Week 7 EOC: The pitch

I am looking at the Mercedes-Benz CLS550 for my final project. I choose Mercedes-Benz because I will be purchasing a vehicle later this year and have begun looking at different Mercedes. This Benz in specific I found today. What caught my attention was the slick four-door coupe look it has. I've been a fan of this look since I was much younger. Doing further research, I found out this car can be completely customized from the inside out. I mean who doesn't want silk beige/espresso semi-aniline leather upholstery? I didn't even mention the different wood trims you can select from.

Taking a look under the hood you'll find a 4.7L Twin Turbo Premium Unleaded V-8 engine ready to roar. With all this power you would normally think of all the gas you'll be burning through, but believe it or not you'll be ranging from 17 miles per gallon to 25! With the size of the tank you can cruise the highway over 500 miles.

Power and a sexy body isn't what you're looking for? Then check out the amazing feature that you can get with this Benz. You have your navigation system and HD satellite radio, in-dash CD player, in-dash memory card slot, auxiliary input jack, and even Bluetooth interface for hands-free calling. Some more great features include an audio theft deterrent to prevent the theft of your vehicle, voice activation, and even a 10 Gb internal memory. All around this car has everything I or anyone else could ever need or even want.

Week 6: EOC Lady Gaga Grammies

The three main people benefiting from Lady Gaga’s performance at the Grammies were Intel, Lady Gaga, and network television. I believe network television benefited least out of all three. The producers of the Grammies made their show one you had to see. The only way you could see it was by watching the Grammies on network television or wait until it’s been put on the internet. They did this with the intent of raising the viewers of the Grammies and network television. I believe network television will soon be a thing of the past so to focus on raising views seems pointless. The newer generations I don’t think care as much about the Grammies and they for sure don’t care about television. The Grammies should try charging a small fee to stream the show online and add extra incentives to the people that get it.

Lady Gaga benefited next most out of the three. She was able to do a David Bowey tribute on one of the biggest award shows in America and use performance enhancing technology that nobody has seen yet. This really puts her name out there. She killed the performance and will be remembered forever for it. 

Intel takes the cake on who benefited the most! It seems like they used David Bowey, who unfortunately passed only weeks prior to the event, and the Grammies to really boost their new technology and show off to the world. To make the matter even better, Intel showed a video talking about the new technology seconds before Lady Gaga took over the stage. Does Intel really care about David Bowey, Lady Gaga, or the Grammies at all or was it all really about Intel?

Week 4 EOC: Role of Women in Contemporary Advertisements

This ad symbolizes everything that is wrong with women in advertising. They are used as sex symbols to sell anything and everything. The ad above has a female holding her leg up and open with Now Open in big letters. This suggests American Apparel is now open like a females legs are. Using sex to say something as simple as Now Open. This type of advertising is used in most ads featuring women. A naked woman is seen in so many places that I feel I'm becoming desensitized and am losing the desire to see women naked.  

Tom Ford is known for their sexy suit ads. More times than not, you can guarantee on seeing a naked or mostly naked women in a Tom Ford ad, with a smooth looking male wearing one of their amazing suits. Take this ad for example, not only is both the male in the suit and the naked female in this ad, but the man is gently massaging the woman as she lies there. Suggesting that if you wear this suit or a Tom Ford suit, you will indeed get the opportunity to massage your own naked female.

Doesn't matter if the product are clothes, cars, or guitars, sex sells it. This ad for example has a beautiful woman standing in the ocean wearing a bikini, but holding a Dean Guitar. Instruments don't belong in the water or no where near the water, but the setting of her in front of a sunset standing in the ocean highlights how sexy the guitar is. I'm not totally against these ads though. I do understand how degrading these ads are, but I also understand these woman choose to do them. If these women want to put their body out in the world like so then this is their choice. Men can play this role in advertising as well, just because it isn't seen as often doesn't mean it's not done. If they want to degrade themselves in an ad then that is their choice. These ads don't single out an entire sex in my eyes.

Week 3 EOC: Ethics in Tobacco

• 1. Determine the scenario: What happens in this frame? Joe the Camel is looking cooler than ever in his suit, smoking a Camel cigarette, standing in front of his luxury car, woman, and sunset behind the city.
• 2. What is the setting? What are the conditions? It’s a cool smooth setting. You want to be this guy.
• 3. Who are the people or groups? Young successful adults.
• 4. What is their point of view around this specific experience? It’s a cool smooth experience. That’s why it says Smooth character at the top. Joe the Camel is that smooth cool guy you want to be.
• 5. What are their goals?- To get young adults to buy their cigarette.
• 6. What are their assumptions? You buy these cigarettes and you’ll be as smooth as Joe.
• 7. Are there conflicts? Is there cooperation?-  No conflicts, everything flows together. Smooth view, smooth car, smooth woman, and smooth cigarettes.
• 8. What are the outcomes? Young adults buy these cigarettes to feel and look smooth and cool.

Week 2 EOC: Red Bull Ad

Red Bull energy drink company was founded in 1987 out of Austria. Since, the company has grown to be the best selling and most drank energy drink in the world. The Red Bull gives you wings advertisement began in 2000, but wasn’t brought to America until 2002. Red Bull is now a leading sponsor in not only sports, but music and entertainment as well. With Red Bull sponsoring most of today’s stars, it’s obvious they have a strong target for the millennials and college students.

In 2013 a man named Benjamin Careathers teamed up with many other consumers of the energy drink to file a law suit against Red Bull. The claim was Red Bull’s marketing and advertising had been misleading to the public. The fact they claimed the energy drink “gives you wings” was obviously not true and just puffery, but that and Red Bull had no scientific facts to back up claims for improved performance, concentration and reaction speed. Eventually Red Bull settled for $13 million in favor of the consumers. A $10 cash or $15 in Red Bull products was given to anyone who had purchased or drank Red Bull since 2002.

If Red Bull never claimed these improvements then I believe the case to be morally wrong. Red Bull is obviously not healthy for anyone. The claim it gives you wings is nothing more than puffery. I believe these consumers were just after a company because of its wealth and maybe the fact of it being unhealthy. If Red Bull had made these claims then they were in the wrong selling their beverage on false claims.