Memorable ads

The State Farm ad featuring Jake from State Farm is arguably the most well known commercial ever. There have been multiple memes made out of it and even a spin off commercial made by State Farm themselves. The first time I saw the commercial, i couldn't figure out the point. It was funny in all but it barely advertised the service that State Farm actually provides. Looking back on it now, i have realized the real point of this hilarious ad.

The point of this particular ad was to be funny. The humor appeal was used for the on screen ad but the actually point of this ad was to promote publicity. I remember telling my friends about this commercial at school and I even made a few prank calls with, "It's Jake from State Farm" as the punchline. All of the people telling their friends about the commercial, made State Farm a well-known insurance firm. The real genius of the ad wasn't in the ad itself but in the world outside of the ad. Not only did the ad use humor appeal; it also used repetition to get spread the publicity. All in all the marketing people at State Farm clearly thought out this ad thoroughly and succeeded in making a memorable ad that greatly boosted State Farm's publicity.

Famous People

Celebrities are being used in advertisements more then ever nowadays. There is everything from shoes to soda being marketed by celebrities. Marketing personnel use celebrities to endorse their products for several reasons. The most important reason celebrities are used to market products is for the publicity. Having a famous person in your ads will but a face to your product. The fans of the celebrity will be enticed to at least watch the ad and if the celebrity's followers like the product, then they will buy it and recommend it to their friends. Another reason famous people are used to endorse items is for credibility. The consumer has the confidence that the product is good and works because their is a celebrity telling them that. The celebrity might not even use the item in real life but as long as they shoot a commercial with it, credibility with the product will be established. The final reason famous people are used to endorse items is for the competitive edge. If two companies sell the exact same product, then the advertisements will be the deciding factor in which product will be bought. If one celebrity is liked more then another, then the product with the well-liked celebrity will have better sales. All in all, celebrities are a key factor in advertisements nowadays. 

Starbucks's Christmas Cups

There has been a controversy surrounding Starbucks and their holiday season cups. Last year, Starbucks made these cups all cheerful and full of Christmas Ornaments and they got loads criticism for them. This year, they made them plain red and got even more criticism from the public for this. Starbucks just can't seem to find a break when it comes to their cup designs. All of the accusations about Starbucks's cups are based on people's opinions and value assumptions. Both of these things make an argument weak but despite these weak arguments, supports have made a controversy out of nothing. In reality, Starbucks made the holiday theme cups because it was the holiday season and didn't have any intentions behind them. Also the arguments against the Starbucks cups all have the same fallacy and that fallacy is Hasty Conclusion. The people against holiday-themed cups create a bad essence with the cups because they based their arguments on only what they saw and rushed to a conclusion about the meaning behind the cups. I believe that Starbucks is innocent in their intentions and mean no harm by decorated cups or plain red cups.

George Orwell's take on grammar

In George Orwell's article about the English language, he says that grammar doesn't matter as long as the point the statement is trying to convey is received by the reader. Orwell has written many world-renowned books including 1984 and Animal Farm and throughout those books, he uses incorrect grammar. Neither of the books are hurt from George starting a sentence with 'and' or 'because'. I fully support Orwell when he says that grammar doesn't need to be perfect. Throughout my lifetime, my parents and teachers have told me that i need to have perfect grammar in my works but this year has opened my eyes. Every time i ask them, "why?" they respond with a slippery slope argument which isn't a valid argument. If i saw the homeless man in the picture in real life, I would know that he wanted to work so that he could get food. I don't believe this man should be thought of differently because he is illiterate.