If there has been a line of advertising that has caught my attention the most over the past few years, it has to be Old Spice. They have repeatedly produced silly commercials that catch my full attention every single time I see them. Many of you have seen the Old Spice Man and the "Smell Like A Man" Campaign. This change is advertising technique has helped Old Spice ten fold. Old Spice and it's silly ads began to change a year or so before the "Smell Like A Man" campaign.
Old Spice first changed up its style in advertising in 2008 with the release of "Semi Pro" starring Will Ferrel. They released a line of commercials featuring Flint Tropics basketball star Jackie Moon. This was Old Spices' first attempt at irrelevant and silly advertising. This line of commercials featured irrelevant commentary and made up "facts." Yet somehow managed to get it's point across very effectively.
There is only one thing these commercials have in common aside from Will Ferrel spewing nonsense about sweat and his taste for women from Germany, they all contain the words "clinically proven" and "pro strength" either in spoken word or in text. These two phrases stand out even against the silly jumble of words Will Ferrel manages to unleash.
Old Spice then took on the new ad campaign "Smell Like A Man". This is an evolution of the same irrelevant techniques that were uses in the Jackie Moon commercials. A lot of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and once again features made up facts. These commercials have been the most popular by far.
Old Spice in the past was known to put out advertisements that weren't as entertaining and were seen as very dry. I remember growing up and believing Old Spice products were for old men. With new products and a new target age Old Spice had to sway away from ads like this one.
The bottom line is that these new Old Spice commercials are very enjoyable to watch. With social media and online resources Old Spice has a little trick up it's sleeve. The trick is, these Will Ferrel and "Smell Like A Man" ads are so enjoyable that they are amongst some of the highest searched videos on the internet. The repetition of seeing and hearing the words Old Spice and actually wanting to see the commercials has driven Old Spice sales up 107%.
Old Spice seems to have gotten it all right. There use of silly advertising, although often irrelevant, and their use of social media and the availability of their ads on the internet have made their advertising very effective. Making a commercial funny and enjoyable to watch creates repetitive views and in return drives the product into the brain. End result, the first thing the consumer looks for in the men's hygiene isle is Old Spice.
There is little doubt that today's popular culture has strengthened areas of our IQ. Video games, television, and many other forms of media have made our minds get more involved in our daily entertainment. These activities a couple of decades ago were seen as harmful to an individuals development. Now with advancing technologies and overall sophistication of the media forms we consume, the brain is being developed greatly by these platforms.
The argument comes to if we should place these kinds of technologies in the classroom to enhance the educational experience for the student. It is a debate over old fashioned teaching styles, funding, and if popular media platforms will even work to help a student retain the information presented.
If you ask me, schools have already made great strives to incorporate technology into daily studies. When I first attended college in the fall of 2000, the classrooms were void of these forms of media. There was a textbook and an instructor at the front of the class boring you to the point of insanity. There was nothing in place, aside from the drive to succeed in school, to keep a student focused and engaged in the learning process. Now, schools have projectors tied to computers where they can use multiple forms of media to not only get more in depth with the lesson they are teaching, but to present the material to the student in a way that keeps the students attention. Unfortunately that is only half the battle.
Only half of the students learning takes place in the classroom. The other half takes place at home. Yes sadly homework still exists. Once the teacher releases the student from class they send them home with an assignment which still relies on the student to go home sit at a table and read a textbook. That textbook the teacher sends them home with has to compete with video games, television, and social networking to get the students attention. I have to tell you, everything in my home is better than a textbook So what point am I making here? We don't need anymore technology in the classroom, aside from turning the class into a big video game, we have done everything we need to do there. We need to find a way to keep the students just as involved in their studies at home and a way to compete with the forms of entertainment these kids have at home.
I'm not saying we should eliminate textbooks. Reading is a very important part of the brains development. I am saying that an additional form of media should be introduced at home to help teach and apply the lesson. At Yavapai College, Guidance Helicopters has developed a way to take the sting off of going home and studying. Rather than sending a student home to bury their head in a textbook for hours upon hours at a time, they use video lectures. An hour long video that uses illustrations to better explain a lesson that would take hours to read about. There are still textbooks but they are there to reinforce the video lecture. I'm willing to bet if you compare the overall grades in these courses that apply this method compared to a program that sends a student home to study with a textbook, you would find the video lecture method to be much more successful.
Media in the classroom is a great idea. I do believe that many students are gaining very much from having these technologies in the classroom. Half the battle is already won. However, it seems that not enough attention being brought to studying at home. In fact, I couldn't find a single program online that had the same emphasis on using technology to making homework more interesting. Something as simple as a video would greatly increase the students knowledge of a topic and make it more bearable for the student to actually sit down and do it.
I leave you with this one piece of propaganda. You can decide what world you want to live in.
There is no doubt that the tragedy in Japan is very sad and catastrophic. It has broken families, destroyed lives, devastated economies, and raised new questions about our preparedness for taking on these kinds of tragic events. Primarily the concern over the safety of our nuclear power plants and our use of nuclear energy.
