Steer Bar & Grill - Sexy Ad

I well known Steakhouse in Melbourne called Steer Bar & Grill has a new ad out that is demeaning to women. The ad is a pair of female legs wearing a short skirt and it says “Find a great bit of skirt at Steer.”

            There was a lot of controversy about this ad because some think that the ad is comparing women and different grades of meat where others think it is perfectly ok. The Advertising Standards Board explains that if there is a comparison of women to meat, no matter what, it is vilifying and discriminatory. The ad has now been withdrawn by the advertisers.

            Steer Bar & Grill try to defend their ad by saying they did not mean to be disrespectful or offensive to women in any way. The ad was supposed to be humorous and innocent. Women should not be seen or treated that way according to the company.

            I think this whole controversy is very bizarre. There are ads all over the place that are demeaning and disrespectful to women. This is really not out of the ordinary. Although I think that this ad, and all ads that disrespect women, are not right, I don’t think that this is any worse than others. Sex sells and that is how it has always been. People put sex into their ads to sell their product because if their product seems sexy, then the people buying it will be having sex often and the world would be good. Sex is big in the advertising industry along with the world.

           Here are some other examples of ads that disrepect women:

Hardee's - "If machines can't eat it, machines shouldn't make it."

            The popular restaurant, Hardee's, has a new commercial out that revolves around humanizing robots and how robots are not humans. They are not humans therefore they do not have stomachs and cannot eat anything. The commercial has a good point to it. Hardee's is trying to say that their food is not processed and made by machines and then packaged and sent to the restaurants. They are all made by humans for humans. The advertisers for this company were very smart when creating this ad because people want to know where their food is coming from and how real or artificial it really is. This commercial steps out of the norms of a restaurant ad that is usually trying to sell a new product and turns it into making people aware or their products. The robot symbolizes evil in a way. It symbolizes alien machines that bread chicken patties for other companies they freeze them then serve them to customers.

            I like this ad because it is real and that is what people want these days.

The Alamo Draft House Cinema: Chaos

The Alamo Draft House Cinema is a movie theatre chain who takes their phone policy very seriously. Their phone policy is that if you talk or text during a movie, you are to be kicked out of the theatre. Every movie theatre has this rule, but the employees at The Alamo make sure to follow this policy very carefully.

Recently, a movie-goer experienced the seriousness of this policy while viewing a movie at The Alamo. The patron was mad because this is America and we should be free to text in a movie theater if we want to. She was so mad that she called The Alamo and left a message to complain about her experience. The audio of this message was then turned into an advertisement. After all of that blew up, the CEO of Alamo Draft House made a follow up video responding to the patron’s voicemail, the advertisement, and to everyone out there who were posting rude and mean comments about all of it. His response had something to do with how it is rude and distracting to others to text and talk on the phone in a movie theater. He was trying to make a point.

I decided to post about this because I find it very interesting that The Alamo decided to make a commercial of the costumer’s complaint. That is probably illegal and inconsiderate. I also thought it was fascinating how far all of this went through the media. It shows how powerful the media and advertising really is. All of the hype from this situation ended up on The View, CNN, Anderson Cooper, and all over the television and World Wide Web.

Technology is a crazy source to have in the world. It is growing and expanding and becoming so reliable for everything. This whole problem started with a cell phone which goes to show that technology, along with social media, might possibly be taking over the world.

Foursquare - The Newest Social Media

Foursquare is a fairly newer program that is used when on a mobile phone. Members of this program can note their location and can find out where their friends are at and their recent activities. It gives people a new way to explore their cities. It is the newest form of social networking. It is a way for people who have mobile devices to interact with their environment.  Some special features about this program are that you can earn points, unlock badges for discovering new things, and you can earn mayorship.

I have never used this program but I keep hearing more and more about it. It is becoming the new big thing in social media. I have many friends who “check in” to Foursquare on a daily basis in competition to achieve mayorship. It is like a game, competition, and a cool way to explore new places around where you live.

It is one of those things that I feel like if I start using it, I will be addicted. It almost seems like a way to stalk your friends and beat their “high scores.” I think it is so interesting that there are new things popping up every day for new ways to interact and stay connected.

Louis Vuitton - Not Natural

Louis Vuitton is trying a new look to their bags and to their advertisements by going all natural. They decided the best way to kick off their ads would be to have Angelina Jolie in their ad because she is a humanitarian activist. They wanted their whole piece to look natural. When I think of Angelina Jolie I don’t think of natural at all. Every time you see her on TV or on the red carpet she is caked with makeup and entirely plastic. Louis Vuitton says that Angelina looks natural in this ad because she is barefoot, she is wearing all of her own clothing, her own bag is in the picture, and she is not wearing any makeup. In my opinion, she looks the same as she always looks, processed and plastic looking. The backdrop for the photo is the only thing that looks totally organic and natural. Angelina looks airbrushed and unrealistic. It looks more like a painting than it does a photo.

The biggest thing about this ad and all ads that gets to me is that they want their models to look natural and real but the photo never comes out that way. The photo that was taken is not the photo that everyone sees in the magazines. Once the photo is taken it is digitally touched up to make the models and actors look thinner and prettier than they are. I can understand using airbrush to hide acne but to make a smaller waist line or to make things different than they actually are is absurd. No wonder teenage girls think they need to be perfect and skinny. They are trying to model their bodies off of something that does not really exist.  

