Blog #6

I think product placement is a great way of advertising, if done right. Personally, I would much rather watch a movie straight through with real products spotted everywhere than to watch one interrupted by so many commercials. I believe that this is a very effective form of advertising. I know that I have been effected by this many times, like when I see a pair of cute jeans with the brand mentioned, I consider going out to buy those jeans. However, the fact that a TV or movie star uses a product is not a complete selling point for me. I still have to be a smart consumer and take into consideration my budget and how much I really need a product. But as I mentioned before, product placement can only be effective if it is done right. Obnoxious placement can sometimes be a turnoff for me, such as the Snapple excerpt from 30 rock. If I can tell that they are trying to buy me something, I think that they are trying too hard, and as a result, I do not think about buying that product. My favorite example of product placement was on one of the last episodes of public TV's Passions. Passions was moving to DirecTV so I could no longer watch it without DirecTV. The reason this was so obnoxious was because I am sure that at least twenty times during an hour episode, DirecTV was mentioned and the characters went on and on and on about how wonderful it was. They even went as far as to put a word bubble from Baby Andora's head that said "DirecTV is my favorite!" This approach to product placement is unnecessary and completely ineffective. It must be subtle and small for me to be effected.

Blog #5

Recently, I have been noticing billboards more than I have before. One thing that is very evident and obvious is that billboards are much more simple than TV or print ads. This, of course, is because we need to get the jist of the ad in a few short seconds. I can stare at a print ad all day and analyze the crap out of it, but with a billboard, I only get a few seconds to spot everything that is going on before I zoom past it. I find that billboards are only effective if they are simple. That is, simple to look at and simple to understand. Usually, these ads give us direct orders or tell us a simple fact that will get us thinking. I have seen billboards that are too busy and have too much going on so I can't process it before I see another one. If only one propaganda device is used, that is okay. The direct order is probably the most effective. It tells us to do something, and since we are already in our car, it might be easy to do that. Such as "Visit us at..." or "Get your own..." A direct order can speak to the specific target market but make a vague claim about it. This vague claim or unfinished claim gets the specific audience thinking and pushes them to look more into the product or service. Overall, I think that billboards are used more as a reminder than a selling point. They remind us of a product or drill a brand name into our heads. The simpler the better.