The United States is a country that is currently in an energy crises. This disaster in Japan has caused millions more to oppose nuclear energy in the United States and has strengthened the argument for organizations like nonukes.org. We are a country that cannot figure out what is best for our country as far as energy is concerned. We have a administration that doesn't want to drill for oil, but also states they don't want to be reliant on other country's resources. Then the president goes on a latin tour and completely goes back on his statements. Go figure. Let's create a debt to create more debt and to increase our dependency on foreign oil. That's a different energy argument all together, but it is a good example as to why we should take some items into our own hands if we can.
We have an energy council that states that we are better prepared for events like this than Japan was, even though Japan is viewed as the most well prepared country in the world for these kinds of events. I think Hurricane Katrina has clearly showed us that we are subject to the same devastation that Japan is, we are now rebuilding New Orleans and moving people back in even though it is still below sea level, what could possibly go wrong there?
Despite all of this there is no solid plan in place to replace the energy that we use. As of 2009 nuclear energy accounts for 20% of our energy production. We as a country cannot just shut down our reactors and pretend that energy is going to magically come from some other source. If we shut down our reactors Americans would be forced to conserve energy resources. Conservation is not part of an American's daily routine or culture, so I believe that plan would fail before it ever began.
Nuclear energy is a source of energy that has been in place for decades. We have become reliant on it. We cannot just get rid of it and pretend everything is going to be okay. Much like a drug addict, if an addict is reliant on a drug, lets say heroin, and has been using it for 15 yrs on a daily basis, and then just quits cold turkey, that individual will seize up and die rather quickly. Beating that addiction is a gradual process and must be done with extreme care. This energy situation must be handled the same way.
So what can be done? We could use renewable energy, but that energy is nowhere near as efficient as the other forms of energy we are using, and it uses more land that displaces wildlife. It would take 2000 large windmills to replace one nuclear power plant. To produce 1000MW we would have to set aside 585 square miles for wind turbines. That's roughly one third of the size of Rhode Island. Not to mention the cost of this energy would be through the roof. However, we are making small steps in the right direction to make renewables more efficient, but we are far behind the power curve and cannot wait for city and state governments to adopt these technologies.
We as Americans could take this argument into our own hands rather than complaining and doing nothing to help the situation like we always do. There is a house that I visited in Lansing, Michigan last year. It used just about every resource possible from solar panels, a small wind turbine, to better insulation used from recycled plastic, and insulated windows. It was so efficient that their lifestyle was not effected and they actually received a check every month rather than a bill from the electric company. I'm not saying every household should implement all of these technologies demonstrated, but if we did invest in just some of them in every house, we would use far less energy and we would all receive a nice tax write off and not to mention it may be enough to reduce or eliminate the 20% figure produced by nuclear energy.
America was built by people who acted when trouble was on the horizon. Not by people that pointed their finger at the someone else and did nothing to help the situation themselves. Nuclear energy will not go away without the American people doing something proactive in their own homes. We can't point our finger at the government when the government has already placed incentives to reduce energy consumption. Doing small things like buying CFLs to light your home, and unplugging power strips when we're not using them alone would take a nice chunk out of our energy consumption. I don't know about you, but I'm going take the finger I'm pointing and point it at myself before I can point at anyone else. If we all do our small part we can make a big impact on the nation's energy concerns.
We live in a digital age that is shaping some of the habits and the thinking of it's consumers. Many associate video games with negative impacts on an individuals way of thinking and habits. Many groups out there are saying video games are a for sure reason why young Americans are getting into trouble and committing violent crimes, or why kids are lazy and fat. They are so serious about this that they file lawsuits. If I believed that I could actually carry out the things that I do in video games then I would be the NHL's leading scorer w/ over 10 goals a game by now, I guess if I didn't make the team then I could file suit against EA Sports for making me believe that I can, right? This way of thinking hasn't gone too far in the courts but it hasn't deterred people from trying to point the finger at video game designers. I'm on the other end of popular belief, I believe that video games have in many ways helped develop individuals in a positive fashion. They help individuals to become technology savvy, developing motor skills and comfort with the technology associated. A vast majority of jobs today rely on someone that can get around a computer and other forms of modern technology. They help develop problem solving abilities, and for some are even a form of social activity. For Helicopter students here on campus a video game platform has become a critical tool to help us hone our skills without putting ourselves or anyone else in danger. Some of Today's military technology is heavily reliant on an individuals motor skills that have been developed by playing them. When I was in the Marines we would use a computer based form of Modern Warfare to fine tune operating in a squad. The benefits from video games are far greater than their drawbacks. Am I saying that a video game has never helped influence a person's aggression? No, but I am saying that there must be a series of social or psychological underlying factors existing before such an event takes place. Some folks just seem to have an inability to look at the whole picture before pointing their finger.
The bottom line is that these new Old Spice commercials are very enjoyable to watch. With social media and online resources Old Spice has a little trick up it's sleeve. The trick is, these Will Ferrel and "Smell Like A Man" ads are so enjoyable that they are amongst some of the highest searched videos on the internet. The repetition of seeing and hearing the words Old Spice and actually wanting to see the commercials has driven Old Spice sales up 107%.
