Ruth Shalit

  • The day the brands died

    You may have thought Webvan and Kozmo were just dot-com delivery boys. But their demise has left their customers deeply scarred and cast adrift in a suddenly meaningless universe.
    By Ruth Shalit and Robin Danielson Hafitz July 11, 2001

  • The early-adopter wars

    Stodgy companies are paying big bucks to learn about the trendsetting tastes of "alpha consumers." But will sales of meat tenderizer dance to a techno beat?
    By Ruth Shalit March 22, 2001

  • I went to Brand Camp and all I got was this dumb snack-food epiphany

    We have seen the reality TV of the future, and it is 20 hipsters spending a loft weekend thinking about packaged goods.
    By Ruth Shalit January 2, 2001

  • The focus group is bubbling and sparkling!

    Doing market research in Milan is an exceptional, a very brilliant idea! More grappa!
    By Ruth Shalit December 12, 2000

  • Chain saws, drugs and lesbians

    By Ruth Shalit
    By October 4, 2000

  • Chain saws, drugs and lesbians

    Olympic advertising deserves a gold medal -- in confusion.
    By Ruth Shalit September 30, 2000

  • Oh Boy! The new beef jerky

    The meat snack gets a marketing makeover, but will on-the-go professionals bite?
    By Ruth Shalit September 14, 2000

  • Buying short

    Why prancing dwarves didn't fly for Long John Silver's.
    By Ruth Shalit August 7, 2000

  • Bush and Cheney: The secret transcripts

    Exclusive documents fabricated online reveal the hidden story behind the veep selection process.
    By Mickey Kaus and Ruth Shalit July 26, 2000

  • Branding consultants' games make asses out of clients

    "The spirit of P.T. Barnum lives."
    By June 28, 2000

  • Send in the clowns

    In a quest to define its brand, a dot-com start-up turns to that old standby of corporate America: The Bunny Game.
    By Ruth Shalit June 21, 2000

  • Letters to the editor

    Does Napster rob artists? Plus: The secret lives of spokescharacters; switching race on the census.
    March 28, 2000

  • The Mr. Peanut chronicles

    Burned by past disasters, icon managers have learned the hard way that the suave mascot must never wear a wetsuit and that Ronald McDonald cannot hang out in bars.
    By Ruth Shalit March 24, 2000

  • The inner Doughboy

    How an army of admen battle to define and protect the true nature of the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy and other advertising spokescharacters.
    By Ruth Shalit March 23, 2000

  • Super Bowl ads: Winners and losers

    Ad biz pooh-bahs at a New York party critique the good, the bad and the dot-coms in the industry's biggest showcase.
    By Ruth Shalit January 31, 2000

  • Letters to the Editor

    Why send a prude to cover a bondage party? Plus: Mom should worry more about kid's health than Ritalin's stigma; what the heck's an "Agilent," anyway?
    Letters to the Editor December 7, 1999

  • The name game

    Welcome to the vicious world of corporate name-creation, where $75,000 buys you a suffix and competing shops slur each other over the virtues of Agilent and Avilant.
    By Ruth Shalit November 30, 1999

  • Letters to the Editor

    Horowitz takes aim at wrong targets, and misfires. Plus: the bizarre world of advertising; do doctors always know best?
    Letters to the Editor October 4, 1999

  • Why is Madison Avenue gripped by insanity?

    After pondering the "cultural meat values" of Peparami, the only question remaining is: What are these guys smoking?
    By Ruth Shalit September 29, 1999

  • Hypnotizing slackers for Starbucks, and other visionary acts of marketing research

    Through hypnosis, deconstructive theory and other advanced techniques, marketing experts have definitively established that champagne is associated with romance.
    By Ruth Shalit September 28, 1999

  • The return of the hidden persuaders

    Driven by a booming economy, a corporate obsession with brand-building and a feelgood philosophy, a motley crew of ex-grad students, starry-eyed admen and hypnosis gurus are probing the consumer unconscious to sell soap.
    By Ruth Shalit September 27, 1999

  • Budweiser: Bad for your waistline -- and bad for America

    Dick Morris is telling his clients to start running political-style hit attack ads. Here's Salon's exclusive look at the first crop.
    By Ruth Shalit June 14, 1999

  • Letters to the Editor

    Ad was from hell, but so is the lawsuit; Horowitz should blame GOP for security lapses.
    Letters to the Editor June 4, 1999

  • The ad from hell

    Can a company successfully sue an agency for making a commercial that really, really sucks? Stay tuned for a word from our courthouse.
    By Ruth Shalit May 28, 1999

  • The woman in the gray flannel Mao jacket

    After two months as an ad woman, Ruth Shalit surveys the historic depiction of her profession and decides she'd rather be a late-capitalist soul-snatcher than a cringing drunk or a thieving ho'.
    By Ruth Shalit May 11, 1999
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