Sour Patch Kids: Teaching the World

            I think my favorite commercial out there right now is the Sour Patch commercials. I think that they are cute, sweet, and eye catching. I am always wondering what is coming next with Sour Patch Kids. The commercials always have the same meaning but the delivery is always different and a surprise. “They’re sour and then they’re sweet.”

The reason that I like these commercials so much is because the advertisers were smart in creating them. The catch phrase has always been “they’re sour and then they’re sweet,” so in terms of advertising, there are so many things that could be done. I think the commercials are shocking in a humorous way. They take the meanings of sour and sweet to the extremes like cutting a girls hair and then giving her a hug or like putting up a fake tunnel for a bicyclist to run into and then giving him a band-aid. The sour part is way worse than the sweet part, but the person receiving the apology is always forgives the sour patch kid. That amuses me. In a way, sour patch kids are treating the world a lesson. No matter how bad the action was, you should always be the bigger person and forgive.

Sour Patch Kids are a sweet and sour treat, but the commercials are teaching the world about forgiveness while selling their product.

Shoes: Newest Technology

            I am a big fan of shoes, especially heels. They are the one thing that I do not mind splurging my money on. I have seen the shoe industry go through good times, like Steve Madden’s Beige Platform Pumps, and through the bad times, like crocs in any color.

            The newest technology in the shoe industry is, high-heeled shoes turning into flats with a push of a button. For anyone who wears heels on a regular basis, they know what a hassle they can be. Yes the look cute and make your legs look nice, but they are a hazard while driving and they are hard to walk long distances in. I know many women who have a pair of flats always handy in their purse for when they have to walk and when they have to drive.

           

        There is no need for the doubling up on shoes anymore. There is now these “transforming shoes.” I am not too sure how well they work but they seem like a great idea. On the other hand, who knows how stable they are. They have to be a good brand and made correctly if they are going to work properly. I know that I have had heels snap off of my shoes more than once. These heels are made to move and hide in the shoe. If permanent heels on shoes are not always stable, how can these be.

            I am a bit worried for the future of these heels, but maybe they are the next big thing.

"Power, Beauty, and Soul" -What Brand Am I?

             Aston Martin is a manufacturer of luxury sports cars. A team of designers and a crew of builders work together to make hand renderings come to life. These cars are more than just sports cars, they are pieces of art. They strive on making their cars unique. Aston Martin stands for fine, civilized high performance sports cars, designed and produced by skilled craftsmen. Their two slogans are “Power, Beauty, and Soul,” and “… It’s living art.”

            When deciding what brand I am most like, it was a no brainer. I have always loved cars since I was little, so I knew I was going to choose a car brand. Aston Martin stuck out in my head because the car’s designs are just as important as the cars themselves. That sold me on this brand. I am a technical theatre major at Marquette with an emphasis in design. My designs are very important to me. I love seeing my sets come to life. Aston Martin also values this concept. Along with the obvious reasons for choosing this brand, the slogan was important. I have always lived my life according to “power, beauty, and soul.”

            Power is a strong word. I was told as a child that I have the power to do anything. I have the power to change the world and the power to be anything I want to. Power is more than just a sign of strength, it is also a sign of knowledge, love, and happiness. I am powerful in those areas.

            In my everyday life, I attempt to be beautiful inside and out. Beauty is another powerful word from my past. I was always told that I am beautiful but beauty doesn’t matter if it doesn’t run within as well. I live my life trying to be nice and welcoming to everyone. That is true beauty.

            The soul is a person’s morals and sense of identity. In the case of Aston Martin, all of their cars have individual identity. I like to live my life going against the natural flow of the world. I want my identity and soul to be different. I try hard to be a leader instead of a follower because in the end I want to be recognizable. I want to be seen as a person with a beautiful soul who changed the world.        

Aston Martin is different from its competitors. It is more than just a car, it is living art. They don’t design their cars to make money or special features. They are different because they put power, beauty and soul into their creations. I am different from other people because I want to achieve those same goals. I want to be more than average in the world. I want to be seen as a powerful person with knowledge, love, and happiness, a beautiful person inside and out, and a person with an identifiable soul. I, along with Aston Martin, am trying to be the difference in the world.

http://www.astonmartin.com/

Justin Bieber - YouTube Sensation

This post relates to my last post about YouTube. I was spending time with my four year old cousin yesterday and her new favorite thing is Justin Bieber. She made me watch the movie "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never." It is a movie about how he became famous, who he is, and behind the scene footage of his concerts. I had the privilege of watching this movie four times in a row. Justin Bieber was founded on YouTube. He kept making videos of himself singing all different styles of songs and one day a manager called him up and wanted to get him out into the business. From there, he met Usher who is another one of his managers. Now he is a big star and every girl between the ages of 4 and 17 are in love with him. He went from being a no-body on YouTube to being a hit list singer. If it was not for YouTube he would not be known. It is amazing to me of how big an impact YouTube can be to someone’s life. It is an easy to use website and it is creating big time stars.

 Twitter has also helped Justin’s career greatly. He tweets many different things about his life daily and he has people all over the world following him. Everyone wants to know what he is doing and where he is and how he is feeling. If it was not for Twitter and the amount of tweets he tweets, he would probably not have the fan base that he does.

He sure does have my cousin hooked. Of course she did not know him through YouTube or Twitter, but she is addicted to the movie and, at the age of four, she can recite everyone on of his songs.