1. For the sake of being a business, I think marketing to college students is genius. Better yet they have the “popular” students doing it for them. I really feel that this is a genius plan on the corporation’s side. Then again this really isn’t the most morally correct situation. Students around this age are very vulnerable to such techniques, and they might feel obligated to purchase these products instead of buying it on their own free will because of a guy walking around with American Eagle coupons. Students have to learn about budgeting, especially if your broke, and they might see the popular kids walking around in all American Eagle clothes, then they go out and spend $300 on clothes, but then again this is exactly what these companies want. They could care less if they’re broke, as long as they’re spending the majority of their money at these stores, then the company is happy and they’re pockets are full of poor college students money. Then they have those students walking around as self administered billboards, then the cycle starts all over again.
6. The movie objectified really opened my eyes to a different look at advertising. Instead of looking at it through the companies eyes of how many they can sell at a price they’ll make a ton of money. You get to look at some designers from around the world. It’s different for them. They could care less about how much money they make, the bottom line is that they’re making things that someone can use every day and perhaps make their day a little easier, but the way they do it is different. I consider them artists. To be honest I thought they were all a little off, but yet they were absolute geniuses. Take Karim Rashid for instance, I feel that his products advertise themselves, and that is exactly what designers need to do. They give advertisers they’re jobs. The designers give them stuff to brag about in their products.
Another thing I learned was that the way we attach ourselves to products we grew up with. Fr instance Rashid said that he had a little stereo when he was a teenager, that whenever he woud come home from school he would listen to music. SO whether he had a crappy day at school from getting made fun of all day, he would forget about everything with this little stereo. So in a way it was more than just a radio, it was a gateway for him that he could escape from life for little while and be in his own world. This really got me thinking as to the power that certain products have. He got me thinking and I too have an item that is more to me than just the object itself. My very first I pod was exactly like Rashid’s radio. Designers in one way or another are creating something for the consumer to call their own and then the consumer develops a relationship with that product.
Designers are an all in one package. If you think about all the steps in creating a product like using tools and drawing and getting the perfect color. In more ways than they’re a carpenter, painter, and architect. And I feel that most are overlooked at the site of a product when all the consumer sees is the product itself and don’t really see the art and feeling that gets put into each product. The designer in a way puts himself into each object and the object they design can be many things that they are feeling.
