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Introduction

In the days leading up to November 6th 2012, popular opinion polls show the race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to win the US Presidency as being extremely close. So much so, that on October 31st many polls show a dead heat between the two (see Figure 1). Throughout the election season both parties claimed the polls were skewed for one reason or another, however; it was not the number of Republicans or Democrats present in each polling pool that skewed the numbers. The greatest disparity in Obama winning the election over Romney was not visible in these polls; there was a greater number of youths who turnout for Obama than Romney. Obama had captured sixty percent of the youth (as categorized by being between the ages of 18-29) vote compared to the thirty-six percent who voted for Romney. What encouraged the youth to turn out in such great numbers for Obama?

Throughout this paper the voter spike caused by changes in new technology will be examined. How does new technology motivate young voters to vote and what preexisting deterrents does new technology dissipate? From there we will see if trends continue after the technology is no longer new or if the spike is only prevalent the first year of the technology being utilized.

When running a campaign that has the end goal of obtaining the most powerful office in the nation, presidential hopefuls must do all they can to reach their constituents. If learning how to harness ever changing technologies will allow closer and more personal relationship with these constituents the question is worth exploring. It is key for one candidate to outdo the other in reaching as many as possible. The introduction of social media solved the question of how to reach the masses, but the answer to how to best harness the technology to gain victory is not as clear cut.

It is crucial for presidents and presidential candidates to understand over three-hundred million people are leading very different lives and very different schedules. While it remains the people’s responsibility to obtain information and knowledge from their potential leader, it is just as important for the candidate to make the information readily available to this disparate society.

Literature Review

Why Do People Vote?

In answering the question how to best harness new technology to motivate the youth to vote we must first understand why one votes.To do so we must apply basic economics by the use of rational choice theory (RCT), we can assume that individuals make prudent and logical decisions to provide them with the greatest benefit or satisfaction and these logical individuals act in ways that best satisfy self- interest. When applying RTC to elections, voters will do a cost vs. benefits analyses to decide if the benefits of voting outweigh the costs of voting. “At least since Downs's (1957) seminal work An Economic Theory of Democracy, rational choice theorists have appreciated the ‘paradox of not voting.’ In a large election, the probability that an individual vote might change the election outcome is vanishingly small. If each person only votes for the purpose of influencing the election outcome, then even a small cost to vote like a minor schedule conflict or mildly bad weather should dissuade anyone from voting (Feddersen 99)”. “In addition, participation in an election has opportunity costs: a citizen forgoes the utility of doing other things such as watching TV or visiting friends. A citizen will only participate in an election if additional costs or benefits, i.e., selective incentives (Olson 1965), obtain. There are costs or benefits that occur or do not occur when people participate in an election. In a dictatorship, for example, people who refuse to vote (or vote for the ‘wrong’ party) are arrested or have disadvantages in their occupational career. ‘Not voting’ thus results in negative selective incentives. To be sure, in a democracy those negative selective incentives for abstention are usually absent (Dieter 355)”. With such harsh punishments for absenting from the polls not being an option in the United States, what actions can a candidate take to force the hand of voters that will create a greater benefit for voting than the perceived costs? To make people believe the benefit is greater than the cost increasing the benefit to any reason someone votes will shift the balance in voting’s favor.

The University of Amsterdam did an experiment in 1996 to try to discover why it is people vote. According to Shram and Sonnemans voting is a function of three variables: group identity (x), communication to the audience (y), and individual characteristics of the candidate as they relate to individual characteristics of the voter (z). “Our experimental data supported three hypotheses derived from this model. First, participation increased with group identity. Second, communication enhanced participation. Finally, participation was strongly related to individual characteristics. A simple analysis of the way people learn from their experiences in previous periods is used to argue that any model of voter turnout should take account of myopic adaptive behavior and inertia” (Schram Sonnemans 417).

By the use of social media the cost of voting is lessened by increasing perceived value of x,y,z or any combination of the three.

Group Identity

“Mobilization models assume that groups of ideologically similar voters are coordinated by leaders who share their policy preference. Each leader determines the level of turnout within his group by allocating costly resources to voters. It is as if leaders buy the votes of followers. As examples of such groups, one might think of unions, environmental groups or churches in which members share a common policy perspective and which have an existing organizational structure including leaders who communicate directly with members and members who meet regularly with one another” (Feddersen 105, 106). Social media allows a candidate to become a figurehead equivalent to a pope or priest of their own voters congregation.“Social network sites such as Facebook allowed users to share their political beliefs, support specific candidates, and interact with others on political issues (Vitak 107)”. The leader is better able to coordinate with their constituents by keeping in constant contact, encouraging each and every follower to voice their opinion at the polls for the greater good.

“...Do political activities on Facebook affect political participation among young voters, a group traditionally perceived as apathetic in regard to civic engagement? (Vitak 107). **Discuss how social media could remove apathy among youth via group belonging**

Communication Enhanced Participation

“The second hypothesis addressed is that communication within groups will decrease free-riding, and hence increase turnout. This is motivated by the within-group processes in the Schram and Van Winden model. Discussion will enhance the development of social pressure in the group. Some support is already found by various studies on communication in social dilemma's and in groupwise prisoners' dilemma's. Communication between group members appears to increase the level of contribution (Dawes et al., 1977: Isaac et al., 1985; Isaac and Walker, 1988). Communication provides an opportunity to make promises, to coordinate actions (especially in step-level public goods) and the group identity may be enhanced.”.

