When you say "that's so gay"...

"When you say 'that's so gay' do you realize what you say? Knock it Off."

Setting: A mall, a grocery store, a pizza place
The players: a group of girls or guys, a semi well-known actor or actress such as Hilary Duff or Wanda Sykes
The reason? A "think before you speak" ad asking, or rather, demanding, that the general public refrain from using the phrase "that's so gay".

Now, although this message is indeed an imporatant one, I think that there are many flaws in this ad. One, I feel that this ad is simply doing what it is trying to stop: it is associating the word "gay" with words such as "bad" or "stupid". In these ads, the famous character says something like "don't say something is gay when you mean it's (insert negative adjective here)". Now, in my mind, this is only telling me that the word gay is used to mean "bad or stupid" (even though gay is not even an adjective at all, but that is an entirley different battle). Second, saying "knock it off" at the end only makes me, as a consumer, feel a little threatend. I, personally, don't like when television ads/public service annoucement boss me around.

In short: good idea, bad advertisement. Then again, I don't have any better ideas, so who am I to critisize? I guess that's why I'm not on the career path to a job in advertising. My full (officially) quarter as a journalism student, however, has brought me to look at television ads with a much more critical eye (knowing that all ads must be relevent AND memorable, never either/or).

So what do you think? Let me know about some ads that you think are missing their mark, I'd love to hear it/discuss it with you.

The F Word

How do you spell stress? Why, F-I-N-A-L-S of course. Only one exam into the four that I am scheduled for this week, and I firmly believe that my high school may have failed me. You see, at my high school, we were rewarded for good grades, attitude, and attendance with what was called a "Rennisance Card"; you recieved a Gold, Red, or Silver card depending on your achivements (Gold being the highest, and so on down the line). Along with the perks that came with this card was the oppurtunity to exempt exams (Gold- 3 exams, Red- 2 exams, Silver- 1). Now, by the time you exempted three exams, most high achievers were left with one semi-hard class, but most likley there "easiest" hard class, and elective classes. Sure, we had to take the exam if we were in AP, but besides all of that, my point is that I've never had to study for four equallly challenging exams all at once; this may be obvious, seeing that I still have three more exms to go and instead of studying, I've decided that blogging is a better use of my time. I guess this will just give me an oppurtunity to learn how to better manage my time while studying though, right?

Any suggestions, drop them my way!

"If I could change the world..."

Although I wouldn't call this blog political, it seems to be the theme lately (and for good reason). The recent election seems to have brought the good and the bad out of everyone. Although my political preference may be obvious, I'm going to try to keep this post as neutral as possible. So here goes:

In my opinion, "trash talking" the current president-elect is pointless. The Democratic candidate won (and by a fairly large margin) and any arguments that can be made about why he shouldn't have been elected will not change the results. As someone who believes that the best form of  election publicity is to promote one's strengths rather than expose the opponent's weaknesses, I don't believe that this kind of talk works before election day, much less after. Both candidates had, in my opinion, good and bad things to offer, and now all that America can do is see what happens. 

Also, while I'm on the subject, although I'd like to believe that every person who voted is educated about the decision they made, I know that this isn't the case. It makes me think of one of the possible essay questions I could have answered in a local pageant I was in. Although I didn't choose to write about this question, I think about it a lot; the question was:

"Do you believe that a woman is capable of being the next president of the United States?"

Now, although I know that this question was asked because we were young high school women expected to write about woman's rights, I think that this question was very irrelevant. Do I believe that a woman is capable of being the next president? Of course, a woman is just as capable as anyone else. Would I choose a candidate because she's a woman and I want a woman to be president? No way. President's should be chosen for one reason and one reason only: their stance on the issues and what they plan to do. Picking a president should be done with eyes closed. I wouldn't vote for someone because they were white or because they have something in common with me, and other voters shouldn't either.

Then again, these ideas are all pretty irrelevant now that the election is over. Promise me you'll keep it in mind for in four years?

Until then, here's something funny to ease all the post-election tension! Enjoy.

