I've noticed a recent trend in advertising lately.. I refer to it as the 'balls-to-the-wall' approach..

It seems to be the trend for some in industries who are currently being scrutinized for one reason or another. Take the fast-food industry.. As society collectively wises up and realizes that the ol' Classic Triple might not be aiding towards longevity, Fast Food has been collectively reacting in their ad campaigns..

There's the conforming approach: The market is demanding healthier items, so now they're offering them.. I've sure you've seen all the ads now touting items such as salads, fruit, or yogurt cups. What's kind of funny is the way these items are sometimes portrayed in the same light as the Big Mac or the Whopper back when they premiered; The ads offer the impression that a bowl of grapes with some walnuts is a new concoction that some McDonalds lab-chef dreamt up at the corporate headquarters. But otherwise these ads are otherwise pretty benign and conciliatory.

Wendy's was a little bolder, with their ad for their new Kid's Menu, where the concept of choice is given strange emphasis. A figurative child customer is told how he can now choose other sides in his Kids Meal besides fries -- such as mandarin oranges or 2% milk -- and the power that comes from this discretion is noted. It's the old Burger-King-Have-It-Your-Way routine but with a backhanded twist: Hey you can't blame us anymore if you get fat.. It's all up to you.. I wonder if the same agency that does the Big Tobacco 'Talk to Your Kids About Not Smoking' campaign did this spot. They are effectively indoctrinating a new generation of fast-food customer with a programmed sense of self-responsibility who'll hopefully not sue them in their later years.

But now on to 'balls-to-the-wall'... What's funny are the companies who refuse to recoil: Some industries who've gotten a bad rap have decided to just 'roll with it'. Reminds me of a legend about Highway Patrolman driver-training: If you're in an impending head-on collision with another vehicle, accelerate and accelerate HARD!!! - you'll sustain the least damage between the two.

Certain companies have just decided that if they've been labeled the bad guy, then they'll play the part all the way. Continuing with fast food, take Taco Bell for instance..

Taco Bell has unfurled a 'Fourth Meal' campaign that seeks to formalize late-night munching. With the self-righteousness of a Lee Greenwood lyric, they proclaim 'You deserve a fourth meal!!' But if that wasn't enough, they make their dictum to throw caution to the wind official when they actually offer up the devil's alternative to the Food Pyramid. "Check out the Square!"

MELTY. CRUNCHY. SPICY. GRILLED. Four diverse paths on the way to congestive heart failure. And you deserve them all!

Their next slogan should just be 'F*ck it!'

Also hawking the 'f*ck-it' attitude is Hummer. Long the poster-child for automotive excess, now in a post-$3/gallon reality, they are finding themselves with not so many takers. But they basically have decided to take the penis-extension stereotype to the hilt in this ad. The Hummer is offered as a turnkey (pun intended) solution to compromised masculinity.

Whichever ad geniuses dreamt this ad up have also offered up a female counterpart targeting potential misplaced soccer moms. At a playground with her child, we see such a mother as she is dismissed by another alpha-mom and her kid when they cut in front of them on the way up to a slide. Not to be shown up, our protagonist also rushes over to the Hummer dealer to get herself behind the wheel. The spot concludes with 'GET YOUR GIRL ON' as the equivelant tagline.

Madison Ave. is certainly scraping the resin on these ones.. Perhaps getting the most out of dying industries? Which gives rise to my tweak on an old marketing addage: If you can't sell 'em the steak, sell 'em the gristle!!