The SHAM-WOW Does it work?

I first saw "Sham-Wow" at a sears outlet store. I had also seen it in a commercial advertised by Billy Mays. At first I was overwhelmed by its use. It soaked up everything. It seemed like a vacuum which left no mess! The "Sham-Wow" sold for $19:95 and came with four "Sham-Wows". I took it home, to try it out. To my disappointment I realized the company had cheated me! It didn’t work. It did not soak 12 times the liquid as they said it would.

I didn’t know why it wasn’t working for me when it worked right before my eyes at the sears. Could they have been using a different "Sham-Wow" for demonstration, or was the one I bought defected?

Why did I buy it? Maybe because the guy told me I wasted twenty dollars a month on paper towels, and for that same twenty dollars I could have eight Sham Wows. These Sham Wows are guaranteed to last ten years! I had wasted my money!

In my opinion I think the company cheat their costumers. They used different advertising techniques to sell their products to make the consumers buy their products. Their product doesn't do what they say it does.

What do you think? Is "Sham Wow" cheating their costumers to make money? Have you ever tried the "Sham-Wow" and did it work for you?

Advertising Techniques

Advertisements are all carefully constructed to appeal to your senses. You watch something on television, and think; "Hey, that looks amazing... I need to buy it." It probably isn't as great as it seems. The media and companies have carefully decided on advertising techniques to catch the eyes of certain targets, who are most likely to buy their products.

Well, there are things used for these products, such as color, camera angles, lighting, music, sounds, the product itself, and more. For example in the picture above, it shows a shiny new car the company is selling. What makes this car better than any other car? Nothing, except that its shiny, and looks nice. It probably doesn't have any other advantages that the usual cars don't have. The company hired the media to advertise this car, and they used techniques to sell this car. First off, the camera angle is a full shot of the car, and its showing the back of the car, which is the coolest looking part of the car, attracting attention. They make the lighting bright, but still showing shadow, though the brightness makes the car shine, and look pretty and appealing. The angle is overhead, and slanted slightly, because straight on angles aren't as appealing. Diagnal or tilted angles give a move

ment and exciting feel. The overhead view makes you look down on the car, but it makes it look like your main target, and you have to have it. The slightest little techniques will make a product look a million times better than it may be. Does the car below look as appealing? Noooope.

To appeal to gender, colour is often used. As described in my previous blog, stereotyping the colours boys and girls are suppose to like, takes place in advertising. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Cool, strong, manly colours for males. Pretty, bright, girly colours for the females. This car is directed mostly towards males. Its a grey/silver, and its a duller colour, not very bright, and its a truck. Directed more towards men. Also, its a bigger car, showing the strength of men. Now if you get a small white minivan, or tiny purple car, its directed towards woman. Isn't that odd? People should decide what they want no matter who its directed to, and that's what we do. Advertisements don't always work, though the techniques catch our eye, we don't fall for it all the time.

Other ways of advertising could consist of things directed to your country to show patriotism, or your background, your interests, or if your a regular person, living a regular life, there's the plain folk appeal. Other appeals would be snob appeal, card stacking (giving more and more positives without negatives), bandwagon, facts and figures, weasel words, and more. Most common in commercials is card stacking, like when they advertise Sham Wow, or things to cut vegetables in your kitchen. They stack the positives about the product, and don't tell you "They don't work as well as this product." Or "It'll break in 3 weeks and we wont give you your money back!" :D YEAH! They also repeat the product name to engrave it in your brain SHAM WOW. So when your watching television, take a look SHAM WOW at the commercials, and try to pick out the advertising techniques SHAM WOW used. You'll notice how they drew you in SHAM WOW in the first place. :) SHAM WOW.

By the way, the same goes for when the media advertises womens clothes. They make the women look sexier, so you'll buy the clothes, and that encourages EATING DISORDERS AND SELF CONCIOUSNESS! So beware, don't fall for the traps, be yourself, buy what you need, and don't give in to peer pressure.

- The Queen of Neptune.

Extreme Couponing

Extreme Couponing on TLC is a new reality show that started mid April. This reality TV show is about people in the United States who go to shopping, usually to the grocery store, with binders full of coupons ready to hit the shelves. These people come prepared to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on groceries, however after the use of all their coupons (which they organized weeks in advanced for one shopping trip) plus store credit, plus manufacturers coupons, these people end up leaving the store spending only a few dollars.

