FDA "The Real Cost" Campaign

Despite the multiple ads cautioning teens of the dangers of smoking the FDA believes that they must act too on this cause.  However, the FDA has taken a different route, compared to other campaigns.  This campaign does not look at the long term effects of smoking, such as cancer and heart disease.  Due to the fact the FDA doesn't believe that these dangerous results are realistic to teens.  Therefore, the ad campaign focuses on the short term problems in which smoking may potentially cause.  The ads take on a graphic and humorous nature in order to appeal to the teenage demographic. 


The message strategy for each advertisements differs a bit.  However, some of the ads have stayed similar in nature, especially the ones dealing with dental problems.  One of the advertisements is a print ad of a close up on discolored teeth, the script of the ad reads, "Smoking cigarettes can cause yellow teeth, bad breath, and gum disease."  The picture of the yellowed is meant to show a realistic result of smoking in which a teenager may relate.  Another ad relating to dental hygiene is a television ad showing a girl paying for a pack of cigarettes with a tooth she pulls out of her mouth.  The ad provides the target audience with a graphic visual of the realities of smoking.  The FDA has indeed made it a point to provide the ugly short term dangers of smoking to their target audience.

"FDA launches its first national public education campaign to prevent, reduce youth tobacco use." US Food and Drug Administration Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm384049.html

Cheerios for the Win

Way to go Cheerios! Commercials are half of the Super Bowl fun because of the large viewing audience and their eagerness for a great ad. Cheerios took advantage of this platform by showing their first interracial Super Bowl commercial. They were bold, and it paid off. Cheerios, part of the General Mills family that was established in 1928 could easily get left behind, but this highly relatable commercial proved that they are still relevant to 2014, modern-day American households.

Cheerios first used this interracial family in a commercial a few months prior to the Super Bowl. It was a topic of conversation everywhere and resulted in a lot of backlash from opposed viewers. The company saw past the negative comments and used the same interracial family for their Super Bowl ad. Cheerios isn't just creating this ad to stir up controversy, according to USA Today, one in ten families in the United States are interracial. Thanks to efficient and thorough research, Cheerios created an ad appropriate for the world we live in today. After the Super Bowl commercial was launched, Cheerios received praise from viewers all over social media, proving that their efforts were appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5qkJHgkUzDA

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-cheerios-brings-back-its-famous-interracial-family-super-bowl-155302

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-04-24/census-interracial-couples/54531706/1

Barbie is Moving from Malibu

This past year, Mattel launched its “Barbie Is Moving” campaign. It is commonly known to Barbie fans that she resides in Malibu, but she decided it was time to start looking for a new place to call home. In 2013, Barbie traveled to 13 cities in North America in a pink motorcade where she visited Toys“R”Us and Walmart locations to meet kids that could partake in events. These kids would build and design their own Barbie bedrooms, and play dress up.

Event flyer to see Barbie on her tour.

To further this campaign, Mattel “hired” a million-dollar-listing real-estate agent, Josh Altman of Los Angeles, to list Barbie’s current Malibu McMansion on the market. Barbie’s 3-walled pink plastic dollhouse was listed on Trulia.com for $25M, while she searched for a new home. You’ll find ten photos, a very detailed description of the home’s amenities and finally a pin on the map in Malibu. Making this posting as real as possible. 

Photo from Trulia.com posting.

To promote the campaign, they hired Mario Lopez to kick-off the event, created social buzz and digital ads to bring hits back to their webpage, barbieismoving.com. At the end of this year, Barbie decided that her heart was truly in Malibu. Her Trulia posting now reads “Off Market” and “Address Not Disclosed.”

This campaign seems like it was geared towards grabbing the attention of the real buyer of these products — moms. The target audience of a Barbie doll is 6-8 year old girls. These girls would not be out shopping for a million dollar home, so it was a way to rope in the parents. Bringing their kids to the motorcade as it came to their city was a great bonding experience for a family. The parents helped their children dress up and imagine and build their dream homes together. This of course was all conveniently located at a place where they could easily pick up a new doll. I think this was an innovative plan, well-executed on finding new ways to reengage the purchaser of the family.

