Sheila Casey

And now for some shameless self-promotion

If you think I make money off this blog, you are oh so wrong.  It is purely a labor of love. 

In my other life, I am an advertising copywriter. I've written ads for Coors, Microsoft, Disney, AOL, Discovery and the Smithsonian, plus nearly a hundred companies you've never heard of, from dozens of different industries.  My best work is archived here.

Incidentally, copywriter doesn't mean I just write the words (although that is sometimes the case).  In the samples below, I also chose the graphic or illustration.  For the Smithsonian ads, we used stock photos and I picked the ones I wanted.  For the Falafel King ad, I hired an illustrator to create the famous finger-touching scene, and for the "Money Talks" ad I just asked the art director to use an image of lots of cash.

Here are a few of my faves:

This blog is now reaching about 6,000 people a month, but sadly, my donations button (in the upper right corner) is little used. If you like my work, please forward this link to your brother in law, your neighbor, your former boss -- anyone needing a cracker jack copywriter. Thank you!

You wouldn't buy our shitty cars

You probably thought it was smart to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: we spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time you'll buy American like a real man. Either way, we’re cool.

We're the big three. We don't need to compete.

Bill Richardson as a job applicant in new TV ad

Give him credit for doing something different and being willing to look, gasp, unpresidential. 

Oliver Stone directs VideoVets ad

The chorus of those calling for us to leave Iraq is now overwhelming.  Only someone who cares nothing for this country or its people would persist in keeping our soldiers there.  That someone is GW Bush.

What nefarious reason does he have for wanting to keep us there?  I suspect it's about the oil, the same reason we invaded in the first place.  By keeping permanent US bases there, he hopes to have first dibs on Iraqi oil.  If we leave now, bringing home every last soldier, what will become of all that oil?  That's what he and Cheney worry about. 

Looking for WMDs, bringing democracy to the Middle East, fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here, preventing a safe haven for Al Qaeda, waiting for them to stand up so we can stand down--that's all smoke and mirrors to keep our eyes off the real ball--the liquid gold in them thar Iraqi hills. 

Iraq War veteran John Bruhns speaks out about the immorality of the US occupation in a spot directed by Oliver Stone.

Major General John Batiste: Protect Our Troops

It's only the retired or fired generals who get to speak the truth.  While they're actually employed by the Army or Marines they're expected to toe (tow?) the party line.

Thank you John Batiste for speaking out.  But what took you so long?

Evolution Film from Dove Real Beauty

With time-elapse photography, we see a plain-Jane get transformed into a stunner via a small army of hair stylists, prodigious application of make-up, and finally, Photoshop, to lengthen her neck, plump her lips and widen her eyes. 

Who needs to watch this clip?

Any woman who's every read a magazine like Glamour, Cosmo, or Shape and felt bad cause she doesn't measure up to the flawless creatures she sees there.

Any man who's every read a magazine like Maxim, Playboy or Penthouse and wonders why he never gets to meet women like that.