Just How Far Can We Go?

               For those of you who are unfamiliar with this person, this is Brandi Chastain.  In other words, the hero of the 1999 Women’s World Cup.  Just seconds before striking this pose, Chastain kicked a game winning penalty shot to give U.S.A. the victory over China.  This action raised eyebrows though.  She scored, came running to the sidelines while undressing like she spotted Brad Pitt, and slid on her knees all while screaming in glory.  For everyone who wasn’t caught up in the win, there were some left offended.  Oh, and did I mention this was broadcasted worldwide?  As a sports fan I really don’t see the wrong in this but just 2 super bowls ago, pop singer Janet Jackson had her top ripped off by Justin Timberlake while performing at halftime.  What?  She had a glittery looking star covering part of her breast.  Well, ya, a sports bra does cover a lot more but you see where I’m going.  When is it offensive and when is it the cover of Sports Illustrated?  Where is the line drawn?

If only Ms. Jackson ripped her shirt off when the Patriots won.

Ahhh, Diet Pepsi

In my previous entry I discussed the type of advertisement called sex appeal.  Here is a commercial that aired during the football season last year.  It’s for Diet Pepsi.  This type of approach is a humor appeal.  This covers a more broad group of viewers.  This kind seems a little more logical simply because, as a viewer, you can get a good laugh out of it while still focusing on the product.  With the sex appeal (as a guy) you could get thrown off and only pay attention to the brunette mud wrestling with the blonde in the background.  Meanwhile the product is right in front of you. 

Enjoy the commercial.

Twins or Beer?

As you can tell, this is an ad for Coors Light.  Ads like these attract attention right away.  I understand that it’s probably geared toward men but c’mon ladies, if you saw this on a bus driving by, it would catch your eye.  This type of approach is called the sex appeal.  More and more companies are using this type for similar products; Beer, cigarettes, tools, body spray… you name it.  It’s amazing though if you really sit and think about what the advertising companies are trying to do here.  Is this saying that if I drink Coors Light, i’ll get one wild and crazy night with twins like these at the crack of me opening the can?  For women’s sake, is this saying that by drinking Coors Light, you can look like this?  It’s incredible that this approach even works!!  But, it does simply because the way us Americans are.  The advertising companies know what the people want and with all the media floating around right now talking about how you can make yourself look better, smell better, or become simply irresistable, it’s no wonder why this task works.  You know what the sad thing is.  Looking at this picture really does make me want Coors Light.  Oh man, I fall right into the rat race.

One Away

Here is Barry Bonds.

He is now tied for the most home runs hit by any baseball player ever.  He cranked number 755 for his career tying Hank Aaron.  One more will put him in the books as the record holder.  The hype surrounding this soon-to-be moment is incredible.  Did he take steriods?  Did he not?  Does it even matter?  Many baseball fans believe that Bonds’ career is going to be defined by a tiny symbol (*).  Asterisk.  It’s sad if this is true but no one can deny the fact that hitting 756 home runs is unheard of! 

In a nutshell, if there was a photo that would sit next to the career that Bonds has had, it’d be this one.  His famous home run swing.  Instead of hitting the ball and immediately running to first, he just watches it.  If you watch a highlight tape of the home runs he’s hit, this stance would be very repetitive.  A photo can capture millions of memories, but for Bonds’ sake this photo, so far, has captured 755 memories.

A great example of combining animation with real life is the movie “Space Jam”.  This instant classic popped up in the box office in 1996.  It was a great success considering the entire movie almost always had a cartoon character and a real person in the frame (that’s bluescreen magic for ya).  “Space Jam” won multiple awards ranging from best animated feature to best song from a movie.  It also was a great hit simply because the combination of animation and real life hadn’t been tested too many times yet.  “Mary Poppins” was another example of the combination but besides that, no one really tested the water.  It has all the comedy of a cartoon and also has the real life situations that real life movies have.  The biggest reason for its success is simply because you don’t have to know or like basketball to enjoy the movie.  The movie was obviously geared toward children, and since the looney toons were able to be seen on the big screen, that was enough.  It also doesn’t hurt to have one of the main characters to be the greatest basketball player to ever lace up either.  All in all, visual media has come so far that with movies like “Space Jam” and ”Mary Poppins”, it’s starting to feel like anything is possible in the movie industry.