People commented below this ad saying that it was the “coolest, more original great ad from T-mobile.” But wait I feel like I’ve seen people do this before like 4 separate times….. oh that’s because I have! But props to them for adding their name to the end of this video when people happen to be using their cell phones that are probably Verizon or an iPhone.  I guess I’ll stop being critical. So I like this ad because it was the perfect example for something that has been bugging me lately. I’ve recently been posting on my other blog about visually stimulating ads from various agencies. I find it interesting that an advertiser can simply create a ‘beautiful’ ad and promote their product just as well (if not better) as an informational advertisement. What is it about visually arresting ads which have nothing to do with the product that drives consumers to the point of purchase? I’m going to make an ad. I’m going to shoot a gorgeous sunrise setting over a body of water while Clare de Lune plays from a piano; then follow it with the copy, “Get your free Wolverine cup when you show your ticket at McDonalds!” Some great ads have followed this formula, but if you really think about it, what in the world does it have to do with the product. I know you’ve seen hundreds of examples. What is it psychologically that really drives people to buy from ads such as these? Maybe I’m just looking at it in a different light because I study advertising, but I don’t think I’ll be fooled by a painting from Monet with Spam putting its name on it. Here’s another great example (its pretty cool looking, even I have to admit)

I have to say that I feel so behind on all of this social media stuff. Even though I have been learning so much about social media I still feel as if I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. Keeping up with social media is a full time job; especially if you want to create a successful campaign within it. I feel that it is really important to be involved in social media because it is the future. Heck it’s not even the future it’s now. We all know that it is a much better way to reach people but even when you think you’ve got it all figured out it changes. It took me a long time to jump on the facebook bandwagon. My friends had to beg me to join and so I finally did and still am not aware of all of its capabilities. But as soon as facebook becomes the norm a new social network, twitter, arrives and it’s the hot new thing with endless possibilities and you have to adjust to something new all over again. I feel as if it will never end. It will constantly keep evolving and changing and we will never be able to keep up. The other problem with social media marketing is that as quickly as it is evolving it takes time to reach people within these networks so by the time you have built a steady presence in one social medium there is a new one that you need to become a part of. I am all for social media but where will it end? We talk all the time about the adclutter in traditional advertising but what about the clutter in social media? Companies may use social media to stand out yet how will they stand out in social media?

These past few months have been really eye opening for me. I’ve had the opportunity to be exposed to quality advertising, and advertising with a purpose. As much as I love to study advertising I’ve always been weary of most of the advertising campaigns that I’ve been exposed to, but through this website I’ve been able to see truth in advertising, not to mention quality, and goodness. These ads have shown me that there is a responsible side to the advertising world, but it’s just a matter of exposure to the rest of the world that you don’t have to use things such as sex to sell a product. You don’t have to have a misleading or dishonest ad to sell your product or service. Why can’t advertising be about bettering society or providing consumers with honest, helpful information? I hope efforts such as Advirtues.com can help provoke other people to respond positively to the advertising industry. Not to mention start a movement with other advertising agencies to jump on this bandwagon – because this is a good one to jump on! Do you think with efforts such as advirtues.com and adcouncil.com that the advertising industry can do a 36o* and truly change for the better? What other ways can the industry repair it’s ‘broken’ image?

I have been struggling with something lately regarding being virtuous and socially responsible in advertising and that is can we be expected to be socially responsible all the time? This is something that has been discussed many times in ethics classes. We can sit here and say that we want to change the industry and only produce work we can be proud of but at the end of the day we are getting paid to do a job. I am in no way saying that we shouldn’t strive to always be virtuous and produce good work but as we have seen by all of the non-virtuous advertising out there it is not always easy to produce virtuous work. It takes more of an effort to create the kinds of ads that we have promoted on this blog and I do not think it is realistic to believe that we can be expected to produce this kind of work all of the time, especially when we are first starting out in the industry and questioning someone’s creative work and going against the group could put us in a bad position. I realize that I am being controversial here because the point of this blog is to promote virtuous advertising and try and change the image of the industry but I want to hear from ya’ll. So can we be virtuous all the time? Where do we draw the line between being virtuous and making a living?