Good PR: Kiehls and Brad Pitt team up for Charity

Want to groom like Brad Pitt? It’s ok, we all do. Well now the mega movie star, philanthropist, and father of six has teamed up with Kiehl’s to create the brand’s first 100% eco-friendly product. Kiehl’s Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser hit stores back in October and is set to be a permanent addition to the brand’s renowned line of products. One hundred percent of the proceeds from sales of the body wash will go towards JPF Eco Systems, a new non-profit launched by Pitt and Kiehl’s.

Brad is one of several stars, like Natalie Portman, who are taking a new direction in celebrity endorsements. Instead of using their famous faces just to sell designer clothing or their own perfume lines, these stars are raising awareness that eco-friendly products can also be stylish. What’s more, is that neither Mr. Pitt nor Kiehl’s profits from the arrangement giving greater credibility to both brands and more effectively bringing awareness to a cause both parties lobby for regularly. 

Brad will not be featured in any ads for the product, but he did write a note that appears on the label. 100% of the profits will go to JPF Eco Systems, a green charity Brad created with Kiehls. WWD estimates that through this initiative, over $1 million will go towards supporting ecologically friendly projects around the globe.

Brad’s handwritten note reads: Kiehl’s formulated this product to minimize the impact we have on our environment. All proceeds will go to benefit green initiatives around the globe.

Commenting on the lack of print advertisements bearing Pitt’s famous face, Kiehl’s senior VP of Global Marketing, Roberta Weiss, told WWD, “Brad is not a face, he’s a partner. We shared a vision, to support this new way of thinking – being more eco-intelligent.”

Of course, Kiehl’s might sell a lot more if there were ads featuring Brad in the shower sudsing up with the cleanser.

Bad PR: Inconsistent Identity – Carl’s Jr. and Padma Lakshmi

Carl’s Jr. premiered their latest advertisement this week featuring model-thin author and Bravo network Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi enjoying Carl’s latest heart-attack-inducing, artery-clogging burger creation. Lakshmi, in slow-motion, sits on a stoop, hikes up her skirt and takes big mouthfuls of a Western Bacon Thickburger, and it drips on the ground and runs down her hand.

 While this commercial is the latest Carl’s Jr. ad campaign to feature a thin, beautiful, and relevant celebrity it differentiates from previous commercials featuring the likes of Paris Hilton in that Lakshmi’s entire creed is based on being extremely knowledgeable about food and knowing what one puts in their own body. Isn’t it highly ironic that Carl’s Jr. sought the famed beauty to do a fast food commercial?

 This move seems somewhat off-brand as, according to calorie lab, Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Six Dollar chest-clutching cardiac event contains 57 grams of fat (87.7% of the recommended daily allowance) 26 grams of saturated fat (over 100% of the recommended daily allowance), and clocks in at a whopping 960 calories. Though as far as I know, it has not showed up at thisiswhyyourefat.com, yet.

While Padma Lakshmi seemingly from afar is the perfect mold for a typical Carl’s Jr. commercial, their motives are off-kilter ultimately discrediting Padma’s most vital voice: her own. 

Government Involvement in Social Media

In 2007, Hillary Clinton was blasted throughout the media for attempting to reach a younger audience through the social media phenomenon Twitter. No one faulted the presidential candidate for embracing technology to further the strength of her campaign and becoming more connected with critics and supporters alike, but it became painstakingly obvious within a month that neither Ms. Clinton nor her staff were “following” anyone. 

Since that time, an increasing amount of government agencies have leaped head-first into twitter and the like in hopes of opening the lines of communication with the public. According to the Dallas Observer on Thursday, April 16, 2009 the Denton, TX police have followed suit. According to city spokesman Ryan Grelle, the twitter account is actually not affiliated with the city and is operated by a University of Texas student seeking to inform the masses of the amount of material available to the public, the city has looked to get involved with Twitter in the future after creating a MySpace page a year prior. Grelle went on to explain “Say we had a murder, and we had some video — almost like putting out press releases and asking, ‘Have you seen this suspect?’ That’s what we’re looking to use it for, not to put people’s pictures up and have the whole world see they were arrested for forgery.”

