I,like many thousands more, did not watch the 2013 Super Bowl. I waited til the next day to be able to watch all of the commercials. As always there were winners and losers. This started me thinking. No one wants to have the worst Super Bowl commercial. Every company that placed an ad during the big game believed their ad would represent their company well and that they would see increased business as a result. Each of the companies that had even a single spot during the big game spent millions of dollars to try to tell you something. To make you see their product or company in a more positive way.
The days of basic information to help you make a more informed decision are long since gone, if they ever were at all. Every television and radio ad is designed to ellicit a response. Each company chooses the response they want to create. Ralph Lauren for example has always promoted a lifestyle through their advertising. They would lead you to believe that everyone who wears their clothing line is young, good looking, as comfortable in the great outdoors as they would be on the ocean or in the boardroom. This is the image they portray.
Fragrance companies, along with many others, use sex to sell their product. Every colonge or perfume ad is about sexual attraction. To be honest I cannot think of any other way to sell these items. If these companies were not allowed to use attraction as a selling tool they would have to turn to a lifestyle model, no one would buy a cologne simply because "it makes me smell good".
If we were to want to promote a product, we would have to decide what our target market is. A target market includes things like age group, education level, income range, and even occupational type. Once we have decided on the target market, we would start working on our ad. If we are wanting to excite our target, we would want our announcer to talk fast, probably use a movie voice. Depending on what we are advertising show quick clips of our product in action. If we are wanting to appeal to our markets ego, we would talk very smooth, imply that our market deserves our product. We would say something like "you have worked hard. Can't you see yourself with... (insert our product here).
If just listen to a commercial, you can tell something about the target market. Car company commercials on the radio are the best for this. If the announcer is shouting, the target market is the lower education levels or people who are on a very tight budget. These people have so much to worry about that an ad has to break into their thoughts to even be heard. Luxury autos are very smooth, talking about performance and "how you would look in this car". A friend of mine from work gave me the best description of car ads. A BMW ad shows a beautiful person driving a beautiful car in a beautiful landscape. A KIA commercial shows an urban landscape and their car driven by hamsters (thanks Renee).
Another method that is used is packaging. Companies do research to find out what colors promote their product, where to place their product on the shelf, and even at what price point people will buy their product at enough profit. Take food for example. Things packaged in green we believe are more healthy than the same item packaged in another color. Packaging can be very powerful.Another friend at work said he was at a drugstore and he saw a generic cold medicine.It was packaged in black, red, and silver, his favorite color combination. He admitted that he started to buy the medicine even though no one in his family was sick. (thanks Josh) Remember advertisers are trying to sway your buying decisions.
If I could work my will, every person who reads this would ask themselves these questions when they find themselves being influenced by an advertising blitz. (1) Am I the target market that this company is trying to reach? (2) What is this company really selling? Are they selling the product or a lifestyle, confidence, or are they stroking your ego? (3) What does this ad say that this company thinks about me? (4) What does this company think about my values, my world view, and my intelligence level? After we answer these questions do we still want to deal with this company?
By thinking a little more critically we can reduce the influence outside people have over us and we can better learn how to
Keep It Rural
Showing posts with label fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fashion. Show all posts
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thrift Goes Mainstream (Thrift Shop)
Yesterday something happened that has never happened before. My son introduced me to a rap song I actually like. The song has some strong language in it, but I think there is a clean version. It is called Thrift Shop. The artist is saying that he buys all of his clothes from the thrift shop and he looks incredible. He also talks about people paying $50.00 for a t shirt and states flat out that someone who pays that much for a t shirt is being tricked by a business. With the exception of the language and the fact that our styles are completely different, I agree with this guy 100%. I will actually go farther than he did. Many of these businesses are raping people. They can only sell a t shirt for $50.00 because someone, actually a lot of someones are willing to pay that much for a shirt.
The fact that this song was on the radio tells me that there is the beginnings of a culture shift. Most people are struggling just to get by. There is a growing group of people that are looking for any way possible to make their money go farther. I applaud this young man for being willing to proclaim the virtues of thrift store shopping.
I love thrift stores. I go into a thrift store at least once or twice a month. I am not just looking for clothing. I always look through their electronics and their kitchen wares. I have bought several drinking glasses, a couple of vases, and other things for the kitchen at a thrift store. We have even bought furniture at the thrift store. If you take your time you can completely outfit a home in the thrift store at just pennies on the dollar of what you would spend to buy new.