Individuals Feelings

The third hypothesis states that there are important differences in individual behavior with respect to turnout. These can be related to differences in individual goals and/or to their background. In the Schram and Van Winden model, individual turnout behavior depends on various individual characteristics, amongst which their 'leadership ability'.

2012 Youth Turnout

In 2012 the estimated number of U.S citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four was 31,359,915. That number is out of the 313,914,00 U.S citizens at the time of the close election, however; the total population is an inaccurate representation of citizen eligible to vote in the 2012 election. Only 244,168,392 citizens were of age to vote (U.S Census Department). If one candidate were able to capture the entirety of their target market (the youth as a whole), they would gain almost thirteen percent of all eligible citizens.

In the 2008 election many were awed by the youth turnout. It was the second largest young voter turnout in history, but four years later America would be shocked again as a 39.7% increase was seen in youth turnout from just the year before (see Figure 2).

*Explain stats more I think. Reference graphs and such….. Why is the youth voter turnout larger? *Compare 2012 to 2008 (see Figure 3) *increase of social media use in the 2008 to 2012 election by both candidates and their target audience Conclusion

In the 90’s, World Wide Web introduced a new way to get ideas not only to the people in the United States, but to people around the world as well. Now in the 00’s, the use of social media has found a way to decrease the cost of voting to the individual, by increasing the perceived value of x,y,z or any combination of the three. It was quick, it was efficient, and it was cheap. There was no need for airtime; no need for paying millions of dollars for a TV spot during popular sports events or entertainment broadcasts, just as the internet before it, social media was deemed the “future” of technology. Technologies sprouting out of Silicon Valley during the first eight years of the decade were quickly adopted by many, and more importantly, by government officials. Starting with the 2008 election, presidential hopeful Barack Obama implemented the use of Twitter and Facebook to reach voters, and attracting a vast majority of the youth vote. Adopting tools set forth by Facebook, Twitter, and the growing amount of internet resources, Barack Obama outplayed opponent John McCain in a crucial way, since McCain did not recognize the importance that social media played with almost every voter in the nation. Four years later, Obama yet again proved by utilizing new social media outlets better than his opponent, victory was still possible.

From the days of voicing opinion over the radio, to pushing ideas via a user’s smartphone, the advancement of communicative technologies over the past seventy years have been observed and utilized by hopeful candidates and presidents, wishing nothing more than to meet the demands of the people. Whether booming voices sent over the airwaves or tweets tapped from the fingertips of the campaigning presidential hopefuls, changes in communications technologies have greatly advanced, and continue advancing, as politics and presidents embrace the changing ways of technology.

Pro Choice (From a Marketing Perspective)

Everyone who has ever heard me talk about my blog knows I pride myself on writing "stimulating" blog entries meaning they aren't about my personal life. For the first time in my blogging career, I am entering the unknown, my personal life.

A little over a year ago a made the decision to live with my (at the time) best friend. While I had heard the saying "good roommates can become good friends, but good friends cannot become roommates" I never thought this could happen to Gabi and me. We had after all traveled the country and outside the country together on multiple occasions (and sometimes she went purely to watch me play Magic: The Gathering!).

After knowing all that, there is no way living together could ruin our friendship right? Within two months of her moving in we never talked and within about three months she had moved out. How could something and someone I loved so much turn into hate so quickly? The answer- lack of choices

I think at the start of this blog I was a little misleading. I am still going to talk about consumer behavior, but I did give you an anecdote about my life ;). People like being able to decide what they can do, what they can buy, and who they can hang out with. It is the basic concept of too much of a good thing.

Anyone who has ever been to a bar with me knows I love cucumber vodka. It is pretty much my go to drink and I drink it almost exclusively, but there are times when I change it up. The same concept can be applied to Gabi; We were best friends, and when given the option I would almost exclusively choose to hang out with her, but sometimes I would choose a night in or time with a friend I hadn't seen in awhile. This being said, if the bartender were to tell me I can only drink cucumber vodka for as long as I drank I would slowly begin to hate the drink I had once loved. Similarly, when I was no longer given the choice to or not to hang out with Gabi, we started to despise each other.

I know you're sitting here reading this going " duh Mary this is all obvious", but I assure you companies make this simple mistake time and time again. Once upon a time in the greatest decade called the 80's Pepsi was making a small dent in the Coca Cola empire. I say small dent because Coke was still the market leader, but was losing taste tests 52/48. Coke could not fathom anyone liking Pepsi more than Coke and immediately took a hasty and reactive approach to the market: New Coke.

Not only does this advertisement tell you you will drink New Coke and you will like it, but it forces people into falling in love with something new. New Coke wasn't the problem; Coca Cola stopped selling Original Coke. They took away the choice of Original Coke, and left consumers to either switch or be left unsatisfied. Unsatisfied it was. That year, Coke saw the biggest plunge in market share to date. It took one mistake to lose market share and many years to gain it back.

Am I saying Gabi and I will never be friends again, I would never drink cucumber vodka, or Coke can't gain back their customer base? No, we may, I would, and they have. All I'm saying is people like choices and a lack of choice can change people's preferences. In closing, thank you to all my friends for never living with me and preserving our friendships :)

A Very Cliche Blog

As the semester comes to an end, I decided to write a blog about the top ten things I've learned about consumers and their behavior through my Senior year at MSU, or at the the top ten ideas that stimulated my interest the most.

