First, to get us in the mood ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElR2QrbV_Cg
Now this ...
We'll read a couple of analyses of Microsoft ad campaigns that do something -- hard to describe, but, well, something, and we'll figure out in class what it is -- with the Microsoft, or PC, brand as it compares to Apple's. First this:
http://www.slate.com/id/2201159/ ... read copy and click on the link to "the company's much-discussed new $300 million marketing campaign ...
Then this recent ad ... click on YouTube embed ...
http://www.slate.com/id/2215267/
Here's what the article in Slate.com says about the second ad:
The spots are the end result of a challenge that Microsoft's ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, put to a few telegenic young people in Los Angeles. It offered them between $700 and $2,000 to buy any computer that they wanted and let them keep whatever they didn't spend. In the first ad to air, a pretty, spunky redhead named Lauren is looking for a laptop with a 17-inch screen for less than $1,000. She goes to an Apple store and discovers that only the $999 13-inch MacBook is in her price range. Apple's 17-inch MacBook Pro goes for $2,799, way beyond Lauren's budget. "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," she huffs. Then she goes to Best Buy and finds an HP notebook that fits her specs selling for just $699.99. She's elated—"I got everything that I wanted for under $1,000!"As you watch it, ask yourself: How much of the information here is about the product, and how much is about "Lauren" (or the actor who plays Lauren)? And how much of that is about us? For Monday we were assigned to read a Newsweek profile of marketing and branding maven Peter Arnell. How does this ad compare to what he does? Would you characterize it like he (maybe) characterizes his career? Or did he mean what he said? How does all this stuff fit together?
Lots of questions here. No good answers, are there? Or are there?
Neil Postman, longtime media critic at New York University, used to say ads were like little parables of the good life. (I'll give you a handout from "How to Watch TV News," a book he co-authored with newscaster Steve Roberts, that explains this point.) What effect do these parables have on us? Economically? Psychologically? So what?
Plenty to think about in all these questions. Including the last one.
Bonus link ... it's a YouTube clip, a tease for a video ... because Wednesday's assignment took a direction I didn't ancticipate, and I don't know what to do with it now ... but don't want to lose it.
The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nk2_rk0FLw
2006
In this powerful new video, Juliet Schor scrutinizes what she calls "the new consumerism"--a national phenomenon of upscale spending that is shaped and reinforced by a commercially-driven media system. She argues that "keeping up with the Joneses" is no longer enough for middle and upper-middle class Americans, many of whom become burdened with debilitating debt as they seek to emulate materialistic TV lifestyles.
1 comment:
computers are alike.... but how r they differnt? these computers all have the same thing, you can type a paper, get on the internet, and download music. the people who look to deep into these things in my opion are nerds. sorry if that affnds you, but it doesnt my self. computers are somthing i just dont like nor get. i would rather spend 700 dollars on a couple softball bats or take the 1000 dollars like "Lauren" does in the commercial and buy a chip ass computer that types and has internet and then get some new clothes a softball bat, or work jeans. A computer is hard to understand for a regular person. you have to have a background in my opinion to get the right lab top. if had to had options and some one they knew about coputers with me i would probably get one with a big screen that has microsoft windows, and microsoft word. thats it! I dont care for the space or the look just something genric and a good battery life.
Post a Comment