Resources:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151957915524466.1073741824.57884444465&type=1

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/31/news/la-ar-barbie-moving-from-malibu-gets-help-from-mario-lopez-20130531

http://rockinmama.net/barbie-is-moving-mobile-tour-to-stop-in-los-angeles-at-the-grove/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tessa-gould/top-native-content-2013_b_4524797.html

Most Memorable Advertisement

       I really enjoy the concept of thinking about commercials from your lifetime that you remember the most. One that really sticks out for me is this Nickelodeon Magazine commercial from the 1990's. I remember every word and visually, every scene that is going out pop up next. I think part of what made this ad so memorable is 1) how many times it was repeated on the network for years and 2) because now it makes me feel nostalgic about my childhood.

Photoshop: Altering our Perception of Beauty

As images of women are being photoshopped, so are our perceptions of normal, healthy and attainable beauty. The media’s representation of women is abnormally thin, much thinner than the actual population. They consistently use models and actresses that are underweight, or by making models and actresses their “average” idea of beauty with the use of digital alteration. Essentially, even the most beautiful model could be digitally tanned, slimmed down to an unreasonable size, with no unsightly bumps or cellulite. Digital manipulation has become an “industry standard.”

The most recent Photoshop controversy appeared in an issue of Vogue, who displayed Lena Dunham from her hit HBO series, “Girls.” Critics are attacking the magazine for photoshopping the actress. Original photos show the magazine did minor changes, such as raising her waistline and narrowing her jaw. The media criticizes her non-model body, but she clearly has no worries about her body because she portrays a “real” girl in her series and has a body confidence most people would envy. Vogue’s unrealistic idea of women has transformed her from a “real” girl to just another model.

Facebook Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary

Facebook has definitely had many changes in the past 10 years, but according to Mark Zuckerberg, it’s similar to what he envisioned in 2004. In a CNBC interview (link posted below) from 2004, Zuckerberg spoke with Rebecca Quick on her Bull’s Eye show, discussing his vision for the future and its growth as a new social network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB7cjH0gtMQ#t=59

When they first launched they were hoping for maybe 400 or 500 people, and that the company hoped to expand into 100 to 200 universities later that fall. At the time of this interview the amount of users grew to 100,000 people. The original plan was to make a bunch of “side applications” that would bring users back, which was a tactic that ended up working well. According to Facebook, the social network passed 1.19 billion monthly active users as of September 30, 2013, an increase of 18% year-over-year.

In celebration of its 10-year anniversary, Facebook personalized “Look Back” videos for all its users. Starting this morning, Facebook users received a notification that a video summary of their life so far on Facebook is ready to watch. Each video consists of 15 or so of their most-liked photos, statuses, and events to music. The videos are a reminder that for many of us, Facebook has become a large part of our daily lives.

According to The Verge, a small team at Facebook spent weeks creating the videos and ensuring that the company had the necessary resources to render the massive amounts of HD videos and send them to users. Two groups played an important role: Everstore, the team in charge of media storage, and Moonshot, the team tasked with allocating idle server power. The project is one of the company’s largest video projects of all time.

I think the personalized Look Back videos were a great tactic to remind users how Facebook has become a normal way we document our lives, and how we use the discovery site to meet new people and learn new information. 

Posted below is a link that shows the transformation of Facebook profiles over the past 10 years:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/04/facebook-10-year-anniversary-interfaces/photo/facebook-original-profile-2004/

Monthly Facebook Users Link:  

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2013/10/30/facebook-passes-1-19-billion-monthly-active-users-874-million-mobile-users-728-million-daily-users/#!urp41

Everlasting Love?

