• by John Gaffney , August 8, 2002

Hey, Call Jesse Ventura. This Can Work Over Here, I Tell Ya: According to Ananova news service, an advertising campaign against moaners has been launched in Austria. It is aimed at stopping people grumbling about the country's economy and making things worse by eroding confidence. Billboards feature the slogan "No more moaners" and an image of a miserable face with a red line through it. The campaign is the brainchild of the Austrian advertising industry and Chamber of Commerce.

Every Little Bit Helps, I Guess: Primedia, publisher of magazines ranging from Seventeen to Soap Opera Digest to BEEF, has sold two titles related to collectibles as part of its effort to reduce debt. Primedia sold its group of collectibles magazines, which consists of Teddy Bear and Friends as well as Doll Reader, to Ashton International Media, Inc., for an undisclosed sum.

Go To AOL. Do A Search On ‘Detached:’ “Of course, I have an interest in the success of the company now as well as in the future but I tend to be less focused on day-to-day and more focused on where the company is going -- the strategic direction -- and by definition that results in leaning into the future. I'm concerned with the overall well-being of the company and making sure AOL is back on track. Anything I can do to be helpful, I stand ready to do.” Steve Case in the Washington Post, Thursday, Aug. 8

Want Better Plots In Prime Time? Careful What You Wish For: In the UK, the executive producer of ITV1's schlock-tastic drama Footballers' Wives has defended an outrageous storyline in which the character gives birth to a hermaphrodite baby.

Howard Kurtz Tells It Like It Is: The Washington Post media ombudsman on news coverage of child kidnappings: “The recent outbreak of media hype over child-snatchings seems to know no bounds. All manner of relatives, friends and the surviving victims themselves are rounded up for the talk show circuit, their grief marketed for public consumption. It's almost expected now: something terrible happens to you or your family, you head for the nearest studio and tell the world.”

And So Does Martin Kaplan: The associate dean at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication told the PBS NewsHour, in its report called Advertising Angst: “The idea that viewers are eager and willing partners in this fiscal, social contract to watch the ads, I think that leaves consumers laughing hysterically, and only hysteria in the corporate boardroom.”