10. Controlling the Market

There is always been a debate does the market drive the consumer or does the consumer drive the market. The majority of the time, I feel consumers drive the market; people buy things that they need. In class today we were talking about whether minimalist running is a fad or here to stay. While we all agree barefoot running is a fad, minimalist running is here to stay. Big name brands like Nike started designing minimalist shoes following consumer wants.

9. Beguiling the Consumer

To contradict my first point, consumers who drive the market can be easily tricked. Consumers are extremely simple minded when it comes to persuasion of purchase decisions pushing favor at times into the markets hands. When the bread machine was first introduced by Williams-Sonoma people did not buy it, but when a different "higher end" model of the bread machine was introduced the original and lower price bread machine flew off the shelves. The idea running through people's minds is well if I were to buy a bread machine I would like the cheaper and smaller version. This tricks the consumer into thinking they need a product because there are two options to chose from. This is called the decoy effect for anyone interested in learning marketing terms (Ariely 14-16).

8. Confronting Choice more of this blog to come.....still more than most of my class writes for one blog....

Exam 3: Rituals

Consumers engage in dramatizing activities that make an event to be something much greater than it actual is by giving these events meaning. This process is referred to as sacralization: “ordinary objects, events and even people tak[ing] on sacred meaning”. “Sacred consumption occurs when we ‘set apart’ objects and events from normal activities and treat them with respect or awe” (Solomon 541). Places, people and events all share a special spot in making something ordinary sacred.

While places people think of as being traditional sacred are attributed to religion such as shrines, temples and synagogues, in the event of sacred consumption the places which become sacred are more often an emotionally sacred place (Solomon 542). Thanksgiving is a very common day for sacred consumption. In the event of this day, it is often a specific family member whose house becomes the sacred place (Solomon 543). As we saw in Pieces of April, the family was appalled to be going somewhere other than their house for Thanksgiving. Yes, there was the long drive and their dislike of April, but there was also the feeling that if we have Thanksgiving anywhere else it will not be Thanksgiving. Similar to April’s family, my extended family always met at our house for Thanksgiving. After we moved to Cincinnati and away from my family, everyone stopped celebrating Thanksgiving as an extended family get together and started celebrating it at their own households even though everyone else still lives close together; the only thing that changed was that we moved (We Gather Together 29). Without the existence of your sacred place, events that were once habitual seem to fizzle out.

Similarly to the creation of a sacred place, sacred people often become symbolic of the sacred consumption. Going back to Thanksgiving, the year after we moved to Cincinnati is the same year my grandpa died. He was always the head of each Thanksgiving dinner, praying for the meal and cutting the turkey. It’s not that someone else could not have done the same tasks he did or we felt he had superhuman powers, but he was idolized and sacred to the event (Solomon 543). Without him there to do his part of the ritual, it seemed odd to celebrate. This could be another reason our Thanksgiving fizzled.

I think it’s the events which transpire at every individual Thanksgiving that separate say my Thanksgiving from yours. Experiences become sacred as events occur more and more and become part of the sacred consumption (Solomon 544). Every Thanksgiving my family spent together we would gather round the table, and before we ate would sing Doxology; it was not until writing this paper that I knew the name of the hymn (I Googled it), but I could tell you all the words. While I have never attempted to eat without performing this task, I believe if I did something would seem missing. The events which happen before you eat and as you gather around the table are also key parts to any family’s sacralization (We Gather Together 16).

While I talked more about feelings and emotions for many people getting the right brand at Thanksgiving is part of their ritual (We Gather Together 27-28). A Thanksgiving with any turkey other than a Butterball turkey is not a Thanksgiving anymore. These brands or objects become part of one’s extended self, if not just for the day. If the brand connects to one’s sacred consumption in such a way the day would not be whole without its existence; it has successfully become part of the extended self and invaluable to the consumer (Solomon 176). Many brands try to prey on the emotional connections people make around holidays in order to boast sales.

Many different life events can become sacred to a consumer: opening day, family vacations and holidays are just some examples of an ordinary event becoming dramatized because of the meaning it brings to the consumer.

That Inevitable Evil

I don't usually blog about TV shows. I watch so many that I could have written all twelve of my blog posts about the shows I watch. From product placement to sponsorship, you can't just watch TV shows like you used to; everywhere you look a well place advertisement is sneaking it's way into your vision.

While I was thinking about how Project Runway is brought you by HP and Intel and Top Chef is brought to you by GE Monogram Appliances I began to wonder what happened to reality TV. I remember growing up and watching the Real World black out every brand that came across the screen. What caused the shift in TV shows avoiding brand names and displaying them everywhere?

In 1989 the first film crossed the line by integrating a product into the plot line. I am of course talking about E.T's use of Reese's Pieces (Walton 71). After film came Sit-Coms, most famously, Seinfeld.

From Sit-Coms to sponsorship to product placement the evolution of where we see our "commercials" has certainly changed with the times. This is largely due in part to the decline of people sitting in front of a television and watching the full hour slot of a show. Programming used to get most of it's profits from selling commercial spots, but now brands will pump money out to been seen within the show. Whether a viewer is watching on Hulu, Demand, or Netflix the only way to fast forward through the new type of advertising is not to watch a show at all.