In today’s current society some advertisements deal more with selling people. Is this ethical when different races and women have been forced to sell themselves in the past? However, the media is constantly promoting the idea of “Happily Ever After,” which causes men and women to crave a romantic relationship. Through the media finding a soul mate is a constant message sent to audiences, now audiences have resorted to dating websites in order to find a spouse, the websites are meant to help find true love.

Many movies and television shows attract audiences due to the search for true love, but in real life love is harder to find. By the media having the concept of love placed in our minds they are indirectly promoting a new form of finding love, dating websites. Finding true love doesn’t sound as magical when one is paying for it. The media has engrained the concept of love that people are willing pay for “Happily Ever After.” This raises the issue of who is truly looking for this fairy tale romance.

Some do find the happy medium by finding a potential date. But, for the most part users are not looking for happy medium of companion, instead they are looking to fall head over heels in love or to have their sexual desires met. However the odds of finding a spouse online is very low, every match on eharomey.com there a 999 matches that did not work (Thompson, 2), almost as if these websites are setting the audience for disappointment.

Thompson, Mark, Philip Zimbardo, and Glenn Hutchinson. Consumers Are Having Second Thoughts about Online Dating. Rep. 29 Apr. 2009. Web.

What is Technology?

After a weekend notorious for its advertisements it's tough to have a commercial that really stood out from the rest. However, Microsoft has done just that while asking the question "What is technology?"

This advertisement sums up the rate at which technology is advancing and the importance of these technologies. Most importantly for Microsoft is the fact that this advertisement shows the relevance of the company: their products and services. For a period of time Apple and Bill Gates had been stealing the show in terms of marketing. Apple also showed it could arguably be the most sought after computer technology and computer software out there. Microsoft however has shown that they have bounced back. They are  showing how their technologies are not only advanced but being used to help out serious medical conditions in ways that were once nothing more than science fiction fantasies. Making the deaf hear, paraplegics walk, and the blind see are some seriously impressive feats. Microsoft takes it one step further by telling the in depth personal story of those who have felt the positive effect of these technologies. This is a great advertisement that can be appreciated by many. In this instance this emotional pull and personal touch really attracts positive attention from and advertising standpoint.

GoldieBlox Super Bowl Ad Counteracts Beastie Boys Lawsuit

At the close of 2013, GoldieBlox released a pristinely executed, wildly innovative anti-genderstereotyping toy commercial that quickly went viral. The problem? GoldieBlox now faces a lawsuit against the Beastie Boys for using their hit "Girls"without permission in that commercial. Although GoldieBlox had cleverly changed the lyrics AND the Beastie Boys were in accordance with the commercial's female-empowering message, the group had made an agreement early in their career that prohibits all of their songs from being used in promotions of any kind. Member Adam Yauch, better known as MCA, passed away in 2012 and Rolling Stone obtained a copy of his will which reads:

“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”

It's tough to meddle with the words of a man that is no longer living. What does GoldieBlox do? Move forward... by spending $4.5 million on a Super Bowl slot- and some more money as royalties to Slade (the orignal artists who released "Cum On Feel the Noize" as popularized by Quiet Riot in the 1980's). The new commercial is almost a carbon copy of the original- just with a new song, new lyrics and an ENORMOUS audience.

Advertising for Our Advertising

Everyone knows the Super Bowl is the biggest advertising day of the year. Advertisers are paying nearly 4 million dollars for thirty second spots during this Sunday's matchup and to make sure they're getting the most from their money some companies are making commercials for their commercials.

This spot featuring Arnold Schwarzenneger is just one of many being run by Bud Light to build up hype for their super bowl commercial. But isn't this approach kind of counter intuitive to why companies pay the big bucks in the first place? 

The super bowl is supposed to be a guaranteed audience for your advertisement and an instant way to get people talking about an ad and a product, yet companies are spending even more money to start the conversation early. Other companies are also releasing their super bowl advertisements early. 

Super Bowl ads you can watch before the Super Bowl

Are these really effective strategies for advertising?

Also I apologize if youtube plays an advertisement before the advertisement for an advertisement.