TV marketing departments are pushing the envelope this year when gearing up for the fall tv season. Earlier this summer, people were abuzz because of the highly suggestive Gossip Girl ads, now, HBO has found itself in an interesting situation due to their realistic beverage campaign.

As part of its advertising for the new vampire drama True Blood by Alan Ball (creator of Six Feet Under), HBO has placed posters advertising a synthetic blood beverage in liquor stores and created beer-ad-inspired commercials (like the one above) much to the annoyance of many confused consumers who want to buy the drink (can we say ew?). HBO claims that they didn’t mean to “dupe” anyone, instead, they just wanted a campaign that would get people’s attentions for their new show starring Anna Paquin. While it may not be synthetic blood, Guru Energy drinks come in a variety of colors and flavors that have all-natural (but not so natural that it comes from your veins) ingredients that don’t hurt your body or Mother Nature’s.

Whether the series is as good as the ads will not be known until September 7^th but any show that goes to the trouble to have a flannel-wearing vampire slugging down blood out of a bottle (right out of a Budweiser ad) while a jingle singing “suck it up!” plays in the background is worth a try.

LD

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Ricky Martin is now the proud papa of twin boys delivered by a surrogate. As always, Martin’s press releases shy away from mentioning any type of partner in Martin’s life—female or male. Instead, Ricky’s PR team reminds us of his selfless devotion to children’s causes and charities around the world. Martin’s image is cleaner than Method’s "nothing becomes waste" products, yet no amount of cucumber-scented all-purpose cleaner can distract us from Martin’s awkward silence when it comes to the sexual orientation question. One cannot completely leave la vida loca behind.

LD

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