Response to "And Now a Word from Their Cool College Sponsor" by Kate Zernike

In her article “And Now a Word from Their Cool College Sponsor,” Kate Zernike talks about two California, college aged, surfer boys (Chris Barrett and Luke McCabe) who have a surfing sponsorship (with First USA, a credit card company) that pays for their education. Being an athlete, I think this is an amazing situation. One of the conditions of their agreement is that every time they make an appearance on campus they need to be wearing First USA gear. They were equipped with "surfboards, surf shorts, camp shirts...and an entire wardrobe's worth of clothing" from First USA. This is a change of pace based on what we usually see—which is paying to advertise for someone with the clothing we chose to wear. The boys are being instead being paid to advertise for the company! Again, this article makes the point that advertising is impossible to escape. I know that for the sponsorship West Chester University has, you are not allowed to wear another brand during competition (other than our sponsor’s). I think this is a fair agreement. In addition to wearing all First USA gear, the boys also have to maintain a C average and behave appropriately at all times. First USA’s goal is to get more college students to have their credit card since the advertising is coming from college students. Credit card companies are usually very tricky but they are proving that they can be trusted by using our peers as advertising. It becomes so common that people don't even realize it's advertising anymore! It's almost like it's invisible.

Response to "Salespeak" by Roy F. Fox

Advertising is something that is inescapable. This is a point that Roy F. Fox makes very evident in his article “Salespeak.” He starts by telling “a day in the life” of Pepsi Anderson. Pepsi was named after the brand of cola and other products, Pepsi. This is a stretch to get people to realize that advertising is everywhere! At an ATM, in stores like Wal-Mart, gas pumps, lines in amusement parks—they all have some form of advertising for something. The last time I went to the doctor, there were a couple of TV screens scattered around the waiting room and there were ads for new drugs, quizzes to test your knowledge about various medical conditions, and general information about health insurance. With recent technology such as TiVo, you can record shows and watch them back. I know that when I watch shows back I always fast forward through the commercials. Advertising agencies needed and did find new ways to advertise now that less people see commercials. Right now, as I’m writing this blog and ad came up for an online dating website. Also, right now, I’m currently on AIM and my buddy list is on the screen right next to this page and at the top there is an ad for Netflix reading, “Rent Movies From Netflix—Only $4.99 a month. Click here!” Sometimes I feel like I am so used to advertising I almost don’t notice it anymore. Fox did a good job of bringing to light all the places we do encounter advertising on a daily basis.

Response to "Meet My 5,000 New Best Pals" by Janet Kornblum

Reading “Meet My 5,000 New Best Pals” by Janet Kornblum made me really evaluate the amount of friends that I have on Facebook. I only have a Facebook, I never got into MySpace. I was always under the impression the Facebook was safer and less creepy because you had to have a network that was usually a school of some type. Kornblum points out that 90 percent of the people we are “friends with” we have virtually no contact with. I had an interesting experience one night when I was at a friend’s house. It was a rather large gathering so I didn’t know a majority of people who were there. There was one girl in particular that really got on my nerves. I wasn’t a fan of the way she carried herself and how she portrayed herself to guys. Anyway, I pointed this girl out to one of my friends and the next day I was on that friend’s Facebook page and I discovered something interesting. There is a little box on Facebook that when you are looking at someone’s page it tells you how many friends you have in common with that person. While browsing the pictures my friend had put up of that night I looked in the friends in common box and recognized the outfit of the girl we saw at the party. I was friends with her on Facebook and didn’t even know it (or her for that matter!!) Ever since then I am very careful about who I accept to be my “friend.” It is a whole separate world that has become a college phenomenon!