Oh no you didn't...

I'm not easily offended, especially when it comes to advertising. We're all constantly bombarded with images and words that are in poor taste, and it's sad to say that I've been kind of desensitized.

Sure, looking back on some of the stuff that was acceptable before the civil rights movement is offensive.



It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the majority of people were just a few years ago. Heck they're still ignorant.

This ad actually made it past the approval of UNICEF.



Image borrowed from One Dollar a Day Blog . The captions are in German and translate as 'First kid: “I’m waiting for my last day in school, the children in Africa still for their first one.” Second kid: “In Africa, many kids would be glad to worry about school” Third kid: “In Africa, kids don’t come to school late, but not at all” Fourth kid: “Some teachers suck. no teachers sucks even more.”' The writer of this blog sums it up nicely: "Bottom lines of this campaign are: Black = mud = African = uneducated. White = educated." In my own opinion, those kids are just creepy; smiling like they think they're cute with their black faces.

Advertising for shoes or jeans rarely gets to me. It's only when advertising gets in the way of the advancement of our society that I start to get pissed off.

I also hate being blatantly lied to, like this one that popped up on YouTube right after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Of course it's less advertising and more PR gone horribly, horribly wrong. I was offended enough that I took a screenshot and saved it so that I could rant about it.



But this:


and this:


and this:


... I'm alright with that. I mean, I hope my future are projects are in a little better taste. OK, the "hire a blind person" campaign was a little offensive.

Quick! You only have 2 seconds.

Most of the time, billboards suck. Some people just don't grasp the idea that people only have 2 seconds to read it before it's gone. But sometimes, those 2 seconds actually create brand awareness. Sometimes, it only takes 2 seconds to change a person's behavior.



Those billboards that extend out of the box to create some three-dimensional effect are cool. This one removes the box altogether. Advertisers for airlines often have a hard time making really creative advertising. You sit in a plane, you go someplace else. Preferably you want to remind the audience of going someplace beautiful. But this ad, well, it really hits home that you just want to pay a good price, no matter where you're going. Get the sky on sale.




Did you know that antidisestablishmentarianism is the longest word in the English language, besides all of those chemistry terms, and some word made up just to describe long words (hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian)? Well, I did, and I think this billboard is hilarious. Yea, I'm nerdy. I like impressing people by saying antidisestablishmentarianism. I can spell antidisestablishmentarianism without looking it up. In fact, I picked this ad to share with you just so I could talk about antidisestablishmentarianism. And if I saw this ad in person, I would bring everyone I knew by it, just so I could talk to them about antidisestablishmentarianism.




My ill-received ads about bike helmets made me think that I should have went further with that idea about "being confident enough to wear those shorts." This ad made me laugh, and if I were in the market for a bike, I would probably stop in the shop to check out what they had. However, I don't know if I would still consider wearing the shorts if I were a middle-aged man in the market for a bike. Still, it is effective; short, not-so-sweet, and to the point.



I always stare at the lotto billboards, dreaming about the car I would be driving if I hit that jackpot. I think a lot of people do the same thing, because people invariably swerve into my lane at that part of the highway. While I don't know about the ethics of advertising liquor on a billboard, I think this is fun. I wish this was an absolut world.

Can You Learn Creativity?

I've always surrounded myself with creative people. I'm a sucker for a guy who can play an instrument. I hung out in the art wing in high school. My only extra-curricular activity was with the creative writing magazine. But I've never been able to really direct my creativity.

But man, I love selling stuff. It helps if I believe in the product or service, but I've learned that half the battle is tricking myself into believing that I believe in the product.

So what's the other half? Creative selling! I've been flipping through this great book, Creative Advertising by Mario Pricken, and he has a few ideas about directing your creativity to help sell things. The following are few examples of creative tactics that can serve as a springboard for diving into the creative process.

