Are there so many ads in planes that Ad Traffic Controllers need to be used? The New York Times seem to think so.

ON a recent US Airways flight from New York to Jamaica, coach passengers nursing their drinks were greeted with ads on their tray tables promoting General Motors’ OnStar navigation system.

This one is too good to be true - a pal tips us to a "direct mail that bombed " (pun!)

The ticking noise that brought a bomb squad to a Carmel Valley medical building Monday turned out to be a small battery in a greeting card.

The card, from a pharmaceutical company promoting its products, said "Your time is up" on the cover, San Diego fire spokesman Maurice Luque said.

A receptionist at Children's Medical Group office in the three-story building on El Camino Real heard ticking coming from a mailbox in the hallway about 4 p.m. She called 911 and security officers evacuated the building.

HA! You'd think they'd learn after a few 'bomb scares' as ads, like the LED billboards for Adult Swim which caused havoc in Boston last year. When are you US ad folks going to learn? Everything changed after "9/11", man. Nobody has a sense of humor anymore (but somebody knows who mailed the anthrax - do you?)

Lbi, an international full service digital agency, is holding a press party this Friday, 11th July at 2pm-4pm at their new offices in Brick Lane. With no hidden agenda - no corporate presentations, this is a social gathering to mingle and schmooze with Lbi’s key digital figureheads, the movers and shakers and Who’s Who of the digital world….

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland: Xtract, the leader and innovator in social advertising intelligence today announced that it has closed its series B round of funding with EUR 7,5 Million ($11.74M) from leading early-stage technology investors Creandum, ETF III advised by Eqvitec Partners and InnovationsKapital.

You'd think it couldn't be done, the "Lowering of dignity" bit that is, but the annoying ringtone with the equally annoying ad from Peach mobile which shows president Robert Mugabe as a caged gorilla has been canned. Peachmobile protested, saying that they had a constitutional "right to mock Mugabe because he is a despot." (From The Times: ‘Racist’ ringtone advert banned)

The ASA found, "... the respondent is infringing on the rights of Robert Mugabe by portraying him in an offensive an undignified manner and as such the commercial is demeaning and lowering Robert Mugabe's dignity. A hypothetical reasonable person would be offended on viewing the commercial as it unnecessarily and intentionally demeans Robert Mugabe."

The ASA ordered that the commercial be withdrawn immediately.

Bizbash reports that to promote the new Eddie Murphie movie "Meet Dave" 20th Century Fox took a 15-foot-tall foam head on a cross-country tour in the US.

"The sell [for the movie] has always been Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy. Eddie as the vessel and Eddie as the captain of the vessel," said Iannelli. This concept was key as the movie centers on Dave Ming Chang—a human-shaped ship—that is controlled by a miniature crew of aliens.

This explains this photograph, where people can walk into Eddie Murphy's giant head (how Malkovich) and hang out in his ears. Ew, gross. But if you ever wanted to get inside the head of a celeb, I guess this is your chance America.