SCAM!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=advertising%20google%20fraud&st=cse

Everyone should read this article!

Today, my English professor, a few other students and I had a very interesting discussion about this article.  A quick overview of the article: A man has beat the Google system.  He runs an online company that sells eye wear, but he has no inventory of his own.  (I will refrain from using the site's name just in case it creates more publicity for him.)  Once consumers order from him, he goes to places such as Ebay and buys what his customer requested.  This would work, except for the fact that all of the sunglasses that he sells are cheap knock-offs.  Customers realize the scam so attempt to return their orders.  Unfortunately for them, this man is aggressive.  He threatens them, most of the time causing the angered customers to post reviews of sites.  All of the reviews that mention his company's name, whether positive or negative, get his site boosted a little higher on search engines like Google.  He found that the more people he pissed off, the more they complained, which lead to more service.
How a scam artist as popular as him wasn't caught sooner blows my mind!  The internet is a scary place, especially when someone unknown acquires all of your information.  We all need to be especially careful when using our names, addresses, credit cards, etc online.  Also, I now understand Google a little better - even the "more relevant" searches could only be high up because of negative popularity.  Watch out for the scammers!!

"Like"

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147272

Facebook and Twitter are huge in today's world.  Personally, I check my facebook multiple times a day and have notifications sent directly to my phone.  According to this article, Facebook has over 500 million users and Twitter is growing to close to 200 million.  Companies are taking advantage of all of these free opportunities to connect with people.  They can make a page and have fans "like" them and give them chances to comment on posts.  The user feedback is incredible.  In this article Oreo was used as an example.  They posted questions such as "Ever try dunking an Oreo cookie with a fork or anything else?" which received 8,200 likes and 2,300 comments and "Pick a flavor, any flavor! If you could create a new Oreo cream flavor, what would it be?" which received 7,100 likes, 12,500 comments.  All of these people engaging in your product for free!  The likes aren't too beneficial, but when consumers comment and become involved with the product, that's where the money is.  Facebook is important in many lives and the things/products on pages have an impact on many.

World AIDS Day

I love to see celebrities using their fame for the better.  As soon as Wednesday, a bunch of celebrities will be lost to the social media world.  They will be signing off of their Twitter and Facebook accounts for World AIDS Day and won't return until $1 million has been raised.  This idea was started by Alicia Keys for her charity, Keep A Child Alive.  Included in this project are Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Usher and a few more.  http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3i34a063bb249a3cf2bd315f944e8b1283 says that Lady Gaga alone has 7.2 million Twitter followers - there's bound to be a movement!  All the celebrity deprived out there will be bound to help the cause so they can stalk their favorite stars.  The thing that I think is interesting is that technology has come so far that all the donations can be accepted through text messages and bar-code technology.  No need to send in a check.  Save on postage and just shoot out a text.  Can the celebrities make it without any form of social media?  For this good of a cause they should.

Cartoons vs. Jesus

Last year in my psychology class we watched a study about children and their ability to identify pictures of people.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the video, so I hope that my description will be sufficient.  Basically, a group of elementary age children were shown pictures of famous historical figures and pictures of cartoon characters for restaurants/products.  Almost every single child knew who Ronald McDonald was.  Many knew characters such as Tony the Tiger and the Trix bunny.  Only a handful of the older children could identify famous presidents such as George Washington.  The most surprising (and the part that made my jaw drop) was that when a picture of Jesus was presented to the children, not a single child was able to identify him.

Children are bombarded with advertisements all day every day.  When they watch their favorite TV shows, companies reel them in.  Commercials with silly cartoons dominate children's channels.  Why?  Because kids will remember these characters and base all of their wants on the best advertised product - the one that intrigues them the most.
I find it sad that children almost idolize places such as McDonald's all because they cater to children and are fun.  In the kindergarten class where I tutor, almost all the children have written multiple short stories about McDonald's.  If only we could have the success of Mickey D's and get more important things to stick in our youth's minds.  Maybe then children would be able to identify more presidents than restaurant cartoons.

Holiday Ads

http://adage.com/article?article_id=147348

This article helps to show just how much things are changing.  Print ads used to be huge!  And I remember going through the newspaper on Thanksgiving looking for the best sales.  This year, my mom didn't even touch a newspaper.  She went straight to her computer and looked up all the sales online.  TV and internet are beginning to overcome print ads.  According to the article, "Most CMOs -- 42% -- said they allocate most of their holiday budget to print ads, down from 64% a year ago."  That's a 22% difference in only one year.  If companies keep decreasing their holiday print ad budget at this rate, print will be dead very soon.  The article goes on to say, "And 27% said they'd be investing the bulk of their budget in online ads, including social-networking sites. That's up from just 18% last year."  Online and especially social-networking advertisements are growing at an extremely fast rate compared to all other forms of advertising.  The internet hasn't been around for very long and already over one-fourth of companies are spending the majority of their budget here.  The world is changing - digital is in, print is going out.

Most Talented Gorilla!

Does anyone get it?  What does a drum-playing gorilla have to do with chocolate?
It doesn't matter.  This kind of an ad grabs your attention and most of all makes you laugh.  Who cares that it has nothing to do with the product.  Just like Jelly Helm's saying, "It's not about what it's about."  Gorillas and chocolate have nothing in common, but that's not the point.  The point is that this clip is enjoyable, it made you pay attention.  Some enjoyed it so much they decided to share with others (like me posting on here) and that's what gets the product's name around.  Sometimes edgy and ridiculous really works.  I can't tell if this works, but I can say I truly enjoyed it!

Family Time

Tis the season.  It's that time again for gorging yourself on food, listening to Christmas music, and most of all spending time with family.  I never realized until this year just how much I treasure being able to see my family come together.  Before, I always took for granted the times my little family would gather and talk about old times.  I thought that it was boring and embarrassing.  Now, I wish it was a little longer.  I feel out of touch with them.  I don't know what is going on in their lives anymore.  These people are my family yet I feel as though I hardly know them.  Why people complain about getting together with loved ones is a bit of a mystery to me right now.  I miss those I only see a few times a year.  I guess all that it took was a little time of separation from all that I know to realize just how much I love and miss it all.  My family isn't all that I've missed.  Also included in this is my friends, my dogs, my house, my town, my old job, my neighborhood - the list goes on and on.  I am thankful for this time of year and for the love that brings family and friends together.