Good One Reebok...

Blog Post #7

Reebok! How could you say such a thing? 

Reebok recently came out with this ad in Germany and as you can imagine, it didn't take long for the public, mostly women, to express their outrage. The ad was pulled 2 weeks after it was exposed in Berlin according to an article in the Toronto Star.  

How did Reebok ever think they would get away with this? That's what I want to know. If you read the article you will also see that Reebok apologizes quickly and almost acts as if they were unaware of this ads exposure.

For those of you that don't know, Reebok recently bought the naming rights to CrossFit. Reebok has completely rebranded their entire business around CrossFit. Their new slogan is "Reebok CrossFit the sport of fitness has arrived. 

As a CrossFitter (from before it became commercialized) I have a hard time seeing ads about CrossFit to begin with, not to mention ads like this one that I am showing you today. I was quite content with the CrossFit lifestyle before Reebok bought the name. It was a fitness lifestyle that people joined and adopted and it was different than any other kind of gym BECAUSE it wasn't commercialized, materialized, and backed up by a "big name" like Reebok. It was inevitable that Crossfit would be bought out by a large sporting company, but on an individual level, it will always be more than "the latest fad" for me and I will never associate Reebok with this aspect of my fitness lifestyle. 

So you know a bit about my exposure to CrossFit, now you can see how an ad like this one is really annoying to me, not even so much offensive; but here we have a company who just bought naming rights to a "sport" that I have already made a part of my lifestyle well before they got involved, and they send out messages like this one. I am not impressed. 

I think the message about not cheating on your workouts is a great idea, but that message is almost lost when Reebok over-powers it with the part that says "cheat on your girlfriend [instead]". Those particular words, because they are so harsh, are what everyone who sees this ad will take away from it, hence the outcry and backlash that Reebok experienced with this ad. 

The image in this ad is not even very powerful, or fitness related. And it doesn't have to be. The power is in the written message. The only problem for Reebok is that this "bold" statement will probably only do bad things for their company. For a fitness lifestyle that intends to attract both men and women, these kind of sexist, and disrespectful statements are not beneficial to Reeboks campaign whatsoever. 

Some may argue that this kind of statement, although it gives them a lot of negative attention, at least their name is out there. This is not an effective marketing technique for a company that is trying to spread the word about a "new sport of fitness". More people will be mad about this than intrigued by it, and if anything people will see this and lose interest in supporting a company that sends messages like this one.

Let me know what you think. 

Is this offensive? Or funny? 

Does it make you want to support Reebok? Or does it change any positive thoughts you ever had about the company? 

Picture Perfect Moments

You know that feeling where you are in a moment and you want it to last forever? That is a picture perfect moment. This photograph that I am showing you is also one of those moments (for me).

It's not everyday that I see the world at 5 in the morning, but last summer, it was part of my routine: wake up at 5am, crush a crossfit workout at 6am, and then work at 8am. I was moving particularly slow one morning; it's hard to get up when it is still dark outside. But I eventually went downstairs to make a quick breakfast. It wasn't until I was in my kitchen that I saw out the window and noticed this incredible sky. I was then literally drawn to it, and went outside to get the full feel of this spooky, yet captivating natural experience.

When I stepped outside on to my front patio the sky felt heavy overhead and there was an unsettling energy in the air. I say unsettling, but I also got a feeling of calmness. My feelings were conflicting at the time. Why? How? What do you see when you look at this image? How does this unique sky speak to you?

Remembering back to my childhood, my father always used to say this expression: Red sky at night is a sailors delight; Red sky in the morning sailors take warning. Let me start off by saying that although the sky in this image is more of a pinkish colour, a "sailor", for the purpose of this expression would consider it to be red. We talk about how red symbolizes warning and caution, but why in the morning? And why is it that at night it means delight? It's got to be more than just simply that they rhyme. But what? Perhaps my initial reaction of feeling an unsettling energy was due to my recollection of this expression from my childhood. To take this another step further, perhaps my scepticism of this expression today contributes to my conflicting feelings that I experienced in this moment.

I also want to say that since I have been at university and away from home, I have come to appreciate these moments more. As a child and teen I wouldn't have ever really thought much about it. This view is one that I have been waking up to my whole life, but never before have I taken this much time to really soak it in, reflect on it, and admire it. There is something about being away from home for the past few years that makes me see my home environment differently. I took a picture of this moment because I knew it was one that I wanted to revisit, and recall the feeling that it gave me that morning in June.

Brand Awareness, Recognition, and Recall

Topic Proposal #4: Final research project.


Logos - and I'm not talking Aristotle's appeals (logos, ethos, and pathos) I'm talking brand name logos. 

In this research paper I will argue how advertisements effect us even before we know what the word "advertisement" means. Studies show that brand name awareness and recognition occur very early in a child’s life. Children can recognize logos and brands and associate products with them at a very young age. 

Some of the questions I want to think about for my research:

·      How important is this young population as a target audience for big companies?

·      At what ages are children first developing this awareness (how young?)

·      What environmental factors affect a child’s ability to become aware of these brand names? (what kind of exposure?)

·      When children recognize a logo do they imagine a product or do they recall an experience?

·     What is the difference between awareness, recognition and recall? Do these abilities occur at different stages of cognitive development? 

The main argument in my paper is that logos do more than just compliment a company name, they develop connotations that even young kids can experience. I will argue that children associate brand logos with a positive experience they have with the product (the interaction with the product itself –where the emotional response of the experience is triggered and reflective of their overall experience).

Perhaps I could design a study or test of some kind that would help support my argument. 

Beautiful Backyard

In May 2010 I went to Costa Rica and had the opportunity of living in a beautiful Costa Rican family home. When I arrived at my host mom's house with my backpack and an open mind, I was greeted and welcomed with open arms. This photo was the first view I saw as I entered the front gate of the house. An open concept entry that extends into the backyard; a typical layout of a middle-upper class Costa Rican home.

My apparent fascination with this view led my host mom to give me a tour of her entire backyard. In spanish (our only way of communication; perfect for me as a Spanish student), she pointed out the different kinds of trees and greenery that she had growing out there. She had everything from avocado trees, to lime trees, she even had a banana tree! This being my first trip outside of North America, I found this incredibly fascinating. Three of my favourite fruits in the world, and this woman was lucky enough to have them all growing in her backyard.

Apart from the plant life and beautiful flowers, there were a few other things living back there too! This is where her two pugs spent the majority of their time; what dog wouldn't be content with this living space!  

The other moment I will never forget was what happened while I was exploring the backyard before my host mom gave me the official tour. I was out playing with the dogs shortly after arriving to the house and I heard someone saying "HOLA!" (spanish for Hello). I could tell it was coming from outside and I could here some voices from the neighbours above and to the left of me, but I couldn't see anyone. I continued playing with the dogs and heard it again... "HOLA". I still didn't see anyone, but I said Hola back. Feeling a little puzzled not knowing who I was speaking with, I ventured back to the entry of the house and then my host mom wanted to show me her backyard. The first thing she showed me was her pet parrot! As we approached the parrot, I finally realized who I was essentially talking to. I couldn't help it, so I burst out laughing and then had to tell my new host mom what had happened. She got a kick out of that story and it made for a good icebreaker into her home. 

This was only the beginning of my Costa Rican cultural experience, and it was a fantastic start to my amazing adventure!