"The Fight of the Century"

May 2, 2015: the day Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather face each other in the ring for a much anticipated match.

Perfect diversion, too, from the scorching summer heat we're experiencing in the Philippines.

Go, Pacman!! 


And if you don't exactly pay attention to boxing, here's something I found quite interesting (and helpful) -- A Non-Boxing Fan's Guide to Mayweather-Pacquiao

Of mice and men

What a funny way to promote a product -- and to demonstrate grit in the process. Though I'd much rather look at the likes of Mickey and Remy (from Ratatouille) instead of real-looking rodents like the one in the commercial, it's ads like this that I enjoy and find effective.






A couple of years ago, Google also launched an ad campaign, and one of the spots debuted at the Superbowl. You can see two of the ads in a previous post.

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life....

Is there anyone who aims to be miserable? Do you know anyone who does not long for a life of happiness?

Something in the video below struck me -- it's the part where the narrator pointed out that people, when they experience feelings of insecurity, tend to focus more on material things (which may translate to making unintended purchases). Still, whenever I'm out in the mall and I pass all those stores with such attractive window displays and inviting merchandise, I strive to keep in mind what a philosopher (was it Socrates?) supposedly said the following to himself whenever coming upon some goods: Here are more things that I don't need.

The first video illustrates some really thought-provoking ideas and findings about life, happiness, and our search for the latter as we got about the former. With materialism hovering over us and often taking over our priorities and choices, the result is sometimes a false sense of happiness. And unwittingly we pass on this imbalance in priorities to our children or to other young ones who look up to us, and what do we get? It's in the second video.

Companions

What might be

 

That's entertainment

Advertising can either impart angst and intrigue, or leave the viewer with a cheery attitude. This definitely will not put one down in the dumps :-)

In any language

Here's a TV ad I saw and was charmed by recently, thanks to someone who pointed it out via YouTube. I think no matter what language or dialect the person watching it speaks, the sentiments will be perfectly understood. That's the way the language of the heart works.

The Swiss I miss

I had been wanting to blog about ordinary everyday stuff but couldn't seem to find enough time or a few leisurely minutes to do it.

Now that I have a few minutes for some leisurely blogging as I let dinner be digested, all I can think about is.... chocolates! And, since my mother right now is watching some tennis match featuring the world's former #1 but still decidedly the best player -- he does elevate the level of tennis somehow -- Roger Federer, combine chocolates and Federer and what have you got?







That one up there is a behind-the-scenes peek of a Lindt truffles TV commercial. And the one below is the "extended cut" of the finished product. I've never even tasted Lindt chocolate, and though I used to be more picky as far as chocolate is concerned, I've come to feel a special affinity to what local makers produce. There is just a special kind of satisfaction that comes with finishing a box of Curly Tops that I can never explain :-)

So, here is the 1-minuter featuring the Swiss Mister and the little brown delectable spheres:

The hunger and the greed

The two words "information" and "communication" are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things.
Information is giving out; communication is getting through."

- Sydney J. Harris, American journalist and author (1917-1986)

What's great about information in this day and age is that it's not limited to the written word any longer. Those of us who are more visual in our tastes have the advantage of learning about things via videos. Check these out -- the first tackles the question about why people in some parts of the world are starving through a short but nicely done video; the second is a straight-to-the-point explanation as to why a statement such as "Contraceptives cause abortion" is not inaccurate at all.

I hope some communication takes place with this blog post...











Posting these two videos has made me rethink the whole matter of calling the birth control pill and other contraceptives "essential medicines" -- which proponents of House Bill 4244 or the so-called Reproductive Health Bill are insisting on as part of this piece of legislation. When one labels drugs and devices that have resulted in the death of unborn babies and in health problems for women as "essential," it does sound silly when one considers how the most basic of all needs -- food -- is lacking in many parts of the planet. And it's not because of overpopulation -- in itself a myth.

Commercial appeal

Okay, a quick post, but one which I hope gives you much inspiration by way of ideas, relief, comfort, reassurance, a laugh or whatever it is that's needed most at the moment.

Here are a couple of advertisements that are among my favorites. Good humor does work wonders and keeps the creative juices flowing :-)

(And below is a bunch of quotes about humor and laughter which I simply compiled)











Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him. ~Roman Gary

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs - jolted by every pebble in the road. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious. ~Peter Ustinov

Humor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. ~Ron Dentinger

Every survival kit should include a sense of humor. ~Author Unknown

* * * * *

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb

When people are laughing, they're generally not killing each other. ~Alan Alda

Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food. ~Anna Fellows Johnston

Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

The search is on

Remember this? It's one of the many commercials that debuted during last year's Superbowl:





Charming huh? Well, I recently learned that there are several equally inventive but simple ads in the series. Such as this one, which I really love:




Creativity knows no bounds when it's guided by sound values. And how expensive can such a simple production be? Hardly any cost, and you leave your audience smiling--with a positive brand image in their minds whether or not they're aware of it.