 

DON'T VOTE

Caught you off guard didn't I? We're so use to hearing "Vote", "Rock the Vote", "Get out and Vote", that the thought of someone encouraging us not to vote is almost crazy. I personally don't think I could make a strong case to anyone as to why voting would not benefit them. Although individual reasons for voting may not be the same, the outcome is: change. Change: a chance to have a say in what's happening where we live, where our parents live, where our children (will) live. 

As a PR student, I found this particular YouTube Ad to be pretty powerful. Maybe I was first drawn in because of the big names in it, but I continued watching it because it is real; real passion, real ideas, a real message. Sure it's humorous at times, but the message is such a serious one. Today is  November 4th 2008, have you voted yet?

"Whatever you like.."

Two posts in two days! No, I'm not going crazy... I just came across something that I thought was worth sharing. Click here to see why I still believe that America has a promising future. Please still check out my last post "My First PRSuccess" story. I know it looks long and the title is a little bland compared to my previous posts but I think that you just might learn something from it...or if you knew it all already, maybe you have something I can add!

Thanks for stopping by!

My First PRSuccess Story

Twitter, Facebook, Typepad, LinkedIn: with so many ways to connect being thrown into the world of Public Relations, it’s enough to make any PR major’s head spin.
However, PR students need not be afraid. Although some may choose to focus their studies on all aspects of Social Media, many PR students will find that in their personal affairs, in their future careers, and in most major companies, utilizing one or two methods of Social Media is the most beneficial.
PRSSA President, Paul Matson, prides himself on the time he spends going through new Social Media sources, researching what’s being used, and trying to find new, effective trends in the Social Media world. Matson agrees that focusing on one or two of the many means is a smart choice.
“Just because you have a message, you don’t have to use every social media outlet,” Matson said, “if you want to put something in media, you need to figure out what will reach your audience.”
For Ohio’s PRSSA chapter, two mediums are utilized that Matson feels are the most efficient in reaching the local college-age chapter, as well as other PRSSA chapters. According to Matson, most PRSSA information is sent out through Twitter and the blog, http://www.ohiouprssa.org/, because they are the “easiest to update”.
When engaging in Social Media, individuals and companies alike must realize that not all outlets are for everyone. For example, Matt Dickman, VP of Digital Marketing for Fleishman-Hillard of Cleveland, Ohio, stresses that “not everybody should blog”.
“For some companies, blogging would be a terrible idea; they would have absolutely nothing to blog about,” Dickman said.
Although blogging may not be for everyone, it is evident that Social Media of some sort can benefit any and every company. Not all organizations, however, are ready to accept Social Media as a part of everyday life.
“People don’t take the time to understand [Social Media] because they’re not use to it,” Matson said, “The older a company is, the more they’re going to try to resist. We are threatening because we are really the first digital generation”.
Many companies are afraid to engage in certain Social Media mediums because many give anyone the chance to give comments about a company, product, or person. According to both Matson and Dickman, however, the fear of “citizen journalism” is a pointless one because “the discussion is going on whether you are there or not”.
“Good or bad, information spreads quickly,” Dickman said.
“They don’t call it viral for nothing”.

Sweet Emotion

Well I just got back from my PRSSA meeting where the main topic was (what else?) social media. What is social media you may ask; well, you're reading it right now. Social media is me, the consumer, promoting products, ideas, and emotions through my (personal) websites such as Facebook, Blogspot, and Twitter. I have a Journalism midterm tomorrow and one idea from my Mass Communication book that comes to mind when thinking of social media is the idea that you can make an idea, person, or object important no matter how you portray it. That is why social media is really  a great thing. I mean sure, anyone can post whatever they want about anything, but even if someone is talking about a product that he or she dislikes, at least he or she is getting that product's name out there. I guess that's looking at the cup half-full though

Just a couple thoughts, but like I said, I have a Journalism midterm tomorrow! I will however leave you with this video that Matt Dickman, the Vice President of Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard in Cleveland showed us today to prove that PR and marketing does emotion best:

 

"Poor Lamp"

You felt bad for the lamp didn't you?