FTC vs. Blogging

It's not a surprise that the Federal Trade Commission wants to slap restrictions on blogging. After all, as mush as the online journalism field has grown, the FTC feels the need to "respond to the needs of consumers" who spend an increasingly amount of time on the Internet.

The guidelines state that bloggers must disclose information related to the receiving of products in exchange for blog reviews. So basically, this puts blogging in the same category as broadcasting, newspapers, and other publications that adhere to FTC regulations--really?

The FTC's actions arose because more companies are using blogs to generate viral marketing Thus, the government steps in to protect consumers and make them aware of when they are being targeted for product consumption.

The regulations are aimed at bloggers who buddy-up with advertisers. This is the case with bloggers writing positive reviews for Wal-Mart, Fort Mort Co. and Microsoft after recieving products from the companies. Oh, and if these ad-bloggers don't supply a written disclosure for readers, they will have to fork up as much as $11,000 per violation.

The regulations could also have an impact on PR firms who give bloggers free merchandise. But Ted Murphy, found of IZEA Inc., says it could have positive affects because "disclosure and transparency are key to making this social media space sustainable."

The FTC mainly wants to establish an honest relationship between reader and blogger. So if you are supported by an organic diaper company, say it and be proud!

However, First Amendment advocates claim that, like other publications, bloggers should be able to self-regulate themselves in terms of editorial content. Therefore, they should not even accept gifts in exchange for reviews.

But let's face it, new media is in a world of its own. With information being tweeted, linked, e-mailed and posted every second, how does one police themselves? According to Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for nonprofit Reporters Committe for Freedom of the Press, it begins with good journalism; and stated that this issue "is not the government's business to regulate."

So take that FTC!

Source: http://global.factiva.com/ga/default.aspx?imt=2&ao=5&aod=0

Are Pistachios 'Bringing Sexy Back'?

Everyone knows the old saying "sex sells." We are constantly bombarded with sexy car commercials, clothing ads, and the seductive blondes and brunettes on the Axe commercials selling hair gel and body wash to men.

One product with no sex appeal whatsoever is taking this old saying and hopes to turn it into media attention, as well as profits.

The pistachio industry is hoping that their new ad campaign with a "sex sells" attitude will get consumers thinking about, and buying, their product. The ads feature unknown, as well as somewhat-known, people opening pistachios in their own unique way.

Bruce Horovitz, the USA Today journalist who wrote this article, says the pistachio industry wants consumers to think less about last spring's pistachio recall and more about sex. "Make that kinky sex. Like, say, an honest-to-goodness dominatrix — who formerly worked her trade in Los Angeles — cracking open a pistachio with her whip. A voice-over explains: 'A dominatrix does it on command.'

Or Levi Johnston, the media-hungry father of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's out-of-wedlock grandchild, starring in his first TV spot. In it, he's standing next to a bodyguard as a voice-over notes: 'Now, Levi does it with protection,' " Horovitz says.

Other d-list celebs are Chris Knight (from The Brady Bunch), and wife, Adrianne Curry (from America's Next Top Model).

(Watch Levi's YouTube ad here.)

This is the first time the pistachio industry has broadcasted ads nationally. Their $15 million investment is aimed at getting viral attention online in the new world of marketing.

There is even a separate YouTube contest where viewers can submit their own videos of cracking open a pistachio. The video that wins will get $25,000 and a national airing.

I think that the pistachio industry may be taking the obvious way out. Instead of thinking of new ways to gain attention for their product, they are making it sexy featuring wannabe celebrities in their ads. Since pistachios are more expensive than most nuts, they should go about their advertising and marketing to their target market and those who will buy their product, which isn't pre-pubescent boys.

Read the full article here.

Do you know "mixi" ?

"mixi" is the most popular Japanese social networking site like facebook or MySpace in the United States. Facebook and MySpace users use their sites as communicating among users/friends. In addition to that function, people mainly use mixi as a diary. When someone updates a diary on mixi, their friends can leave comments. That's the way mixi users communicate each other, knowing what's going on their friends' life. They can of course add favorite music and create profiles as facebook or MySpace users do.

In June of 2009, the number of mixi users reached to 1.72 million, and the president of the company which operates mixi, Mr. Kenji Kasahara, said in an article that he tries to increase the number of users to 3 million in two to four years. Thus, he has introduced "new functions" such as mixi voice and mixi applications.

The mixi voice is very much similar to "twitter," but users can express their feelings or update their status in 150 words so that "my mix friends (that's what we call friends on mixi)" can see what they are doing right now.

