More Than Meets the Eyes, Adverts in Disguise

Anyone who reads this with any frequency knows that I have my pet issues, and one is my promotion of corporate responsibility in advertising. I'm also a fan of art, a form of expression that is exclusively human. Sure a computer or a monkey can paint, but not without human aid. Advertising and art have had a long and sweet marriage. You know this union as "product placement".



Reading the article, you'll be reminded of some of the great examples. ET pushing candy. Apple computers popping up in everything, logo to the camera. People never seemed to mind, I know I didn't until a few years back. But a funny thing happened recently. Multiple people mentioned to me that after watching Transformers, they realized it was "just one big commercial."


[Apparent clip from the movie... Note the Micro$oft Xbox 360 and the Mountain Dew]

I started to think to myself that maybe the days of product placement were dwindling. A few years back, no one said anything about placement in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." I realized that my friends didn't really mind. They were giving a movie review, not social commentary. But one thing is for sure: some movies are more advertising and less story, more bought and less thought. And hopefully people will find a way to give art back its uniqueness. Because can you imagine if Basquiat were around today?



What a bastardization. But then again, Nike would have paid for his drug habits.

Redirection... Slippery Slopes Ahead!

I had a post drafted about the Super Bowl and the end of the era of hero worship... but let me just redirect you to this article on No Mas. It captures what I was trying to say exactly.

And vice versa, here's a bit about selling the old to new people. I was in my Marketing and Institutional Advancement (of a Nonprofit) class and my teacher was using an example of how to market sugary cereal to kids. A woman asked, "Are there any ethical concerns about this? It's unhealthy, right, and the kids don't know what they're wanting, and about nutrition." To which the teacher replied, "Well, it's a slippery slope if you start telling advertisers what they can and can't do." Really? Well, see I didn't ask the question because I knew a PR answer would emerge. But using the "slippery slope" argument is just lazy. Sloping to what? Banning advertising? I doubt it. Coming to some sort of compromise about a moral code by which humans should live, and stopping there? Yeah.

The next time a cop pulls me over I'm going to say, "Hold on, Ponch, it's a slippery slope pulling me over, telling me what to do. Next thing you know you'll be stopping me from eating cookies before bedtime. So just a warning, ok bud?"

You'll be Flippin Real Estate Like it's Burgers, Man

Another big layoff, I know. Well here's the story, I found out that my job actually runs a year longer than expected, until May 2008, due to a reexamination of the grant I'm working under. Soon after, realizing it'd be nice to stay down the street, I reupped for another year at my apartment. Walking/using public transit is a blast and I'd recommend it for anyone.



So that brings me to 2007, which I rang in with over a couple nights at a casino and a bar. Somehow I managed to be healthier at the start of the new year than the end of the last year, thanks to drinking only orange juice on the holiday. I consider that a good omen. But as soon as I had wiped 2006 out of my eyes, I realized that it's possible nothing would change this year. I have my dreamgirl, a good apartment and job, and I just didn't see any changes on the horizon.

Well, so of course I had to mix it up right? I've been talking to some friends about advertising and how it affects our communities, and I'm thinking that if I take some classes I might be able to make some type of a difference at some point, with a non-profit group.

Here's the problem as I see it: I see a guy at the Metro stop wearing nice shoes. The shoes cost probably between $100-$200. Where is that money going? In today's economy, the odds are most of it goes back to a rich white dude. But think about what could be done with the money not spent on shoes and rims and all the material objects that are advertised in the cities. For instance, real estate. Real estate is like the crack game, but it's legal.



So my non-profit's goal would be to fight the idea that spending giving rich white men your hard earned money is a good idea. Something like a cross between thetruth.com and the whole white tees movement. I want to be a promoter of the adage that less is more.

So I'm taking classes this semester to figure out how to start right. Thoughts?