Playing with Time:



OK, I'll stop getting so angry when my daughter ruins stuff. "Oh, I know she seems unruly, but she's just innovating. I would discipline her, but I'm hoping she'll put me up in a nice retirement village in So-Cal when I'm senile. I'm too good for Florida."

Changed my behavior: check. This ad works. But why?

Playing with Time can be a powerful creative tool. That little boy could be your son, or he could be you when you were younger. I know you're trying to remember all the reasons that you got in trouble. Go ahead, do it--and then give me a bunch of stock in your company for showing you this ad.

So what am I working on... bike helmets. hmmm, maybe I'll put one on and jump out of tree, or go streaking down the snow-covered road with only the helmet on. What would my daughter do? She would probably pretend it's a princess crown and dance around. I should probably just buy this magazine, because I'm sure it can help innovate some creative solution.

Provocation and Shock Tactics



Yes! Breast Cancer Awareness ads have been growing this cause by leaps and bounds, but with all that growth, the ads can get really monotonous. This ad is provocative, to say the least.

I know most of my classmates haven't known the joy of having a child. When parents say that their children are miracles, it doesn't really strike home until you feel something so real growing inside of you. It doesn't really make sense until you see your eyes on another person's face, or experience your own bad (and good) habits being thrown back at you.

And when you match that tiny miracle against this horrendous disease, it really pisses you off. As a mother, I would do anything to protect her from feeling anything bad.

Now look at me, getting all deep on you. That's provocation for you.

That last one extremely effective because not only was it provocative, but added a dash of...

Paradoxes and Optical Illusions:



This ad for a reality series on Channel 4 (Great Britain) is intriguing. I've been staring at little thumbnail pictures for about a half an hour, and this one broke through all of the noise and made me say, "what is this..."

I love how the pretty blonde is contrast with the guy with the tear drop tattoos. It's cut apart, but they chose to highlight that feature, so you know that he's probably in a gang or spent time in prison, or both.

Even the tag line is a little paradoxical: "A New Reality." There is nothing new about the diversity that we all encounter everyday, but many of us choose to ignore it. That is, we ignore it until someone throws in our face, point-blank, like this ad does. I kind of wish that we had Channel 4 here in the States.

All 61 ads from Super Bowl XLV in 2 minutes

For all the disappointment I felt on Sunday, this kind of makes up for it. Fun!

Winner of Superbowl XLV

I was pretty disappointed by the line-up of Super Bowl advertising spots this year. There seemed to be a lot of recycled ideas from Super Bowls Past, the Snickers "You aren't You When You're Hungry," Doritos using funny dogs, GoDaddy.com is still trying to lure you to their website with the promise of hot naked famous women. There seemed to be this group-think phenomena occurring where half of the spots featured something from the past (mid-evil battle fields, revolutionary bordor patrol, lounge singers, old Mercedes models, etc. etc.)

But there was one that stood out to me:



The fact that they chose Eminem bothers me a little; I had seen a commercial earlier in the evening where he claims to hate being in commercials. But the voice is powerful. What he is saying powerful. This ad commands attention. It is easy to become engrossed in what they are saying and what they are showing. And yes, even Eminem speaks to the power of Detroit to produce greatness out of nothing (not to say that I'm a huge Eminem fan, but he demands some sort of respect for what he does and where he comes from). This ad does more than raise awareness for Chrysler--it makes American auto manufacturing relevant again.

Bravo, Wieden + Kennedy.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Call me un-American, but I couldn't care less about football. But really, my patriotism is strong--I love advertising.

So let us buy all the cheese-filled and cheese-covered foods we can find (not to mention cheesecake and cheese dip... mmm, cheesecake con queso... too far?). I'll be eating during the game and watching during the breaks.

Here are some of my favorite Superbowl ads of all time.

Milk-a-what?!



OK, I'm going to do this backwards. I'll start my list with my all-time favorite.

