Girls

I’ve been reading Packaging Girlhood by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown. The book shows the impact of female-targeted marketing on society and women’s self-perception as a result.

One of the common stereotypes portrayed in the media is the “cool” girl. This girl is into “boy” things, like video games, sports, or comic books. In a sitcom, this girl always has a snappy come back or a witty one-liner, and acts tough but remains cute. This stereotype shuns “traditional” things deemed feminine, such as the color pink, flowers and stuffed animals in favor of something more sporty. This girl has an independent attitude and, to borrow Ja Rule’s parlance, is a “down ass chick.” Girls not into Princess Barbie use this person as a role model.

But with this identity comes a certain preconception. The “cool” girl gives up her feminine side by trying to distance herself from common girl activities, such as shopping or putting on makeup. The pre-packaged cool girl isn’t the free spirit we think she is. By shunning all things feminine she states that women must give up their softer side to achieve “cool.” The media doesn’t show a balance between punk rock chick and sorority sister, the independent thinker and the stereotype. It’s one or the other.

The book describes several instances where this rings true. In the interest of me getting to bed at a decent hour, I will refer you to page 61 of the book (it’s a good read. A used copy only runs $5 before shipping).

What I find interesting is how this sexism has affected me. Years of admiring the spunky television starlet has convinced me to seek out the “down ass chick.” I tend to like people that go against the norm, ones that fight against roles established by society. I always thought that my interest in these girls was a result of my hipster sympathies and a bit of admiration for strong-willed individuals. In actuality, it’s probably because Lady Jaye on G.I. Joe impressed me as she beat on Cobra Vipers only to turn around and make out with Flint and Punky Brewster was the perfect balance of cute and free spirit.

My response to this branding is almost Pavlovian. By falling for a certain look and being into interests associated with the “cool” girl stereotype, I can be categorized and targeted by marketers. Some suit in a room must be really proud of him or herself right now. The anti-corporation belief system I’ve been fed is actually a cash swindle on behalf of consumerism. I’m part of an audience that beliefs itself immune to the influence of marketing departments. I buy the products that suggest I’m different, read the magazines that tell me how to do things differently, and my Apple iPod suggests that I “think different.” I always thought I was pretty market savvy and didn’t buy into the hype, but I’ve come to find that commercialism’s influence runs very deep. Scary, huh?

Try advertising on the web, the phonebook doesn’t cut it anymore

Recently I’ve noticed that Web sites and online presence are an afterthought for many companies. They still use press releases and advertising as their main strategies of informing the public of their product and services.

In my opinion (which is final - this is my site and I’ll cry if I want to), a Web presence should play a major role an advertising campaign in this digital age. With younger people spending less time in front the television or reading newspaper, a Web site could be the only chance you have to reach your targeted demographic. A site is an integral part of your awareness campaign; money needs to be spent to make the site attractive and user-friendly.

You should think of your Web site as your storefront. When a person sees your store and it looks like crap, people will:

1. Stop coming in
2. Think poorly of your product
3. Think poorly of you
4. All of the above

Same thing goes for the Web. If your site looks like garbage and is frustrating to navigate, it turns people off and you’ve lost a customer.

To measure your site’s traffic and appeal use a web metrics tool, such as Google Analytics. Google Analytics is free, easy to set up and will provide a wealth of information in attractive pie charts (mmm, pie) or bar graphs. An important statistic is bounce rate. Bounce rate means a person visits your site and does not click on any other links before leaving your page. If your bounce rate is above 30 percent, I recommend some serious homepage revisions. Could the graphic scat-porn images and flashing banner ads with sound be an immediate turn off? Chances are yes, people don’t want to see someone taking a mouthful of excrement while listening to something worse than a flavor-of-the-week rap song ringtone.

Getting your page into the top 10 Google search results is important, but an appealing site that serves your target audience’s needs will do just that. If your customers like your site, they will link to it, pass it on to their friends and blog about it - all factors in seriously increasing your Google page rank.

The Internets are FAKE?!

Gillmor mentions a couple different hoaxes perpetuated by people pretending to be something they were not using the Internet and fake credientials.

This resonated with me as I was watching G4’s Attack of the Show. Kevin and Olivia are showing us the internet clips of the day. One video’s final frames display the Sony logo and another video briefly focuses on a UPS label on a box a kid shoots with a homemade potato gun. Kevin says, “Those have to be viral videos.”

Olivia responds, “You think everything is a viral video. Say it with me, not everything is a viral video.”

Kevin mimes, “Not everything is a viral video… most of them are, because everything on the internet is fake.”

And that is true. We don’t realize it yet, but we’ve been inundated with viral videos containing ninja-like placement of product. I’ve seen a couple videos that I’ve thought were product placements that I found extremely annoying. There is something about them that feels too produced to actually be real. See: Bride-Hair Freakout (some hair product placement).

I get upset when I find out the video I’m watching is an advertisement. I’m watching a video for entertainment, not to be sold something. When the video I’m watching that turns out to be a commercial in disguise, I get angry. I feel suckered into listening to someone’s message that I did not want to hear. I want ads to be upfront with what they are, not feel like someone has tried to quickly pass something off as credible entertainment.

On the flip side of these viral videos comes marketing. I do like viral marketing campaigns. Some people have come up with great viral games, where you have to solve the puzzle and look for clues. Halo 2 had a great viral internet campaign; the latest CD by Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero, had a wonderful little web story to help flesh out the idea behind their album concept; I still haven’t figured out everything at the Donnie Darko site. It is a great way to get information across if the audience is willing to take the time to figure out the little clues they are given. This method won’t work for a majority of campaigns because only the most diligent of consumers/fans will get involved with these puzzles.