THOUGHTBOX

A lot of people have been talking about Lana del Ray and whether or not she is an authentic musician or a product designed to enthrall and a fake that has crossed indie fans. Normally I don’t pursue these kinds of things. You can enjoy music regardless of the people behind it. One of my favorite bands, Tool, once said in an interview that you don’t need to know where the artist sleeps, who he sleeps with, what he eats to enjoy his music. That’s something I heartily agree with. Yet there’s a lot of buzz around about this Lana Del Rey. Who is she? Lana Del Rey made her debut under her real name of Lizzie Grant: a bleached blonde, post-americana Nancy Sinatra-esque indie singer with a raspy voice. Yet things didn’t kick off for her until she used her made-up name that she’s much more famous for. Lizzie has admitted that “Lana del Rey” is the creation of the team behind her music identity, and is a combination of the movie star Lana Turner and the Ford Del Rey. When these marketing po...

A gym in Dubai stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy on Facebook after the company, The Circuit Factory, released an ad spoofing the Auschwitz concentration camp for their facility. Yup. Here's what the company's founder had to say:  “The idea of the campaign isn’t to upset anybody. The way branding works is (listen closely to this expert) you want people talking about your business. We want them talking about us, but we don’t want people to take offence at it. He added that he used the Auschwitz image because the classes are "like a calorie concentration camp." Now before we throw stones at these people for profiting from genocide, furthermore, before we ask how these people released this ad thinking they will not stir this level of controversy - it's wise to remember, they probably did realize it's going to be that controversial. And they profited from it. Not saying I support their use of this historic event for advertising purposes here. I'm...