That is a pretty remarkable thing: From propaganda vehicle Act of Valor to propaganda vehicle Argo, Mercedes product placement dominated the 34 number-one box office flicks of last year, appearing in ten of them. (The big winner last year was Apple, with appearances in 42% of #1 films.) Don't you want to drive a Mercedes now. And drink human blood. What will become of our children. When we are all pressed into service of the brands and industrial entertainment war complex. They will fight each other in the streets and then get into their Mercedes car-robots and zoom away to their abandoned buildings. So sad.

It’s that magical time of the year when brand preferences are being lodged in the consumer psyche by any means necessary, be it free online shipping offers or conventional “doorbuster” style shopper stampedes. (Plus, in an admirable show of advance conditioning, there are those sidebar Four Loko-fueled parking lot brawls.)

But the romance of the brand is a notoriously ephemeral thing, as any casual survey of thrift-store Tickle-Me Elmo and Tamagotchi displays will promptly demonstrate. To do the job right, in this as in so many other realms, we would do well to heed the example of the Germans. As Bloomberg’s Chris Reiter reports, Deutschland’s [...]

Signs of the Recession:

The Mercedes-Benz showroom sent out a letter this week to customers advertising a "private, 3-day only offering of in-stock automobiles" on April 23 through 25th. Why the sudden fire sale? "To be perfectly frank, we are out of space," claims the letter. They are offering a $10,000 dollar discount on the S, CL and SL-classes of the 600 cars currently crowding both of their Manhattan showrooms. And 1.9% financing. And a free two-year maintenance plan. Also, just for coming in, they'll give you a $25 "gift card," usable for service or accessories. Rough times!