Halloween On Tattoine The Appeal To Adidas
Last week I was blogging about two commercials and was trying to find the TV ads on YouTube, which I did. One was about the new Adidas Originality agenda, which I covered briefly. While on the search I stumbled upon this awesome commercial, a fusion of pop-cultural references based on a scene from „Star Wars – A New Hope”. For all the Star Wars fans out there, the commercial covers the cantina scene, where Obi-Wan try to convince Han Solo to get to fly them to a certain planet. Ah yes so reminiscing isn’t it? However, as we all know it is Halloween soon and people try to find good parties to go to and what would be better than a party hosted by Adidas with a Star Wars theme? So after watching the clip, a Facebook link sprang into my eye, which led me to this group called HALLOWEEN ON TATOOINE THE APPEAL TO ADIDAS.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=158381577514324
It’s is a social experiment, that I find very interesting, so go and check it out. Anyways, it does not have long, since it is Halloween soon. This is a very interesting experiment in my opinion, since we are the World Wide Web generation. Basically the group just wants to find out how many people would gather together to form a Star Wars party on Halloween but that is not all. Interestingly when I first signed up for this, there were only around 12 members but then I sent it to most of my friends list on Facebook, so I wonder how fast and wide this group can spread their idea. I am curious how many people it will be when Halloween knocks on the door.
Celebrate Originality Or Take It To The Next Level…
I love sport ads, in my opinion they really are very creative and deliver their message very clear. Unlike one of those commercials that are very funny but one does not get to know or remember what the product was about.
Nowadays, two of the greatest sport wears producers are of course Nike and Adidas. But comparing their commercials would be like comparing an apple to an orange, both have something in common, yet they are very different. While Adidas has become more and more a pop culture phenomenon, Nike still has the focus more on the athletic sides.
Nikes commercials approach relies more on athletes to represent the product, the sign has become a symbol of power, energy and strength and has its focus more on the individual person.
Adidas on the other hand recently developed a touch of bringing in pop-culture and known artist in music, film and sport together in their commercials implying their advance move from becoming “just” a sports brand and turning it into a fashionable, maybe pop-cultural symbol.
Nevertheless, both still share similarities in their approach but the target has become different, which I find very interesting because both brands do not necessarily clash, as they have both different targets, but still it is fascinating how two brands so similar, can become so different.
FOX Stole CNN’s Mojo
Do you remember the time when CNN was a serious broadcasting channel? Everybody respected it for its journalistic credibility, from the first broadcast in 1980 becoming the first ever 24-hour news program in the U.S., CNN would define what people might call the new era of journalism. Major events like the challenger disaster in 1986 when CNN was the only TV channel to have live coverage of the launch and explosion of the space shuttle Challenger raised the viewers respect for the anchors and reporters. With tremendous courage reporting live on location on the first Persian Gulf War while bombs were falling on the city of Baghdad, CNN would set standards for future generation journalists. The American Government would go as far to give credit to CNN that their 24-hour news coverage have a major impact on their decision making, which I consider one of the greatest power a news channel can have. Furthermore, CNN’s coverage with national and international topics related to politics would define the 1990’s main aspect of its journalistic criteria, which would establish the main viewers coming from political or economical background. With other channels establishing their own news program, such as FOX and MSNBC in 1996, CNN would gain major loss in ratings falling behind especially to MSNBC with the 25-to-54-year old demographic in prime time, from the standings in 2009. How did this happen? While MSNBC had a very similar style to CNN, FOX however stands out in journalistic terms, which one might not even consider journalism as a few of you might have noticed! FOX is more focused on selling a story than rather giving detailed information about depth and subject matter and sadly CNN seem to have become quite similar. I accidentally found this interview on YouTube of how a reporter interviews the movie character Borat (Sasha Baron Cohen in disguise). It was shocking for me to see the CNN logo on an interview like this, which features an interview style similar to that of a David Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel in terms of the topic. Not to mention the low credibility of the reporter becoming the victim of Cohen’s offensive jokes, making me believe, how in the world CNN could have broadcasted this. Notice that this interview was back in 2006 but it clearly is funny and somewhat informative but I found it to be more of a FOX channel material than rather CNN. So I wonder, with the entire rates decline, is it not this, what would drive the constant viewers away? Or did the people from CNN really think that a new demographic is necessary to maintain the rates?