Let's see how the commercials at this year's Superbowl coverage fare...

Chock full of sweet delectables

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!"
- Lucy Van Pelt, Peanuts

You can regard chocolate from quite a number of viewpoints -- from the perspective of dentists, parents, children, dieticians, bakers, in the context of calories, caffeine, diabetes, romantic overtures, get-well-soon wishes, cacao plantations, Belgium and Switzerland's exports... and a host of others, depending on your train of thought.

One thing is certain: chocolate can inspire the cutest ideas.





I'm not sure how I'd feel biting into something like this, though:






And I'm glad to know that chocolates were considered a great gift idea for men (at least in advertising) at some time:





Obviously those brown delectables even inspired humor in highly esteemed writers:

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."
-- Charles Dickens

Hype, hip, and hope in real beauty

I remember one summer in the '80s when my parents spent about a month in the US, visiting relatives and friends, enjoying the sights, and experiencing what they could in that limited time from coast to coast.

When they came back to the Philippines, among the "treasures" in their suitcases were back issues of Seventeen magazine. Those were for me, they said -- a gift from one of my cousins who, I assumed, outgrew them already as she was several years my senior. I was in high school and it was just the sort of thing to give me a thrill!

As far as I remember, this heralded my entry into the world of fashion & beauty (as the commercially driven mainstream culture then knew it), and into the eye-candy-but-often-authenticity-empty world of products, looks, effects, allure, and everything else that has for its foundation a "look good, feel good" dictum. It's possible that there were, of course, articles or fashion layouts meant to enrich the soul or underscore the primacy of virtue in the grand scheme of things...but I must have missed them. To be sure, I did develop a reasonably okay sense of overall style thanks partly to the years of fashion magazine-flipping. But I developed much more than that. And I believe that a lot of grownup women now will agree with me when I say that looking through women's magazines habitually -- particularly those that revolve around the themes of fashion and beauty (treated the conventional way, of course) -- prompts a feeling of inadequacy in the reader. In fact, I've read somewhere that subtle feelings of inadequacy regarding one's physical features are felt by some women after going through a magazine of this nature only once. Now I can't remember if this slight blow to one's self-confidence is primarily caused by the ads (visuals and text combined), or by the ideas put forth by both the ads and editorial content, or only by the visuals encountered by the reader as she leafed through the mag.

Needless to say, anything that sees print and is presented well seems to achieve "pedestal-status." It tends to be more easily believed or given importance (ideas) or regarded as ... ahem, cool (or hot, hip, wicked, astig, etc., depending on the generation and the colloquial terms of the times) or as something to aspire for (images) -- especially where impressionable and sometimes-unthinking media consumers are concerned.

Was I delighted to come across a blog post about one mom's vigilance and humorous take on a clothing company's apparently desperate moves in order to increase sales. This is not fresh news but it does warrant publicity. Too bad the link to the post is gone, but here's an excerpt:

...I'm not sure what led you to resurrect the old trashy t-shirt campaign, but I'm guessing it's a last ditch attempt to get back in the news. Perhaps you are relying on your once loyal market demographic: Young women with zero self-esteem and zero self-respect. You know, the kind of girls who are so desperate for attention that they're willing to settle for the wrong kind of attention. Because let's be honest, the only person who would wear one of the t-shirts above is someone who doesn't think they have anything else to offer other than well, their parts and services. But here's where your thinking is severely flawed: Girls have become much more adept at identifying the real M.O. behind marketing schemes such as yours.

I love it :-)

Women at any age can feel this bombardment (whether explicit or more subtle) of messages from the media that they're either too fat, too skinny, too short, too old or maybe not smart enough, pretty enough, perky enough, white enough... or simply, not good enough. And teenage and tween girls are probably the most vulnerable when it comes to believing and accepting such messages. Here are two things to make you think and, hopefully, help you guide them to be happy, healthy and well-adjusted individuals. You may even find these a tad helpful for yourself if there's something that's keeping you from appreciating yourself and striving for genuine self-improvement.

The first is part of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. The one that follows is the piece I wrote for the April 2009 issue's Editor's Notebook (bigger version here). I had blogged about that issue of Baby Magazine when it came out but decided to post the piece again for anyone who may find it helpful.

