When you're doing #2 this should be #1

I am not in the habit of promoting other people's books. Particularly when those other books are written by freelance copywriters who are working hard every day to literally scoop up jobs and otherwise steal food off my family's table.

But as I mentioned yesterday, the pantry has been stocked and I'm feeling especially magnanimous.

My friend Mickey Taylor (Paul, for the purposes of his book) has released ADWEAK, Your Leading Source for Fake News. If you work in advertising you are no doubt aware of ADWEAK's twitter feed. It has amassed more than 17 billion followers.

That number may be off a little, but in the era of Grandpa Ramblemouth™, all numbers are subject to embellishment.

Mickey has been skewering the ad industry for more than decade. Often brutally, always incisively. That's my kind humor. With satire, if you're not leaving bloodied bodies in your wake, you're not doing it right.

When he started ADWEAK, back in the early 2000's, it was more as a goof than anything else. Mickey was gainfully employed and had to maintain anonymity. And so in a clever move, he created a fictitious Editor and portrayed him with a stock photo of a fat, bald guy who happened to be sporting swim goggles.

As a result, I had to fend off emails, phone calls and visits to HR, in my own defense, from people who swore I was behind the venture. I wasn't. Though years earlier, my buddies, also copywriters, put out MADWEEK.

It seems the urge to mock this industry is quite strong, as I, Mickey and Glenn, Bob Hoffman and George Tannenbaum, will attest.

When you sit in meetings for 3 hours discussing whether a V-neck sweater is brand appropriate or when a client's daughter kills a campaign after 6 months of development, redevelopment and re-redevelopment because, "I just don't like it", it's bound to result in some pent up anger.

In any case, while I made some paltry occasional contributions to ADWEAK, I am not the brains behind it. In fact, when I see their daily brilliance, I often stew in jealousy.

Even moreso, because I found out that despite the brutal take downs and razor sharp wit, some Fortune 500 companies have actually pinged Mickey for project work. One maker of inedible pizza even has them on their roster.

If clients were smart, and by and large they are not, they would hire more renegades and embrace a looser, more entertaining, more truthful approach to their advertising. Ryan Reynolds gets it.

But I digress.

The book will soon have its official release. I suggest you buy it and put it on the lid of the toilet for leisurely sporadic reading. I'd put it right on top this book that also deserves "shelf" space in your wet library.