Since elections are largely a game of perception, the upcoming US presidential elections is at feverish pitch with smear campaigns. For Barack Hussein Obama, it’s working both ways on the perception scale. Those who are for him are accused of terrorism, while those against, of racism. The McCain-Palin camp brands Obama a terrorist. A Muslim-sounding name can easily be associated with Radical Islamism a.k.a. terrorism. So, if Obama wins, the hugely-budgeted US-sponsored campaign towards global collective panic and power of nightmares called War on Terror would have obviously worn out its use.

What’s in a name? A lot. A Muslim-sounding name makes for a Muslim stereotype which, in turn, makes for the terrorist stereotype. This is so because, in this day and age, the pervading mindset is that not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. So, someone with a Hussein in his name is “palling around with terrorists,” as Sarah Palin averred.
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Come August 22 and the Indian mobile phone market will never be the same again. The much-hyped Apple i-phone will finally arrive! We all were eagerly waiting for it. After all, it’s an Apple product. So much is the hype that other mobile phone companies are already running for cover. New mobiles are being launched by Nokia, HTC, Samsung et al with the pseudo-name ‘i-phone killer’. Meetings are being called, strategies are being discussed and even the smallest glitch in the I-phone is being magnified to humongous proportions.� �

Apple Inc. has a huge reputation in the consumer electronics market. Its products have aesthetic designs and are objects of desire to most of us. Apple added a new dimension to the portable media players with the launch of i-pod. It created a new industry for i-pod accessories. But are the products of Apple Inc. over-hyped? If you ask me, my answer would be a YES!�

Without going into the features of the phone, here are a bunch of reasons why we need to look over all the gaga for the i-phone. Firstly at 31,000 INR for 8GB model it is overpriced. Apple is known for post-launch price changes. When launched in US, the price was slashed by $200 just two months after the release. Secondly, downloads from Apple’s I-tunes music stores will not be available on the I-phone. Thirdly, as 3-G network is not available in India, many features of the phone will not work. Fourthly, it’s the iTunes monopoly. When I bought my i-pod 2 years back, I did not have a personal computer. Getting music/videos used to be a tedious task. And last but not the least, once you buy an i-phone, it needs to be activated. As a lot of sales are expected on the date of launch, I bet the i-Tunes servers would be overloaded. So you might have to wait for a day or two before you can actually start using the phone. �

So there is no need to make a beeline to the electronic stores for the i-phone on August 22nd unless you really need to flaunt it!
Via rediff

Well before I say what I wish to through this post, let me tell you the reason that got me started. During a research I happened to see this amusing yet meaningful ad campaign. It spelt, among other things, parental love, the pain (in literal sense), and the excitement that parenthood involves. Have a look at the advertisement.

I am sure most of you would agree when I say that we do not need any special day to express our love for our mothers. Loving is a continual process or rather, a way of living. I don’t wish to sound pedantic but for each one of us, they are our first teachers…the academy shifting from their lap to their knees. I think a mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. Please let me extend it our fathers too. Our parents lay the building blocks of the kind of human being we grow up to be. Not anyone but our parents are the most affected by our success and failures…yes, even more than ourselves.
I remember that once after a long and hectic day at work, I was relieved to find a vacant seat in the local bus. My eyes rested on a father-daughter duo. They were seemingly new to the city.

This person pointed the India Gate to his darling daughter but his eyes were admiring the smile the lit up his daughter’s face. Not even once he spared another look to the monumental document of our modern history. For him, the excitement and happiness on the angelic face of his daughter meant the world. A silent prayer from my heart went to God to bless them. On each day of our lives, our parents make deposits in our memory banks. We owe them…our lives, our being, our smile, our beliefs,…everything. Can never thank God enough. Can we?

