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I learned a lot more information while i organized my own thoughts to construe my final paper. I tried to focus my final paper on my own philosophies and beliefs to what the media is and why it is the way that it is. I was able to really think about the problem at hand and come up with the biggest reasons why. My beliefs were based on "No Logo" but i pulled out the most important facts from there to come up with my thesis. It was a little different of a paper because the thoughts and ideas were my own. I wansn't referencing a book and all my ideas had to be supported with examples of why i thought the way that i did. The biggest thing that i think that i was able to pull from "No Logo" is that companies are selling an idea or a lifestyle and not the product itsself. It really helped me to open my eyes and see what kind of lifestyle i am buying and who is selling me this lifestyle. I also had to take a step back and see what things that i have baughten which i really dont need, but i baught them because i wanted the lifestyle that is suppose to come with those things. I think that i am really pretty genuine and usually dont let these sort of media lifestyles take a hold on me, but when it comes to cowboy stuff, i am a succor for anything! so it is really funny how in reality we ALL really do try and buy our lifestyle!!

No Logo

I really enjoyed the video that we watched in the sense that it helped me see how these major companies are trying to save money and at the same time, save their brand. Brand development is extremely important to any company! It could be the single most important thing. They do it in a sense to sell an idea or a lifestyle instead of their product itsself, which is extremely smart. The video talked quite a bit about Walt Disney and how they were one of the first ones to start doing this. I was totally unaware of the town that they own in Florida. That is totally insane!! Can you imagine that they have created a brand so powerful that people want to live in a world that is only Disney and nothing else! I know that it works because if i were to mention it to my wife, she would make us move there. The brand that they have created has become a monopoly! These companies are extremely smart to be able to be so good at what they do to totally illiminate the competition and essentially create this monopoly.

Like Nike, many companies still have to be very careful. Their brands can be ruined because they try to cut too many corners and do whatever it takes to find the cheapest labor possible. This can very much hurt a companies reputation. It is amazing to think about what many companies have come to be because of what a brand which signifies something that people must have!

Internet

I guess that i really need to get on the ball! I have never been a big person on the internet. I really dont enjoy sitting on a computer all day long looking up stuff and chatting and communicating with my friends. It is the same for texting. If i want to talk to one of my friends about something, i will just call them and talk with them! I dont like only being able to write a tiny little bit to ask something and then have to talk back and forth. To me it gets really annoying because if anybody knows me you will know that i am a very impacient person and dont like to have to wait. It has been a huge eye opener though, i manage a group of seven people as a PR team for the Rodeo Team. I have noticed that in order to keep track of everyone and inform them of things, it is much much easier to just text message them, then to call them. texting takes away the need of actually being able to get ahold of them when i call them. At the beginning of the semester i would always try to call them, but i could never get ahold of most of them, then i figured out that if i would text them, they would answer right back immediately. It kind of made me laugh. It also makes me text more because it truely is the most efficient way to get things done quick! I guess we all have to learn and modernize to be able to do the best job possible! As for twitter, i didnt even know that it existed and i hope that i never have to deal with it! If i could have lived 100 years ago i would have been in heaven! I would just have to worry about me and my horse and thats it!

sexploitation

I am very thankful for the wonderful, wonderful opportunity that i had to present on sexploitation. It really helped me open my eyes to women in sports, or women athletes. Sexploitation is when we use women or men athlete's bodies to sell something. In the articles that i have read and the research that i have done, women are the one's mostly used. One might think that why would women do this to theirselves... and the answer is that they do it because they need sponsors, and the only way to get these sponsors is to use their bodies in advertising. It is really sad, because many young girls will quite sports or feel uncomfortable doing them because they will think that they have to have tone beautifu bodies in order to participate in a sport where sexploitation has occured. It can also cause anemia and other eating disorders to these young girls that are trying to look just like the women used in these sexploitation kinds of adds. The world is really tough on young people, especially when it comes to young women. We need good examples of women athletes out there, so in essence we need bigger companies to step up and not sponsor these women athletic teams for their bodies, but rather focus on their abilities, their great moments and things that often time's they do with men athletes.

Live Strong!!

We had a discussion in class, and many people were bagging on the live strong bracelets. and the funny thing is that about ten people in class held up their rists with bracelets on!! I think that that is a huge marketing technique! whoever decided to come up with those is a genious! It started with Lance Armstrong and since then many companies have used them in Public Relations movements because they were such a success. And now there are many many companies that are using them to help them promote and create an image. When you find great ways, like the live strong bracelets, to advertise and create yourself a good strong name, you have got to run with it. I think that many companies have been able to make themselves successful and get attention by these bracelets. For example, the diabetis foundation had a huge walk for diabetis over the summer and they were giving out blue diabetis bracelets. It is really a great move, because they are not just for women, i think that maybe even more men wear them than woman. It is something that can be used by both!
I hope that in my future of PR that i can come up with unique ideas like this one and be able to help my company create a name and become really well known because of it! The PR professionals behind this are really amazing for each one of these organizations, and we see that with our own eyes just by looking at all the students just in our class that wear them! I think that as PR professionals we need to notice things like these and learn to use them and come up with our own ideas, afterall it is what most of us in this class are here to learn how to do.

Logos

I am very amazed about all the logos that are out there. The activity that we did in class, really opened my eyes. We have a logo for everything and they compete one with another. From Ford to Chevy, to Nike and addidas, to you name it! If you support a certain logo, it almost tells something about what kind of person that you are. I see people that where logos and i do judge, if you can do that with out judging, that is pretty good. Like if i see a BYU shirt i will probably judge that person. (Go Utes!!) or for example, there is a jeep in the parking lot that is hot pink and says barbie on it... now i have never met this person, or even seen them, but i have already judged them for this logo that they have put on the side of her jeep. (besides that fact that she still has red doors b/c she must have gotten it painted in the summer and the doors were off, so she has a hot pink jeep with red doors:))
Coming from the PR side of things, it is great to have a very well known, well recognized logo. If it is that way, in a good way of course, that person did their job. Many of us are going into this field and will be doing this stuff in the future to help make a name for a company and get them more sales and a better name. The bottom line is, Logos sell products.

I am not sure if everyone will agree with me on this post, but thats ok, it will give poeple something to whine about. In class we had a pretty big discussion about how people that look like they have a decent from the Iraq or Iran part of the world, are always used by the media as terrorists. First of all, has everyone forgotten what happened on September 11?? I can tell you exactly where i was and what i was doing when those planes hit our country and killed thousands of our citizens... I know it is probably not right for us to portray all of them as terroists in the media, But heay, i could care less.... You dont bomb our country and not get a bad rap for it. They honestly put themselves in their own position. Before September 11 we probably wouldn't even had considered them as terrorists, not nearly to the extent that we do today. As well, a lot of it has to do with their religion. They think that they are doing something good in the eyes of God, but many of them have been completely brainwashed. I know that it shouldn't be that a few bad ones ruin the rest, but in this case, i think it has to be that way! I would love to hear what the rest of the class thinks about this topic. I have very strong feelings for it and would just like to know where everyone else stands.

One true thing of the media is that if someone screws up, then it is usually bad news for everyone of that race or origin. In this case, i dont feel bad at all that they are put in that same position.