$12creditreport.com

“F-R-E-E that spells free, creditreport.com baby.” This is the line that made America question the site! First of all, the commercial is hilarious! It caught my attention right away. It had an upbeat and funny, rhyming words.

I loved the commercial for almost a year before users showed their anger and spoke out against the website. It became a popular topic amongst my peers and teachers in school. 

The message isn’t hidden or distorted, it’s just plain wrong! Mistake number one, freecreditreport.com is NOT free! Why would FREEcreditreport.com have “free” in it, if it costs money?  This is false advertisement at its maximum. The second mistake is that the website made matters even more confusing. They ask for credit card information, without stating the reasons and automatically sign you up for a credit monitoring program which was $12.00. Now, free to me is 0 dollars so 12 just isn’t making the cut.

I noticed that at the bottom of the screen it says the title of the website. “Credit report” is in bold font, but “free” is not. I began to wonder why. Was it because they wanted us to focus on the report aspect and forget about the money? Or, did they even have an agenda when they didn’t bold the world?

 Though the site is not free, I still enjoy the commercial. My favorite line is “…now instead of rolling fly and looking ‘phat’, my legs are sticking to the vinyl and my possy is getting laughed at…” I find that this line would be easy for people to connect with, especially now with the state of the economy. The commercial would be great if it was actually true.

I did some searching around for those of you who actually do want to keep up to date with your credit score, for FREE. Not the $12 free, but the REAL free. If you visit annualcreditreport.com you can check your credit score with no cost.

Maybe, when you save a few dollars, you can send some my way. College students have to eat!

Real Women; Real Beauty

A stick thin, blue-eyed, blonde hair model is the definition of beauty in America. Dove’s newest marketing plan attempts to get rid of the mold that America has set for beauty. The plan is to reach out to women of all colors, shapes, and sizes to let them know that no matter what America has to say, they are beautiful.

                According to Dove, the Real Beauty campaign was launched in 2004 and had the “principle of celebrating the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves.”

                An advertisement that I found online shows the transformation that a woman goes through in order to become a billboard model. Before the makeup and editing, the woman has pale skin, narrow eyes, rather short sandy blonde hair, and a short neck. Apparently, she was not pretty enough to be on a billboard because she got the makeover of a lifetime. When it was all said and done, much of the billboard wasn’t even her true image.

                Foundation covered the blotches on her skin, eyeliner and mascara made her eyes pop, and extensions gave her hair volume and length. Was she beautiful? Obviously not! After the makeup, the woman has a photo shoot. She takes several pictures from which one is chosen. The one that is selected is shown in a photo editor.

                Here, any blemishes that showed through the makeup were removed, hair was perfected, and her neck was lengthened. Her face was also made thinner, her eyes were widened, shadows were added, and a background was added for advertisement purposes.

                The video shows how a woman must transform in order to become “America-proof.” If I wouldn’t have seen the video for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. Through the Dove campaign, women have been portrayed as beautiful no matter what they look like. I’ve seen photographs where they show women of many colors in their underwear. The women would be considered plus size in the modeling world, but normal to the average American women. Sometimes the pictures and advertisements make me wonder if they even get the point across.

                Dove wants all women to be considered as beautiful; however, they show women with perfect skin and some curves. Though this is out of the ordinary, it still does not show what America really looks like. Is Dove’s campaign working? Though they don’t show “real women” like they say they are, I believe they have had a huge impact on the women in our society. Even I have connected with some of the women in the ads.

                I feel that Dove has taken a step in the right direction. Their advertisements don’t fully represent the average American woman, but they have exposed America to the idea that all women are beautiful. And beautiful they are.

What do you think?

Controlling birth and black kids

My hair is not curly! Hers isn’t either! Did you ever notice that in almost every commercial, African American woman, and even men have curly, “natural”, or dread-locked hair? It’s bad enough that African Americans are only in commercials here and there, and when they are, they show the stereotypical black person in them.

There’s one commercial that always catches my attention. The commercial is for Mirena, which is a form of birth control for women. I believe the purpose of the commercial is to reach young mothers that aren’t ready to have more kids.

In the process of getting the message across, Mirena shows consumers the stereotypical black family, where the mother does the shopping, caring for, and bonding with the children and the father does nothing. It shows that the mother is not attentive to the children, who are running wild in the house and in public. Truth is, this commercial shows that not only does the birth need controlling, but the kids do as well. I don’t know about other moms, but if my siblings and I would have acted close to the way the kids in the video were acting, we would have gotten the “if you don’t calm down…” look.

When I see the commercial, I never pay attention to the message for too long, because I am focused on the curly hair aspect. (When I say curly hair, I am referring to the stereotype that African American people do not have long, straight hair.) Before actually reviewing the commercial, I never observed all of the risks of Mirena. It says that it can be life threatening! To me, that isn’t worth it!

I noticed that the acting in the commercial seems to overpower the negative in the message. On some of the positive portions, they show only the product which causes the viewer to pay attention to it. When they speak of the risks, they automatically show the kids playing, which takes the audience’s focus away from them.

In the end, I wouldn’t be one to use Mirena not only because of the stereotypes, but because of the high risks of death and health problems. My suggestion to the company would be to create a less hectic commercial, without hidden messages to the consumer. Otherwise, people that notice those messages will stray away from the product.

Getting the scoop on the Geico Gecko

Jersey Shore is on MTV and you don’t want to miss the next hookup or cat fight! We all wait for the moment during our favorite show where we can run to the bathroom or grab some snacks from the kitchen.  No one really cares about the commercials; yet, companies pay millions of dollars to advertise their products on TV. Is it worth it?

To me, yes! I love commercials! Just today, I saw one of my favorites from Geico car insurance. Geico commercials aren’t only humorous; they get the message of “saving money” across as well. The commercial I saw showed the Geico Gecko at lunch with his boss. The Gecko was explaining that he had gotten great news that people love the company’s claim service. He emphasizes that repairs are fast and guaranteed.

The Gecko’s boss, whose name is never revealed in any of the Geico commercials and is referred to as “sir”, ignores the Gecko and asks about the cellular phone sitting on the table. Sometimes I wonder that if they should ever choose to give “sir” a name, what would it be, and would it take away from the Geico brand. In a way, the names of the Gecko and the boss are not important; the message that they send is what’s significant.

The Gecko goes on to explain that it is his cell phone, leaving the boss stumped at how the small gecko could carry the phone and the wallet that he takes money out of to pay the lunch bill.

The look on the boss’s face gave away his confusion, which made me laugh. I felt like I could connect with him on a certain level, because I thought the exact same thing when I saw the mobile device on the restaurant table. How in the world could that little gecko hold the phone, which I noticed was a Blackberry (the same brand I own), that was the same size as him! Crazy, right?!

It’s interesting that even in advertisements; companies promote other companies through product placement. I wonder how much Blackberry spent in order for their product to be in Geico’s commercial. In another one of their commercials, I also noticed a Reese’s package.

Most of the commercials from Geico involve humor. I can’t speak for other people, but I would pass up a bag of chips or a trip to the bathroom to see funny commercials, especially if I am consumer of the product.