"Healthy" Models

In today's fashion industry, there is a lot of controversy over the size of runway models. How thin is too thin? Would introducing bigger size models take away from the glamour of the show? Is that what people really want to see? These are all questions that have been argued over for a long time, and will probably continue until we see a change.
Clearly, the size of most fashion models are borderline unhealthy. But in my opinion, I think the thinner frame contributes more to the fashion than the frame of an average size ten woman. The runway show is a chance for the designer to present their lines, and the clothes should be the main focus, not the girl wearing them. Therefore, a clean, generic canvas is required to make the clothes stand out. Clothes just seem to fall better on skinnier frames. It makes the whole show more uniform and less, for lack of a better term, sexual. Yes, an average woman has curves, and women these days are embracing them rather than trying to hide them. But certain cuts on clothing can lend themselves to more of a revealing, sexy look instead of the haute couture image many of the designers are going for.
I agree that healthier looking models should be introduced into this industry, but I believe there should be a limit to their size. I think that a size two or four would be sufficient enough without taking away from the high fashion, uniformity look of the show. Hopefully in the future we will see a little bit of change, as clearly this image of stick thin girls are not healthy for the models themselves and also for young girls that look up to and admire them.
America's body image is slowly taking a turn as many women are learning to love their bodies that they were born with and to not hide away their flaws. I'd like to see a little bit of this filter into the fashion industry. But I still do believe there should be a limit as to how much actually does change.

Pedigree Commercial

Pedigree Commercial

Ok, I don't know how many of you own a dog, but this commercial may make you want one. I remember the first time I saw this commercial it almost brought tears to my eyes. That may seem a little silly to some people. But being a dog lover, and the owner a spoiled Yorkshire terrier, it makes me so sad to think there are dogs out their without a home. We haven't really talked much in class yet about how commercials can affect you emotionally, but I feel like some of them do. Pedigree hit the nail on the head, when trying to win over consumers by playing with their emotions. Between the background music, the tone of the announcer's voice, and the sad look in those dogs’ eyes, it really makes you think. I know that even though I am not in the position to adopt another dog (my boyfriend would kill me) at least we do buy pedigree and its good to know that a portion of that money is going towards homeless dogs. As a consumer who has so many different choices when it comes to do food, I gotta say pedigree has won me over.

So what do you think?

Do you feel like pedigree is playing with your emotions through this commercial?

How did it make you feel?

Target Market: Right or Wrong?

A while back, there was a Truth commercial that showed the guy in a booth similar to a homemade lemondae stand, but instead of selling lemonade he was selling cigarettes. Painted all over his booth were brightly colored appetizing words describing the many flavors. The commercial then goes to show children walking up the booth, thinking that he was selling something delicious. He simply responds with 'Sorry kids. These are for adults'. This ad made me think about the target market of this industry. Who are they trying to reach out to? Adults are not going to be excited about fruity flavored cigarettes. More than likely, who's going to be excited are the young adults in the range of eighteen to mid-twenties - or even those younger than eighteen. How many ads have you seen that the company seems to be selling their product to the wrong target market? It happens more often than you think.
Often alcohol commercials give off a fun and exciting vibe, saying 'If you drink this beverage, you'll be this cool too'. Many adults who of age to drink do not consider this fact when they run out to the store to purchase a case of beer. The ones who think of this 'cool factor' are the ones that aren't yet legal and are still drinking because it's 'cool'. So why would a company want to target their product to the wrong market?
In my opinion, especially with cigarettes and alcohol, I feel like the companies are trying to work their way in to the younger consumers lives and hope that maybe it'll create a lasting relationship between the consumer and the product. I would just like to see classier ads that are reaching out to the correct audience, rather than feeling like I'm being taken advantage of because of my youth.
-Heather

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