Beautiful, Haunting Infomercial...True?

Recently Chipotle released an infomercial  (Scarecrow) that has gained a lot of attention. It is said to be more beautiful than many Hollywood films. The message is (mainly) that the factory farms of America are destroying our society (overstatement? What do you think the message is?). There is very little branding in this message - just a brief shot at the very end of the video.

You can find copies of this in many places around the internet. On the page that I linked, there is a large section of comments at the bottom of the page. One of the comments reads as such, "This is great, but they're conveniently leaving out the part where they still slaughter a bunch of (happier?) cows, chicken and pigs for their burritos. It's not like Chipotle is vegetarian, which is what you'd think from this ad? The scarecrow is just chopping up veggies at the end."

Chipotle is hopeful that consumers will see their company as a fast food restaurant with a brain. What are your thoughts on the film?

Banning of E-Cigarette Advertising?

Within the US, the advertising of tobacco products (cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own-tobacco and smokeless tobacco) on television was banned in 1971 (in the UK, the ban has been in effect for over 20 years).

Within the past couple of years, however, advertising of electronic cigarettes has boomed. The advertising of so-called e-cigarettes is currently unregulated. Print ad spending on e-cigarettes has increased approximately 72% from 2011 to 2012, while TV ad spending on the same has increased approximately 18%.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to give opinions regarding the safety of e-cigarettes in October, 2013 and to suggest a ban on TV advertising as well as a ban of online sales of these devices. Online sales are expected to reach between $500 to $625 million this year (2013) with overall sales of e-cigarette reaching $1.7 billion by the end of 2013.

What are your thoughts on the potential banning of TV advertising of these products? Should there be an outright ban (similar to other tobacco products)? Should it remain unregulated? Should there be some rules regarding where and when on TV these e-cigarettes can be advertised? Please weigh in with your opinions and give your reasoning.

Overly Caffeinated?

Caffeine is a drug that many of us consume on a daily basis....in our morning cups of coffee, in our afternoon sodas and perhaps in our late night study-help energy drinks. Most of us are aware of the amount of caffeine we're taking in and have made a conscious decision to consume it. The FDA considers less than 400mg/day of caffeine to be "safe" for adults. There is no established amount of caffeine that is safe for children, according to the FDA.

There is new concern over some recently released products that contain caffeine. The reason? Because these are products that wouldn't "normally" be associated with caffeine. Waffles, syrup, sunflower seeds....sound strange? Caffeinated jelly beans?  Hmmm....

What are your thoughts on these new products? Do you think that there is anything wrong with adding caffeine to "non-traditionally caffeinated" products? If not, should there be any regulations?  What should the FDA's role be?

The IKEA Effect

How many of you have been very proud of something that you have worked really hard on?  You should be, right? Of course it is right. But IKEA has made a great business of this knowledge. It is known that when we put effort into something, we are more likely to like it....more likely to feel pride and to feel competence.

Simply put (I'm not trying to imply that the underlying effects are truly simple), we fall in love with things that we help to create. Yes, we also fall in love with things that our children create (see poorly constructed ceramic vase/ashtray/cereal bowl/whatchamacallit on your parents' buffet).....

IKEA (among others) have it figured out. They save on labor, can ship things in a very compact way, allow the consumer to take pride in construction and to ultimately love the product more than if it had been bought ready-made. Bonus.

Truth in Advertising

Courtney shared a graphic with me the other day that spoke to our topic discussed earlier in the semester of being misled by marketing. It is, no doubt, irritating to consumers to be shown one thing and to receive something that looks (a bit?) different.

What are your thoughts on the differences between what is pictured (advertised) and what is ultimately given to the consumer? Isn't it the marketers' responsibility to make their product(s) look as attractive as possible when promoting? Discuss.

Social Seating?

Do you want to know who you're about to sit next to on the airplane?  Would you go so far as to sign up for a "Seat and Meet" social networking site in order to pick who you'll be sitting next to?  Business contacts?  Potential dates?

That is what two airlines are proposing.  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Malaysia Airlines are allowing passengers to share their social profiles and photos prior to boarding, in order to have a greater probability of sitting next to someone that they share interests with/are attracted to.  At this point it is definitely an opt-in program and your profile gets deleted at the end of the flight.  Still....



What are your thoughts on this?

Digitally Amputating Limbs?

What are your thoughts on the ad from New York's health department's attempt to get people to eat less?  In an effort to get people to choose smaller portions, this ad was created. The man's leg was digitally amputated. 

Do you think the ad is impactful?  Will it have the intended effect?  Should the ad agency have found someone who actually suffered from diabetes and who actually had their leg amputated or does it not make a difference?