AMP UP Pepsi Iphone App – “Before You Score”

AMP UP / Pepsi Iphone App “Before You Score” Gone too Far?

Pepsi has been known as a company not afraid to push limits and try out new innovative methods in reaching it’s potential consumers. Have they gone to far?

“Before You Score” AMP UP

AMP UP Pepsi - Iphone App
AMP’s latest attempt to utilize social media became a huge controversial issue. AMP is an energy drink company owned by Pepsi. They have always utilized guy-centric advertising focusing on extreme sports and women. Their marketing approach is a tamer version of another company called AXE who uses extremely risque and degrading advertising.

AMP launched an Iphone app called “before you score” that helps men score with women. Within the application itself, the app breaks down women into 24 categories and provides various pickup lines and suggestions. Examples of such categories are “Rebound Girl”, “Twins”, “Foreign Exchange Student” and even “Married”. Depending on the type of person she is, it is suggesting specific things to say as well can be used to find specific places to eat. The whole point is to convince the subject that you share her interest with the overall goal of getting them into bed. The iTunes store has a description that says “roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women”.

Let’s think about the culture pepsi is promoting here.

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France to Regulate Airbrushed & Photoshopping Pictures

France: Regulate those Manipulated Pictures!

This is going to create some interesting controversy. French lawmakers have decided to regulate airbrushing photos by requiring disclaimers on photos that are photoshopped or enhanced in any way. Image manipulation has been a practice going on since long before photoshop, to create stunning and perfect pictures for advertisement purposes. This action was taken as a way of fighting against body image issues at the source.

This disclaimer would be needed in newspapers, photos, magazines, political pieces, product packaging, art photography and any situation where there is a “retouched photograph aimed at changing a person’s physical appearance.”

Hours of Hair & Makeup followed by Hours of Photo Manipulation

Even after hours of hair and makeup styling, photos used in print often go through hours of photo manipulation. Some very common practices are to slim waistlines, slim the hips, lengthen the neck and legs, alter facial structures, increase symmetry, widen eyes, fix nose shape, have a woman’s breast lifted, change skin colors, add shadows, add tones, move eyebrows, remove bad marks, erase freckles, change the background, and stylize the hair. An altered photo can look dramatically different from the original.

Photoshopped Images - Amber Mac

The photo above is an example of what photoshop can do in a mere 5 minutes of photoshop work. During a 5 minute segment on Homepage, a show on CP24, Greg Danbrooke demonstrated how Photoshop is the real tool behind the perfection we see on magazine covers and billboards.

Check out the step by step difference here

Also if you haven’t seen the Dove Evolution Video watch it!

This law was proposed by French MP Valirie Boyer who also released a report on anorexia and bulimia. The concern has always been the effects of unrealistic body images has on young boys and girls. Starting at an early age a girl is exposed to so many images of beautiful celebrities, disproportionate barbie dolls, photos of women who have slender body types and seemingly perfect features. It is no wonder 62% of girls feel insecure about themselves and 81% of 10 years old fears getting fat.

“Many young people, particularly girls, do not know the difference between the virtual and reality, and can develop complexes from a very young age. In some cases this leads to anorexia or bulimia and very serious health problems.” – French MP Valerie Boyer

50+ French politicians have voiced their support for this legislation. The fine for breaking this law would be a fine of approximately $48K USD or 50% of the campaign costs.

[poll id=”14″]

  • Do you think this law is a good idea or a bad idea?
  • Do you think this law should pass?
  • Is photoshopped bodies a detriment to self-image especially in children?

Please share your thoughts below!

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Famous Manipulated Photos – Pre Photoshop

Did you know the images you see in magazines are touched up and photoshopped to be pleasing to the eye?

Manipulation of Images in Media

I am sure you all said yes. Everything we see today has been digitally enhanced. Every face we see is not only cleaned up, but necks are trimmed, the chins are tucked, and eyes are enlarged. Every blemish from the skin is erased, hair is made more glimmery, all this on top of picking the prettiest of models (see Dove Video). It is no wonder media has such a negative influence on the way children perceive themselves and their own self-image.

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Protect our Bubble Babies with Our Stuff

Get your saline-soaked, aloe-treated, grape-scented tissues for your child! It’ll make blowing your child’s nose safe and fun! Don’t let him feel discomfort. Be a good parent.

In the Kiddie-Safety Industrial Complex, parents are gobbling up hitherto unheard-of stuff like those Boogie Wipes tissues, toy wagons with seat belts, sure-grip gloves for lifting baby out of the bath, and even knee pads for babies to wear when they start to crawl over that crushed glass you chose instead of carpeting for the nursery.

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AdBlock Plus: Block All Ads on the Internet!

Trashy Advertising Influence

Ad Block Plus
Ad Block Plus

We talk all the time about how bad emotionally driven advertising has had a detrimental influence in our society. Starting at a very young age, billions of dollars are spent to take advantageous of our inner desires for love, significance and our insecurities to sell us things we don’t need. It has changed our outlook about what would truly make us happy and has filled our minds with so much garbage that perhaps many of us feel immune to it. “What is the big deal… right?”.

