Dove, keeps getting better and better at promoting its products using PR rather than traditional advertising. They constantly come up with new innovative ways to promote their products. Until now I had been very pleased with what seemed like a sincere desire, on Dove’s part to revamp their image as well as change the world’s perception of beauty.

The Unilever company first gained the interests of the public when they launched the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty. The campaign concentrates on showcasing the beauty of women in every size and shape. They hope to challenge the narrow stereotypes of beauty. To promote this they made a video exposing the real world of the beauty industry. The ad exposed all the editing done to pictures that make models seem flawless and beautiful. This video went viral and increased awareness about their campaign.
Next they aired the controversial Pro-Age commercial, which showed older women half naked, embracing their inner beauty, wrinkles and all. They aired the “edited” version, however at the end of the commercial they displayed the website where one could view the “unedited” version. Once again, creating new traffic to their website and promoting their product in the process.

Most recently, Dove has teamed up with MTV to produce a micro series, “Fresh Takes”. The micro series will air in the commercial breaks of MTV’s number 1 show, The Hills. The micro series is about three girlfriends in the 20’s juggling careers, friendships, romance and the pressures of being beautiful. In the series the friends help each other balance everything and listen to their inner voice. The micro series accompanies Dove’s latest product, Dove- go fresh, a new fragrant driven collection. Dove’s “Fresh Takes,” is another ingenious way of product promotion with out being in your face with advertising. It also really drives home Dove’s message in their Campaign for Real Beauty and helps their revamped image.

However, my main bone to pick with Dove is, that they chose Alicia Keys, to be the star of the micro series. Really Dove? Campaign for Real Beauty? But they still hire one of the music industry’s most beautiful women to star in a series that is supposed to convince viewers like my self to not be judgmental about my body? She is one of the people who I compare myself to, yet I am supposed to embrace my imperfections when Alicia Keys’ is supposed to portray a “normal” woman in her 20’s. I think not! This is where Dove really dropped the ball. If I saw right through it I’m sure about half of the other female college students who watch the show saw right through it too.

Puppy Love

How far is to far when it comes to pampering your four legged friend? Many people are now delaying the thought have having children and are buying pets instead. Because dogs are becoming the new wave of children, canine product manufacturers are rising to the top of the success levels. Clothing products, such as dresses, coats, team jerseys and even bathrobes are popular at pet supply shops all over the country. Believe it or not, yoga is no longer only for humans. A popular trend known as “doga” has formed, and allows “man’s best friend” to get a daily stretch to a spiritual way of life. http://www.petshed.com/news/yoga-for-dogs-canine-dogi.html
People who are not dog lovers will argue about all of the new activities and products for these animals.
I, for one, am constantly criticized for throwing soirées for my Chihuahua’s birthdays. However, to me, it is just an excuse to invite friends that I haven’t seen in a while, over. Dogs all over America are now having birthday parties thrown in their honor. Dog bakeries have popped up and have been quite successful. The local canine bakery, Groovy Dog, is where I get my Chihuahua, Bella’s, cakes. http://www.groovydogbakery.com/
Sure, Bella owns a dress or two, and has birthday parties. It is just my way of rewarding my four-legged best friend who loves me unconditionally.

An Affair Spiraled Out of Control

Kwame Kilpatrick, the youngest mayor in the history of Detroit, has been praised across the state for his ability to form coalitions to get things done. Kilpatrick has secured $7 million to address the lead poisoning problem, which affects more children in Detroit than in the rest of Michigan combined. Additionally, Kilpatrick advocated new laws to make schools safer, expand health care benefits for retirees, protect the environment, and strengthen personal protection orders.

While Kilpatrick has served his city well, his personal life might just put an end to his political career. Behind closed doors Detroit’s mayor was carrying out an affair with his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, often using his security unit to keep his affair secret. When two officers started investigating him, they were both inexplicably fired.

Now an investigation has been opened charging him with perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct. All of the charges against the mayor are felonies. The charges could be the beginning of the end of Kilpatrick's six-year career as the elected mayor of Detroit, since the city charter, a felony conviction would mean the mayor's immediate expulsion.

Kilpatrick along with Beatty, the former chief of staff, pleaded not guilty to charges he lied under oath about an affair and his role in the firing of a top police official. Both were released on personal bonds, and would have to pay $75,000 if they break them. Moreover, Kilpatrick has vowed not to resign stating, "I look forward to complete exoneration once all the facts have been brought forth. I will remain focused on moving this city forward."

Kilpatrick’s case bares a resemblance to charges brought up against Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. However, this case could take a turn for the worse because the only evidence to link Clinton to Lewinsky is the famous black dress whereas the evidence of Kilpatrick and Beatty are the very affectionate text messages they sent each other.

