Sweaters On Our Feet (MM4)

I'm a sucker for a good advertising campaign. Yes, me. Even though I bash the media all the time, break it down to it's basics, and dont hold back in correcting them when their wrong--I still love a great advertisement. While I was on Facebook, minding my own business (see the pun there?) a friend posted a video released by GE. This video was the latest in a campaign for their new wash and dryers.

Photo Source

This video is great, in so many ways, and I'm sorry to admit that. This fake advocacy campaign called L.O.S.S. (Laundered and Orphaned Sock Society), and they took it pretty far. Not only does this fake campaign have it's own website, but also it's own Facebook page as well as a Twitter. It's a pretty well rounded viral campaign.

GE isn't exactly know for being a humorous company, but with everything else going viral, and numerous other companies breaking bank with viral campaigns, they decided to follow in suite, and find their funny bone. It's pretty clever too, to make a washer/dryer campaign about missing socks. That has been a known association with washer/dryers since the dawn of time! Rumor has it that they are even getting of making a digital billboard in Times Square for this ad campaign. Ah, yes, that's what I think of in Times Square, my socks.

Okay. Let's break it down.

BRAIN! This video is great. It appeals to the neocortex with the text it provides you to read in the beginning and end, as well as the limbic brain with the images, the chanting in the background, and everyone's testimonials (did I just jump ahead? I think I did).

SHIFTS! This is a great example of the technological shift because the entire campaign is a viral one. Instead of taking out print ads or paying for air time, they have just put everything online. Aside from establishing a digital video in Times Square, this advertisement awareness would all be cost free. It touches, in my opinion on the personal shift, because they are taking something as personal as laundry and making it a group effort with the L.O.S.S. activists. You're doing your laundry together, and facing the same problems.

PRINCIPLES! Production techniques, as they hit a few. They go from having a-roll to b-roll, chanting to individuals talking, and different screen shots. It held my interest for sure, and kept my eyes moving. Value messages, because they are trying to get you to relate, not to mention that absolutely ridiculous things that the protesters are saying, such as the women sending her daughter to school with one sock and them making fun of her. Ownership, because while this ad is rather funny, you have to remember that this has all been created to get you to buy GE's product.

PERSUASION! Finally, my favorite. The two big ones here would be humor and plain folks. Humor is an obvious one because, well, the entire thing is a giant joke. My favorite is the women who is "activist of the month" and she says that we wouldn't put our friends in the dryer. Also, "it will be a million man march, and then we're going to include women". This campaign is pure humor, and it's great! Plain folks is the other contender because these actors are supposed to portray just normal, every day people trying to do their laundry, and relating to you with a common annoyance and a global question-where do our socks go? In their own way, this also includes testimonial. Though it's not done by celebrities, these actors are supposed to be well known activists fighting for a well known cause, making them celebrities in their own way. The testimonies they give crack me up, and if you ask me its better then Kim K's latest perfume endorsement.

So now you are faced with a decision, and the choice is yours. Are you going to sit around and do nothing? Or join the march to protect your socks? Their fate is in your hands (or feet).

Photo Source.

Seeing The Invisible (MM3)

Photo Source. Provided by Invisible Children

I'm writing about something serious. I know what you're thinking "but Caitlin, Pauly D is a serious matter, too." But this time, it's something more serious then blow outs and hair gel. It's about Africa's longest running war, their youth, a horrible man, and a non-profit organization that has dedicated their focus to stopping him. I'm talking about Invisible Children.

They recently came to Champlain College and gave a presentation, showing a movie called "Tony". The focus was on a boy that they met there on their initial trip to Uganda. He inspired this entire movement, because he showed these three men that would later start this movement, that he is just like them-human.

The main reason I picked this organization to focus on is not just because of the amazing cause they are fighting for which I support, but also the way they go about accomplishing their mission.

"We use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest running war in Africa. Our model has proven effective, and hundreds of thousands of people have been called to action through our films and the volunteers that tour them"

This is straight off their website. This organization has this incredibly unique way of not only fund-raising, but also of how to spread awareness and recruit volunteers. This video is an example of a campaign they have going on currently called "25".

This campaign is an incredible example of uniting people for a cause, using your resources, and doing it in a very low budget way. When you apply it to our power tools, you begin with your brain. The video appeals to your limbic brain with it's images and the back ground music, establishing a sense of empowerment. It's a signature sound they have, that same tone is also featured in their movies. When they show clips of the war, blood, and guns, it appeals to your reptilian brain with your fight or flight reflex. As does the campaign in general, since it is raising awareness about a war.

Moving right along into the shifts, it applies very well to epistemological shift, because it is taking what you may know about this war, and giving you a slight visual image to go with you, as it trying to give you a taste of it. It is a prime example of the person shift, because it's taking you as one person, and putting you with an entire group of people fighting for the same cause. You're being silent together, working together, fighting together. In the end, you'll be brought together by the event they are throwing.

Value messages is the big one in terms of principles. It's a prime example, because this is trying to get you to act towards a good cause. They are inviting you to act with them by doing something simple but making a world of a difference. This campaign also raises the shift of emotional , but it makes you begin to think more deeply about the matter.

Talking about persuasive techniques, there are a lot to be said. They can be applied to both the video and the campaign itself. Since we're focusing on the campaign, it's a big example of plain folks. They are targeting us. You, me, her, him, them, everyone. They make it clear that you, as an individual no matter who you are, can make a difference in this matter. It also brings in group dynamics to a large extent because they are reaching out to everyone saying "we" "together" "us" they dont single themselves or anyone out. It also touches on strength because they are uniting a front to stop this war and protect these children.

The "25" campaign will require everyone to stay in silence for 25 hours, and leaves you with a goal to raise $25. It's simple, and you can help. Start your own donation page, and share it with all your friends, family, and remind them that even the smallest donation can go a small way. Together through silence, we can make a difference.

Photo Source.

Large Hand Sanitizer, Please?

Health Care Restrictions Cost Thousands of Lives in US

With a story as high profiled as this, it’s hard not to have heard snippits of it here and there. We all know the basics, but we aren’t aware of the details. The fact is, despite national legislative health reform, heath care in the US will remain dismal for many Americans, resulting in continuin

g deaths and personal tragedies.

->The American Journal of Public Health published findings demonstrating that being uninsured raises individuals od

ds of dying my 40%. Meaning 44,798 deaths occur each year among the 46 million uninsured Americans.

-> Health care can be denied to battered women

->Recent Harvard research team estimates that 2,226 US military veterans did in 2008 due to lack of health insurance, mor

e then 14 times the number of deaths suffered by troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more then twice as many as have died since the war began in 2001.

-> Lack on insurance covered provided to children has led or contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths over the past two decades, says research conducted by Johns Hopkins.

->When you are diagnosed with a chronic condition, you're cut off at a much earlier rate then if you were not diagnosed with a chronic condition.

->The health care reform will continue to leave room for the unnecessary deaths, as it will do nothing for the uninsured until 2013, even then still leaving 17 million uninsured.

->7 million of those people are uninsured illegal immigrants, who under the new health reform aren't even allowed to purchase health insurance.