Perhaps the thrill of watching a naked man/woman is so much that advertisers believe it can sell any idea or cause (whatsoever). The presence of nudity in advertisements is an old tradition (something which you cannot blame upon the loose morals of modern age man!). But, the frequent use of it now-a-days can certainly be ascribed to an enhanced appetite of the current generation, for sex and nude images.
Nudity in ads can be called as ‘white porn’ (and why not? When there exists black humor then why not white porn?) I’m saying so because irrespective of the fact that whether the product to be sold or idea to be popularized needs nudity or not, the latter is being served at your face. Needless to say such full frontal nude male / female ads merely generate hype. They may initially boost the sale of a product but they don’t change a consumer’s behavior towards a product / idea.

Now take these 2 print adverts for example. One is by PETA featuring Alecia Silverstone done in the super-clichéd manner. Common PETA, is nudity a proof of vegetarianism or vice versa? Where is the rationale in this that, just because I am a vegetarian (or supposedly one for this ad) I must strip down to nothing! Such kind of advertising still made a mark back in late 90’s. Not any more. It’s outrightly boring and stale!

Further, since there has been an overuse of naked female form (thanks to the indefatigable male gaze!) now, its time for the full frontal male nudity to sell stuff like cologne or perfume. The idea behind making this YSL ad might be to titillate the uber-rich and high class ladies and (gay) men but I’m pretty sure a lady won’t buy a cologne or aftershave for her man because its advert featured a hot male model showing off his balls!! What kind of illusionary world these advertisers live in? It’s hard to figure it out at times (sigh).
Though,� I’m not staunchly against nude ads…after all, some of them are done tastefully but I don’t find it stimulating enough when it is used for things like perfumes, lipsticks and such. As far as PETA folks are concerned, I think it’s high time they change their “I would rather go naked than wear fur” and come up with some other interesting idea because the truth is not many people give upon fur just because sexy models appear nude!

Via: commercial-archive

Children are susceptible to virals (not just the infections caused by viruses). I’m talking about the Virals/ Viral Promotions and ads on Internet, being made to exclusively target your small kids! We all know what a powerful medium advertising is in affecting our senses and molding our behavior especially when it comes to our decisions regarding purchasing a product. Despite being banned on TV, commercials promoting highly salted, sugary and fatty junk food are frequently mushrooming on the worldwide web to lure soft targets- children (under16) who are often unable to differentiate between healthy and non-healthy foods.

Companies manufacturing such greasy and highly saturated junk food have now devised a smart backdoor policy of actively advertising on internet because they know that today’s kids are smart enough to use internet but gullible enough to fall in their trap. In the United Kingdom, where the problem of child obesity is rapidly increasing it seems, a mere ban on such TV ads is not enough. While the traditional advertising-tactics like cartoon characters, film tie-ins and celebrity endorsements still continue to target a younger demographic, a report prepared by the consumer group “Which?” found that junk-food producers are now circumnavigating their tactics to reach a wider audience young in age and computer & mobile phone savvy. Junk-food companies now push their products on kids by using gaming websites or via sponsored mobile phone competitions.

The prizes won in such games are often rebate coupons or happy-hour tickets of junk-food outlets offering combo meals consisting giant burgers, colas, ice creams, fried chips etc. All this lacking any substantial nutritive value in terms of fiber content, vitamins, or minerals! The rise of advergaming promoting fast food ads is also a concern regarding this. Researchers at Which have singled out an ad campaign by Fanta (soft drink brand). The latter launched a “Want It, Win It” competition and sent a free branded mobile phone game to anyone who accessed the competition. As per the company the competition was aimed at young people above 16yrs. But Which? found out that younger children could easily access the website holding competition by lying about their age!

Ofcourse Fanta is not alone in the business. Cadbury’s Creme Eggs made social networking website Bebo its niche for promotion and publicity. Similarly, McDonald’s continues to host a “Kid Zone” on its website. Small children can actively play games here and can browse through a no.of Happy Meal products, thanks to the alongside adverts by the company. Which? is now signing out petitions against such reckless and irresponsible advertising. The companies’ ofcourse have a different word to offer on it. The issue also is not a new one but now it is acquiring dimensions that are harmful for young ones. Parents indeed act as a vital interface between these ads and the demands created by their children after being affected by such ads. But in this age of active and diverse media proliferation, tackling problems like child obesity demands action in many spheres so that, kids can opt for healthier food choices.

