Bat Boy, an obituary

Prophesize the ruin of the blessed Wall Street Journal under Rupert Murdoch, if you want. I write this obituary to mark the passing of a cult-rated standard of true brand-genius: Weekly World News, “The World's Only Reliable Newspaper,” will depart the sphere of dead-tree media with its 27 August issue. Saggy circulation (the tabloid’s, not mine) has killed my career-dream of writing truly ridiculous bullshit for its own sake.

For 28 years, this absurd little chronicle has delivered Nothing But the Truth on the world’s fattest alien babies, wicked deeds of dead celebrities, and Saddam Hussein’s secret heartbreak. But the discovery and continuing exploits of a particular animal-human amalgam gave this grocery store tabloid its most brilliant headlines and best-selling covers. And when WWN editor Dick Kulpa hit us with the chiropteran child named Bat Boy, a pop-idol of a different face entered our shared consciousness.

Bat Boy Bites Santa Claus! Bat Boy Leads Cops on Three State Chase! Bat Boy Endorses Gore! (And after graduating from a small liberal arts college in upstate New York,) Bat Boy Announces Run for California Governorship!

America’s Favorite Hybrid was everywhere. In an acclaimed off-Broadway musical. On stage in London’s West End. In a weekly cartoon detailing the life and times of the fanged grotesque after he resigned from the office of President of the United States (I’m not touching this one!). And, my fav-o, on the big screen in Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys.

“Elusive and reclusive, where he will pop up next is anybody's guess.” Don’t worry, American Media tells us, you can still read all about Bat Boy on-line! He Lives!

But those hours in the grocery store queue just won't be the same.

Newspaper Assn. Makes the Case for the Internet

I don't know if the Newspaper Association of America is running this campaign in your market, but it has finally reached the prairie. And to ferret out new newspaper advertisers, it makes a compelling pitch for the effectiveness of...the net.

When the $50 million campaign broke earlier in the year, it stirred up some interesting conversations about the relevance of newspapers among ad wonks at buzzmachine and adfreak. But by the time the effort reach us in the hinterlands, few had noted this irony: the beautiful creative (Martin Agency) delivers an uncomfortably defensive strategy (Newspaper Advertising. A Destination. Not a Distraction) that actually drives readers to the Internet for more info.

A newspaper needs the web to deliver more information?

Is that really how the Newspaper Association wants to prove its relevance?

This is how the campaign's home page describes the situation:

"Those individuals planning and buying advertising today are faced with a 'perfect storm' of challenges. The high pressures of demand for ROI swirling one way and meeting waning ad influence from an audience who increasingly seeks to avoid advertising. Into that environment comes the opt in media for this opt out world. Newspaper media."

And so newspapers prove the case against them before they even start to argue their own.

ON THE OTHER HAND — if it gets you to hit the campaign's website, has the print ad done its job?