The mixi applications are much like mini games for users to learn second languages or to compete their best scores among my mix friends. The applications include "English vocabulary tests," "National flags test," "Music tests," "Japanese language tests" and so on.

In addition to those game applications, the HR company (Minnade Shusyoku Katsudou Nikki Unei Iinkai) introduced the new application of giving updated information about new job opportunities for newly graduates.Those application systems are introduced as interactive activities to attract non-mixi users to create an account.

Since mixi is very popular among younger citizens such as high school and college students, musicians or actors/actresses use mixi as one of the tools for communication such as creating an exclusive event for mixi users that become members of that certain artist. Therefore, mixi is one of the great business opportunities for certain business industry.

However, the more mixi gets popular, some problems come up such as too much open information to random people that can lead crimes, or mixi addiction.

The first prblem is that crimes that are related to mixi have been increasing rapidly. When mixi users update mixi voice, they tend to write information such as "I am going on business trip for three days so my apartment will be emptied out." On top of that, those users tend to upload their pictures that show the home addresses. By seeing those information, thieves or other criminals come to home and commit crimes. Therefore, mixi users as well as other social networking users have to be careful what information they will upload on their profiles or diaries.

The second problem is that people tend to be addicted to updating mixi. According to ITmedia News, a lot of people begin quitting or eliminating their account from mixi because they got tired of following what's going on with their friends on mixi. The mixi beginners tend to feel "joy" if they get comments from friends on thier entries in the beggining, and they feel enjoyment to reply those comments. However, after a while, they begin to feel "uneasy" if there is no reply back from anyone after updating their dairy even in 5 minutes. According to Hideo Yamazaki, psycologist, he mentions that that is a "mixi addiction." In order to recover from those addictions, people should (1) make their own rules; for instance, updating mixi diary once a week; (2) limit their friends on mixi; (3) try to meet friends on mixi to see if they can get along in the real world as well.

Even though mixi has some downsides/disadvantages, mixi is the greatest innovation for Japanese society. The mixi certainly does expand our possibilities in network as well as in job opportunities. In order for us to use mixi or other kinds of great social networking sites, we have to learn and analyze downsides of the social networking sites.

Sources:

• http://mixi.jp (mixi)
  
• http://news.ameba.jp/trend-news/2009/09/45889.html
• http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090924_317445.html
• http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20091001_318755.html
• http://news.pia.jp/pia/news.do?newsCd=200909100009
• http://jp.reuters.com/article/topNews/idJPJAPAN-11191620090826
• http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0607/21/news061.html
  

Dear Print, This is Just the Beginning of the End.

It's said every day in the mass communication world - "Print is dead." There are those who have accepted this idea and there are those that believe print will rise above technology.

Unfortunately for those optimistic about the situation, Condé Nast announced the termination of "almost biblical status in the food world" magazine, Gourmet, on Monday. Gourmet has been published for 68 years and has seen many transformations in design and topics.

Oh yea, may I also let you know, Gourmet is the oldest running magazine in our history!

According to an internal company memo, Condé Nast is also shutting down magazines Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. That is four magazines total thus far from Condé Nast alone.

Gourmet editor, Ruth Reichl, is a powerful woman in the food world and created a magazine that had higher quality and was more popular than Bon Appétit. The magazine suffered from a decline in advertising pages, but the terminations still came as a shock due to its history.

While this news may throw a curve to some, Condé Nast also owns the bigger Bride magazines. Modern Bride and Elegant Bride are offshoots of their bigger Brides magazine.
On the other hand, Cookie is a 2005 introduction that was not able to grab a large amount of readers.

This termination conclusion came from a three-month study by McKinsey & Company, which analyzed the companies costs and suggested several magazines to cut 25 percent from their annual budgets.

The publisher has never been so quick to close titles, which makes this decision significant to the print world. In the last year, Condé Nast closed new titles such as Men's Vogue and Condé Nast Portfolio and Domino.

This decision is even more blinding because just last February in an interview with in-house rival Bon Appétit pulisher, Paul Jowdy, he stated that closing Gourmet was "unlikely."

Since then the economy continues to suffer, crashing hard. Condé Nast magazines have lost more than 8,000 advertisement pages, excluding its bridal titles, so far this year. That is a lot of lost advertisments... aka, that is a lot of lost money!!

With the economic crisis stalling to a halt in progression, will the print industry be able to overcome tough times? Or is this just the beginning, to the end of print?

Will Companies Take a PR Hit by Signing Vick?

A rumor recently surfaced that Nike signed a deal with Michael Vick. Vick's agent supposedly made this claim and Nike recently spoke out saying that they would "supply product to Vick," but he was not under contract with Nike. Even though this was just a rumor, it brought up an interesting topic...what would happen if Nike re-signed Michael Vick?