The F-Word Sells…
So there is this TV show on channel Fox called Hell’s Kitchen where the contestants compete to become worthy of managing a restaurant after the show is over. The host of this show is the infamous Gordon Ramsey. Ramsey, born as Scotsman became incredibly successful with his culinary work, making him earn several Michelin Stars for outstanding cooking, the highest honor a restaurant and it’s chefs can obtain. But even with all his skills and success in terms of cooking, it is his character what one might find fascinating, entertaining or just pure evil. Simply said, Gordon Ramsey is infamous, if not famous, for his strong language and the abusive use of the F-Word. With his show Hell’s Kitchen, which by the way originated from England also starring him, Fox channel has gained yet another controversial show that surely makes one ask: how in the world did TV become like this. The premise of the show is simple, if you cannot cook; Ramsey destroys you in front of the camera, if your skills are not good enough he humiliates you in front of all the people, if you dare to fight back, he will F*** you up until you are worth nothing. This is the new form of entertainment according to FOX and it is successful; as I write this blog season 8 has begun airing. With the highest ratings on its season premier it clearly shows how strong and influential one person can be to gain ratings. Of course most of it is over the top and even acted sometimes but nevertheless, the F-Word sells, even if it is censored, one knows when Gordon Ramsey is using it, abusing it, perhaps loving to say it. It is one of his signature words and as a long time fan of him and his shows, the F-Word feels like it belongs to him, making me to think occasionally of Ramsey when one uses it. Nevertheless it is totally wrong to underestimate this chef’s talent, he definitely has it and I do not exaggerate when I write that he is one of the greatest chefs in the world. Try to cook one of his recipes or even try his restaurants, the food is really extraordinary, in a good way and yes I have tried it! A lot of people think that he is an arrogant man, but I believe he somewhat strives to perfection in his skills and for that you really need a big ego. And that persona or ego is what sells as we can see in the ratings!
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/04/tv-ratings-hells-kitchen-masterchef-best-wipeout-shaq-vs/59050
Clearly FOX knows what sells, but do they think further? Does this cursing on TV not disgrace the value of entertainment? If this is what one calls entertainment today, what will it look like in ten years? It is unclear to me how a show like this can contribute to society, but it really is entertaining to see a man demolish a human being so legally and furthermore on Television on a national network! To give you an idea what the show is about, here is a clip I found on youtube.
The Dance Game The World Is Waiting For…
It just really does not stop that legacy of Michael Jackson. With the aftermath of his death last year in June of 2009 the king of pop had record sales of his albums, beating current artist in terms of record sales such as The Black Eyed Peas. Overall everything that had to do with Michael Jackson merchandises skyrocketed from the streets up high to the stars, selling incredibly good and obtaining this late artist more and more records in sales. From his records to his infamous This Is It! Movie, which by the way made approximately $261,183,588 worldwide, yet another merchandise anticipates a similar success.
The Michael Jackson Experience is “the dance game the world is waiting for”. Due to drop on November this year, the game will be featured on the Nintendo Wii. It promises players the satisfaction to be one and learn the dance moves of the king of pop. The first teaser trailer of the game is out and in my opinion it is very good commercial. Successfully paying homage on his music videos and dance moves one already gets a great feeling towards the game itself. Unfortunately you do not really see much of the game and its game play but I guess that is not the intention here. Rather have some beautiful people dancing and playing the game; that probably sells it already. I believe Michael Jackson fans will love this game, not just of the dance moves, but once again, one can reunite with the music, the charisma and perhaps relive the feeling one had when he was alive.
A question occurred to me though. Have Nintendo intended to make this game when he was still alive? Or is it a capitalizing idea to earn money out of the dead? The latter sounds pretty cruel of me to write but it is just a curious question and has nothing to do badmouthing the Nintendo Company. I think it is a cool tribute to a legend like Michael Jackson and believe that many will feel satisfied or even happy with this product…
A Familiar Emblem At Red…
I was driving back home from college while I noticed all the new billboards for the upcoming season of some of the TV shows. The information was not really getting into my head, as I try to focus on my driving and the streets. Of course it is the time when the new seasons start and all the major TV channels try to get the most ratings out of their products. Hence, the adds. Nevertheless, one of the boards got my attention.
At a red light crossing there was a billboard advertisement for an upcoming movie. On that Billboard a close-up of a young man’s face was staring at me, which was in front of a black cover. It was a very simple design and I was trying to figure out the name of the actor, who I later found out was Jesse Eisenberg, best known for his roles in the movie Zombieland and Adventureland. What fascinated me most of that advertisement was the sentence written over his face and the whole billboard to be precise. It said: “You Don’t Get To 500 Million Friends Without Making A Few Enemies”. It took me a little while to figure out the name of the movie, since it was not obviously written down somewhere, but when I found it, I was even more fascinated or actually more surprised. The title of the upcoming movie was The Social Network and it was written in the same font as the Facebook emblem. So I hurried back home and tried to get more information about the movie. It seems like that director David Fincher, known for movies such as Fight Club and Se7en was behind this project as director of course, which made me even more curious. I found out that it is going to be sort of a biopic about Mark Zuckerberg, or is it actually going to be a biopic about Facebook? For those who do not know who Mr. Zuckerberg is, here a little update. I believe that most of the Facebook users, like me, do or did not know who this guy is, but he is one of the essential co-founders and CEO of one of the most influential social network of the world, the Facebook, which also made him the youngest billionaire.
I think that it would not really be in my interest to watch this movie, but can someone really not be interested in the history of a product that one uses? This whole thinking and curiosity only started because of a billboard that did not show much, but that familiar emblem surely made an impact…