This show was an instant hit when it first came onto TLC. It pulls in those of us wanting to save a few bucks when going to the store. However by watching this show you may think that these people do not have a lot of money and are simply cheap, especially when they explain in interviews that “Full price is the Eff word in this household”, however these people are far from uneducated and most do have more than enough money to spend. Most of them have at least a bachelors’ degree in a field such as data management or business, which is what allows them to micromanage their coupons. With these skills these folks cannot fail.

They work very diligently to make sure they don’t spend more than their target which is usually over 80% savings for each shopping trip. They work for weeks leading up to one trip. Most of the time these people spend up to 6 hours a day collecting coupons from neighbors, newspapers or even dumpsters, as well as additional time organizing all the coupons into groups so they can double up the savings when they finally go for their shopping trip.

Sometimes having up to 6 carts full of groceries at the end of a shopping trip you would be happy to not be the cashier for these people. However as one woman explained it’s always a strategy when going in for a shopping trip. These people have everything planned out to a T. From picking which cashier they’re going to what time of day their shopping trip is at to ordering a large quantity of food if they’re going to be buying to store out. Nothing is left to chance.

If your interested in becoming an extreme couponer in Canada it is not impossible! The rules for couponing are much different in the United States than here. In the U.S. you can double up coupons and use as many as you want plus their store discount cards are worth more money than they are here. However, being an extreme couponer in Canada is still possible! Just last week my mom saw an extreme couponer in the grocery store ready with her binder and calculator. If you want to get tips on saving money, tune into TLC Wednesday nights at 9 to watch these extreme couponers save more than you can imagine!

Yours in Reality, Sam

i thought u were selling clothes ...... not SEX !!!!

Every time we walk down the street we are shown sexualised images trying to sell a product ...... or are they just selling sex !!!! the other day i was trying to look for some clothes that i would like to purchase at American apparel and i came across very sexualised images ( claiming to be selling the clothes ), it was shocking to see completely exposed women, its like a form of legal porn !!! this store is popular among many tweens ........ so when they go to this site what are they being told??? that these clothes are for sexy girls ..... therefore these girls will get the message to "be sexier" girls as young as 7 are hearing the message that they have to be sexy....... the media is taking away little girls innocence, and making them grow up WAYYYY to fast !!!. but if you think of it ....... does grown up mean being sexy ... NOO !!! grown up is being able to see past the fake and unrealistic messages that the media tries to push at us !! so we need to take a stand against companies that sexualise their products by selling sex rather than just the product !!!

Now It's Set

This is just a quick update considering I only finished my last blog a day ago.

The NBA finals is officially set to be the Dallas Mavericks of the Western Conference to face off against the Miami Heat of the Eastern conference.

This means that each team is the champion of their own respective conference... but who is going to be the team to be the league champion?

If memory serves right, then it will be the Miami Heat to win the title, and it is a tough argument for sure. Wade, Lebron, Bosh and the healthy Udonis Haslem is a strong line, but the Mavericks won't go down without a fight.

The Mavericks lost to the Heat a few years ago in the NBA finals, were Dywane Wade led his team to the title. He since then has recruited some more talent, but so has Dallas.

You should already know my stand on Dirk and the Mavs, and I still hope that they win, not only because I favor them, but because Dirk doesn't have a championship ring. He won the NBA MVP in 2007, but has not gotten to be named on a championship team.

Dirk has been phenominal, and I can't wait to see how this series turns out.

With all the talent on these two teams, I wouldn't be surprised if it went to all 7 games to decide the winner.

The Fashion Industry Wears the Pants (and designs them too)

It's hard to believe apart from designing clothes, shoes, and accessories; the fashion industry can also manipulate and influence the public as well. The fashion industry creates a huge impact in our society, sometimes without us even realizing it. People are fascinated with keeping up with the latest trends and must-have items. Even if it's an ugly fur miniskirt or mustard yellow liquid leggings, fashionistas are bound to conform, no matter how ridiculous the garment may look. But then again, fashion is art, so it may appeal to some and not to others. If the designs weren't associated with fashion houses like Gucci, Prada, or Louis Vuitton, people would view them differently and with a more open mind. The public is also inspired by notable designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander Wang, and Marc Jacobs. Fashion designers can be seen as iconic to many people interested in pursuing a career in the fashion industry, or who are simply just interested in fashion. Similar to actors or musicians, it's pretty amazing when a designer starts off at design school and later on becomes a style influence for the world.

