VERA, VERA, VERA

So, after a whoe semester, HOW IS SHE!? She is ok. She isnt anything special anymore, in fact, she seems to have lost some of her luster. The commercials of her have died down, as has the media hype, and in all she has become just another line in the racks of Kohls. Sad. But it was her career choice to make, and the truth is she is still getting some credit for it!
In a "How to get the look for less" article in Marie Claire this month they showed one of her dresses that is a litte over 100 dollars. It was ok, it didn't do anything for me, especially not for 100 dollars.
However, everytime I have been to Kohls her line has been on sale. Probably because nothing is its original price at that store. And let me tell you years ago SALE was a four letter word for Vera.
Bust or Must- the Vera Wang line.
Bust. Sorry Vera, try Old Navy.

BLOGGING THIS SEMESTER!

I have found it very fun to blog this semester, it surely beats writing papers! I wish our blogs, however, could be individual, it makes it for a more personal touch, and feel. I also wish they could have been discussed more, I think many peoples blogs would be a great topic for discussion, and athough we promised to follow Vera in our first blogs, we never did. I guess that gives me an idea for my last one!
In all this whole experience has been a fun one. I think writing and publishing your ideas is a great way to practice our free specch and expand on ideas and our own thoughts!

RCS 362

I saw that Christie wrote about the class, so I decided I would like to as well. I surprisingly found this to be one of the best classes I've had here at UNCG. I think they way it was set up, as group discussions helped me learn through experience as opposed to just text, and I really felt it stuck more with me. I like the structure of the class where we got to express our feelings about certain things, in a way which seemed to teach the other students in the class. The only thing I would do differently is the projects. I loved the project but I feel like we should have done it individually. We all have such great ideas I felt it limited us to have to only use one persons idea!

Ambush marketing, good idea?

I hate those head-on commercials, "Head on apply directly to forehead" repeated about 5 times. Sometimes I see two or three back to back, and during EVERY commercial break on national stations in the morning. I am beginning to wonder when enough is enough. Yes, I know the brand, I even know how to use the brand, but will I ever buy it- NO! So what is the point, repeated a phrase is not going to get anyone to buy it, they need a new marketing plan, especially since I just saw a new commercial for another one of their products called active-on. They have fake doctors saying it works, come on! They need a new marketing campaign, then maybe people will start buying their products as opposed to flipping the channel everytime it comes on.

Holiday shopping

Tis' the season to be shopping, but some consumers aren't doing so this year. I worked at the Gap on Black Friday at the mall in Greensboro, and there were not as many shoppers as there were last yearl. Our store sales were down by about $10,000, and other stores in the mall had decreases in saled as well. I still plan to shop in malls for my Christmas gifts, but I think with the increase in gas prices and other factors keep consumers in doors, maybe to do online shopping. I'm sure there will be a rush closer toward the big day, and I will probably be one of them!

RCS 362

I thought I would comment on the class and what I thought about it overall. I have to say that this course was one of the more interesting that I have taken at UNCG. It was very student oriented, which is great, and the discussions in class were always interesting. I felt that I learned more than what was on the pages of our book (which I sold back for 50$!!) and that to me is very important. I'm glad that I was able to take this course, and now that I have learned about MarCom, I see it everywhere. I never used to notice much about ads, but it is clear that a lot of thought and work is put into creating effective advertisements.

BBC

It is amazing how much news can change depending on where you read. Growing up on the outskirts of NYC I have learned not to believe 99 percent of the news I hear, and sadly all that news is directed towards negative things, like murders, kidnaps, etc. I feel like the media targets a specific audience depending on where it is located, and it varies from location to location.
However, national news seems to target everyone in the country, and even though it may have a great reputation (NY Times) It still seems to have issues able fabricating stories and lies.
I think that BBC is the only fair news network in the world. We as Americans like to see ourselves on top, and our national news' seem to portray an image of the US being the best. But the truth is we are not, and realisticly BBC is right when they run stories against us. BBC is a reailty check for us Americans.
Don't get me wrong, I love our country, but we were born being told many lies about our country, and that just seems so wrong. BBC needs to bring its real news over to the USA.

Why do some advertisements seem so STRANGE!?

