone to look out for [...]
John Sears | June 6, 2011
Noted internet hate merchant ThinkGeek isn’t satisfied with repeatedly earning the ZRC’s ire selling flagrantly Anti-Zombie products, oh no; sometimes they have to take a product that could be gently subversive of the prevailing negative stereotypes of the Differently Animated and ruin it with their ad copy. Example: It’s What Zombies Crave – Little ice-cubes [...]
John Sears | June 5, 2011
I know I probably sound like a broken record of late, talking about how the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ is being used by mercenary and unethical capitalists to accumulate lucre while spreading hate, but they really will try and sell you anything with fears of Zombies. The latest example: BBQ Beef Tactical Sammich Tactical Sammiches are available [...]
John Sears | June 5, 2011
Unfortunately I came to this story a bit late, but it’s still a fascinating example of how a complete lack of cultural sensitivity can lead to even initially well-intentioned people making terrible faux pas. Case in point: Creators of a railroad safety mascot named Brainy are sending him to the Memphis Zombie Massacre on Friday [...]