Why is it awesome? Is it because people get the message "so easy a baby could do it"? Is because they're so stinkin' cute? Heck no, the E-trade babies are frickin' hilarious. And this one garnered extra attention because it pulled Lindsay Lohan out of her drug-coma for long enough to once again remind us how crazy she is (remember that lawsuit, because the milkaholic's name is Lindsay?). Was that an intentional effect ad agency Grey Group was going for? Probably not. It's a nice reminder that sometimes, the ad game is, at least partially, a game of chance.

Viva Betty White!



I think the return of Betty White was amazing. She proliferated social media, and then advertising, and bam, next thing you know she's back ruling the big screen with millions of unlikely fans. She's probably the only person who can put Chuck Norris in his place. This ad is memorable and funny, and that's a couple million dollars well spent.

I don't care what you say, the 90s were awesome



Who says athletes are all Nike and no fun? I can't play basketball without thinking "through the window, off the wall, nothing but net." And then I pull a muscle and remember I don't like McDonald's anyway.

Sex Sells

Danica Patrick Strip Tease for GoDaddy

I wasn't really too interested in seeing the racer's twins, so I didn't actually log on to "see the rest." But I was curious, what the heck is GoDaddy.com? Are they advertising porn during the Super Bowl? You know that every guy I know was able to tell me that they sell domain names the next day.

I'm already in love with The Force:



I can't wait for tomorrow!

facebook made easy

The following is from a presentation I made to a class of college students. Keep in mind that, although the audience was specified, much of the information applies to most facebook users, and can be translated into a multitude of situations.

You probably have a facebook account. That’s great, because, as a college student, facebook isn’t only a great way to stay in touch but it is also vital in pursuing your career after school. If you don’t have a facebook account, I know it can seem overwhelming or even ludicrous, but having a facebook account can be very beneficial.

Facebook can be fun and surprisingly useful as a self-promotion and networking tool; but it also can create serious safety and privacy issues and well as wreak havoc on a person’s social and professional life. According to the website, the average facebook user has 130 confirmed friends, but I believe that the demographic of college students has more than that (“Press Room”). I tested the theory and tallied up the average number of friends 30 of my college friends have. Granted, these numbers weren’t calculated with any level of sophistication, but it may give you an idea of who you might be sitting next to. That number is more like 504 friends, with the lowest number being 110 and the most being 1,106 friends. That’s a lot of people to be sharing personal information with.

Safety Issues:

Perhaps the most necessary issue to consider is safety. It can be awfully tempting to have personal conversations on somebody’s wall or to update your status with every passing interest. But if you don’t edit what you say you may be putting yourself or one of your friends in danger.

There are many stories about people posting that they’re going out of town only to come home to find their home has been broken into. In Nashua, New Hampshire it went so far that a gang decided it was an efficient way to target homes. They hit 50 homes in one month (Mello). It’s only natural to be excited to be going home for Christmas or going to Vegas to live out the Katy Perry song. But when you announce this to 1,000 of your “friends” anyone that is hard up for some cash may decide to break into your apartment or dorm, since you left it clearly marked that there will be nobody at home.

When you’re leaving town isn’t the only time you should worry about people knowing where you are. The improper use of status updates could allow some people to pay more attention to you than you may think possible. If you mention that you’re off to class every Monday and Wednesday at 2:00, and that the walk to Sims Hall is treacherous in the snow, people can very easily find you. You never know who is keeping track of your activities, so it’s best to keep your location to yourself.
The facebook app, facebook Places, is showing signs of gaining many users; people can share their locations instantly. If you have hundreds of people who can see where you are, it may be best to make sure your privacy settings are highly tuned. And never post when you are home, and where “home” is.

Privacy Issues:

Phishing and scamming

You really have to be careful which apps you apply to your profile, because your personal safety isn’t the only thing at stake; you are also risking your privacy. When you agree to use an application you usually have to agree to let the application have full reign on your profile information. Also, there are many imposter applications that will link your account to outside websites where it can convince you and your friends to enter their personal information and lure more people into the scam.