Today as I drove down Lee St, I saw an ad on a billboard for a shoe warehouse with over "50,000 pairs of shoes!" as I went googley eye over the endless possibilty of heels that may lie in that dark warehouse I noticed that there was a picture of a shoe, with a naked baby popping out of it. Now, after being in this class, and contemplting the relatvitiy of nearly every ad I see, I was appauled! I mean what on earth does a baby popping out of the shoe have anything to do with the warehouse? Could they sell baby shoes? Is it supposed to appeal to parents?
All I know is that that billboard made them seem stupid in my mind! I couldn't get over it, and I guess maybe the ad worked because it is still fresh in my mind? But the truth is there is such a thing as negative recall when it comes to an ad, you may remember it, but you remember it for all the wrong reasons.
So is all press good press? In my mind no, because sure I now know about this shoe warehouse, but will I ever go there, NO WAY!

Different Means of Advertising

When I was in Penn Station in NYC last week I couldn't help but notice that there was an ad for a movie on the stairs going up to 34th street. As I walked closer to the stairs I noticed that the ad seemed to fade, as it was only clear from about 50 yards away. This was amazing to me, what a great way to draw attention to your ad, I mean all of the traffic of the train station had to go out to the street, and you couldn't go up the stairs without looking at them! It was almost robotic how everyone seemed to be in awe of this ad, I too was excited, because it was so unusual, yet so simple! (and probably expensive, seeing as it was a movie ad and probably was only out for a few weeks!) But in all, it was a great location, and a great idea!

Runway Race Issues on the Rise

Ignoring Diversity, Runways Fade to White
By: Guy Trebay, October 14th, 2007
The New York Times

An article from The New York Times recently looked at the issue of diversity on fashion runways. This past fall during fashion weeks, it was noticeable that there were less African American models than there have been in the past. Although African American women spend $20 billion dollars a year on high fashion items, there was no representation of black women actually wearing the clothing. During the New York runway season, out of 101 fashions shows, over 1/3 had no black models. When the shows moved overseas to Paris and London, there were signs hung outside of the doors of designers like Chanel and Chloe the read “No Blacks Need Apply”. This was an appalling statistic to find because the racial issues in this country seemed to have improved ten fold. From the acting industry to political positions, it seemed and though African Americans were equal to the white population of our country. It doesn’t seem that way in the fashion industry, though, and I think it’s a bit sad. The idea of a beautiful model has changed in the past 10 years from the “Glamazons” of the early 90’s, to the 100 pound, less than gorgeous women who walk the runways of today. There is room for every race to show beautiful clothing, and I think everyone should be given a chance.

Avataars

So I looed online at the Yahoo Avataars. I have to say they are kind of creepy! You can literally immitate yourself, or pretened to be someone else, with them! You can choose and outfit, hair color, length, even the size of your eyes! There is one thing you can't choose though, that may appeal to college age people- and that is hoodies that have their school logo on them. (not that you'd want to tell people, but just to show you are a fan!) I think the whole idea ia creepy, I wouldn't want people to know what I look like, nor would I want to know what any creepy people over the internet look like, truth is they are probably making it up anyway. I think this appeals to people because it makes them look better then they really do! I mean you can't have an ugly avataar, it just isnt really possible. From Emo to Goth to Preppy. Avataars are just not needed! Show the real you, use a picture instead!

is thinner better?

It seems like everytime I turn on the tv, or flip through the pages of my favorite fashion magazine I seem to compare myself to the sizes of those in the ads! I can't even help it anymore, it seems so subconcious. I understand why models modeling clothes need to be small, sample sizes are little! But what I don't understand is why the girls in the McDonalds commercial need to be petite. Clearly people who eat their food all the time will become anything but, so it makes you wonder if there is a subliminal message in the commercials.
I'm not sure what kind of advertising scheme it is, but for americans today obesity is a real issue and it is amazing that companies can lie to the public in such an obvious way. So, long story short I found myself at McDonalds the other day, craving some fries that defenitely had been fried in oil a good week old. And I knew it was unhealthy, but I just couldn't help it, if the people on tv can do it, why can't i?

Is Macys being unethical?