One more blog to go :D

Awkward on Both Sides of the Wrapping Paper

We all remember our first time. You're sitting there, the anticipation killing you, expecting something special, when suddenly you look down and are unimpressed. Sadly, this happens way to often, when someone close to you spends a lot of time picking out what they think is the perfect gift for you, but the gift was as far from perfect as they could have gotten.

This didn't really start happening to me until I was a teenager, maybe because as a kid every new toy you got was cool.

The Over-Thinkers, The Simple Minded, and The Brainless

Since my last exam blog got such a positive response I decided to post my Exam 2. I was prompted to talk about the level of involvement consumers place on buying a product and how it varies depending on the type of product they buy. Various products have different prices, associations, uses and risks that change the consumer’s attachment to the buying process. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy and hopefully learn something from reading this blog.

“It helps to understand the decisions-making process when we think about the amount of effort that goes into a decision each time we must make it” (Solomon 308). “Habitual decision making choices with little to no conscious effort” (Solomon 309). Buying hair dye is a habitual decision for me. I have a loyalty to a certain brand’s color which I use to re-dye my hair month after month. Therefore, I can brainlessly walk into Wal-Mart go to the grocery section, pick up my chosen shade, and walk out within minutes. “We make these choices without conscious control- researchers call this process automaticity” (Solomon 309).

I orginally looked for this Shaun of the Dead clip because I thought he was brainlessly shopping and thus making a habitual decision. After reading the next paragraph, think back to the video and hopefully you will see (like I did) Shaun isn't as brainless as he looks.

Other decisions are slightly more involved; limited problem solving is used to make such decisions. In limited problem solving “we’re likely to use simple decision rules as we chose among alternatives” (Solomon 309). For me, purchasing gas is a limited problem solving activity. When my gas tank hits “E” I simply look at the gas stations located adjacent to one another and chose the lowest price. It’s a pretty simple thought, but there is still some thought involved.

For the most part I am more of an impulse buyer; therefore, I tend to avoid extended problem solving in my purchases. On the rare occasion that I make major purchases (“and…feel that the outcome may be risky in some way” (Solomon 308)), I “try to collect as much information as possible, both from memory… and…Google” (Solomon 309). When I purchase a plane ticket home, is one of those rare occasions when I use this type of problem solving. First I check multiple websites such as: Cheap O Air, Kayak, Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity. After I have found the cheapest site, I look at neighboring cities to my departure and destination. The information search alone to go home for the holidays takes many hours.

Brands try to simplify the decision making process by evoking archetypes and making strong connections to consumers’ psyche (Solomon 218). “Today thousands of brands…borrow personality traits of individuals or groups to convey an image they want customers to form with the ” (Solomon 222). Take Apple for example, they have created a strong brand personality. Buying electronics is normally a decision which follows the extended problem solving model i.e. more expensive, higher risk, higher involvement (Solomon 309); however, Apple has created such a strong brand personality, and by extension brand loyalty (Solomon 222), that many hipsters (see discussion in class to understand joke) make these decisions almost haphazardly.

An easier way to attract a strong brand following without zoning your brand into a specific personality is to associate with a lifestyle. “Lifestyle marketing perspective recognizes that people sort themselves into groups on the basis of the things they like to do, how they like to spend their leisure time, and how they choose to spend their disposable income” (Solomon 227). The main idea is the consumer will identify with the product as a group they belong, as opposed to how the product defines who they are as a person (Solomon 228&229). Patagonia is a brand that has been very successful in their use of lifestyle marketing. They connect to a segment who likes to do things outdoors thus creating a community of outdoor enthusiasts.

For some brands however, getting past memories associated with the brand (not due to the brand itself but other circumstances) can prove to be difficult to overcome. “Episodic memories relate to events that are personally relevant. As a result, a person’s motivation to retain these memories will be stronger” (Solomon 106). In Susan Fournier’s article, Consumer’s and Their Brands, we meet Karen a recent divorcee (Fournier 347). Karen associates many brands she used in her marriage as her husband’s brands. Now a single woman, she is looking for a fresh start including a new set of her own brands. Pinesol (a brand Karen attributes to her ex-husband’s memory) will probably never be a brand Karen considers purchasing again, even if they are proven to be the best for the job.

Connections to the human psyche, negative or positive, are proven to be stronger than pricing structure. Marketers must switch tactics and take advantage of the associations they have control over in order to capture a larger portion of the market.

No Sex is Free Sex

"When social and market norms collide, trouble sets in. Take sex again. A guy takes a girl out for dinner and a movie, and he pays the bills. They go out again, and he pays the bills once more. They go out a third time, and he’s still springing for the meal and the entertainment. At this point, he’s hoping for at least a passionate kiss at the front door. His wallet is getting perilously thin, but worse is what’s going on in his head: he’s having trouble reconciling the social norm (courtship) with the market norm (money for sex). On the fourth date he casually mentions how much this romance is costing him. Now he’s crossed the line. Violation! She calls him a beast and storms off. He should have known that one can’t mix social and market norms-especially in this case-without implying that the lady is a tramp. He should also have remembered the immortal words of Woody Allen:“The most expensive sex is free sex.”"

-Dan Ariely

To look at sex from an economists prospective I am going to look at the cash flow that goes into both a relationship (free sex) and an escort service(paid-for sex). While I do have a lot of experience in the dating field, I have zero experience in the escort arena.