Sometimes these sites are only mildly malicious and easily denied access to further access to your account. Other times these outside users will go so far as to luring your friends to “loan you money” when you are trapped in some faraway land. Be wary of your friends that are spending a semester abroad who suddenly need you to wire them some cash. You should probably give them a call and hear it first hand. Facebook offers some tips on protecting yourself via their “security page” (“Help Center”).

Tagging photos

If your friends are little closer to home, you still have to worry about your privacy. Let’s pretend that you have two parties to choose between this weekend; one is going to be a blow-the-roof-off-throw-down, the other a quiet birthday party at Applebee’s. You’ve had a rough week with 3 midterms and a presentation, and you just want to cut loose. So you tell the birthday girl that you would love to come, but you absolutely have to study. Then the next day you see you’re tagged in 27 photos in which you’re dancing on a pool table. And even before your friend could post those little pieces of history, another friend had tagged you through facebook Places as “Checked In” on Euclid Ave. So how can you avoid these little tattle-tales?
Well, you could be honest with friend number 1 and tell her you already made plans. Or you could make sure you have your privacy settings highly tuned. It’s probably a good idea to go under you’re privacy setting, and under the subheading “things people share about me”, mark “tagged photos“ as “only me” (“General Safety”). If there’s something you really want everyone to see, you can always download it and share it yourself. Or once you’ve reviewed the pictures you are tagged in you can simply remove the tag from the pictures you don’t approved of.

Promoting Yourself

Networking

But facebook isn’t all monsters and demons. As of July 2010 there were 500 million active users. 100 million of the users were new since February 2010 (“Press Room”). This means that you can connect with friends back home, new friends here in Syracuse, people that really like the same musician as you, and that cute girl in your CRS class.

One of the best ways to keep your network checking in on what you’re doing is the proper use of the “like” button. The school paper from Ole Miss offers some help. There’s a reason there isn’t a “dislike” button on the website. If a friend says something about a failed test or hard class, you may empathize, but you don’t “like” that they are struggling. Take the time to show you care and write out a comment; this will keep you from appearing that you are mocking them and they will be more likely to reciprocate (Mosby). Conversely, if you are always complaining about things on your page, people are more likely to hit that ignore button. Your goal for successful networking should be to get as many “likes” as you can. Post your successes and things that you care about and truly “like” yourself (Maguire).
Potential employers

And because there are so many people using facebook, chances are your future boss is using the website also. They want to promote their company as much as they want to check in on you, their new employee, so it would be beneficial to both of you if you can be friends. You should have a handle on concealing that pool-table dance and you should share that charity work you did last month. You shouldn’t have your privacy settings set so high that no one can tell anything about you. But you only want to share what you truly want to share. Write a meaningful bio and pick a tasteful quote. Share some pictures of you on world trips and dressed to a T. These little details will show your potential employer that you know how to put your best foot forward and that you don’t need to hide who you are.

Facebook and other social networking sites are the future of how the world will communicate. We know this from movies like “the social network” and the thousands of dollars people make from their YouTube channels. Our children won’t know a world without these platforms for communication, and we want to set a good precedent. If we start with these basics and innovate new ways to become successful with the aid of these sites, we can change the way society operates, eliminate inefficiencies, and still maintain our privacy and safety.


Works Cited

“General Safety”. facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.

“Help Center.” facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.

Maguire, Rob. “13 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page.” Robmaguire.com. December 22, 2008. Web. Retrieved December 2, 2010.

Mellow, John P. Jr. “Gang Uses Facebook to Rob Houses.” PCWorld. pcworld.com. September 10, 2010. Web. Retrieved October 3, 2010.

Mosby, Jon. “How to Use the ‘Like’ Button on Facebook.” The Daily Mississipian. TheDMonline.com. August 31, 2010. Web. Retrieved October 1, 2010.

“Press Room.” facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.