[Enlarge]  

True to their vocation

I wonder if it's accurate to say that there is a lack of doctors and other practitioners supposedly trained to help people remain healthy (and to treat their bodies of illness when illness occurs), who remain true to their vocation. But I sure am very happy whenever I hear of news of doctors standing up for the sanctity of every human life in any way, and exerting efforts to enable even the poorest people to be given quality health care, when they need it.

As there has come to be a wide discrepancy between marketing of consumer goods, and principles of proper nutrition, society could really use more guidance from the experts and from those who have the people's interest at heart. Food and drink that lack nutritional value (soda, MSG-laden and sugary snacks, and the like) are being marketed aggressively, so the way some doctors are remaining firm on what's important is very welcome (and very much needed).

A family physician near San Francisco is encouraging members of the American Academy of Family Physicians to resign in protest of the organization’s alliance with The Coca-Cola Co. to educate consumers about how Coca-Cola’s products fit into a healthful lifestyle.

Dr. William Walker, director of Contra Costa Health Services in Martinez, said in an interview Friday that he had resigned from the AAFP “with great sorrow.” He said 10 to 20 other physicians, all affiliated with Contra Costa Health, also have quit the association.

...

“I am appalled and ashamed of the partnership between Coca-Cola and the American Academy of Family Physicians,” Walker said in a release. “How can any organization that claims to promote public health join forces with a company that promotes products that sicken our children?”

Full article at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

* Illustration: Doctor and doll (1929), by Norman Rockwell

You've come a long way, baby?

Social theorist and media critic Jean Kilbourne has said that when it comes to portrayals of women in advertising, sex sells.

Whether or not this is true is -- at the moment -- beside the point as far as I'm concerned. What I've been thinking about is the degree to which even 'tween girls nowadays are heavily influenced by the sexualized content of media (advertising included). Then a while ago I read that Kilbourne said something along those lines:

"We’ve been conditioned from birth to think our sex appeal and physical attractiveness is the most important thing about us."

Judging from the material and the underlying messages the ad industry has been coming out with the past decade or so, that statement above seems to be fairly accurate (I just don't know about the "from birth" part). Whether or not that kind of conditioning reached you by way of excessive exposure to media during your childhood till the teen years, what ultimately matters is your acceptance or rejection of such kind of conditioning.





I wonder -- how would the proponents of the original Women's Liberation Movement regard all this if they were still around to witness the transformation? And, is the current manner of portraying women in media what the first feminists had in mind when they relentlessly fought for "women's rights"?






Do women who go about with an attitude of "I have the right to do anything I want" feel truly free?






In relinquishing a lady's natural power to turn even fools into gentlemen, does a woman who puts her "anatomical sexuality" on display really feel empowered? And confident?

Do women actually fall for the message put forth by advertising that sex appeal and physical attractiveness should be among those on top on the list of priorities?

Interesting questions to ponder. And I found a previous blog entry I posted some four years ago which I still find interesting. An excerpt:

And here I go again, attributing much of the societal damage to mass media. First of all, it's true -- media in this day and age is largely responsible for the perpetuation of ideas (both constructive and destructive) especially when the idea is deftly presented as something that will make you feel happy, free, strong, fabulously independent and/or desirable. The result: girls imitating what they see, whether it's a baby tee with "Porn star" flashed across the chest, the monthly boyfriend roulette, the spirit of abandon guiding underwear ads, or the whole attitude behind the "Sex Bomb Dancers" trend. An example:

Mothers who come into my office frequently express doubt about their own judgment, not knowing where to draw the line when their daughters dress provocatively. Girls, meanwhile, freely admit that they are only aping what they see in the media. One young woman told me, "I love 'Sex and the City,' but I know it's contributed" to the problem. " Desperate Housewives" does, too.

Believe me, people behind magazines, ads and TV programming know how to make practically anything -- even the trashiest, most indecent fashion styles and intrinsically wicked ideas -- look good and spend tons of money to do research to get better at it!

Read the whole thing, which includes links to two insightful reads from The Washington Post and Modestly Zone, here


* First photo is from a Benson & Hedges ad.

Surprised?

This is probably as honest as one can get when it comes to the sentiments of any woman at the moment she finds out that she's pregnant -- especially when pregnancy was the farthest thing from her mind. Come to think of it, the more oft-used "Pregnant? Need help?" is just as genuine, but a touch of humor can elicit a smile. And who wouldn't want that?

I clicked Impact73.org on Generations for Life's blogroll and got a site that was under construction. But the group's old website was accessible, and this led me to Project LIFEBOARD, which is another way for the group to call a pro-life billboard. What a delight to know that some people are making it possible to have such life-affirming displays put up in various states in the US!