Government is playing its part by banning adverts promoting unhealthy foods on terrestrial television programming. The law was enforced from Jan 1st this year and children’s channels like cartoon network, pogo etc. have to phase out such adverts completely by December. While broadcasters express their concerns over quality of kids programming in wake of such a ban, which will definitely affect the ad-revenues, social groups like Which? are concerned about the rerouting of such ads through another, more widespread and relatively unguarded medium of internet. A balance definitely needs to be achieved by those who make such junk food, by realising their social obligations. While no body is asking them to pull out their marketing efforts but it would be in the best of the interests for the younger generation, if these companies act more responsibly in choosing a proper medium to advertise for their products.

Via Independent

Catching on with Indian youth and Indian companies is the marketing strategy of Advergaming. For those who are new to this term, advergaming is also known as in game advertising in simple terms. However, according to eMarketer.com, advergaming can be defined as an immersive mixture of advertising and entertainment that takes the form of video games. These games being made available online and in one’s mobile phones by gaming companies now a days. In the western world, the beginnings of advergaming can be traced back to as early as 1980s when Atari 2600 games were developed by Kool-Aid and Pepsi. The 2 companies smartly featured their products in these games. In India, ofcourse the trend of advergaming has become popular only after the commencement of IT & telecomm. Revolution. Currently the scenario is hot for mobile phone’s market.

Advergaming in India is now getting established with advertisers considering it to be a powerful medium to improve marketing strategies like brand recalling and revenue generation aswell. This non-intrusive advertising and marketing mix also bears potent properties of effective market research and demographic assessment. One can see that Indian gaming companies are now looking into it. The CEO of Kreeda Games, Quentin Staes-Polet vouches for the freshness of advergaming as a new concept in Indian markets and he also feels that, this strategy is an apt one for youngsters who like to chuck TV & other traditional media for Internet and mobile gaming. Last year, Kreeda Games launched and online game Dance Mela that allows adverts as a part of the game structure. So that, the realistic appeal of this virtual world created within the game makes the user feel comfortable about the ads displayed rather than finding them irritatingly obtrusive. Dance Mela is one of a kind Bollywood-based massive multiplayer online game, which is freely available at www.dancemela.com. Those interested can also buy CD’s from retail stores. The popularity of such games is luring advertisers to specially design games for mobile phones aswell. A lot of mobile phones with gaming features already come with games that have well placed in- game ads like a branded energy drink for the hero/heroine of a game to revitalize the batteries of the avatar.

Others in the Indian mobile industry also feel positive for advergaming. Like, Salil Bhargava, CEO, Jump Games (part of Reliance Big Entertainment) who confirms that the biggest entertainer in India, Bollywood is also opening up to advergames now! Jump Games has devised a smart approach to turn mobile phones from a necessary gadget into an avenue for promotion of Hindi films. Their advergame Jurm was the first one in the country to usher the concept of promoting films via mobile games!

Needless to say that with the fast development of mobile marketing in India and the recent introduction of Oxicash (mobile wallet), the future seems bright for mobile games and advergaming.

Via BusinessStandard

Personal blogs, Corporate blogs, adblogs, critic blogs, sketchblogs, political blogs, photo blogs, travel blogs, fashion blogs, vlogs etc …etc…Phew! The ocean of blogs is boundless. For a netizen, the time spent on searching varied kinds of blogs on internet can be frustratingly long. This is when we have some really fast search engines. I always wondered, wouldn’t it be nice, if I have a menu card featuring all these blogs? As per my mood then, I can simply pick up the ones I want to from the different categories and simply access them. Voila..! My wish is finally granted. Thanks to Vanity Fair’s Blogopticon. The latter is a small grid prepared by VF which has 4 quadrants viz. News, Earnest, Opinion and Scurrilous. This is an attempt of its kind, to bring different genres of blogging under one roof.