To remedy my predicament, I will look at America's favorite prostitute, Vivian Ward. I am of course referring to Julia Roberts's role in Pretty Woman. For one week with Viv, Edwards pays $3,000 (or $100 for one hour), and at the end of the week they have sex. Now we have a point of comparison.

Remember all girls are different, so the amount of money poured into a relationship will vary. These numbers are skewed towards my last "new relationship". To remissness on the start of a relationship is remembering a simpler time when your boyfriend was still trying to impress you; when he still opened the doors, didn't fart in front of you, and best of all payed for everything. Another quick disclaimer before we get into dollars:The last man who "courted" me was not your average joe, he had lots of money and spent it on, well me. Now let's get into the details.

The first time I hung out with above average joe was when I drove 14 hours to see him. That seems like a cost I accrued, but he reimbursed my driving expenses. Charge one: 200 dollars. That night we went out to dinner at Musashi Japanese Steakhouse. As I just recently found out this place was featured on Travel Channel as being on of the best steak restaurants in the country. Before dinner we got a few sushi rolls and at dinner I got the Katana special and a hot tea to drink; it was delicious. If we exclude his meal, because he probably would have spent that much on food anyways, I totaled about 53 dollars of a meal. This is just day one and we are already at 253 dollars

To keep the rest of the blog short and sweet I will total amounts up and we can just add from there. The next day we went to lunch at Rounders, a sports bar nearby. My meal was only about twenty dollars, but my drink was eight. 281 for those keeping a running total. Not so bad so far, but that night we went downtown.

I had one drink at Lily Bar&Lounge for twenty dollars, yes twenty dollars for one cocktail, before hitting the rest of the town. The price for both of us to ride the "Paris" Eiffel Tower I will include because he would not have ridden it if not for me. The total cost wasn't bad, only 28 dollars. Prior to riding up the Eiffel Tower, I downed a yard drink. Actually turned into a really cool ceramic souvenir so I was happy with it, but it still cost 17 dollars. I was told from Paris we went to some restaurant called Noodles and I ordered a Pad Thai. I assure you, I do not remember being there and I certainly did not eat one bit. For this untouched meal, he payed 19 dollars.In all actuality other things could have been bought and expenses could have been higher, but from what I remember, we are looking at 365 dollars.

Here I was saying I was going to keep this short and sweet, and I'm still getting into details about my nights! The next day was miserable. All I wanted to do was stay in bed, but a lunch date had already been made and I had to pretend to be up to the task. I feel the worst about not being able to eat at this restaurant because I have heard many stories of how amazing Lotus of Siam is. All I know is the second I walked in the door and aromas of Thai food hit my nose, I was off to the bathroom. While every number I have given you is taken from the website because I never actually saw a bill, I REALLY didn't see the bill at Lotus. I do however remember a hundred dollar bill being thrown on the table, and how good the leftovers tasted days later. After many more hours of recovery, that night we ate at the highlight of my trip- Craftsteak. On a side note, I love Top Chef. That is why no dollar amount in the world would have made me as happy as eating at Tom Colicchio's restaurant. Now back to the matter at hand. The entree I had is not on the menu anymore, so we will call my portion of dinner:wine, dinner, two side dishes, and dessert 100 dollars.

In three days we're 565 dollars. None of this includes tip, none of this includes opportunity costs, and none of this is actually getting the guy laid. I could go on to the next time, and the time after that we hung out, but let's just say each time he spent more and each time had the same result. Counting time, effort, emotional pain, and actual money put in if you aren't looking for love, you might as well avoid women

Sex Doesn't Sell Itself

I haven't written a blog in almost a month. So, I did what any lost writer does; I turned to my friends for inspiration. I'm not sure if this has to do with the fact that most of my friends are males, but that aside we are kickin' it Salt n' Pepa style you know talking about sex, baby.

Everyone has heard the saying sex sells it's even viewed to some as a hypernorm or global truth. That being said, when you are selling a product that actually is used while people are having sex wouldn't it sell itself? Even if sex sells is a hypernorm condom companies still face the same international marketing problems as any other multinational corporation.

The video bellow shows "the worlds best condom ads" many of which worked in one country, but were not successful or even banned in another.

A clear point made in the video is while sex sells is globally known the line between what is too racy and what is air-able is fuzzier. In European countries, nudity and sexuality are commonly used in advertisements, but across the pond a millisecond of Janet Jackson's nipple is shown on live television and fines are slapped down so fast it would make your head spin. Now, the British are seen to be the most similar to us culture wise, but not when it comes to nudity in advertisements.

The more I sift through and find funny condom commercials the more I find commercials that are banned in one country or even up to ten countries. Maybe condom commercials should stick to a platform like youtube where they don't have to risk getting banned, but the controversy generated by the ads being banned is just free publicity for the company. In closing, there may not be a formula to make a global commercial, but there is a commercial to get globally banned :)

Better Late Than Never...

Superbowl weekend I was not only disappointed by the winner of The Super Bowl, but also the caliber of commercials. In past years I have anxiously awaited The Super Bowl the way a little kid awaits Christmas. Each commercial break is like unwrapping a new present and the wait kills me. This year I felt like the kid who got coal in his stocking as I was extremely with each present unwrapped.