So the question remains, are social media websites appropriate forums for government agencies to release information? As long as the forums are used to solve justice and provide the tax paying public with important information, than I support such endeavors. However, I caution that it’s possible that such a process could first, tip-off guilty parties and allow for an easier escape prior to arrest and second, might influence public opinion of a suspect prior to a trial of peers. We’re all innocent until proven guilty, right?

AIG changes their name…. And no, not to IOU

 

Recently, AIG chief Edward Liddy was looking to change the company’s “thoroughly wounded and disgraced” name, he told Capitol Hill, “I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we’re probably going to have to change it.”

The massive insurance operation will from here on out be known as AIU Holdings, Ltd., a process that began with several workmen removing the most reviled building sign in downtown Manhattan; that of embattled insurer American International Group, Inc.

It’s pretty obvious that the re-branding of the company is a poor attempt to distance the company from the disgrace that the AIG name has created amongst taxpayers. I have to wonder if the guys in the ivory tower now known as AIU Holdings Ltd, actually think that switching signs on the building entrance will make people forget the last year or so?

AIG has said it may sell the headquarter building, as part of its drive to raise funds to repay its debt to the U.S. government.

I think AIG should change their name to GAG. They will only have to buy one vowel, which is about all they can afford.

If only ENRON had thought of that–now that everyone in America recognizes your company name as synonymous with corruption–change the name!

Celebrity Tweeting

The “Queen of Media” Perez Hilton recently began engaging in Twitter in hopes to reach his ever-growing audience through another forum. A great deal of celebrity are already twitter users and hope to “relate” to their audience through this social media phenomenon. Others, such as Lindsey Lohan embrace twitter as a means to air dirty laundry. While I hold celebrities to a near-same standard as the rest of the public and support such social media usage, I scratch my head at celebrity bloggers such as Perez Hilton using such a medium to further announce the same news available on his record-setting gossip website. 

At what point do social media forums become repetitive and ineffective? Should twitter simultaneously emulate blogs that individuals author as well? While I appreciate another forum to communicate with Mr. Hilton, looking at his twitter homepage I find myself concluding that, like his blog, Mr. Hilton only seeks to engage in discourse with his celebrity friends.

Corporate Philanthropy

The very first pair of shoes I purchased with my own money were Toms Shoes. I clearly remember waking up on a snowy Minnesota morning during my freshman year of college and ordering two pairs of shoes that made me feel like a hippy-liberal college student. As my aunt would later say, “Oh! The Horror!!” Mark Mycoskie and his shoe brand, Toms, has one very simple motive: One for One. Basically, this means that for every pair of Toms shoes purchased, the company will donate one pair of Toms shoes to children of need in Argentina and other desperate portions of the globe. Early this morning I woke to what appeared to be a commercial for this non-profit brand, but what turned out to be an advertisement for AT&T. 

What struck me most about this commercial is that without corporate interference Toms was allowed to get their message across. Even more, a brand as large as AT&T managed to avoid obnoxious corporate sponsorship. While we have all been bombarded with corporate appeals to their philanthropic side, rarely do these conglomerates revel in this philanthropy without public attention. Everything is for a profit afterall, right? Yes, AT&T is able to market their vast cellular coverage within the commercial, but more importantly Mark Mycoskie is able to talk about Toms, what purchasing Toms shoes will do to his cause, and how AT&T offers service without simply throwing millions-upon-millions of dollars towards a solution that really needs public attention more than corporate sponsorship.