Personally, I enjoy the designs from Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and Louis Vuitton. Even though these brands are contrasting, in terms of style, they all still appeal to me. Marc Jacobs' designs emit a fun, bold, and quirky essence, while Alexander Wang's work has an effortlessly cool and edgy feel to it.

It's a diverse place out there in the world of fashion and we can quite easily be swept away by it.

Finally! A finale for Celebrity Apprentice!

Donald Trump FINALLY put his own ego aside and crowned Country Singer-John Rich-the new Celebrity Apprentice last Sunday night. Some would call a painstaking process-Donald dragged out several of his seasons shows to an outrageous two hours!! We watched many Board Room scenes go on for sometimes 45 minutes of arguing, defending and accusing. The craziest competition to date, it came down to two very committed, hard working and successful fundraising contenders-Oscar Winning Actress Marley Matlin and country singer John Rich.

This was one of the wackiest of times for long time Apprentice watchers. These celebrities were pitted against each other very week in a variety of tasks to raise money for charity (all good!). Aside from the confrontational personalities, there was always enough go to go around the room twice. Tempers flared ad there was never a dull moment!

The “fun” started right at the beginning with Star Jones who can come off as elitist, controlling and a manipulator of other participants, particularly Lisa Reena who possesses such a threat that Star was out to get her right away. And she did! Star seemed to have Donald’s’ support right from the start, until it came to Ne Ne Leakes…the “housewife from Atlanta.”

Fun for us watchers as sparks flew between Ne Ne and Star, as well as the others who were around including LaToya (I’m famous because I’m a Jackson) Jackson who Ne Ne called “Casper the Ghost” !!

The other wacky one who created lots of drama and chaos was Gary Busey. We’re talking…WAY out there! He seems to have lots of issues when interacting with others due to a brain injury, his communication problems kept the men’s team on edge. Singer Mark McGrath, Survivor show winner, Richard Hatch and rapper Lil Jon as well as asing singer Meat Loaf provided lots o conflicts and hard work for their charities.

Overall this edition of Celebrity Apprentice should have been called “Celebrities Behaving Badly and Raising Money for Charity!”

Donald Trump and his over privileged offspring overshadowed the temperamental, overindulged wacky contestants this time. It was like a train wreck every week…one we knew was going to happen that we just couldn’t take our eyes off of!

I’m happy for John Rich, sad for the second runner up Marley Matlin, thrilled for the charities that will benefit from all the money raised and waiting on the edge of my seat to see what Donald trump and Mark Burnett (producer) will b able to come up with for next season! It will be hard to top this one…Sunday nights will be awfully quiet without the Celebrity Apprentice this summer!

Yours in Reality, Sam.

VID-Y-O-GAMES

Hot diggidy darn, children, this is my first blog post and I am ready to get the proverbial party started. First off, what's the diggidy-deal with video games nowadays? I mean, a good chunk of video games are either movie cash-ins, bland first person shooters with linear hallways and some sort of failed gimmick, or bugged out messes where you'll get stuck in a wall and rotate endlessly. What happened to the good ole days of the original Resident Evil games or Super Mario 64, or even Bubble Bobble. BUBBLE. BOBBLE. Seriously though, only a handful of games really catch my attention these days, and odds are most of them have been made (or at least published) by the same few companies.

Did I ever tell you kids about the time they made a video game about me? I was working as a par-time plumber in Little Italy when a couple of them Japanese fellows came up to me and offered me a multi-million dollar video game deal. They called me Super Mario and I was an instant hit with the children! Sure, the little pixel representation of myself doesn't look EXACTLY like me but I still got recognized on the street a few times. Still gettin' paid for it these 20 or so years later. Awwwwright.

Anyways, games need to stop being awful and start being great, like the Final Fantasies and the Metal Gear Solids and the Silent Hills (well most of them). More developers need to start caring about what their time is going into instead of just pushing it out as fast as you can to make a quick buck (I'm looking at you, EA!). Long story short, I'm mad that video games aren't as cool as they used to be, a bloo bloo bloo. Well, that's what I have to say, so if you disagree you can just deal with it, boyyyyyy.