In Response to Colin's Post

Companies that deceive customers risk getting found out which means they may have to pay back their customers, lose customers, and damage their public image. Why then do companies risk it? 

Companies like T-Mobile, who have intense competition with the other, more popular wireless carriers, risk these sort of things because they are desperate. They need to think of something that will get them more customers, so they resort to lying to try to win over their hearts. It does however, prove to be the wrong choice. It only gets them into some serious legal trouble, and makes them lose even more money than they would be in the first place. My thought is, T-Mobile should probably get some new employees. 

Twitter Surveys

Recently, when I was scrolling through my twitter, I came across an interesting tweet.

I have seen many companies promote tweets on my home page, but I had never heard of twitter surveys before. It got me thinking about what we had discussed in class about the different ways to take surveys. While I'm sure this tactic has it's problems, I thought it was a very intriguing way to do it. The fact that they select a group of users based on their profiles is pretty impressive. This way, they can cater to the people who would be interested in taking this survey. 

However, this may cause some problems. Not the entire population sees this survey, meaning that the results could be biased, or lean more toward one direction specifically because the people they selected to promote the survey to are part of one "group" of the population. 

How affective do you think this type of surveying is?

In Response to Drew's Post

What do you think about the Boston Strong campaign? Would you wear a Boston Strong T? 

I would wear a Boston Strong shirt. The cause itself is a good one, because the events that took place that day were pretty terrifying. Having friends and family that live in the area, it makes you grateful that they are okay, but at the same time feel sad for the friends and family of the people who weren't okay. I would definitely spend money on buying a T-Shirt that can help to raise money for those who lost so much in the attacks at the marathon. Having grown up around Boston, I was raised with the same persistance and loyalty to the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston that almost everyone living near there has. That being so, I would definitely wear the shirt, because it symbolizes the strength and unity of the city itself. 

Moms Demand Action Ads

The other night, I was just on the computer doing nothing in particular, and I came across this ad for an organization called Moms Demand Action. With the number of shootings in America increasing yearly, 2013 has so far been "the year" for speaking out against gun violence. Especially since the school shooting in Newtown Connecticut this past December, people's desire to have stricter gun laws has skyrocketed. Or at least, they're making their opinions more known now. Moms Demand Action was founded the same day as the Newtown Shooting, December 14, 2012, as a result of the shooting. These ads that I came across came out recently, and are extremely bold, shocking and strongly stated.

Here are some of the ads:

These ads read "One child is holding something that's been banned in America to protect them. Guess which one." When I first saw these pictures, I got chills. Political views aside, these ads are extremely powerful. The image of a child holding something so dangerous; but comparing the items to Kinder Eggs, dodgeball and a book is a great way to get their point across. One thing that ads are used for is to be memorable: something that people will really pay attention to. One that has a message that is burned into their brain. 

You can find the website for Moms Demand Action here. 

Are there any ads that you remember because of their shock value? What were they?

In Response to Gina's Post

What is your favorite advertisement and why did it catch your attention?

I'm not sure if you meant out of the ones you posted or just in general, so I'm going to go with in general. 

Right now, my favorite advertisements out there are the commercials for AT&T with the guy that talks to little kids. They're always so funny. But to be honest, for the longest time I didn't know what they were commercials for. The ending never really sank in until a few weeks ago. So while I think these commercials are hysterically funny, they might want to do a better job at incorporating the business itself in the commercial so consumers know what it's for. 

Love Comes in Every Shade

This past holiday season, the Gap launched a new ad campaign called "Love Comes in Every Shade". The campaign was created to advertise the bright, fun colors of the holiday collection at the Gap stores. However, it also created a buzz about one of today's most widely discussed issues: equal rights.

The Huffington Post Article 

In the above link, the Huffington post describes the ad campaign in full. It also shows the different photos the campaign used and what they represent. There were eight kinds of "love" depicted in Gap's ads: true love, married love, puppy love, fatherly love, sibling love, modern love, best friend love, and in love. These advertisements showed different celebrities, for example Michael J. Fox and his wife for "true love". What was interesting is that the ad for married love captured musician Rufus Wainwright and his husband Jorn Weisbrodt. In addition to that, they ran an ad for "modern love", starring the cast of NBC's hit show The New Normal, a show about a gay couple and the modern sort of family they create with the surrogate mother and her daughter.

According to the article above, Gap's Global Cheif Marketing Officer, Seth Farbman, told PR Newswire that "Their [the celebrities in the ads] personal relationships help remind us that every family is unique and often goes beyond just those we're related to--it also includes the people we share our lives and deepest passions with. This campaign celebrates these diverse, optimistic views on family and the many forms love can take."

Personal political opinions aside, do you think it was a smart move for the Gap to run an ad campaign that showed their advocacy for gay marriage, or do you think it is something that will hurt them in the long run. Why?

In Response to Kerri's Post

Do you think these new groups are an invasion of privacy or beneficial to Facebook users?
Why or why not?

As long as the information they're using isn't information the user has privacy settings on, then I think that it's fine that Facebook uses this tactic. For example, if they just use their age and the things they like then it actually is pretty helpful that the ads on their Facebook page would only be ones that were tailored to their needs.