The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
http://mashable.com/2011/12/02/facebook-condoms/?WT.mc_id=obnetwork
How far must you go to make your brand stand out? Olla condoms have no problems breaking the boundaries in their most recent campaign to urge Facebook users to buy their condoms. They are now disguising ads as Facebook Friend Requests, which most Facebook users generally welcome. Now, not only is this ad acting as the newest form of spam for social media, but they are outspoken on the facts of unprotected sex. No condom? Welcome to the world your living creature that eat, poops, and sucks up all your time and money. Check out the video below:
Tags: ads, condom brands, Facebook, social media
The day after my 25th birthday, I made the conscious decision to quit smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes were the last blockade, besides the occasional fast food, to the fulfillment of a healthy Maggie. To make this occasion memorable, I will make my goodbye letter to nicotine public.
Dear cigarettes,
You smell bad, you really do. Even when I washed my hair, you still made me smell bad. I look at my teeth, which were once so shiny and proud. Now they glisten yellow like laminated old paper. I see wrinkles emerging on my cherubic face from the puffing and sucking and huffing and blowing exercises I did with you. I once appreciated your aging affects on my face; now I see my young beauty fading.
My heart hurts when I run just a little, it’s hard to breathe. Why did you corrupt my lungs, blacken them like soot in a brand new chimney? It will take years to heal the burns you’ve caused. When I cough, it pains me to know that I’m perpetually sick because of you. The thought that you encourage cancer to grow in my disgusts me, and ultimately is the breaking point between us.
You were fun for a while. You went great with late night drinks and were the perfect companion for long car rides. I could sit on the porch and sit with you all day and late into the night. You gave me reasons to talk to people when we were alone outside of buildings, where you were rightfully sentenced to stay outdoors.
I loved you for so long, but you tricked me, deceived me really bad. I thought you helped me through stress and strain, but now I see that you were at the root of the pain. I must leave you now. I am replacing you with the much more delightful companions of gum and green tea. So long, you smoking sticks of hell!
When I first started off taking classes in the art of persuading people to buy things, I felt pangs of guilt come to me just thinking that I was meagerly adding to the capitalist machine of America. I worry that the work I do is meaningless and that no one benefits from a small town girl thinking of the next great slogan for yellow mustard. Now, after realizing my passion for knowing little unknown facts I have directed my slow starting career into the world of market research. To my dismay, however, I find that doing pricing comparisons between luxurious retirement communities even more in the dumps.
But today, while shifting restlessly in my chair in the midst of an eight hour data entry stint, I took a gander at adage.com to see if there were any interesting articles. (At least this way it looks like I’m doing important research) To my surprise, I found an illuminating entry about how market research as we know it today is changing to appeal more to the socially networked consumer.
The article reads that surveys and structured research will fade away as a two-way interaction between marketers and consumers will encroach on the highly method-based territory of market research. Marketers finally realize that there is great power in discovering huge insights about consumers when looking at a status update.
While the article is huge to the industry I currently find myself in, what I saw in the comment box really excited me. Someone suggested looking at crowdtap.com. My curiosity got the best of me, and what I discovered on this site was truly awesome.
Crowdtap is perfect for the average American who wants to volunteer, donate money, or give to those in need but have encountered struggles when doing so. They may not be outgoing enough, time pressed, have insufficient funds, or no transportation. Crowdtap.com gives the opportunity for marketers, consumers, and charities to interact and benefit each other through the powerful social media tool of Facebook. The challengers are asked questions, most of which are short polls, and receives points for every question they answer! There are other actions the user can take, and the more the respondent participates, the more points and prizes he earns.
The best part of it all is that for every dollar amount you choose to donate to the charity of your choice, crowdtap.com will match that amount! The setup is very similar to most Facebook games, but this game helps marketers better understand consumers and charities to gain more face time and even money.
Crowdtap.com is a very smart and progressive idea. Marketing research struggles are minimized, and all participants are in a win-win situation. Check it out!
The long standing term of cute in Japanese culture is Kawii, which has come to popularity in America with Hello Kitty and Pikachu. These best-selling cartoon characters can be seen plastered on most anything that young girls or, surprisingly, adult men own. This includes clothing, wallets, and credit cards. Japanese popular culture has come to an embrace a nostalgia for childhood and an escape from the rigidity of its social hierarchy. Designers, advertisers, and other creators inspire vibrant cartoons and images that sell cuteness, stemming from a desire to express themselves as harmonious and desirable. Japanese culture also wishes for the days of youth, when there were no restrictions and discipline. By having displays of child-like figures, Japan seeks to sooth the rigidity of a country that is highly stratified and competitive.
While this may seem harmless, these images of innocence and happiness translates as impracticality and idolization to other countries. Take the Harajuku girls for instance. Gwen Stefani uses these girls like puppets, as they wear heavy makeup and odd outfits that make them look like dolls, perpetuating a negative stereotype of Japanese women. J-Pop (Japanese Pop Music) is the sound of Japanese youth as it captures everything they love; technology, fantasy, and cuteness. One singer, Hamasuki Avumi, goes so far as to emulate a kawaii character.
Japan has built an empire and a permanent brand for themselves when it comes to anime, fantasy, video games, kawaii, technology, and innovation. We love them for everything they give us, because our nerds and geeks would otherwise be unoccupied and would consider taking over the world.
This one was interesting because we couldn’t find a female actress who was up to being red-faced around four guys making penis jokes. As the only female in the group, it was up to me to save the day.
I was the puppet master in this one! We wanted to parody one of the most famous viral videos to reflect the word-of-mouth advertising that Five Guys relies on.
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