Well that brings up the question – what can be done?

AdBlock Plus – Block Advertising on Websites

I wanted to highlight a small plugin for Firefox that will BLOCK ADS on all websites. How does that work? Any ads being served from advertising URLs are simply removed from the page.

See this quick 1.5 minute AdBlock Plus video below to see how it works.

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Unnaturally Beautiful Children: Image & Beauty

In 2004, a survey by NPD Group showed that on average, girls started to use beauty products at the age of 17. Today that average is 13.

Influence of Media on Children & Beauty

There’s a scene in “Toddlers & Tiaras,” the TLC reality series, where 2-year-old Marleigh is perched in front of a mirror, smothering her face with blush and lipstick. She giggles as her mother attempts to hold the squealing toddler still, lathering her legs with self-tanner. “Marleigh loves to get tan,” her mom says, as the girl presses her face against the mirror.

Children's Perception of Beauty
Children’s Perception of Beauty (Newsweek)

The quote above is about Marleigh, one of the pageant girls on the show. Does anyone find something disturbing about this picture? She is two years old. Unfortunately the ridiculousness of this scene doesn’t end on screen, it is a depiction of our current generation.

What do these shows have in common? “Extreme makeover”, “I Want a Famous Face” “Little Miss Perfect” “Toddlers & Tiaras”. These are shows centered around raising the bar of what is considered the norm when it comes to beautifying our children.

With reality TV shows, thousands of beauty product commercials, air-brushed magazine ads, and beautiful celebrities adorning every movies we watch, the norm of the importance of beauty has changed dramatically. In 2004, a survey by NPD Group showed that on average, girls started to use beauty products at the age of 17. Today that average is 13.
 See some more Children Beauty Statistics
But even that figure could be an overstatement. According to a market research firm Experian,

  • 43 percent of 6 to 9 year olds are already using lipstick or lip gloss
  • 38 percent are using hairstyling products
  • 12 percent use other other cosmetic products

By the time they are 50 years old, an average women would have spent nearly $300,000 on just their hair and face according to Newsweek’s research on beauty trends (noted below). But is this surprising considering girls ages 11 to 14 are exposed to 500+ advertisements per day? 8 to 12 years old already spend $40+ million a month on beauty products according to NPD Group. Teenagers? $100 Million.

More Statistics on Beauty

  • Cosmetic Surgery Procedures for Under 18 – Doubled last 10 years
  • 14% of Botox injections given to 19-34 age group, seeking “preventative treatments”
  • [American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery]
  • 42% of 1st to 3rd Graders want to be thinner
  • 81% of 10 years olds fear getting fat

“When you have tweens putting on firming cream… it’s clear they’re looking for imaginary flaws,” – Harvard psychologist Nancy Etcoff

Full Article on Beauty

True Cost of Lifetime Beauty

Economy got you down? Trying to pinch a few pennies here and there? How about cutting out on some beauty products and enhancements! See the chart below.

Tweens Teen/20s 30-40s 50s Lifetime
Hair $1,260 $15,761 $23,640 $169,274 $209,935
Face $3,900 $32,684 $108,660 $21,840 $167,084
Body $0 $10,586 $17,820 $16,366 $44,772
Hands/Feet $2,010 $6,834 $8,040 $10,452 $27,336
Totals $7,170 $65,865 $158,160 $217,932 $449,127

See Beauty Spend Breakdown Here

  • What are your thoughts about young children and teens spending so much time and money on beautifying themselves?
  • How about Adults?
  • What can be done to help push up against our image driven culture?
  • Can anything be done?
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Mac vs PC Elimination Apple Commercials: Product Not Lifestyle

Here at Clean Cut Media, we show a critical eye to TV Commercials, TV Shows and Movies in regards to the level of unnecessary mature themes such as sexual innuendos and crass jokes , even in children movies. We also touch upon how media tends to paint a particular way of life or a particular image that can give the wrong kind of picture of reality and what is considered the norm.

Product Centric vs Lifestyle Centric TV Commercials

Mac vs PC Elimination TV Commercial Spot
Mac vs PC Elimination TV Commercial Spot

However we aren’t all just about the end of media and desire to live in a log cabin somewhere in the middle of forest where we can be free from the evil that is the world. I personally work in the marketing world and also produce videos, art among other media centric work in my free time. So here at Clean Cut Media we regularly post videos, advertising, commercials, art and anything else we can get a hand on as examples of media creatively done with class.  Below are two examples of a well made commercial that does an excellent job highlighting the features or advantageous of a product. This is in comparison with the habit of companies that produce commercials with the sole intent, not to sell the product, but a lifestyle or associate their product to some good feeling or experience. Is the latter ethical? That is a judgment call depending on the message of the commercial itself, but we have to appreciate the commercials that does sell the product for the value it itself.

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Influence of Media & Advertising in Our View of Life

Growth of the Information Age

The proliferation of the Internet and the ease of sharing information online has greatly enhanced the power of media and advertising. It shapes are attitudes, behaviors and our values in regards to how we view everything and everyone. Everyone speaks about how media affects our society but the power of advertising also comes from the ideas and messages that get portrayed as an underlying reality in media.

