Cool Campaign

I know class it's over...booo.... But I found this link about about a cool advertising campaign in Germany

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2K611l/www.dailydawdle.com/2010/09/10-best-lifes-too-short-for-wrong-job.html

Advent Conspiracy

Since this is the Christmas season and the time to buy, buy, buy I felt as though these videos were appropriate. They were shown to me at my high school last year and it really makes one realize that Christmas is just not about spending money.

More information can be found on their website:

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Product Testing Institute - Models

This ad is super funny and plays on the stereotype of models being "dumb". The company Sony Ericsson is trying to sell their newest phone by releasing multiple versions of this ad but with different groups testers such as elderly, guidos, toddlers, surfers, and glam rockers. However, the researcher remains the same and reacts in a condensing way towards each group. I love how the camera focuses on his expression after each response. I found this ad to be funny and conveyed the message that the product can easily be used even from the less tech savvy groups of people.

The Nicest Vending Machine in the World

Coca Cola has come up with a new marketing technique to further advertise their soda. By giving away free coke and other assorted gifts to us. This video is part of a series of videos, in which Coca Cola goes to various college campuses around the world, most notably the US, the UK and India, and give away free stuff, with the effect of winning the youth's hearts over -- in efforts to gain brand loyalty. I noticed they are making a great effort to target the younger demographic, and they are doing these vending machine schemes in countries where the consumerism is either widely prevalent (like the US) or growing (India).

This marketing technique seems to be having an effect on these students. They're even running up to hug the machine itself! Better be careful the next time some one gives you free stuff - it could be another way of advertising.

Eye-Catching Nylons

This ad is really impressive, especially considering that it is for American Apparel Nylons. The colors of each dancer’s tights make for a simple, but very aesthetically pleasing and thus, effective ad. Although this is two years old, it further proves the present sentiment that more artistic and colorful ads catch our attention more easily. I was instantly drawn to the movement of each dancer’s legs, and how they were each positioned so that the tights’ colors were arranged in rainbows, or in shades from lightest to darkest. The dancers’ synchronized and complex movements were also really distinctive, and almost made me forget that this was an American Apparel ad. I definitely prefer this to their much more racy print ads of today.

The Language of Marketing

At the beginning of this course we read an article about how marketers have us all figured out. Although, it is very sad to think this way, it is relatively true. There is some information about the human brain that marketers use for advertising purposes.  We associate colors with adjectives. For example, the color pink represents feminine ideals, while green symbolizes health, and black symbolizes luxury. As the graph shows (http://9gag.com/gag/54696/) there are other factors that affect consumers like time and brands. However, these resources are mostly visual because it is easier for our brains to assimilate and associate images with a product. Among other factors, time is crucial. Marketers want people to spend as much time as they can in a store, but not enough time to discourage them from returning.

Additionally, this link (http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5xmPKu/www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_07/adj_chart.htm/r:f) shows an informal poll taken by some students that displays the typical words used to advertise specific products. As you can see, the word healthy is used to describe food products, and good-looking is used for cosmetics. I thought it was interesting to see the adjectives marketers use to describe products. It seems to me that many of these adjectives were chosen at random because they are convenient and not because they actually embody these descriptions.

Kitkat

This is an advertisement for kitkat in India. I posted this ad because it shows a new trend in Indian advertisement of using animation. Compared to the Fair & Lovely advertisements which used the most basic technology and stereotypical ideas, this advertisement and others like it show the increasing sophistication of the common indian consumer.

FedEx

I searched Google in hopes of finding some satirical advertisements and managed to find many. My favorite one is for FedEx and has quite a funny headline to draw people to read it. I found myself laughing and recognizing that what FedEx says about them "handling packages" is completely true. Within this truth is another truth that many advertisements address some statements falsely. Here, though, the slogan is as close to the truth as you could ever get. I think the best advertising out there is one that you can laugh at and also understand the satire within it. Nice job FedEx, I will trust you to handle my package!

"Fashion Trends and Tips"

Vogue for UK has some fashion trends for this autumn/winter posted. It's interesting how products that were popular a long time ago is back in fashion again. I'm sure the things that went out of season in the previous summer will come back after some time passes by.
Well, for this winter season,

low heels for shoes
elbow length gloves
colored shoes
and a lot more

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends/
Check this site out.

What Now?

As the semester winds down, I've been searching high and low for websites or campaigns that are counter consumer culture. As I'm sure you all can assume, it is a lot harder to find these than it is to find a sexist advertisement in Seventeen.

However, it is more important than ever that we seek out these organizations because it is at the grassroots level where we can make change as consumers and citizens. One website that I particularly like is about-face.org, which focuses on representations of women in advertising. They have a gallery of "winners" and "offenders": ads that are either appropriate or not. I believe they also lead workshops and other awareness campaigns. Another site is mediawatch.com which is a non-profit organization aiming to bring awareness to racist, violent, and sexist advertising. About Face features a laundry list of company addresses in case you are extremely heated about a Calvin Klein ad, for example.

As a class, we know that addressing issues in the media is important. For those not in this class, here are a few more images to shock you. I know I probably come across as a Debby Downer with all of these depressing advertisements-but I myself didn't realize how bad it was until I saw these, and I feel more motivated to make change. I don't know how these ads weren't censored. I considered all of them for my presentation. As you will see, it was really difficult to find an ad to analyze. All of them are full of so many negative messages that NEED to change-Now.

I think the pictures say it all.