Before there were tents in Zuccotti Park, before there were demonstrations, the creative minds at the Canadian magazine Adbusters had already made the name "Occupy Wall Street" — a Twitter hash tag that was creating buzz. And then they had a slogan: We are the 99 percent. Unsurprising for a group that has specialized in activism through subversive advertising, or subvertising, as they call it.

The Takeaway has been talking this week about the controversy that has erupted around the TLC reality show "All-American Muslim" after the home improvement store Lowe's pulled its ads from the broadcast. The move came after a group called the Florida Family Association launched a campaign against the show, urging companies to pull their ads. Reaction to the Florida Family Association and Lowe's has raised the profile of the cable show, as well as the community of Dearborn, Michigan where it is filmed.

"From the creator of 'I'm Running For Office for Pete's Sake' comes the story of two men trapped in the same body — Mitt versus Mitt." It sounds like a movie trailer, but it's really the latest political ad from the Democratic National Committee. The DNC is reportedly spending $22,000 to run the ad this week. Among the GOP presidential candidates, Rick Perry has already spent $2.8 million on advertising, Ron Paul has spent $2.1 million, Mitt Romney has spent $134,000, and Herman Cain has spent $78,900. But what kind of poll numbers does one TV spot really buy?

Most of us prefer to fast-forward through TV commercials in our everyday lives. But on Super Bowl Sunday, the ads are almost as hyped as the game itself.

Featuring celebrity endorsements, special effects, and the kind of humor that pushes the envelope, Super Bowl ads have the potential to become iconic, and our digital age, viral. Not surprisingly, this also means the price of a commercial is high. For this past weekend’s game, companies paid approximately three million dollars per thirty second spot. (Check out some of the ads after the jump.)

Smokers going to buy a pack of cigarettes will soon be greeted with a warning label containing graphic images of dead bodies, blackened organs and women crying. As of 2011, the Food and Drug Administration will require cigarette packs and ads to show more detailed images of the consequences of smoking, and 36 images (pdf) (some of them fairly graphic) have been approved. But how effective will this approach be in preventing smokers from lighting up? 

Tomorrow is election day and candidates on both sides of the ballot are throwing their final pitch to voters. But are candidates trying to get away with throwing curve balls? We do a sanity check on various last-ditch ad campaigns with PolitiFact editor Bill Adair.

For almost thirty years, drivers in South Florida have been wondering about "Naked Carpet Guy," and last November, they voted to have WLRN's "Under the Sun" series find out. 

• DANGEROUS ADVERTISING: Digital billboards are a great way to catch the eye of potential customers, which is great for advertisers, but not for driver safety. New York Times finance reporter Louise Story tells us about a new study that looks at the potential dangers of the flashy billboards. 
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, joins us with a look at NCAA basketball. In women's basketball UConn proves unbeatable. And in men's basketball, Syracuse has overcome a challenging season to become the number one team.

You might think he's an unlikely choice as the face of a soda, but a Russian beverage company has chosen the image of Joseph Stalin for its logo. The former Soviet dictator is gracing the labels of a limited edition range of soda bottles. It's part of a growing trend in Russia to rehabilitate Stalin from a monster to a hero. We find out if this represents genuine change in public opinion in Russia of Stalin.

• Advertising Takeout: Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop on why she thinks Accenture should keep its endorsement deal with Tiger Woods, not drop it, despite Woods' personal troubles.
• Sports Takeout: Our own sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, brings us the highlights from yesterday's NFL action and his personal picks on what match-ups to watch for as the Saints and the Colts clinch home field advantage for the playoffs.

• Business Takeout: New York Times finance reporter Louise Story says the companies that Tiger Woods endorses have pulled television advertisements featuring the scandal-plagued golfer.
  
• Ireland Takeout: BBC Correspondent Mark Simpson on the massive cuts unveiled today in Ireland's annual budget, which make for a particularly sad coda to the "Celtic Tiger's" rapid economic growth in the 1990s.
• Listener Takeout: We hear from you, our listeners, on finding and keeping jobs both full-time and freelance.