To effectively manage this PR Crisis, Kilpatrick must remind Detroit why he was chosen to be their mayor. He must elaborate on all the good he has done for the community and send a message that his private life does not interfere with his public life. Moreover, he has to strategically convey that he has not let power go to his head.

Trent Reznor continues to revolutionize the music industry

Trent Reznor, lead vocalist and mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, recently released his latest album, Ghosts, on his website. For $5, fans could purchase the entire instrumental album along with a high quality pdf album booklet. Reznor also offered a limited edition collector's edition of the album for $300. That version of the album sold out immediately. The revolutionary part? Trent Reznor left his record label upon the release of his last album, and so his current sales are 100% profit for him, without a record label getting any portion of the cut. Unlike Radiohead's recent endeavor, Reznor maintains that he is not doing a bait and switch on his fans. Ghosts is available from the getgo in high quality mp3 or flac (lossless) audio files. In Dreams was only available in low quality mp3s before getting a studio release later.

Reznor's venture seems to have paid off. To date, he's made $1.6 million dollars from the sales of his album. A $10 hard copy of the record will be available shortly, if fans choose to order it.

It appears that digital sales are the way of the future. How could bands continue to use alternative channels to their advantage to gain profit?

The Final Frontier Is Finally Here... (kind of)

A Safe Return!

The space shuttle Endeavor enjoyed a safe return to NASA's Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  The shuttle travelled sixteen days and nearly seven million miles to the International Space Station to set up the first of three installations of the Kibo laboratory, a facility provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.  The Canadian Space Agency also contributed a two-armed robotic system, Dextre.  This journey is considered the first globally united space venture, as NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier explains, "The success of this missions makes the International Space Station truly international... Japan is now a full-time participant, controlling the Kibo module from its center near Tokyo.  We have teams working around the clock in the United States, Russia, Germany, and Japan overseeing the crew's work and various elements of station.  With the ATV scheduled to dock next week, Dextre ready to go, our partners' modules operating, and the next [shuttle] preparing to launch, it's an exciting time to be in the space business." 

Could it be possible that space exploration will finally be a progressive tool of discovery and not a chauvinistic device for flaunting this nation's technological resources?  It looks to be the case!  With many Eastern and Western countries united, focusing on a beautiful and technological tomorrow, one can only expect the next millennium to look like Epcot.

A floating woman is commonplace in the circus of space.

For more information on Nasa's shuttle missions, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle and for more information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

Scrubs is on the Move

If you have ever heard of the TV show Scrubs you know that it always shows on NBC. Thanks to Aloma Wright, one of the stars from the show, the rumor is out that they will soon be switching networks to ABC. This leaves fans of the show wondering what exactly is going on and why.

Nothing has been said from either network confirming or denying the actions.

This statement made me think of the class that we had that discussed the Ethics of PR. What I have now been trying to research is the Scrubs PR reaction. I haven't found any information but I think it would be interesting to see what has happened to the actress that leaked the information as well as what is going to happen and the reasons why they switched networks.

Negative Publicity Threatens Success of Beijing Olympics

There is a lot of buzz going around about how the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China this August. Large numbers of activists protesting the games are making it difficult for advertisers such as Adidas, Coca-Cola (KO), General Electric (GE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kodak, McDonald's (MCD), Samsung, Visa to run their promotional campaigns which began promoting the event several months ago and is leaving some of them feeling uneasy about their ability to sponsor the event without the threat of violence.

Just yesterday two Tibetan demonstrators made headlines worldwide when they disrupted a torch lighting ceremony taking place in Ancient Olympia, Greece. There have been disputes regarding the human rights polices in China and the two protesters took the opportunity to make their opinions known on a rather grand stage. "Their evil purpose is to produce turmoil to interrupt and destroy the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whose theme is peace, and to destroy our country's good stability and unity in order to reach their evil goal of splitting the mother country," said Shan Huimin, a spokeswoman for China's Public Security Ministry.



Amidst the adverse publicity that China is receiving due to rioting and violence, the country remains hopeful that they can improve their public image. Sponsors, however, remain sceptical about how events such as the disruption of the torch lighting ceremony will ultimately affect their own public images. This is part of the tasks one must deal with as it relates to International PR which we talked about in class a few weeks back. I think it will be interesting to see how the well recognized American corporations will deal with the tension leading up to the Olympic Games and whether or not some of them will decide to pull their sponsorship in favor of a better public image. There will certainly be much more regarding this topic in the news in the four months leading up to this monumental global event.