While this last assignment may have appeared to be simple at first glance, it most certainly proved itself to be anything but simple. Brainstorming creative ideas, recording, editing, and exporting all seemed like a rudimentary process from the start, however, when put all together this project definitely tested our group’s patience.

From the first day our group came together, we tried our hardest to ensure that the skillset required for this assignment would be fulfilled by at least one member in our group: writing skills, computer software skills, editing skills, presentation skills, and research skills.  Our group worked well together and got along, however, the first problem we ran into was the lack of overlapping breaks.  As a result, the majority of our meetings were done online through various sites.

Our biggest challenge was putting the video together.  I suppose in hindsight all these problems were essentially unavoidable, as none of us could forecast the biggest issue: conversion of a movie file from a mac computer to a PC.  However, as the saying goes, we learned from our mistakes.

I personally believe that you cannot go back and wish you had done anything differently.  Of course mistakes were made, but we learned from our mistakes, and if everything had gone perfectly we would have come out of this assignment with the same skill set we entered with.  I could go on to say that I wish we had finished the first draft of our video a little earlier so that we had more time to re-do our video on a Mac, however, as stated above, if that had been the case I would not have forced myself to learn iMovie.  Our team also would not have presented with the opportunity to work through these speed bumps as a team if everything had been smooth sailing.

Overall, I am content with my group and how the assignments got done.  As we were taught in COMM 296, we capitalized on our strengths, made active attempts at reducing our weaknesses, and grew from our opportunities.

Secret, Lady Speed Stick, Dove, the list goes on.  Which type of deodorant do YOU use? Does it even matter to you? Personally, I will use any deodorant as long as it “smells nice”.  Lavender, cherry blossom, summerberry, vanilla, pear, bacon, the list seems as though it is never to be exhausted.

Did you just read bacon? Yes you did!  AdFreak has recently posted a post about how “J&D’s Foods-makers of bacon everything-has announced a new bacon-scented deodorant”.  Introducing to you the newest deodorant scent: Power Bacon. The J&D website states that “using Power Bacon will make everyone drawn to you like you were the most powerful magnet on Earth”.

I don’t know about all you readers, but bacon is something I like to smell in the morning in the kitchen, or at the local breakfast diner.  It is most definitely not something I like to smell like throughout the entire day.  To put this into perspective, it is the same as having an omelette scented deodorant, or a pancake batter scented deodorant. How much longer until the newest aisle at your local drug store has an aisle solely dedicated to your favourite breakfast scented deodorants?

After further research on this product, it became apparent that this is not the first bacon-scented product J&D has introduced.  For example, J&D offers bacon scented lip balm, and shaving cream.  Ladies, would you really like to have your legs smell like bacon after shaving? And men, would you really like to have your faces smell like bacon all day?

From a financial standpoint, while this may be a “gag” gift, how much money was spent through manufacturing this product, advertising such a product, in comparison to the profits gained.

This blog post may view this product negatively, however, one must never forget that there are 7 billion people in the world with extremely different opinions.  Below is a video clip of a different take on this product.

Shahista Kassam recently wrote on “The Effect of Barbie Doll Commercials on Young Girls”.  While I agree with the points made in her discussion of such a topic such as how “Barbie doll commercials create a negative image in the minds of young girls” (Kassam), I to some extent disagree with the amount of negative attention brought to ads such as the Barbie Doll ad.

On the streets, in high schools, in university marketing courses, you hear all about how mass media distorts teenage girls’ definition of “beauty”.  My question however, is how many of us pay attention to all the positive change that has come about this topic over the last few years?

Negativity Bias is defined as the “Human’s capacity to put more weight on negative entities than positive”.  If I asked all the readers of this blog to raise their hand if they agree to this statement, I believe 60% of readers will have raised their hand.

Students, teachers, preachers, parents, and professors worldwide have posed the issue of how mass media has distorted teenage girls’ definition of “beauty”.  What they overlook, is how society as a whole is coming together piece by piece to address this issue.  For example, in 2012 a 14 year old girl, Julia Bluhm, decided to stand up for what she believes strongly in.  She approached Seventeen magazine in an attempt to get them to stop the use of Photoshop the portray authentic beauty on “one photo spread per month”.  Although the protest did not go through, steps were paved for future success. To speak numbers, 40,000 people signed Julia’s petition.  Julia, along with hundreds of others said: “I didn’t think it was going to get this big” (Julia Bluhm).

Now, I pose the same question.  If I now asked all the readers of this blog to raise their hand if they believe now, that they are proven guilty to this negativity bias, I believe 95% of readers will have raised their hand.