One of my New Years resolutions is to keep some cash on me at all times. Any time I see a promising yard sale, I am going to stop and see what I can pick up. I will only buy things that we need or we will truly use. I have a list in my mind of thing that I will consider purchasing.
My sons and I are very hard to buy for at a thrift store or yard sale. Men tend to wear their clothes completely out before we get rid of them. I will never fault someone for that. The boots that I wear everyday are five years old and I plan on getting at least three more years out of them.
My youngest son needed a new pair of shoes. I am not a fan of buying shoes at a thrift store, too much fungus going on out there. I won't buy underwear from a thrift store either.To quote my daughter, "that is just gross". So we went to a clothing store. I will not name the company. We walked to the shoe department and were looking around for him a pair. We did find a pair that he liked and he said were comfortable.
Me being me, I started looking at the clothing in the store. The first thing I look at is where the item was made. The countries that I saw today were Vietnam, China, Egypt, Honduras, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mexico. The item that was made in Mexico was of US fabric. That was the only time I saw the US mentioned. I am fine with products being made in any of the North American countries as long as some of it was manufactured in the United States. If you wonder why you or your neighbor or someone in your family cannot find a job. I just showed you.
Buy everything you can at thrift stores and yard sales. You will save a lot of money and you will help people out in your community. The money for those items has already been sent overseas, they will not get a cent of your second hand purchase. I personally will not buy anything that I do not absolutely need that is not at least partially made in America. If we can get enough people to do that and to communicate to the corporations that this is why we are spending less money in their stores, they will bring the jobs back, plain and simple.
If you look up the song, please remember that I warned you about the language. Find the clean version and listen to the message that is now being broadcast to our young people and be proud of someone who is telling them that saving money and making smart purchases is cool.
Remember to Always Keep It Rural
The fact that this song was on the radio tells me that there is the beginnings of a culture shift. Most people are struggling just to get by. There is a growing group of people that are looking for any way possible to make their money go farther. I applaud this young man for being willing to proclaim the virtues of thrift store shopping.
I love thrift stores. I go into a thrift store at least once or twice a month. I am not just looking for clothing. I always look through their electronics and their kitchen wares. I have bought several drinking glasses, a couple of vases, and other things for the kitchen at a thrift store. We have even bought furniture at the thrift store. If you take your time you can completely outfit a home in the thrift store at just pennies on the dollar of what you would spend to buy new.
One of my New Years resolutions is to keep some cash on me at all times. Any time I see a promising yard sale, I am going to stop and see what I can pick up. I will only buy things that we need or we will truly use. I have a list in my mind of thing that I will consider purchasing.
My sons and I are very hard to buy for at a thrift store or yard sale. Men tend to wear their clothes completely out before we get rid of them. I will never fault someone for that. The boots that I wear everyday are five years old and I plan on getting at least three more years out of them.
My youngest son needed a new pair of shoes. I am not a fan of buying shoes at a thrift store, too much fungus going on out there. I won't buy underwear from a thrift store either.To quote my daughter, "that is just gross". So we went to a clothing store. I will not name the company. We walked to the shoe department and were looking around for him a pair. We did find a pair that he liked and he said were comfortable.
Me being me, I started looking at the clothing in the store. The first thing I look at is where the item was made. The countries that I saw today were Vietnam, China, Egypt, Honduras, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mexico. The item that was made in Mexico was of US fabric. That was the only time I saw the US mentioned. I am fine with products being made in any of the North American countries as long as some of it was manufactured in the United States. If you wonder why you or your neighbor or someone in your family cannot find a job. I just showed you.
Buy everything you can at thrift stores and yard sales. You will save a lot of money and you will help people out in your community. The money for those items has already been sent overseas, they will not get a cent of your second hand purchase. I personally will not buy anything that I do not absolutely need that is not at least partially made in America. If we can get enough people to do that and to communicate to the corporations that this is why we are spending less money in their stores, they will bring the jobs back, plain and simple.
If you look up the song, please remember that I warned you about the language. Find the clean version and listen to the message that is now being broadcast to our young people and be proud of someone who is telling them that saving money and making smart purchases is cool.
Remember to Always Keep It Rural
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