It also provides a one-liner description about each blogsite listed on it. Blogopticon surely is visually appealing and a fresh example of resource pooling. Those sites which are mentioned (on it) must feel happy, as they are “the most influential or amusing blogs about politics, gossip, Hollywood, media, and miscellany” (as per VF). And those wanting to be on the grid must work harder. As of now, let’s just take the ‘feel’ of this PYT….

Via VanityFair

Animator Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues bagged the Crystal for best feature (numero uno award) at the 32nd Annecy International Animation Film Festival held in France. This year definitely belongs to New York indie animators scooped the top two prizes. The second and third postions were occupied by Idiots & Angels (US) and Die Drei Räuber (Germany) respectively. Annecy is the industry’s leading international competitive festival that brings to you the best animation films around the world. The films selected and screened here belong to 4 categories: Feature films, Short films, Commissioned and TV films and Graduation films. Each variety employs different animation techniques in its production.

This year’s winner Sita Sings the Blues entwines the tale of a modern woman Sita and her husband Rama, with episodes from Ramayana ( the Indian epic) in a witty fashion. The plot involves around the life of this modern woman whose husband moves to India and then dumps her by email! The film has a feminist streak as the female character Sita is given voice while the male character Rama is shown as a strong but ‘silent’ man. Through highly stylized characters, the animation film beautifully reveals the pathos of a smart, young and modern woman being dumped by her spouse. Paley has cleverly blended traditional wisdom from ancient epic with contemporariness. She jocularly describes her film to be the greatest break-up story ever told! Her choice to tell this story through animation reflects her sensibilities for had the same story been shot in conventional non-animated manner…the effect on the audience perhaps would have been dull. It’s a must see animation indeed!!

Via EuroNews

Who must have not heard of the much respected and the much trusted name of Britannica Encyclopaedia? Well, the brand is planning to dust off itself to attune the processes of their working to meet the demands and requirements of the savvy reader. With that in mind, Britannica has launched itself into the blogosphere. Most would feel slightly awkward with a decision like that considering the long history of factual authority and cool-headed objectivity that follows Britannica. For me, it would indeed be very interesting to see this brandname with the reputation it has to throw off-the-cuff commentary and discussion-generating observations at the readers.
But the buzz is that Britannica has already begun to prove that its union with the world of blogs is awkward only in theory. Yes, the encyclopaedia is pulling prominent voices from various fields to promise an intelligent range of entries ranging from music to international affairs to ‘Diana and the Cult of Celebrity’.
Britannica’s education section will have regular posts from sharp-sighted brains like Joanne Jacobs and Karin Chenoweth. Yes, I do know it is great news for educators who wish to weigh in on current issues dominating their field.
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Featuring a remake of the epic saga Ramayana is a safer bet for channel owners than having yet another one from the infamous K series. Though, in all honesty, the actors playing the mythological characters look like they have stepped from those sets. But that is not our focus this time. We are pondering over the big question: Are we really going to call our cable operator and beg to have this channel added to our monthly subscription?
The same applies to all other channels which require an extra payment before they can be seen on our TV sets. NDTV Good Times is one of them. It was all right to watch when free to air but definitely one will not be picking up the phone and command to the cable guy, “I want this!”

And it’s not the money involved. After all we don’t mind spending 40 bucks for a cup of coffee. It is INERTIA, the default option. Like they say the US always has a shortage of organ donors where as the French face no such problem. Does this the French are more generous? No. The answer is simple. In France, Austria and Hungary everyone is a potential donor unless they opt out. In the US you have to opt to be a donor. In the same breath, expecting Indian viewers to opt in for a channel is not going to work unless it’s for cricket!

Via NDTV