As one of the few people in my immediate circle (not counting my charmingly non-technophile parents) without a Smart Phone, I relate to a skit from my favorite new television show “Portlandia”. “Technology Loop” depicts my fear of being constantly connected. I have a hard enough time when my cell phone rings in my bag while I am trying to open my front door, so the concept of dealing with a phone that demands attention by receiving emails as well makes me sick to my stomach. I have friends who bitterly complain, “I’ve GOT to get an Iphone”, but I’ve been resisting anything with a touch screen for several months now.
I love “Portlandia” so much I have to post another video. I’ve never been on the agency side, but in my head it looks like this.
Also on IFC, now presenting a throwback to my favorite decade, the 90’s. I was deprived of cable as a kid by my minimalist parents and spent all my time at friends’ houses watching as much Marky Mark on MTV as I could before I had to go home. Therefore, I totally missed out on “The Ben Stiller Show” until a couple weeks ago, when I fell in love with this riff on another city and movement.
Lastly, I was going to write a whole blog on advertising to women, but I really just want to talk about one thing: birth control advertising! We’ve been told exactly how to fix our faces and hair via commercials for years, but aren’t these campaigns new and exciting in the wave of pharmaceutical advertising taking over the airwaves? (Viagra with your Yaz, anyone? What a party!).
I love these commercials in all of their ridiculousness. Anyone in my demographic (i.e., who watches Bravo) has seen the NuvaRing commercial with the synchronized swimmers a thousand times. They ditch their boring old pill routine and swim caps for two pieces and a hot tub. Even more hilarious was the following “commercial inside a commercial” spot – featuring three women watching the original NuvaRing commercial. The brunette who claims to “love” the synchronized swimming spot goes on to explain, in humiliating detail, how to use the NuvaRing and where you put it. I don’t think this one airs anymore for exactly that reason. You can google it and read all kinds of entertaining analyses though, like this one:
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/08/women-love-great-confusing-nuvaring-ads.html
The Beyaz spot currently on the air drives me absolutely crazy in a good way. Call me superficial, but I like the association of a beautiful young woman turning down the stork and taking a trip to Paris, all thanks to her Beyaz. This is a validating message for me. Most of the women in the spot appear to be appropriately in their 20’s, though the one in yellow seems to suit my age group. She’s shopping for real estate.
Even better than seeing this spot daily on TV was reading the comments about it on YouTube. The softest opinion of them: “Anyone else feel bad for the stork… ?”
- Katie Jewet