There were a few gems among the clutter. So without further ado, here are my five favorite (or the only five I can remember) commercials of this year’s Super Bowl.

Taco Bell has always had a way of mixing quirky images and broken Spanish that makes me fall in amo. This year I was not let down by their Live Mas campaign.

There are few things I crave more after a good night on the town then a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I can relate to quirky elders of this commercial who raged hard and were craving some (as I affectionately call it) T-Bell after. The music in the background and the ridiculous situations just added to why this commercial is so memorable to me.

For anyone who has ever wondered what won't Meatloaf do for love, M&Ms attempted to answer that question. This isn't the first commercial to employ this tactic. My favorite of the "what I won't do for love" series was the Dr Pepper commercial of the early 2000's.

The red M&M starts out doing similar things like cuddling on the couch watching chick flicks. When the commercial takes a turn for worst the women is trying to eat "Mr Red" by icing him, baking him into a cake, and other various methods of "enhancing" chocolate.

I really enjoyed the Audi commercial where this poor boy doesn't have a date to prom so his dad lends him his Audi. The kid, I'm assuming because the Audi made him feel like such a BAMF, walks into the prom no fear and does every teen boy's fantasy, kisses the prom queen. The next scene shows the boy driving away with a black eye and a smile on his face.

Any car that can make you forget you got punched in the eye is a winner in my book. Live out your dreams kids, live out your dreams.

I know it may depend on who you ask, but Gangnam Style is not overplayed and it still makes me smile. That being said, I've always been a fan of the Pistachio commercials. I love how they inject their bright green color into every character they use i.e everyone know Charlie Brown's shirt is yellow with the zig-zag strip, and because his shirt is so iconic turning it bright green while keeping the strip did not take away from the Charlie Brown image. I enjoyed the pistachios doing the gangnam dance too.

What I thought to be the cleverest of the commercial came from an unlikely. While Budlight usual goes the route of man drinks beer man gets girl this year they went a different route. Throughout the course of the 2012 football season, they have shown us some weird superstitions people believe helps their team win. I've been a fan of these series of commercials the whole season, and was not disappointed by their finale in the Super Bowl. During (almost) every commercial break a new either a Ravens or a 49ers fan would pop into Stevie Wonder the king of superstition himself's lair and wish for the opposing team to loose.

The colors used were indicative of NOLA which is where the Super Bowl was held and a voodoo theme for such a town only makes sense. All in all very well done and my favorite commercial of 2013's Super Bowl.

Runner Up

Amy Pohler and Best Buy. Mainly because Parks and Recreation is my favorite TV show and instead of seeing Amy Pohler I saw Leslie Knope being her typical ridiculous self.

My opinions are very different from the pro's and maybe what I like is very different from what you like too, so here are some other evaluations from some real columnists .

The Invisible Push: Benedict XVI > Adam Smith?

I am not Catholic nor was I raised in a catholic family, but since I was 16 I have partaken in lent. Everyone knows what fat Tuesday is, the last day of Mardi Gras, and a very popular day for college students to live like there's no tomorrow. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and lasts for the forty days until Easter. People have always asked me if you're not Catholic why give up anything; I have always seen lent as a good practice of self control, kind of like a new year's resolution, but much shorter and easier to follow through.

I usually like to look into the darker side of consumer behavior and believe in general people have no self control in the items they buy. As Adam Smith taught me, people will act in their own self interest.Take new years resolution's for example, people tend to resolve to change something they do not like about themselves and it is in there self interest to change it.The gym will empty out towards the end of January when it is in their self interest to do something better with their time. Generally people do what they want. Lent however, is a time when people give up something they love to test their self control. A contradiction to my typical beliefs on how human behavior works.

Thinking about what to give up for lent this year has made me remember some good and bad ideas I've had through the eight years I've observed it. If you too are struggling with ideas of what to give up hopefully reading through some of my failures and successes will give you inspiration.

The first year I thought a forty day fast from something I loved sounded like a good idea, I gave up soda which I actually am grateful for was because the habit stuck. The next year I became more adventurous and gave up something I adored; I gave up chocolate. The day lent started by boyfriend at the time had no idea I practiced lent(because I wasn't Catholic), and bought me a Hershey Sundae Pie. That pie sat in my freezer for the next five weeks until I could finally eat it.

Makeup was actually not as difficult to give up as I imagined it to be. Every morning instead of putting on mascara I would use an eyelash curler to make my eyes pop without also applying the black stuff. The best part of giving up makeup was the extra half hour of sleep I gained in the morning.

For such a plain tasting food, potatoes were WAY more difficult than I thought, and have the most amusing story to go with them.I remember waiting in line at the Bruger's Bagels in the Kent State Student Center starving and hoping the line would just move faster. The nice gentlemen behind the counter offered my friend, Lisa, and me a sample of a new bagel type they were offering. When I went to tell the man I thought it was delicious I caught the description of the bagel out of the corner of my eye...Potato. I immediately spit it out and started rubbing down my tongue with a napkin. By the time I got to place my order everyone sitting by Bruger's Bagels must have thought I was out of my damn mind.

I don't remember what I gave up the year I turned 20,but the year I was turning 21 I gave up alcohol. Genius, I know. The year after that sweets, and last year could have been swearing but I'm not sure.

In many of these anecdotes I betrayed Adam Smith's sense of self interest and controlled my inner urges. An economist may not be proud, but maybe the Pope would.

