MC101s: I Salute You with a Squishee

No Duff Beer? What would Homer think?

Today's medianote is the last of the summer session. Let me say that this has been an excellent Mass Comm 101 class. There has been a lot of interesting classroom discussion, academic work has been well above average, and field trip turnout has been impressive.

Now, on to the last medianote of the summer...

One of the more amusing movie marketing gimmicks of the summer has been the conversion of a few 7-11 stores throughout the country into Quik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience store from "The Simpsons." The timing, of course, coincides with next week's opening of "The Simpsons Movie" in theaters.

We talked about this clever way of publicizing the movie and selling some Simpsons-themed merchandise after listening to a National Public Radio story about a controversy that is brewing over who dreamed up this idea.

On a recent early-evening visit to the Burbank Quik-E-Mart, this humble blogger found lines out the front door and a 20-minute wait to get in. The Homer-style doughnuts were a bit much (they appeared to be glazed doughnuts covered with icing and topped with sprinkles), but the Blue Vanilla Squishee was pretty good.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #68