Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Time of death?

Today, we mourn (yet secretly celebrate) what’s being called the official end of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” dominance. There’s a “new” dance trend in town. According to Know Your Meme, the “Harlem Shake” is the latest viral marvel entrancing crowds everywhere from libraries and ad schools to agencies and even “naked” during a blizzard.

Originated in 1981 in Harlem by a man known as “Al Bm,” the dance initially went mainstream in 2001 after it was featured in G-Dep’s video for “Let’s Get It.” And now, thanks to the relatively recent success of music producer Baauer’s bass track “Harlem Shake,” the dance craze has been renewed again. If you feel at all out of the loop, a mash-up by Ryan Sims assembles 49 of the most popular video renditions of the phenomenon momentarily capturing the Internet’s attention.



Did all that dancing work up an appetite? Perhaps Lay’s could entice you with a bag of Sriracha-flavored potato chips. It’s just one of the three new varieties developed from the brand’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest. The other two are “Chicken and Waffles” and “Cheesy Garlic Bread.”

RELATED: Lay’s Facebook promotion scooped by old media

Of course, I can’t think of anything that goes better with chips more than guacamole, though I wouldn’t try any of the recipes found in a new stop-motion film. Reports The Huffington Post, everything in this Oscar nominated animated short is made of common toys.



While it isn’t nominated for an Academy Award, a deliciously hilarious new Tumblr is certainly receiving my accolades. “Photos of Hipsters Taking Photos of Food” (POHTPOF) is exactly what it sounds like—and by that, I mean awesome.

All this talk of food has left me quite parched. If only I could try a Kickstart, an alternative breakfast beverage being touted by Mountain Dew. Described by Vanity Fair as a drink “for people who enjoy a bit of fruit first thing in the morning but actually deeply hate a bit of fruit first thing in the morning and would just prefer a Mountain Dew,” the concoction hits shelves later this month.

For now, Miranda Priestly and I will just stick with our Starbucks, as I imagine a number of East Coasters might as well. According to Adweek, the coffee giant recently pulled off a real-time and snow-themed ad buy directed at Facebook and Twitter conversations about winter storm Nemo.

RELATED: 6 ways Starbucks excels at social media marketing

If Starbucks wants to remain on the pulse of marketing trends, it needs to adopt the new strategy embraced by a number of large companies: appoint a celebrity brand ambassador or creative director. Both brandchannel and Advertising Age have questioned the practice, but if you’re listening, Starbucks, I’m available.

RELATED: Alicia Keys goes steady with BlackBerry—despite her iPhone tweets

Hopefully, Givenchy didn’t plan on soliciting Kanye West to be its brand ambassador for leather kilts. According to The Sun, the rapper requested that Getty Images remove any and all of the embarrassing photos of him wearing the now infamous skirt while performing at a Hurricane Sandy benefit late last year.

Kanye’s fashion faux pas isn’t the only photo flap garnering headlines. The Verge reports that unbeknownst to a number of Flickr users, the photo-sharing site accidentally made some of their private photos public for 20 days. However, a spokesperson for the company says the breach was "very, very small,” which is why it is contacting users directly.

Mistakes happen; we buy that. What consumers aren’t buying are TV advertisements. Assist Communications shares an infographic from Lab42 that tells us 76 percent of people believe advertising is exaggerated.

Speaking of exaggerated ads, we have BuzzFeed to thank for pooling together its collection of the 10 most ridiculous Viagra ads from around the globe, including this one from Saudi Arabia:



Is there something you think we should include in our next edition of #TheDailySpin? Tweet me @iquotesometimes with your suggestions. Thanks in advance.