Multiple Selves: Exam One

This is my written exam for the reason I write this blog. You may find the content interesting, you may not, but there is a new blog post to come before the end of the week :D

To please the physical self we buy staple foods or medicine when we don’t feel well, but other than that the only self we make purchases for is the ideal self. I look around my room and think to myself why do I own everything I have? I have a large movie collection because I like to see myself as a movie snob, I own books to make me look like I read more often than I actually do, and I spend why too much on clothes because that’s how I think I should look. I guess an argument could be made that I buy textbooks for my actual self, because in actuality I am not a movie critic, a literary expert, or a person who can afford the clothes I wear, but rather I’m a student.

Belk describes extension of the physical self in his work, Possessions and the Extended Self. Possessions details how people get so attached to items they own they no longer feel whole if those items were ever to be lost. In a person’s mind, these items become part of their physical selves. As consumers we “convince ourselves… that we would be a different person without them” (Belk 145). In a person’s psyche we have two selves the actual and the ideal self. As a marketer it is our job to bridge the gap between what is ones fantasy and their reality (Solomon 169). Most consumers will do as Meghan Daum did and “exert a great deal of energy trying to get realities to match fantasies” (Daum). In order to do so marketers will use the four “P’s” of marketing to create that fantasy for a customer. Dichter believes “ taps into hidden desires and urges”. I think these urges aren't so much hidden, but rather part of our ideal self that is not fully exposed.

Product creation is crucial to create an ideal self. For an easy example we can look at the Betty Crocker cake mixes for example. When women only added water to the product it was threatening to the women’s sense of self. She felt under valued and therefore the product did not sell. (Dichter) It is not that adding eggs instead of just water made women anymore of a baker than the other, but her perception of her ideal self was not being lived up to. When consumer’s put so much clout on a product and how the possession affects their value (Solomon 165) it opens a huge door for marketers to reach inside human psyche to produce a product that will help one create their ideal self.

Consumer’s start to develop immunities to advertisements (The Persuaders) and reaching them through the clutter becomes harder and harder everyday. Coming up with clever promotions are how to show people your product extends the physical self. Sex and the City was and still is a show with a cult like following. The show created characters likely to be your ideal self. Whether you’re a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha tuning in each week to see what you should be doing if you were your perfect self became a ritual for many women.

Absolut saw this show as a promotions Mecca. They wove a whole character’s story line into their vodka. At the end of a hard working day what did the women of SatC drink other than an Absolut Hunk. While it maybe a stretch to some that seeing your favorite T.V character drinking a certain cocktail means that is the cocktail you should also be drinking, to the women who saw themselves as say Samantha, it was a must. (The Persuaders) The placement and promotion perfectly tapped into the women who “chose some products… to help reach an ideal standard” (Solomon 168).

If reading Meghan Daum’s blog did nothing else it taught me people who have a strong sense of an ideal self will pay more to reach their ideal standard. Companies can charge more for frivolous goods because that is why you buy. “The increasingly common definition of getting by… has more to do with keeping up appearances than keeping things under control” (Daum). “Some people seem to be more sensitive in general to the image they communicate to other” (Solomon 172). The people like that, the people like Meghan or even me will pay large amounts of money for things we just don’t really need.

“Contemporary consumption also shows that the feeling of identify invested in material objects can be extraordinarily high” (Belk 144). That statement is truer now than 24 years ago when it was written. The physical, actual and ideal self become closer to one person as possessions become a stronger part of what defines us.

Six Degrees of Panera Bread

The game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" was started because people like finding arbitrary links between things. It's actually just how the human brain works; it sees things and links them together. While things like the food and music industry may not seem to have much in common, I am going to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to bring the two together.

First Degree of Bacon

I've actually never played Six Degrees, but I think I already named a starting and ending point so here goes nothing. We have the food industry: a place where I have been involved in since I was old enough to hold a job, where the profit margins are smaller than perceived,and companies do whatever they can to increase those profit margins...or so we think.

Second Degree of Bacon

My second job and first stable job was at Panera Bread. Upon moving to Montana, I was surprised to find Panera had not made its way here yet. For my Montana friends and any others who have not eaten at a Panera, Panera is a quick casual dining restaurant. The restaurant is divided into two sections a bakery and a cafe. The bakery side sells an array of sweets and breakfast items like cookies, brownies, bagels and quiches. In addition, they also sell coffee shop drinks (not to mention the best chai tea). The cafe side sells soups, sandwiches, and salads. Panera's real claim to fame was the introduction of a quick casual dining experience.

Third Degree of Bacon

As a former employee of Panera I know they have always tried to better the community surrounding them. At the end of the day Panera puts all the bakery items which have not sold and places them in a bag for collection the next morning by a local charity. Lately Panera has raised the bar on community involvement by setting up "Panera Cares" cafes across the United States.

Fourth Degree of Bacon

Panera Cares is set up to allow customers pay what they can afford of their purchase and volunteer to work off the rest of what is due.Why go to a Panera Cares instead of a local soup kitchen? Panera Bread wanted the ability to offer the "Panera Experience" to everyone. While soup kitchens have a general negative vibe when you walk in, Panera Cares offers the same environment any other Panera Bread would even down to the menu.

