Offensive Ads???

Yay my first blog, bare with me I’m new at this. So, it didn’t take me long to come up with something to discuss for this blog! After class today and our discussion about the Old Navy ad that Anamarie had pointed out, I started thinking about what other ads could be out there that people have found offensive? So I hopped on the search engine Google, and it didn’t take long to see the results of my search which I titled, “offensive ads”. One of the first results was from a USA today editorial, titled Offensive Ad’s. As I began reading the article, which was published in 2003, I remembered exactly what it was referring to. I am sure everyone remembers the year Abercrombie and Fitch came out with the thong underwear for young girls, but it wasn’t just any underwear, it had slogans on it like “eye candy” printed on it. As the article continues it also talks about the ads posted in store windows, which shows a 14 year old girl topless from the waist up, her arms and hands being the only thing covering her chest. The articles discusses how many groups had protested the products and the ad’s, however Abercrombie refused to pull the products and the spokesperson for Abercrombie, Hampton Carney, (and I quote from the article) insists the thong was "totally appropriate" for children. Now maybe it’s just me from the words thong and children don’t even belong together in the same sentence!!!

But enough about that particular situation, because at first I was like no surprise Abercrombie has offended someone again, but then when I read the statement by the Abercrombie spokesperson I was a little disgusted. So where am I going with all this, after all that was 2003. My question to you is do you think Abercrombie has improved there advertising much since then, and if not why do they continue to be so successful? This isn’t the first time they’ve created controversial ads. So how is it that they continue to upset people, but remain such a well known brand?

-Renee

Store Brand vs. Name Brand

Every morning, thousands of people across the country pass through the doors of their local Starbucks and pick up their daily caffeine fix. Starbucks is a nationally recognized coffee chain offering a wide variety of gourmet coffee drinks. However, some may argue that their coffee is no better than the diner down the street of that little mom and pop place just around the corner. So how come people are willing to shell out two or three times more money for the same, or better, quality coffee?
Consumers today are finding themselves paying way more money than what's necessary, simply for a specific brand name. How many times have you found yourself standing in an aisle at Target, trying to decide between two almost identical products? However, one product is Target brand, while the other is not. Most of the time in my case, I would choose the store brand because I'm a poor college student and the store brand can be up to a dollar or two cheaper. But there are those brands that I, as well as many other consumers, gravitate towards, despite the higher price. This is because we have been trained to believe that store brand products are lower in quality than the name brands. One of the reasons why we may have these false beliefs is because of the lack of advertising that supports the store brand products. But in reality, most store brand products are comparable to their name brand counterparts.
So take a chance and buy those store brand products for once. Not only will you be saving some money but they just might surprise you. And if the fact that the label doesn't say a name brand, just close your eyes and I'll bet that you won't even be able to tell a difference!
-Heather