Advertising Providing Solutions to our Deepest Longings

Luxury Acura Advertisement Lifestyle
Luxury Acura Advertisement Lifestyle

Everyday we are exposed to a particular lifestyle portrayed in movies, tv shows, billboards and commercials. We see people dressed a certain way, living life “to the fullest” – in a particular way. Unfortunately, these characters are created to sell products or raise ratings. Often what is portrayed may not be aligned with reality and yet we may feel that…

  • We long to have the kind of life they live.
  • We wish our lives were just as exciting.
  • We wish we had such close relationships and friends.
  • We wish we would run into that kind of luck we see on TV.
  • We wish we can live just as recklessly, perhaps promiscuously without consequences.
  • We wish we could be as happy as the people we see.
  • We wish to look the way they look, have the body shape as they do.
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Children as Commodities, Influence of Media on Children

 

Media Influence on Children - Marketing Power
Media Influence on Children - Marketing Power

“The advertising and marketing industry spends over $17 billion a year on shaping our children’s identities and desires.”

Below is an excellent article discussing the influence of media and money in “commodifying” of children in our modern culture. The article itself is very long so I’ve excerpted pieces of it below with a link at the bottom to the original source. Enjoy!

As we face difficult economic times, everyone is wondering how are we going to bounce back? What can be done? In all the pain and sufferings we are facing, perhaps we should stop and ask ourselves, is there something we can learn from all this? Is there something we could change? The article asks “What kind of society and future do we want for our children given how obviously unsustainable and exploitative the now failed market-driven system has proven to be?”

In a society that measures its success and failure solely through the economic lens of the Gross National Product (GNP), it becomes difficult to define youth outside of market principles determined largely by criteria such as the rate of market growth and the accumulation of capital. The value and worth of young people in this discourse are largely determined through the bottom-line cost-benefit categories of income, expenses, assets and liabilities. The GNP does not measure justice, integrity, courage, compassion, wisdom and learning, among other values vital to the interests and health of a democratic society.

“Subject to an advertising and marketing industry that spends over $17 billion a year on shaping children’s identities and desires, American youth are commercially carpet-bombed through a never-ending proliferation of market strategies that colonize their consciousness and daily lives.”

Children once was perceived as important social investments, innocent children we needed to protect as they would one day be the moral foundations of our society. Our culture protected them. Businesses wouldn’t dare objectify them or treat them like any other commodity. Yet time has changed dramatically in the last couple decades. It has moved from a culture of social protection to a culture of commodification. Now children from a young tender age, grow up in a culture that objectifies their value taking away any sense of moral agency.

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Average Adult Watches an Hour of TV Ads a Day

TV Media Consumption
TV Media Consumption

When the subjects were asked to recall their media consumption behaviors, “people underestimated the amount of time they spent with TV by a substantial amount,” about 25 percent on average. – Mr. Wakshlag

  • Average Americans are exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions every day.
  • An Average Adult are exposed to some form of digital screen (TV, GPS, Cellphones, Computers) for 8.5 hours a day.
  • Computer usage has supplanted radio as the second most common media activity

These are some of the statistics found by the Council for Research Excellence, formed by the Nielsen Company. The $3.5 million dollar study was started to determine whether media companies needed new ways to measure media. Ball State University’s Center of Media Design conducted the study and called it the largest observational look at media usage ever conducted. Rather than surveys, researches shadowed 350 people (over 18 years of age) and recorded their behavior in 10 second increments for 952 days.

Consistent Exposure to Media among All Ages
They found that the number of minutes exposed to advertising was consistent among all the age groups other than 45-54 year olds who spend on average an extra hours more in front of the screen.

“It flies in the face of conventional wisdom, of course, which tells us that the younger cohorts apparently spend more time with screen-based media,” said Michael Bloxham, a director of the center at Ball State.

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Obama Pro-life Abortion Video?

The images of a baby fetus.
The heart beats, the baby moves.

“This child’s future is a broken home.”
“He will be abandoned by his father.”
“His single mother will struggle to raise him”

The baby continues to grow…

A pro-choice video, we assume..

Then in a twist of fate,

“This child, despite the hardships he will endure, will become the first African-American President.”

Images of Barack Obama triumphant on election night.

“Life. Imagine the potential.”

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Contest: Free Divorce for Valentines Day

 

Broken Heart Divorce Radio Contest
Broken Heart Divorce Radio Contest

For Valentines day a popular Detroit radio station decided to hold a contest. Whoever is voted the most dysfunctional couple gets a free divorce!

Let me stop there so we can all take a deep breathe for a moment. If this is not a sign of our culture going in the wrong direction, I don’t know what is. But, is this really all that surprising?

Consider a few facts and articles just on Clean Cut Media alone..

Sexual promiscuity rampant in media and in our culture.
Laws to protect children from sexual imagery are shot down in court
Study linking pregnancy and sexual shows
Sex and Mature Content in Video Games

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