...the non-profit cafe has two goals. The first is to raise awareness about food insecurity. The second is to give those who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from a sense of dignity

Fifth Degree of Bacon

The biggest splash I can recall of a "pay what you can" business model was when Radiohead released their seventh studio album, "In Rainbows", in 2007. Against the advice of their label, Radiohead released "In Rainbows" to the general public on the internet. The entire album was free to download for three months before hard copies were sold in stores. While on the internet the album generated more money than their previous album, "Hail to the Thief", and out sold both Hail and"Amnesiac" in total sales.

Sixth Degree of Bacon

Once available in stores, "In Rainbows" debuted number one on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Album Charts. Rainbows also precluded the most successful tour Radiohead has had to date. Not only did fans take notice of the true value of this album, but so did the music industry. Rainbows earned two Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Special Limited Edition Package. The last time Radiohead had won a Grammy prior to 2009 was three albums ago when they won a Grammy the Best Alternative Music Album for "Kid A".

Preliminary numbers for Panera Cares look promising. Maybe Panera will have the same impact on the food industry that Radiohead had on the music industry maybe not, but Panera's attempt to change perceptions of food security the same way Radiohead changed the music industry's opinion on downloading music is admirable.

How to Lose Customers and Alienate Yourself: When Segmenting Goes Too Far

The image above is a marketing campaign created for Dr Pepper Ten. The marketing department at Dr Pepper put together a campaign in an attempt to make their diet drink seem "more manly". As you can imagine, the campaign was a flop. Not only did the campaign get attacked as being sexist, but it upset the base customer of diet drinks- women.

Dr Pepper Ten is the prime example of losing customers and alienating yourself. Other companies have been much more successful at extreme segmentation without over alienating to the point of the product tanking.

When IKEA first started in 1953 their goal was to target the "young at heart" consumer. Many of their commercials would make fun of old "tacky" items that would be seen in your grandma's house.

Unlike Dr Pepper Ten, IKEA was successfull in correctly segementing their target market without alienating other potential customers. In a class I am taking we are having the same struggle so many marketers have had; how do you reach your target market without having other potential customers be repulsed?

Here's some background information on the project: Glidden has an exclusivity deal with Walmart i.e Glidden is the only paint brand Walmart can sell, but no one is aware Walmart sells paint and those who are aware doubt Walmart's ability to carry high quality paint. As a class, it is our job to produce a marketing campaign that will increase paint sales at Walmart within female Millennials, young renters, and baby boomers. Within the given budget in the spread of the demographic we decided to focus on the Millennials and young renters. Thus far we have struggled to find an idea that doesn't alienate the baby boomers, without coming off too boring/done before.

We do all agree on the headline- "Paint Fearlessly", but the class is generally torn over two headline ideas. We have a "Face Your Fears" campaign and an "It's Okay to Make Mistakes" campaign. While the "Face Your Fears" campaign has broad mass appeal, it is quite boring. Then we have a riskier "fail" campaign (can you see what side I'm leaning towards). The idea behind the "fail" campaign is the word after fail will change in every advertisement i.e Fail Beautifully, Fail Gracefully, Fail Smarter etc, and a picture will go with the headline that shows the painter even if some kind of mistake is made while the project can still came out beautifully.

Because the class is exactly 50/50 on the two campaigns I pose the question to you, what do you think about the word fail? Do you think the use of the word fail will alienate the baby boomers? Do you have any suggestions on how we could make the idea more market friendly?

Thanks for reading and an advanced thanks for giving me insight

Confessing to Oprah Solves Everything Right?

I may be alone in this, but I want to like Lance Armstrong. I really do. LiveStrong, a charity spearheaded by Armstrong until late 2012, has raised $470 million dollars in cancer research. Those numbers alone are pretty fantastic. Those numbers paired with other "accomplishments" have led me to this conclusion: Armstrong is not an overall bad person. He has done some really amazing things and doping or not, being a profesional athlete takes a lot of hard work. So, I will say again (and I don't think I'm alone in this) I really want to like Lance Armstrong, but he sure is making it very hard right now!

This blog post is a response to an article put out by The Atlantic "Rebranding Lance Armstrong: Marketing Pros' 6-Step Recovery Plan" all in all a good article and an easy read, so if you want to read it before continuing on with my post feel free, but I will give you a brief summary now: In order for Lance to recover from the web of lies he has created he must follow a 6 step recovory plan. 1.) Confess to Oprah 2.) Confront what he has done- or lay low 3.) Take up a new charity 4.) Don't rat anyone else out 5.) Make peace withe the media 6.) Distance yourself from LiveStrong

There's nothing new under the sun. Lance Armstrong is not the first brand, public figure, or even athlete to pull at the public's heartstrings in an attempt to get back in our good graces. As the article we all just read points out the first step to getting the public's attention is to sit on the infamous couch and cry it all out there. When I say cry it all out there, Lance better be crying on that couch more than I did for the 2 hours and 37 minutes of my life that was Les Miserables, because if the public can't physically see you're sorry no one will think you are.

The main problem for Lance Armstrong is he is already instead of pulling a Tylenol he went Toyota. In crisis situations there are "3 V's" of which you can embody: Villain, Victim, or Vindicator. Lance, like Toyota, has thrown himself in the Villain role. By spinning a web of lies for so long and creating unjustly accused persona Lance has lost the ability for people to see him as the victim of team bullying. The only option left for him is to move from his current role into the role of vindicator. That is the re-branding which needs to take place for the public to trust him again.