President Obama is addressing a joint session of Congress tonight. His mission? To sell health care reform. In what may be the pitch of his presidency, President Obama hopes to jumpstart the debate that has stalled over the summer while critics of his health proposals dominated many public forums and his approval ratings dropped. To help President Obama get in touch with his inner Willie Loman and sell health care reform to a seemingly skeptical audience, we have gathered a roundtable of experts: Ted Widmer is a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton; Lisa Schiffren is a former speechwriter for Vice President Dan Quayle; and Cindy Gallop, an advertising consultant and former chair of ad agency BBH.

Pharmaceutical mega-corporation Pfizer has agreed to pay $2.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties for its unlawful drug promotions. The company will pay the largest health care fraud fine in history for aiming their advertising dollars at patients, not doctors; promoting off-label uses of their drugs without FDA approval; and creating and distributing phony "independent" medical educational materials. The products at the heart of the case include Bextra, a drug approved to treat arthritis but marketed for other uses; and Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant promoted as a smoking cessation aid. Pfizer's agreement to pay the penalty for their intent to defraud marks the culmination of a long and complex case. Tony West is the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He worked on the case and joins us to talk about drugs, advertising, and the law.

To sift through the rumors, hearsay, and falsehoods being spoken and shouted in the debate over health care reform, The Takeaway talks to Trudy Lieberman, director of the Health and Medicine Reporting Program at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism and a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review.

This Sunday, AMC kicks off the third season of its runaway hit, Mad Men. Set in 1960’s New York City, the show celebrates the world-weary cool of the Madison Avenue advertising world. It also portrays an America in transition, having passed through the doldrums of the Eisenhower era and not yet ready for the free lovin’ Woodstock nation. For a look at what this year’s Mad Men brings to the small screen, we are joined by Eric Deggans. He is the television and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times. And to gauge if Mad Men gets the advertising world right, we are joined by Cindy Gallop. She is an advertising consultant and former chairman of the advertising agency BBH.

Courtesy of AMC TV, here's the finale of season 2:

This past weekend, just-released "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" took in about $30 million more than just-released "Julie and Julia." We discuss the public hunger to see "Joe,"despite the damning reviews, with a moviegoer who really cares: 10-year-old Detroit resident Grant Headlee. We also get the critics' take from Ben Fritz, Los Angeles Times staff reporter.

Watch the G.I. Joe trailer to get a glimpse for yourself.

Smokey Bear turned 65 on Sunday. He represents the longest running public service campaign in U.S. history, and it's still going strong. Joining The Takeaway is Helene Cleveland, fire prevention program manager for the U.S. Forest Service, to talk about Smokey's impact on preventing wildfires.

Viral marketing campaigns have changed the way the entertainment industry lures audiences. For the TV show "True Blood," for instance, the ad campaign that generated buzz was an effort to mobilize support for a (fictitious) Vampire Rights Amendment. The Takeaway is joined by one of the people behind the "True Blood" campaign, Steve Wax, a managing partner at Campfire ad agency, and Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor for Ad Week magazine.

Watch a video featuring the Vampire Rights Amendment viral ad campaign:

As much as the world of journalism is having to react and evolve quickly due to the proliferation of blogs and social networking sites like Twitter taking over much of the fast-paced reporting, so too does the world of advertising. In the face of technological advances like TiVo, which allow viewers to fast forward over their very bread-and-butter, ad agencies and the companies they represent are having to get very creative to capture consumers' attention. To discuss the brave new world of 30-second spot- free advertising, we turn to advertising consultant and former chairman of ad agency BBH, Cindy Gallop.

Click through for transcript

Here's how one company is handling the change in advertising:

Consumers are spending less money, so companies are using increasingly aggressive advertising techniques to compete for dwindling dollars. Does bashing your competitors help or hurt? Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop joins The Takeaway to describe the fierce ad climate.

This Domino's commercial is an example of the battle of the brands. Take a look.