I sure hope one day we'll see a giant billboard somewhere on Edsa with a message like "Chastity rocks -- it does a body and soul good." I think something like this would be welcome (or at least it's needed, even if some people are bound to scoff at the message) since it proclaims what each person knows deep inside.

'Men buy with their eyes, women buy with their ears'

That men and women are different in some ways has been established. And personally, I like it that way -- it would be pretty hard for one to complement the other if they were similar in all areas, wouldn't it?

Saw this book review of Re-render the Gender: Why the vast majority of advertising is not connecting with women -- and what we can do about it on the Marketing to Women Online site, and it presents some pretty neat and useful ideas. Marketers! Advertisers! Pay attention!

One of the first things the book points out is that while women control over 80 percent of all purchases, over 70 percent of all advertising is created by men. The book also points to the fact that the judges at creative award shows are overwhelmingly male. (A situation creative director Ruth Lee addresses in why you need women on your creative team.) This often drives creative directors to create advertising designed to appeal to the (male) judges that can win these prestigious, career-advancing awards.

So what can you do to create advertising women like?

My favorite chapter in the book was about the differences between male and female humor. (a subject near and dear to my heart - see male vs. female humor) The book has some great examples of commercials guys thought were hilarious, but bombed with women. As Thomas points out:

Guy humor often has a victim. And for the most part, women don't find that funny.

Full article here

Talking about caffeine...

I'm trying to lay off the caffeine for a while (not that my body is anywhere close to being addicted to it). Who knows if the one cup of coffee a day has something to do with the headaches I've been experiencing lately? So, the MD advised that we go for the process of elimination.

Looks like now I'll see how much of a difference there is between real coffee and decaf :-)

Meanwhile, cola (and other addictives) commercials continue to outdo one another. Here are two I particularly like. Enjoy!

From here to eternity

So humanist groups started trying to get their message across via advertising.




Thing is, splashing all the buses in the world with the most imaginatively executed ads conveying this same idea will not change the truth:










More to read here...

here...

and on I Believe Too.

When emblems nudge you to buy, buy, buy

I'm putting Barbara Curtis' post in its entirety here (including the visual). Barbara blogs at Mommy Life.

Consumer-proof your teens

Someone's out to get your kids - and they mean business. A special PBS Frontline report named them "The Merchants of Cool" in their in-depth look at the aggressive marketing used to control how American teens spend their money.

At 33 million strong, today's generation of American teens represents the "hottest" consumer demographic ever, with far more spending power than their Boomer parents had - last year topping $100 billion.

If you missed "The Merchants of Cool," you can catch the complete 53-minute show here, along with a host of other chilling insights into how the media and big corporations target our teens by encouraging and selling to the weakest parts of their character.

Okay, so what's a parent - who needs more than a slingshot to battle the giants - to do?

You can counter the pressure of consumerism by helping your teens understand how susceptible we all are to advertising. Take product placement, for instance (type those two words in google and you'll find a heap of information). Product placement took off in 1982 when the movie E.T. portrayed the irresistible little alien following a trail of Reese's Pieces. Sales for the candy shot up immediately.

Now it's a rare film that doesn't add cash to its coffers with product placement contracts for everything from Huggies diapers to Starbucks coffee to DeLorean dream cars. Rates are structured depending on how the product appears. A can of Coke sitting on a table might cost the Coca Cola Company a certain amount, but if Tom Cruise picks it up and opens it, it costs a whole lot more. And if he actually brings it to his lips - well, you can imagine!

The more our kids know about the inner workings of the advertising world, the less susceptible they will be to such subliminal manipulation.

Here's a family discussion starter:

When it comes to TV: What is the product being sold? Who is the customer?

Your teen probably thinks as she watches TV that she's the customer, and that the ads she watches display the products being sold.

Not so! For television networks, the customers they serve are the advertisers. The product being sold is the viewer.

That's why the cost for a commercial can vary from $19 for a 30 second daytime spot on a local cable channel to $2,000,000. for the same amount of time during the Super Bowl, which attracts the largest television audience every year. The price paid by customer/advertiser is based on the number of viewers during that time slot - the same way we buy meat by the pound.

Encourage your kids to look at commercials with a critical eye, identifying what factors underlie the message: guilt, greed, manipulation, fear, flattery, status-seeking

And one final thought: Teens cannot learn to control their impulses for more, more, more if we say yes, yes, yes. Even if you have the money -or borrowing power - to buy your child everything he wants, it's really not the loving thing to do.

[From MommyLife archives September 20, 2005. Since I began blogging, I have logged over 3000 entries here. To find more any subject, please click Categories in the header.]

Love,