Fear Advertisements

Within the past week I was exposed to a great deal of HIV advertisements while competing at forensics tournament in Akron, OH. The Midwest has taken a proactive approach to the disease via an active and aggressive campaign encouraging individuals to get tested: 

Midwest HIV Advertisement

All I could think was how extremely effective this campaign was in getting the message in my head without scaring me to avoid testing or discussion of the topic. It’s no secret that the United States censors content more than any other nation, but this simple advertisement and it’s lack of shock value is actually more effective than HIV advertisements in countries such as Australia that literally plaster scare tactics on highways to “enlighten” it’s audience …

European HIV Advertisement

There is great stigma around the HIV virus and I fear that these scare tactics used in European countries only further progress these stigmas. While it is cliche to say less is more, I believe the midwest is effective in it’s proactive approach to bring attention to the illness without scaring the “bajesus” out of it’s audience.

Flying high in this economy

Greetings, Bigwigs, Muckety-Mucks, Private Jetters, Big Cheeses, Head Honchos, Captains of Industry, Big Spenders, CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, C Whatever Os, Hedge Funders, Investment Bankers, Moguls, Tycoons, Robber Barons, Capitalists … WELCOME ABOARD

This is the greeting business executives come across with JetBlue’s new promotion aimed for the CFO on the go at JetBlue’s website: www.jetblue.com/deals/welcomebigwigs/

Discount airliner offers a new ad campaign mocking the forced frugality the upper-class elite of the business world are now being forced to embrace. Months ago consumers caught on to the expense accounts Ford Motor executives charged while begging congress for money. More recently, AIG executives are being lynched for welcoming bonuses while lower-level employees are being cut across the board.

In an economy clouded with doubt, it’s refreshing for an airline company to show us all the silver lining … or as the company says: “blue lining.” Just because the travel industry is lagging doesn’t mean corporations should pull the plug on advertisements. If anything, they should pour more money into a resource that can bring their company into the forefront of their industry. Like Volvo has done in the auto industry, JetBlue is  doing in the airline industry – taking advantage of timid competitors and making more with less. This website-based ad campaign, which will be followed with a series of commercials, is already being applauded on prominent media outlets such as Good Morning America and MSNBC. So while it is understandable that finances are tight in this recession, it is not fathomable why companies are wallowing in sinking stock prices and not adjusting to change.

So while it is hard to feel sorry for pre-recession bigwigs, JetBlue has found a way to be accommodating to everyone.

Advertainment

Within the past week there has been a surge of media coverage on reality programming following The Bachelor and it’s shocking season 17 finale. It wasn’t until today when the contestant, Jason, was interviewed on the Ellen Degeneres show that I noticed something far more upsetting than an unsuspected break of engagement: the blatant use of product placement. 

If you pay close attention to the video at the 1:07 mark, you will notice the camera zooms in on the opened engagement ring box that boldly says Neil Lane monogrammed on the inside. While I’m a fan of reality television and understand that certain reality programming such as former NBC hit “The Restaurant” are funded solely by product placement, I do not understand how producers fathom that this might be appealing to audiences. Commercials lead to the success of newspapers, radio programming, and television, but it irks me beyond belief when shows do what I feel is “selling-out.” When shows like MTV’s The Real World and NBC’s The Bachelor disregard viewer enjoyment to make many extra dollars, it makes me loathe the products being pushed on-screen and force me to consciously avoid those products when paroozing the marketplace.

Sorry NBC and Neil Lane, but I’ll now be taking my business to Tiffany’s.

“Walken” towards responsible tweeting?

In the early hours of this cloudy Friday the 13th I discovered the literary genius of actor Christopher Walken … on twitter. My eye was immediately drawn to a March 6th tweet that read:

“An escalator in Grand Central Station is out-of-service. I stood on it for a minute or two in the name of subtle irony. No-one else did.”

As I take a gentle leap into the world of social networking, specifically twitter, I offer two questions: Is substance relevant? and What defines responsible tweeting? In a forum where Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Milli Jacobs are being followed by people that also converse with Steve Jobs and Steve “Woz” Wozniak, I have to wonder how anyone can offer anything of substance in a mere 140 character space. 

So I turn to you all for answers … what constitutes quality tweeting and has the world of social networking substituted substance with immediacy?