Nice Blackberry. You must be rich.

Earlier this year, my friend Denise, who keeps up with the latest fashion and technology, boxed up her fairly new Blackberry for the new iPhone. I on the other hand, had a phone that looked like it ran with the bulls. I don't know why but I had this tendency to forget that I was holding the phone, thus dropping it at least once a day. I still am perplexed as to how I almost flushed it down the toilet one day during work. I mean there is a huge difference between toilet paper and a cell phone right? Anyway, so when Denise was showing off her new iPhone, she, being the generous type, told me I could have her Blackberry. You would have thought that she told me I was going to meet the cast of Six Feet Under by the way my face lit up. I obviously complied with her offer.

So after I spent a few hours playing with my hip, expensive phone, I began to feel this sense of power. Like I was officially a true professional with a Blackberry. I even felt cool holding the phone up to my ear. This is materialism at it's best. I felt a sense of power, which led to a new identity, from a simple item that I owned. It's pretty sad if you think about it but I couldn't help myself. However, that feeling subsided once I realized that I was being judged by my Blackberry.

Some brands, like Blackberry's, are so strong that the general consensus is that Blackberry caters to the upperclass population. Brands have the power to make us feel like we are a part of it. So, in a way, they give us an identity. The downside to this is that others, also, assign us an identity primarily by the brands we support, which could oftentimes be incorrect. So when people would see me with my Blackberry, they would say, "look at you and your expensive Blackberry" or "ohhh, you have a Blackberry", thus, implying that I had money. I actually had to explain myself and say, "It's not what you think, my friend gave it to me." I don't like how people automatically assume that because I have a Blackberry, I am rich. That's not the case, I just know people who have money. Ha. Ha.

But don't you think it's twisted, yet funny that we are judged by the materials we own? I'm tempted to go out unknown wearing an over-sized tweety bird t-shirt, jean shorts, keds, tease my hair with lots of hairspray and put on some blue eye shadow, heavy mascara and black eyeliner. What do you think people's impression would be? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that everyone would assume that I am lower class, uneducated and own a trailer.

Basically, we could be anything people want us to be by the items we own/wear. If you think about it, the things we own tell a story about who we are. In particular, we buy clothes that are parallel with our identity. There are some clothes that I don't buy because "they aren't me" and I think you can agree. What we wear is rhetorical. If I am out wearing khaki shorts, Columbia hiking shoes, and a Patagonia fleece, you can pretty much determine that I am an outdoor-oriented individual.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that we can very easily fool people by what we own. Our core doesn't matter. Our appearence does, which, excuse me, sucks because people can be too quick to judge. Let's admit it, we all are guilty. We don't give each other a chance to discover what makes up our core. It's a cliche statement but it's true. You can't judge a book by it's cover. Maybe we can change the world if we make an effort to not judge someone and to actually find out who they are as a person, not as a material. But that will be challenging because as Madonna says, "We live in a material world."

Hello Originality? You out there?

Remember that time when you were in school and you had on an outfit that you knew looked good on you? And then you look over and see that someone else is wearing the exact same thing. Oh the horror! Let's hope you didn't sit next to the person in class because that's even more awkward. In my own memory, I couldn't help but wonder if I at least bought the outfit first. However, why is it that we feel so territorial when we see that we own the same item of clothing as somebody else? Maybe because we want to create our own style, which means we ain't sharing our image with nobody else! Even though it's different in it's own light, I see the same thing occur with advertisements.


The other day I was sitting on my couch, soaking up life and watching TV when a commercial came on for the new Lavender Lilac Gain. The commercial had the potential to be great, but to me, it failed miserably. It starts out in a hotel room with a woman laying in bed, snuggling blissfully in the covers, and practically moaning as she sniffs the soothing scent of the freshly washed sheets. Cue to the door and in walks a couple who just checked into the room. The woman in bed turns out to be the housekeeper and she calmly and without saying a word, gets out of bed, makes the bed, throws two mints on the pillows and walks out the door. Funny right? Well then Gain uses the tagline, "could you use a moment?". With that, I IMMEDIATELY thought of Twix's "need a moment?" tagline. Ouch. That's not good. Shame on you Gain advertisers. Maybe the people at Twix will send you a pity box of Twix candybars so you can take a moment to think about what you did wrong. Here's a hint, where's the orginality?!


I'm sorry but if I worked for an advertising agency, which I'm trying to, I would not have let that commecial be produced until we came up with an original, jaulting tagline so that we could call it our own, rather than be perceived as reminiscent of Twix's commercials, which practically has the same premise with the awkward moments. Or if I liked the idea so much, I would have evolved it into something better, but different. The whole point of an advertisment is to make a mark in someone's mind. Twix already made their mark in mine with their "need a moment" commecials. Therefore, I couldn't accept Gain's "could you use a moment" commercial because my mind was already programmed to Twix.


Here's another example, there is this billboard for First Citizens bank that uses the same colors, font and similar design as Detla airlines. So whenever I'm approaching the billboard I think that it's an advertisement for Delta but then I read the words and company logo and realize it's for First Citizens Bank. Again, First Citizens had a chance to make a mark in my mind but they didn't due to the fact that my mind was already programmed to Delta's colors and font. I guess when brainstorming and comparing the different colors and fonts, Delta's just flew right over their head.


Any work I do has to be original and brilliant. I don't want to be a reflection. I expect the same from advertising/branding agencies, especially since their work is viewed and perceived by the general population of consumers. They have a chance to change the world and the only way they can do it is if they embrace the notion of originality and it's potential to make a serious impact on us.