This is quite funny, but also very embarrassing. Yesterday I was watching coverage of President Obama's first day on the job at Politico.com, one of my favorite political sites. Politico eschews pre-rolls in favor of overlays which is great because most of their videos are short clips.

But look at the graphic below and note the overlay running while President Obama is discussing the serious matters of governmental transparency and senior staff pay freezes. It is promoting a diet technique, and includes the obligatory "before" (flabby) and "after" (flat) tummy pictures. Clicking through brings you to a faux-blog page which is in turn a promotion for Nature's Best Acai Berry weight loss pills.

Hey Politico: what in heaven's name is this ad doing running during President Obama's somber remarks? Did Obama get tagged with "fit" or "great abs" based on his recent Hawaii vacation, thereby mapping any ad with "belly" or "diet" to him? If so, someone needs to tweak the system. And by the way - this is the kind of stuff that really undermines your brand. If you're going to expand into video, make sure someone is tasked with knowing what ads you're running so they don't end up embarrassing you!

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