I Post, Therefore I Am

The title of this entry are the words of Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo, a new media consultancy commenting on the huge impact of sites like YouTube that allow users to become their own creators. I was thinking about the blog and how it would be ten times less interesting if sites like YouTube didn’t [...]

Don Imus–Should He Have Been Fired?

You probably have all heard of the recent Don Imus incident by now (if not, check out this news link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/13/imus.rutgers/index.html) and his subsequent firing by CBS. One radio personality, Colin Cowherd, recently stated that while Imus’ use of the term “ho” was innapropriate and is an ugly word, it is hypocritical for the African-American [...]

Hey Lady Golfers, Be Sexier!

As we were speaking of gender issues in advertising today in class, I couldn’t help but think of one business, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, that took some drastic measures in order to advertise and sell its product more successfully. In 2002, the LPGA adopted a “five points of celebrity” plan that encouraged, among other [...]

The Commodification of Social Causes

The previous post about Kenneth Cole/anti-AIDS campaign got me thinking: what is acceptable when it comes to commodifying a social cause in order to sell a product? I came to the conclusion in the Kenneth Cole scenario that it’s justified (though not admirable) to use a sympathetic cause such as AIDS in order to boost [...]

Is this ad promoting rape??

Quite a stir has been raised by the above ad. A link to the news store is here: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/apparelretail/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003554614 
What do you think? Wildly innapropriate and offensive or cutting-edge and eye catching??

Flashback to the Past…VW Style

As I was perusing the lastest copy of ESPN Magazine as I do every week, I noticed an ad that looked quite similar to one I’d seen before. The ad was by Volkswagen and it was advertising the 2007 Jetta. The interesting part is it had the exact same look and style of the “old [...]

You know you’ve made a good ad when…

the ad is going to become a TV pilot, as the case is with the Geico “Caveman” ads that we watched in class and have become quite popular. A link to the news story is here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960384.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Taking Offense to Stuff…

I had another question that I was asking myself in class today…what percentage of viewers must take offense to an ad before it is considered offensive? Is there a particular number that seems right? If 20 percent of the viewers of an ad feel it is unfair or problematic does that qualify it as a [...]

Misrepresentation…of everyone??

I wanted to pose a question that came to me during class today when we were talking about the pizza ad depicting the exuberant, oblivous American family. Many people described it as a misrepresentation of American families which got me thinking…What qualifies as a “misrepresentation?”
Because, the truth of the matter is there are a lot [...]

MAN LAWS and Why They Work

You probably have seen the Miller Lite Man Law commercials (if you have been living under a rock click link for one of them: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xsUtEIsU72U) and I wanted to quickly outline why I think they are effective ads and successful insofar as a bunch of them have been made (I’m assuming they have been received [...]