The Celebrity Apprentice

One of my best friends, Janny's sister, Maria Kanellis, is on The Celebrity Apprentice and we were watching it last night. I started to notice all the product placement. Last week was all about Kodak and this week was about the anti-virus Life Lock. Tons of shows have started to use product placement, such as Extreme Home Makeover. I think it's a really good way for companies to get their products name out there, as long as it's not over done.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

The other day, I was watching Real Housewives of New Jersey and they mentioned "Keeping up with the Joneses". This made me think about my advertising class because this term was first used in the 1950s. Basically, it was the idea that American families had a social standard to live up to. They could do this through purchasing power (with the new credit cards!), meaning that people were now buying things that they didn't necessarily need, but would buy it anyway because "everyone" else had it. This reinforced conformity and the social pressures to be the same: marriage, religion, family, etc. It was interesting to me that on a reality show aired 60 years later, there was still this idea of "buying" a lifestyle. Advertising, I believe, reinforces this for some people.

Digital Morphing

Today in my Media Studies class we had a guest lecturer from the Department of Advertising. She talked about digital morphing and how people in the ad industry are using this to develop brand personality and to target demographics. The idea is that an ad would "morph" a model's face with the customer's to produce a visual in which the consumer's can identify with. This is similar to celebrity endorsements because, naturally, a consumer would connect the idea they had of a celeb to that brand. If people unconsciously see themselves, they, theoretically, would identify the brand with characteristics of themselves. This practice has been used for a long time; for example, Betty Crocker is a morph of 75 consumers. Today, we can see this target advertising in places such as Facebook and Google.

Lauren Conrad Spring Collection 2010

Lauren Conrad's look book for her Spring Collection 2010 is out! I love that she is modeling her own line and the set for the shoot is gorgeous!

French Connection

One of my favorite stores is French Connection and I found this commercial from Feb 2010 for their line of clothing for men. I liked how they used humor in it even though French Connection is a pretty sophisticated line. I also like the black and white approach and the voice over.

"The Man"

Sexual Ads

When I see advertisement such as these, I can't help but think about how inappropriate they are. Times have really changed; a couple decades ago, this would have NEVER been socially acceptable. Women seen as objects and purely sex symbols in ads truly are a turn-off for me.

Beyonce

Here are some stunning pictures of Beyonce's new ads for her and her mother's spring 2010 fashion line, House of Dereon.

"And Then There Was Salsa"

This Tostitos Salsa ad is very visually appealing...Check it out at Vimeo.com/9194146

"Ads Gone Bad"

I came across a blog called "Ads Gone Bad" and it is pretty funny.

www.adsgonebad.com

Here are a few of my favorite entries...

..clearly bad ad placement!

And then there is this one by PETA with an ad for Omaha Steaks at the top.

www.seakittens.com/seakittens.html