In response to Rachel's Post...

Question: What was your New Year’s resolution? And have you stuck to it?

My New Year's resolution was to start eating healthier. The problem with this resolution is I am a college student on a tight budget who is living off-campus. Therefore, when I go shopping for groceries I tend to buy the cheapest things that last the longest and you can imagine those items aren't usually apples and bananas. I did start eating healthier for awhile when I was still home at my parent's house for the rest of winter break. Unfortunately, as soon as I returned to my apartment I was only able to eat healthy a few times a week which then turned into once a week and now I eat healthy once in a while when my finances allow me to.

*What ideas would you suggest to someone trying to eat healthier on a very slim budget?

10 Ideas for Restaurant Marketing

According to foodservicewarehouse.com there are many marketing strategies for restaurants in today's society but the most important and innovative ones are:

1. Get good press

2. Create a website

3. Redesign the menu

4. Implement frequency marketing

5. Host events

6. Try up-selling

7. Market your take-out and delivery service

8. Promote through email

9. Commit to going green

10. Involve customers in a contest

I think all of these are good ideas to help restaurants market themselves but the one that I believe is the best one is to create a website. It seems as though every restaurant has a website these days but you'd be surprised at how many don't have one or if they do it's not very well put together. Not only having a website but having a well presented and appealing website is very important to draw customers in because a lot of people search the web to find a good place to go out to eat before they actually make a decision and head to the restaurant.

*What do you think is the most effective/useful technique mentioned above?

Source: http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/restaurant-marketing/top-ten-techniques.aspx

In response to Aislynn's Post...

Question: Which campaign do you think is more successful? Or will be more successful? Do you think these ads are useful and preventative at all?

I think the campaign showing the alternatives to drinking will be more successful. Teens in our society see so many bad things that they are pretty much immune to seeing images of what can happen to you under the influence. I think the ads could be useful to influence the kids who are on the border between trying drugs & alcohol and staying sober because it can show them that there are other options. Having examples/ideas of what to do instead of going out to party. On the other hand, peers have such an impact on each other that an ad can only do so much. So, yes I do think the campaign could be influential in some situations but there are other more effective ways to educate kids and help them stay away from substances.

*What are some other preventative efforts that may have more of an impact on teenagers?

Text Message Marketing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcxaa2KgJ8s

There is a fairly new type of marketing that companies can do through text messaging. I thought it was an interesting topic because of the huge telemarketing phase in which the marketers would call people's house phones and it got to the point where people who have to put their phone numbers on do-not-call lists. I am not sure that calling house phones or even switching over to calling people's cellphones to try and sell them things is that effective. From my own experience, everyone in my family would always reject the calls and then we ended up just getting rid of our house phone all together because the only people who would call the phone were telemarketers. I think that if a lot of companies started to send constant texts to people's phones that it would get annoying and enrage people. Yes, most of society today has cellphones but the last thing people want are to be bothered by someone they don't know, trying to sell them something. We as consumers get marketing and ads thrown at us constantly throughout the day and in my opinion I think it would just be over the top.

*Do you think marketing through texts is effective marketing?

In response to Maggie's Post...

Question: People think that the money they earn is all worth it at the end of the day, but is it really?? Why do people work at jobs they hate??

Yes it is true a lot of people do just work at jobs to get paid and don't necessarily like their jobs. Personally, I think it depends on where you are in your life and whether or not the job you are working at is temporary or going to be your lifetime career. For example, just like many college students these days I am working while going to school and the job I have is in food service and I have been working there since I was a Junior in high school. No, I don't really enjoy my job but its convenient and it is worth it to get through the stressful shifts because I know the end is near (aka I will be graduating college soon). But there are some people who choose to take on jobs as their careers just for the money and not for enjoyment and that I believe will be worth it at first but will ultimately wear someone down way more than having a job where they don't mind spending 40 hours a week at. At this point in my life sometimes I do think about getting another temporary job that I like better than the one I have now but then when I continue to hours of my choice and can take the time off I need that along with the paycheck changes my mind. I would advise anyone to make sure they at least somewhat enjoy where they work if they plan to work there for a long period of time and if that is not possible then either get a new job or find some way to make the situation positive and worthwhile.

*What would be the deciding factor in accepting a job offer...the salary, a flexible schedule or enjoyment?

The photoshop effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbb8D-u8ues

This commercial is promoting women's self esteem and showing how you should just be yourself because all the beautiful people we see in ads are usually altered completely by makeup and photoshop. This commercial caught my attention when a professor played it during one of my sociology classes. I thought it would be a good topic to blog about because it is almost like having a behind the scenes look at how pictures for billboards and other ads are put together. Some argue that the commercial degrades the woman in it because they think it shows that she needs all that done to look beautiful. I don't think that makes much sense because if the woman doing the commercial felt degraded at all I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do it in the first place. Also, I think that the commercial is more about showing how no one is perfect even those gorgeous models that people use to compare themselves to.

*What exactly is this commercial's purpose?

In response to Danielle's post...

Question: What do you think about this commercial and the direction Dr. Pepper chose for its marketing? Is any press good press?

Honestly, I am not a fan of this commercial at all. It is absolutely stereotypical and I don't necessarily understand why the soda is just for men? I mean I don't like Dr.Pepper but I know girls that do and I also know plenty of females such as myself that enjoy action movies. I don't think the commercial really helps the product at all because just because an ad says it's a man's drink doesn't mean that more men are going to go buy it. I think that if they wanted more people to buy their new product they shouldn't be so sexist and just market the product generally. Responding to the second question, no I don't think any press is good press. If press is excluding a specific gender or type of person I think that it makes it bad press. Some press should not be out there if it cannot respectfully include all audiences.

*Would the commercial get a difference response if it were directly towards women and negatively portraying men?