Product Placement

In the video, "The Persuaders" that we watched in class they touched on product placement in films and television. This can be a highly effective marketing tool when used correctly, but sometimes it just becomes painfully obvious.

I am the kind of person (a filmmaker myself) who looks for things like product placements in the shows and television that I watch. Labels and logos stick out to me like sore thumbs. This may come from policing shots from films and videos I have worked on to try to ensure that these things don't appear as we don't have the rights to use them. In either case I try to notice them, and usually do. Some product placements seamlessly make their way into shots. Sometimes people draw WAY too much attention to them. Talking about them, filming just the product for several seconds, or they do what one of my favorite TV shows, Fringe, did in the conclusion of season 4. Watch below.

(Sorry for the audio quality, this is the only clip of this I could find) Sprint is one of the sponsors for the show and their logo is frequently seen on the characters' phones, but generally in a much more tasteful manner. I was watching this particular episode with some friends and we all knew exactly what was happening and some people even said that they felt "violated" because of the ad. It definitely cheapened the show for all of us and put a negative taste in our mouths for Sprint with one friend even saying that it was just another reason not to like them as a company.

It is important for people who are using product placement to try to insert the logos or products in as seamless of a way as possible. If people can tell that they are being marketed to, they tend to dislike it, as my friends and I did. There are other times in watching shows when someone naturally sits down to talk with a friend and happens to be drinking out of a Pepsi/Coke can, or is getting an important phone call and the camera "looks to see who is calling" and the logo is there, but not in an obvious, let's zoom in on it sort of way. Product placement, in my opinion, is done best when you don't actively notice it, it is just something that subconsciously makes a mark.

Side note, another pet peeve of mine in movies and films is when they are drinking coffee or other beverages in to go type cups and you can tell from the way the actors are handling the cup that the cup is empty. If they held a full cup of coffee the way that they are and used those hand motions they would be covered in super hot coffee. They should at least put water in the cups! OK, rant over, sorry for that.

The Extended Self

In class we have been talking a lot about the extended self. This being that possessions, events, etc can become a part of who you are as an individual. This can be things like your car, house, favorite stuffed animal, when you got your first ___ (fill in the blank). This talk has gone into how when people loose the items that are a part of their extended selves they often report feeling violated, even as though they have been raped. It is intriguing to me how possessions can become so much a part of who we are that we loose a sense of self if we lose those things.

I have several friends who have encountered loss during this year. Things from house fires to car fires to theft. It has been interesting to talk to these people after these events happened and see how they truly do experience a deep sense of loss. One friend who was in one of these situations looked lost and confused and had a hard time making sense of things right after the event occurred.

This has had me thinking about what I would save if my house or Michael's house were burning down. I found that I was drawn first to keepsakes, then to things of great value, and then to other smaller things. For class we had to write a love story about an object that we own that we would run into a burning building to save. This made me think about this even deeper. My list was made as if I was in the house when it started on fire, but what if I arrived and it was on fire already, is there anything that I own that I would risk my life to save from a fire. We weren't allowed to write about people or computers, so the things that would really tempt me were out. I thought of two possessions.

The first is a pen that Brother Ray hand crafted for me when I graduated from High School. This is my only physical reminder of one of the greatest mentors I have ever had. It means so much to me and I treasure this pen.

The second is a painting that a dear friend of mine in Texas painted for me. It is based off of a dream that I had while in Bible school. It is a picture of a girl caught up in the storms of life and then the Lord reaching down his hand to save her and pull her up out of the storms. This dream really stood out to me when I had it and I wanted to have a visual picture of it so that I would always remember that no matter what is going on in my life I can always turn to the Lord and He will be there to help me.

This is an image of it from before it was completely finished.

It was really interesting to hear what other people in class wrote about. It was fun to hear what things people attach themselves to. What about you? What would you save?

Marketing and Self Image

I recently stumbled upon and article that talked about both the pros and the cons of the fitness revolution that is starting to spread in America. It talked about how in many ways it is good and is helping people to finally commit to getting in shape and working out. It has also spurred movements such as the "pro ana" movement. The internet is full of blogs and websites that seek to encourage people to be "healthier" but are all of these sites promoting a truly healthy lifestyle?

For those who do not know what "pro ana" is urban dictionary defines it as "Someone who thinks anorexia is a lifestyle and gets help from a web community to achieve his/her goals. Used to describe the internet anorexia movement." This is not the only movement out there that is promoting unhealthy diets and exercise plans, but it is the one that I am going to talk about here. Pro Ana sites often talk about ways that people can achieve their UGW (Ultimate Goal Weight) by doing things like b/p'ing (binge purging- eating 2,000 calories and then throwing it up), consuming ultra low amounts of calories per day, setting weekly weight loss goals of 5 lbs/per week or more. They frequently match these suggestions with photos of ultra skinny girls and "inspirational" quotes.

Coupled with photos like this one:

In writing this post I perused one pro ana blog to see the kinds of things that the author wrote and it was littered with comments such as "i b/p'ed two times this morning. really upset and disappointed in myself about that.... And it also means i probably havent lost any weight today. so screw the scale, i'm just going to hibernate in my room for today. i wish i had the strength to just not binge. but when i get stressed out, i go blind and i can't help it. i wont eat for the rest of the day today and hopefully tomorrow will be better." "I have another date tomorrow with the dude i've been talking about (a little bit excessively. apologies for that too :x) and i'm SO NERVOUS. my god.... and more than the fact that i'm nervous to actually see him, i would say what's frightening me is that fact that he's going to take me to a dinner and i have no frikkin clue where he's taking me. It could be italian, japanese, chinese, WHATEVER but i have no ideaaaa where!!! and that means i'll have to order something i'm not prepared to order and actually have to eat it to show him that i'm not nutso in the head. I'm going to die inside. literally. my god. i have not sat down for a normal meal in so long i just dont think i'll have to courage to eat something that i know NOTHING ABOUT. i will not know how much calories are in a bowl of spaghetti with whatever sauce they decide to use or some sushi rolls or ... it goes on and on. sigh... my social life down the drain thanks to this ED. whatever. life goes on. thinspo to make me feel better and keep my head up hopefully.... hope everyone else is keeping strong!!" "Finally 118. My ugw!"

In my mind none of this is healthy. In another post she talks about how glad she is that no one has discovered that she is "ana" because she watched a show about girls in recovery and could never eat as much as they are forced to (2,000 calories a day). This is a movement that is picking up steam and drawing a lot of people into it.

Then there are sites such as http://fitfluential.com/ that encourage people to be fit, not skinny. They promote eating a healthy, well balanced diet that gives your body the fuel that it needs without all of the junk. It encourages people to form a work out plan and stick to it. Some of their inspirational photos are below:

 So where does marketing fit into this? We talked in class about if marketers have a responsibility in what they market, particularly as it is related to "the self". I feel that they do. I think that for years companies, particularly in the fashion world have projected an image of what beauty and perfection is and that has been ultra skinny, and often anorexic or bulimic models. I think that marketers need to be conscious of the image that they are projecting and make sure that it is one that is healthy and beneficial to society. I'm not saying that it is marketers fault, but I do think that they have played their part in this through the images that they have presented as being perfection.