After the rumor hit Twitter and the rest of the Internet world, media outlets and bloggers all over started sounding off with their opinions on the situation. Although many people said that they didn't agree with what Michael Vick had done in his dog-fighting past, most thought that signing a deal with Vick would be positive for any company.

Sarah Schorno, a blogger for The Washington Post, stated that "any public relations hit a brand would take by endorsing Vick would be negligible compared to the potential financial gain."

Vick's Eagles jersey is still one of the NFL's highest selling and there wasn't much of an uproar when Vick was signed and started playing in the NFL again.

Schorno also posed the question do consumers really care what celebrities and athletes do in their personal lives? Or do consumers buy the merchandise that athletes' endorse just because it's cool or because they want to "be like Mike?"

When I heard the "news" that Nike had signed Vick, I was personally upset. However, I have to admit that if I saw a cool pair of Nike shoes that I wanted, then the fact that Vick was a spokesperson for Nike wouldn't stop me from buying them. Although I hate to admit it, I believe that it would be a positive move for Nike to re-sign Vick. Nike could use Vick to bring in many of the fans that he apparently still has (based on his high jersey sales), and I don't think the adverse effects would stop many people from purchasing Nike. Athletes are going to continue to use equipment and gear from the company that they portray as the best in the business.

In the end, Vick's future success is going to come down to one thing...how good he plays on the football field. If Vick is an all-star on the field and stays out of any major trouble, than any company that signs him now is going to make some big bucks off of him. If Vick doesn't prove himself on the field or gets into trouble again, then he will probably just fall off of the grid and the company that signed him will move on to some other big athlete and all will be forgotten.


Original Articles/Blogs:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/01/michael-vick-nike-cmo-network-vick.html

http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/panelists/2009/10/nike-michael-vick-eagles-endorsement-littal.html

http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/panelists/2009/10/nike-michael-vick-eagles-endorsement-schorno.html

Baby Back, Baby Back... Baby, it's back!

Chili’s is currently trying to revitalize its image by bringing back the old faves. Along with changing the menu with the return of popular items, they have also brought back their popular “Baby Back Ribs” tune.

The company, like many in its same genre, has suffered from the recession. In the past, Chili’s thrived on expansion. The chain, under Brinker International, has opened 400 locations in the past five years. However, this fiscal year will bring no new locations to the eatery.

Chili’s is hoping that increasing their “welcoming” customer service and switching some of their famous burgers' and ribs' recipes will bring a return.

Some menu changes include bringing back the previously removed "Caribbean Salad" and changing the smoke wood from mesquite to pecan. Also, the burger meat is being changed to choice ground chuck and will be hand-formed by the cooks on site.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125435105199954095.html

Social Media Restrictions for Washington Post

The Washington Post has recently caused some debate among media professionals. Last Friday, the “Post” implemented new social media guidelines for its reporters. Some of the restrictions include the use of Twitter and Facebook. The Post feels it is a reporter’s job is to produce objective, unbiased news stories to the public. Due to the opinionated nature of social media it could affect reporter impartiality.

The Post wrote:

"Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything—including photographs or video—that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility. This same caution should be used when joining, following or friending any person or organization online."

Now every staff member ‘s social media account must identify him or her as a Post employee and they must represent the newsroom at all times.

Where do you draw the line between a person’s professional and personal expressions? Is Twitter considered a journalist’s professional communication tool?

Several reporters have come out publicly, including Post media reporter Howard Kurtz who said "Under new WP guidelines on tweeting, I will now hold forth only on the weather and dessert recipes," on his Twitter account last weekend.

Senior editor Jennifer Saba stated, "I think reporters have opinions, but it doesn't mean they can't report something professionally. "Somebody could say, 'Oh I really enjoy Mad Men,' and if they cover TV, does that mean they are biased?"

Many other media professionals are grateful for the new regulations. They feel it will help balance the line between their professional and personal lives.

I think that as long as journalists perform their job by providing objective, good quality news stories there is no reason they can’t express their own opinions elsewhere. We as a society should understand that they aren’t unbiased beings without a view of their own.

Should reporters be able to communicate their personal opinions and does it affect their journalistic credibility?

Twitter has now become a huge communication tool for PR pros to build a relationship with reporters, could the new restrictions affect the PR practitioner as well?

http://www.prweekus.com/Washington-Post-social-media-guidelines-target-bias/article/151072/

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/09/29/the-washington-post-slaps-the-twitter-handcuffs-on-its-staff/