Being from the north, I have practicly been shopping at Macys since I came out of the womb. I like to think of it as its own amusement park. It took me years to cover the entire NYC Macys, but its been done. But I dont need to travel to NYC to get a thrill. So I was in my local Macys when I was up at the register, and to my shock there was chocolate and waters at the counter- but not just any chocolate, Godiva chocolate, and not just any water, MACYS water. Now this is just mean! What women can refuse chocolate especially after waiting in a line for an hour. We're tired and we need the caffeiene, and were thirsty and we need the water. Now I'm beginning to think they made me wait in line so long just so I'd buy it! That is so wrong, but so right at the time because I really needed it!

Candycast: Another innovation in the fashion world

I was looking on Style.com today, which most of you know is the official website for Vogue and W magazine. While I am usually on the website to watch the latest runway shows and look at photos of my favorite models, my eye was caught on this occasion by a link that read, "Candycast: Candy Pratts Prica gets animated about fashion." I clicked on the link, and a video begins to play. It features an animated woman, dressed in a black business suit, and beside her is a small "screen" where the latest trends are shown, and while the images are passing, Candy talks about each one and what she thinks is the next big thing. I really thought this was cool, because instead of reading through the pages of Vogue or Lucky, and seeing the 10,333 advertisements, you have a video with expert commentary on what is hot for Fall. I thought you all out there reading this would be intrigued, so you should check it out. The website is Style.com, and go the news and trends section, where you will see the picture of Candy, and you can hear all about the fashions we all love!

I'm a geek. I'll admit it, I'd much rather sit back and watch a good episode of Hannah Montana than any show on ABC evenings. And even though I vaguely remember watching the Mickey Mouse Club and Kids Incorporated, I can honestly say I remember the commercials in between the shows more. There was this one comercial for Powerwheels. I remember I wanted a Barbie Powerwheels so bad. I can still remember the song - pow pow power wheeeels!(I crashed my friends into the side of her house and lets just say Powerwheels became a four letter word in my house- and when I got my real liscense, forget about it!)
But I remember what a great idea it was. Kids immitating their parents, just like having baby dolls (like the water baby which also- I HAD to have, and I did have, until I put a pin in her stomach and she popped, squirting gross mixtures of water, or bodily fluid as I thought, all over the room)
But what on earth are toy coimpanies coming out with now? Ask Fisher Price- they have decided to start marketing digital cameras to babies. Like babies have an eye for photography. The best part? You can drop it down the stairs. I don't know if it is me, but anyone who drops their camera down the stairs fifty times shouldn't own one. (And the reason why they drop it is because it doesn't even fit in their hands.) So when do we say immitation of adults is enough when it comes to marketing toys to children? Should we be excited our newborn can take pictures of the floor? Or should we draw the line at cars?

Marketing- who are you REALLY trying to reach?

I have watched a few TV shows in my day, and I can't help but notice all those "stupid" Truth ads. Somehow, as much as I hate them, I can't help but watch them and think to myself- wow, who are cigarette companies really gearing themselves towards? And not just cigarette companies, any company for that matter.

We all know you cannot legally drink until the age of 21, so why does Bud Light have singing frogs that would clearly attract a younger crowd? It is obvious- because before a company even thinks to sell a product, they think to pound their name brand into your head. Do I have Geico auto insurance? No, I'm not old enough- but the talking gecco really makes me want it over All State, where instead they show accidents happening. (that scares me almost) So even though I don't own any of them, in the companies minds they have succeeded, by just engulfing me with ads to the point where I feel like I would be able to make a decision on which insurance I'd want. (When clearly my decision is based on a little green talking lizzard.)

All this makes me wonder, how is the success of a company measured? It cannot be completely net profit, it must be - in large part, advertising. Or can it? One of the most successful companies yet is Wal Mart, and I can tell you their commercials spark no sense of emotion in me what so ever. In fact, I'd go as far as to say in my mind they are one of Wal Marts greatest flaws.
How are we supposed to live normal lives when the average person sees over hundreds of ads per day and while doing so forms habitual opinions? How are we not supposed to form bonds with some companies and gain bias opinions against others based soley on how they choose to represent theselves on national television?