Many companies use animals in their advertisements to capture consumers.  For example, Telus is known for their animal presence in commercials.    While Charmin Ultra, a bathroom tissue brand uses cartoon bears as its signature logo, which also appears in commercials. These cute fluffy animals, do they really have an effect on consumers’ purchase behavior? Recently, Mercedes Benz used a chicken in its YouTube commercial to promote its automobile’s Body Magic feature.  A pair of human hands, left to right and up and down, contrived the chicken.  The 53-second clip made me cringe, as I doubted such a luxurious brand’s motive. Mercedes Benz took advantage of cheap social media advertising and manipulated a helpless animal. YouTube has helped Mercedes Benz attract over one million views in short four days.  The attention such advertisement received is quite disturbing. Some viewers may have found the commercial to be “brilliant,” but the use of a chicken to demonstrate the mechanics of a car is unjustified.   The time and effort, if any, that was spent on the idea and execution of the “Body Magic Control” TV commercial was indeed a novel way.  However, the manipulation of a chicken can’t be overlooked. Companies need to find more ethnical ways to advertise their products. Does watching a helpless chicken really entice consumers to purchase?  Has Mercedes Benz captured you?

I’ve never liked sending photos of myself to others, even upon request. I know once I send the photo, its pretty much under their possession FOREVER. This feeling for me is a daunting one. However, it wasn’t long ago when my friends introduced me to an app—Snapchat. This app allows users to take photos (or record videos) and decide whom they want to share it with. But what makes this app unique is that, you also decide on the length you wish to share the photo, ranging from one to ten seconds. Once the time is up, the photo disappears! Through this app, my friends and I have shared many “laugh till you cry” moments and kept one another up-to-date on daily happenings. Personally, I do enjoysending and receiving Snapchats. I think it’s the thrill and excitement of opening every Snapchat, even a short-lived five second goofy face shot can add another smile count to my day. Although Snapchat has the function where it allows users to take screenshots of the photos, but I’ve never had to worry about that. I think it’s just a common courtesy and respect amongst my friends that comes naturally.

However, like all other things, people will eventually abuse it. An intentionally friendly app can turn into a nightmare. There are links to pages where people post “leaked” Snapchats, which you could’ve guessed, inappropriate ones. As a result, Snapchatting has being a thing of worry to many parents. This NBC article addresses this issue and Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat reiterates the original purpose of the creation.
Ultimately, I believe that the users of an app are the ones responsible of destruction of it’s reputation, straying away from what the creator intended the purpose to be. It is the content that people choose to send, the inconsiderate actions, and upright carelessness that turns an intentionally good thing, such as Snapchat, into a “bad” thing.

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