Weekly Written Analysis 3

Week Analysis 3

The Most Interesting Men in the World

I have been fascinated with TV commercials for long time now. This interest is one of the reasons why I choose to study marketing. Many of the commercials are annoying and in my opinion ineffective but from time to time, there is commercial that really catches my interest. Recently one of the campaigns that I paid attention to is a commercial for Dos Equis.

This campaign is not only very well done visually but also captivates the attention and fulfills the purpose. Commercials show grey bearded man sounded by beautiful woman unusual situations. The narrator introduces this man as the most interesting man in the world. At the end, you see him sitting at the table in what appears to be a bar surrounded by good-looking women. “I don’t always drink beer but when I do I prefer Dos Equis,” he says.

Unlike most of the beer commercials, this one is very sophisticated. The older gentleman appears to be more suitable for whiskey advertising than beer. Even he himself admits that he does not always drinks beer. What? He does not always drink beer? It is very unusually for the spokes person to admit that they do not always use the product they are advertising. Obviously, the most interesting man on the world is too “cool” to be drinking beer all the time. The most interesting man on the world do not need to be all over the product to propagate it. He just mentions that he prefers it. The most interesting man on the world is persuasive that after watching the commercial on television I had to find out who he is. Well he is a made up character. Witch made this commercial even more interesting. No real person can be the most interesting man on the world for everyone.

There is only one more question that needs to be asked. Did the commercial fulfill the purpose? It does not matter how well it the commercial made visually and how great of the idea it is. The commercial has to make you want to go and buy otherwise is useless. I am not a big beer drinker but last night I ordered Dos Equis in the bar for the first time. I did not like it too much and I would probably never even think about buying it if it was not for the most interesting men in the world. Because picture is worth a thousand words, I include a link for the commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2SSZA0CjdQ.

Icon Analysis 2-2

The three contemporary popular culture icons I have chosen are Elmo, Superman and Madonna.

I actually did not grow up with Elmo but right after I came to America I feel in love with the furry monster. Elmo is the star and main puppet from popular children’s show Sesame Street. Elmo has been around for 24 years although he has not been in the original cast of the show. This red furry monster with a mind of four years old is extremely popular among toddlers and young children. To me Elmo is impersonating of everything playful, happy, loving and curious that is hiding inside four years old.





My second character does not need an extra introduction. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is a Superman! This character has been around since 1938. Today he has much more competition than ever. He has to compete for the popularity with all kinds of new heroes. However, that does not trouble him at all. Superman is still one of the most recognized icons all around the world. Every decade a new Superman stories are made into the movies, cartoons, video game and everything that you can imagine. I remember superman from a show with Christopher Reeve that I use to watch as a child. Superman as a character was always a symbol of heroism without the need of recognition to me.





Last, one of my icons is Madonna. For so many years, Madonna seems to never stop. Music, books, film, clothing lines, charities and all kinds of other stuff made this icon very easy to recognize. Madonna’s first album appeared in 1983 and since then she recorded eleven albums. She has also made 22 movies and directed one in last year. Madonna will turn 41 this year but her fan base is anywhere from 10 to 80. I personally do not thing that Madonna is a great singer, actress or designer but she is a genius marketing person.

Weekly Written Analysis 2

Skinny Jeans

Popular culture is always changing element. What is “in” today will be “out” tomorrow. Probably the most changing and visible element of pop culture is fashion.
How terrible the fashion of the 80’s seems to us today. It is possible that ten years from now we will think the same way about fashion now. About a year ago, I vowed never to wear skinny jeans. Well a year went by and now I only wear skinny jeans. I am not always perused by the lattes trends but I guess sometimes I give in. It is humorous how much they look like something out of the 50’s and yet so ultra modern. They actually started in 50’s and surprisingly men originally mostly wore them. They were always here, in every decade following but in 2006 they are at the top of the popularity again. Skinny jeans go with everything. You can dress them up or down. They come in all kinds of colors; you can buy them in any clothing store and price range. I believe that there is not a celebrity that have not been seen and photographed wearing them. Everyone loves skinny jeans. If you are businesswomen, stay at home mom, teenager or a punk rocker you own a pair. One has to wonder where skinny jeans would be without the marketing. What came first? Did we discover the versatility of skinny jeans and they become popular or the other way around.
They maybe a little tight sometimes but thank you for skinny jeans. We will gladly suffer a little bit of discomfort for our “skinny friends”. They have been here the whole time and we just know find out that we cannot live without them. Fashion repeats itself all the time. That makes me wonder what is going to be next. Just please, please, please do not bring back the wide leg jeans.

Weekly Written Analysis 1

Star Trek movie
I am not too much of a Trekkie myself but I admit to watching some Star Trek episodes few years ago with my brother. It has been some time since I saw last Star Trek episode but I just had to go see a movie that been so heavily advertised. Star Trek was surely anxiously awaited by many its fans. If I liked it or not I began to be curious about it too. As a good pop culture slave, I went to see it the opening weekend on Sunday.
Since early 1960’s, when the series started, adventures of the brave crew of the ship Enterprise kept kids and adults of all ages interested. No other show has been on air for over four decades and no other show that has so many loyal followers like this one. Therefore, this movie was going to be a huge event for them. What does bring so many fans from different generations together? I believe that Star Trek is one of the better examples of the popular culture. Maybe the movies and shows do not have a deep artistic value but there are many lessons of hard work, friendship and bravery involved. People always looked up to the sky and dreamed of what could happen if we could fly to them and discovered new worlds. New possibilities and obstacles so different from our everyday lives lived by crew seems to fascinate us. Articles, interviews, advertising even a huge auction of items from the first series. All of this increased the excitement and inertest for the long expected summer movie. Well and it fulfilled the expectations. Star Trek made 72.5 million dollars the opening weekend alone. Most of the fans and non-fans were blown away. After disappointing the X-men, Star Trek was a great success. I believe that with fan base and history like one that Star Trek has it is hard to continue and fulfill the expectations. Star Trek had to face off some harsh criticism from both sides. On the one hand, the “die hard” fans that have seen all the previous movies want something original but in the Star trek spirit. On the other hand, non-Trekkies want to be persuaded that it is a movie worth watching even if they have never seen an episode of Star Trek. Also with such a heavy advertisement, the hopes are much higher than for most of the other movies.
I think we all can agree that Star Trek is a pop culture icon. It is amazing that after forty years, it still finds new fans and it can still sell out movies for the whole weekend. Sci-fi always had a special place in our culture. Fanatically followed by some and hated by others but recognized in nearly every culture in the world.

Pop Culture Artifact, Assignment 1-1

The artifact I have chosen is the social networking website Facebook. I am pretty sure that most of you have heard about it and some of you may even be using it.