'Games'

I have been playing videogames all my life. I don't so much anymore, but I do still have a special place for them in my life. They transcend what we think as media, bringing the user's thoughts and emotions into another world in ways traditional media probably never will. I feel sorry for those who do not understand what videogames have become. While many videogames are still 'games', there is an ever growing number of games that have a deeper meaning. One example of this is Six Days in Fallujah. See the video below for more on that.

The blog the producers of this movie is here.

I don't know if we are covering this in class or not, I hope we do.



-Chris L

Boise St. hires PR Firm

This article is about Boise St. football hiring a PR firm to help them get into a better BCS bowl game. It doesn’t talk a lot about that but I thought it was interesting and applied to class.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Boise-State-is-willing-to-pay-to-remind-the-BCS-?urn=ncaaf,200471

-Tom Myers

Article: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/281618

Stephen Colbert is the new main sponsor for the US Olympic Speedskating team.

-Robert Trerice

Political Spending

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29059.html

This article touches on the political spending that we discussed in class on Wednesday. It’s surprising the amount of money raised even when politicians are not campaigning. Basically it seems that he who has the most funds raised is now elected and puts them in a position to collect more funds. The elections in 2010 and 2012 should be very interesting in not only the amount of funds raised but what party gets elected.

Chad Klotzbach

Targeted Advertising

The following video is an advertisement for Durex a brand of condoms. The first time I watched this I thought it was really funny. Then I realized what the advertisers of this product were thinking. It seems to me that they make the issue of sex comical to acquire a new market of consumers, such as young teenagers. Next time you walk down that isle don’t tell me this commercial won’t pop in your head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5sTBrs4fhQ

Tom Myers

Response to Paranormal Activities

Recently I viewed the new movie Paranormal Activities mostly because I was curious as to how scary it was. The advertisements had all been saying that it was the scariest movie ever, and there was a buzz among my peers that this was true. There was even talk that people had left the theaters they were so scared. Not being one to be that scared by horror movies I was interested to see how scared I would be. I can confirm that this movie is indeed scary, but I still slept like a baby the night after. It followed a recent trend in movies where instead of Hollywood style cinematography, the story is told through a home video camera. This gives the movie a more life like feeling in that there are imperfections in the film and it makes it feel more real. Another successful movie following this same strategy that I witnessed was Cloverfield. These two movies also used a similar advertising strategy in that they did not reveal much of the movie in the previews. Paranormal Activities did not reveal what was haunting the couple, and Cloverfield did not reveal any footage of the monster that was terrorizing NYC. They left the majority of the movie a complete mystery so that curiosity would drive you to see the movie. I would say in my case that this strategy was a success. A third clever marketing strategy that Paranormal Activities used was to state that it was showing in select theaters and that if you wished for it to be viewed in your area you could request it. So when it appeared in the local Roxy Theater one was lead to believe that it was there by popular demand. This ties into the popularity aspect in that it leads you to believe everyone else wants to see this movie, you should as well. Overall the movie was worth the admission and provided a nights worth of good entertainment and nail biting suspense.

-Matthew Cloud

As all of us faithful New Yorkers know, the Yankees clinched the 2009 World Series Championship on Wednesday night. When glancing through some articles online, I came across two instances of the same story from two different papers: a clear example of how newspapers have adopted the practice of running stories they did not write in order to publish content as soon as they can.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/05/sports/AP-BBA-Yankees-Parade.html?scp=5&sq=parade&st=cse

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/sports/69288727.html

-Chris Knox

Advertising in the Majors

This is an interesting article on advertising and the players in the world series. Based on the outcome of the games, it goes through about a dozen players and puts them into a group based on whether they are losers or winners in marketing. It also says in the description for each player how they could best be used in advertisements or are already being used. This shows directly an example of how celebrities are used in ad campaigns in an attempt to use them to sell a product or idea.

-Anthony F.

Baloon Boy Parody

Here is a video that combines two different medias. It combines the story of balloon boy and puts a spin on it transforming into a popular song. It shows that the story not only influences those who watch the news but something as ridiculous as this gets to teens as well. If the story was not already funny this video puts it into a different light of entertainment



-Brian Leventhal

Coca Cola = Health Drink?

Here's an article with a company having a strange partnership. This isn't the full article, but it covers how Coca Cola made a deal with the American Academy of Family Physicians to show the "health benefits" of drinking a soft drink full of artificial sweeteners. I see the future advertisements having doctors giving the positives of Coke and "forgetting" to name the negatives.

-Ashley Thomas