Many products and services are marketed to an extent where its capabilities are actually falsely overstated.  For example, some may believe that the Slap Chop, a product that claims to chop vegetables, fruits, and much more quickly and easily is a waste of money.  In addition to the Slap Chop, various exercise machines, such as the Thigh Master have been marketed in such a way that grabs the target market’s attention.  However, for a large portion of the cases, these marketing strategies that overstate the product result in disappointment.

This theory is no different when it comes to products which may be more well-known than the Slap Chop, or Thigh Master.  Apple has recently released Siri: a voice recognition software.  Of the 2000 apple consumers questioned in America, 46% of consumers said that Siri’s voice recognition capabilities were oversold.  Alternatively, nearly 44% of these same consumers stated that the voice recognition software was “hit or miss”, “not very good”, or “bad”.

This mismatch of consumer expectations, and marketing strategy led to a law suit being filed against Apple’s Siri in March of 2012.  The suit claims that “Through its nationwide multimedia campaign, Apple disseminates false and deceptive representations regarding the functionality of the Siri feature” (Los Angeles Times).  In many of Apple’s Siri commercials, this feature shows Siri making appointments and locating various restaurants.  It even goes so far as showing consumers using Siri to learn guitar chords!

Evidently, the gap between what is advertised, and what the reality of the product is, causes an uproar with goods such as Apple’s Siri.  One may argue that if company’s do not market their product well enough, demand will drop, therefore reducing the company’s revenue.  On the other hand, with over exaggerated advertising, consumers may start to lose trust in the company, therefore also dropping demand.

It is essentially up to the company to decide on how, and in which ways they would like to market their product based on reputability, how elastic the good is, and how far from the truth their advertising really is.

Link to the Los Angeles Times article on the lawuit:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/28/business/la-fi-tn-apple-iphone-siri-class-action-lawsuit-20120328

While the word “Marketing” may encompass “…communicating the value of a product or service to customers”, these days, the true value of consumer goods and service may be stretched a little too far while marketing the good to the public.

Nutella.  A childhood favourite.  An adolescence favourite.  An adulthood favourite.  My favourite.  Nutella claims that “Breakfast Loves Nutella”, but my question to Nutella is, who is “Breakfast”? Is “Breakfast” aware of the sugar content of this delicious spread?  Or does it stand beside the thousands of consumers misled each and every day by your clever marketing?  Is “Breakfast” concerned with the long-lasting health impacts of this chocolate-y goodness?

Companies such as Nutella are undoubtedly successful marketers, however, they are not marketing their products in a way in which reflects the true value behind it.  For example, Nutella markets their breakfast spread in a way that makes it seem like a healthy start to the day.  This is so far from the truth it may be considered a lie.  In various Nutella commercials, it is stated in the last few seconds that Nutella is “…made with simple quality ingredients: hazelnuts, skim milk, and a hint of cocoa…breakfast never tasted this good”.  In no commercial is the sugar content mentioned.  Per two tablespoons of Nutella, the average amount on a piece of toast, comes along 5.5 tablespoons of sugar.  To put this into perspective, this is the equivalent of the sugar content in 5 oreo cookies.  I wonder what “Breakfast” would say if it knew that! Would “Breakfast” still love Nutella? Maybe for it’s taste, but certainly not for it’s overload of sugar!

As evidently shown with the Nutella example, marketing is increasingly covering up the truth with a twisted, more favourable outlook.  They may get more consumers, but at what cost? The health of consumers who may not have time in their busy lives to look into the sugar content of what may be deemed as “healthy”.  Afterall, “Breakfast loves Nutella!”.

Think about your son or daughter, your little cousin, or perhaps even that little girl who lives on your block.  Do you think he/she could recognize the famous “Golden Arches” of McDonald’s from down the street?

Although marketing can enhance a company’s view from the public, and increase sales, companies must be cognizant of what the side effects are of these various marketing strategies.  For example, is Ronald McDonald’s sole purpose to raise awareness and money for the Ronald McDonald house? Maybe.  However, through this advertising to raise money for what I believe to be an extremely worth-while cause, children everywhere are being negatively effected by the health impacts that come along with McDonald’s.

According to a report by Statistics Canada, nearly one third of Canadian children are overweight or obese.  With Ronald McDonald parading around, encouraging children to consume fat and incredible amounts of sodium, otherwise known as a happy meal, this statistic should not come as a shock.  It is no doubt that a childhood favourite would be chicken mcnuggets and fries.  Let’s just put this into perspective: 6 mcnuggets, and a small fries has a total of 510 calories, 29 grams of fat, and 640 milligrams of sodium.

The fast food industry collectively spends over $5 million dollars each day on advertising unhealthy food to children.  If this keeps up, more and more children are going to become overweight, and be at increased risk of heart disease, cancer, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.  Just imagine how many lives may be lost to these sicknesses, rather than saved if even just a portion of that $5 million dollars went towards the Ronald McDonald campaign

A link to McDonald’s Fry Kids commercial:

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