TV Show Improves Relations?

As I was sitting around yesterday on my early Spring Break sifting through a plethora of descriptions for internships and jobs, I found myself watching a brand new TV show on Style Network called Running In Heels. I usually don't get too into reality shows (and I do realize that I made references to them in my last blog as well), but this one, I found myself following along with the three girls who were off to New York City to intern at Marie Claire magazine. Seeing as I'm looking for such an internship or job myself, this was quite intriguing for me. It shows the lives of three 20-something women and their work experiences for the magazine including writing, photo shoots, promotional events, and so on.

Intern Samantha at Marie Claire

While I did enjoy the show, and can't wait for the next episode now, I couldn't help but think what kind of impact this show would have for Marie Claire itself. Surely, they arranged for the reality show with Style Network in the hopes of gaining more readers, but in what way? Advertising for a magazine and sending out promotional materials (LAST ISSUE! SUBSCRIBE NOW, AND YOU'LL GET A COMPLIMENTARY HANDBAG!) can only get you so far. So, I can imagine that by showing their inner workings to a style concious reality TV show watcher they could build a deeper relationship with the viewers. The viewer might feel more inclined to by Marie Claire if they can see how the magazine is put together with care and consideration. They might feel as though they can support and help out the people that they're seeing on the television show like they were their own friend. Even if somone never gets to actually meet or even see Nina Garcia in person, Marie Claire's new Fashion Director, they can buy the magazine and show their support. I think it's very clever tactic to both promote brand awareness and to boost sales! Not everyone will get the message in this way, but it couldn't hurt the company!

Not only does Marie Claire have the reality show, but also has started a MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts in order to keep up with the growing demand of social media outreach. I'm only surprised that it's taken this long for such a major magazine to catch on.
For more info on Marie Claire, visit http://www.marieclaire.com/ or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/MarieClaireMag.

Bad Press At It's Worst

I know it's been a while since I've written, but with Christmas, and quite frankly, a lack of motivation, I've decided to pick blogging back up now.

So by now, I'm sure we've all heard about the octuplets that were born to a single mother from California, who already had six other children, thanks to all of the publicity surrounding it. However, yesterday, she decided to hire a PR firm, Killeen Furtney Group, to help manage her proposed book and TV deals, donations, corporate sponsorships and so on. They will also be helping with the mother's not so golden reputation as her children were born without a real father, with six other brothers and sisters, and without consent of the sperm donor. This is a real issue for Ms. Suleman considering her childrens' births are being labeled as "unethical" and "freakish."

Although, this makes me wonder just how crazy this situation is? Why is it that suddenly, we think that this mother of 14 is evil incarnate for getting this procedure done just because she wanted to be a mother. What is it that separates her from Jon + Kate Plus 8 or even the Duggers from The Duggers: 20 & Counting? They just wanted more kids, too, even if they are in completely different financial and social situations. I'm guessing that this is the route that the PR firm will attempt to take, as well as pushing the children into the limelight as much as possible in order to bring in some kind of revenue for the unemployed mother.

Even though the Ms. Suleman is getting some offers for publicity and support from different corporations, many people intend to boycott any company that wants to donate anything to the family because they feel it wasn't her right to have more children. This is going to be not only a huge obstacle for the Suleman family and her spokespeople, but also the companies that have already committed to donate things to them. Surely, companies will shy away from donating because they are afraid of losing some of their customer base. And in these rough times, corporations need all the business they can get.

What a mess!

Raison D'Etre

Admittedly, blogging is not really my thing. But, I'm going to try to make it one because I always find myself perusing multiple random other blogs to pass the time, and in the future, maybe I'll be that blog to someone else! Mmmm...wouldn't that be exciting! Don't make fun. I've had a blog for of my Media and Election class in order to try to decipher what the Washington Post had to say about this historical election...(GO Obama! =D), and I thought maybe I should start a real blog of my own. And here I am!

So, here it is. The final product. Essentially what this blog will have is my day to day goings on, maybe little interesting tidbits of other things I find, whether it be books, music, or any other random thing that I feel is under appreciated!

As for myself, I'm a student at West Virginia Wesleyan College majoring in Public Relations (minors in Business and English). This is it for me...the senior year. What am I going to do with my life after this point? That's a great question. I'll get back to you when I find an answer...