Pepsi's Iphone App Uproar

Pepsi recently developed a new application for the iphone, called the "Amp up before you score" app- designed to provide men with chat up lines for 24 various types of women, while promoting the Amp energy drink. However, the application created a bad reaction from the public, forcing Pepsi to Tweet an apology, and further complaints led to the withdrawal of the app all together.

Overall, I like the idea of this promotion technique- it involves the specific target audience, and uses the medium of current popular technology. It also provides a clear personality to the brand. However I feel that Pepsi took it a bit far by encouraging female stereotypes, and feeding teenage boys a disrespectful outlook on wooing women, with chat up lines such as "I've discovered the source of global warming. You're HOT." I can't help but wonder whether there would have been such an uproar (including threats to boycott all Pepsi products) if there was a similar app for women too.

Should Advertisers Risk Offending to Enlighten?

When researching for my Independent Project, I came across an article debating whether advertisers should shock people in order to create awareness. The example they used above is an awareness campaign by Cordaid, for third world poverty. Although the ad does shock you, I think that it shocks people into realisation, and thus successfully affecting the audience's views- a key aim in charity awareness campaigns. However I do think offensive material is an important consideration for advertisers, as it should be avoided in order to not create a negative reaction from the target audience.

The Turner Art Awards

The Turner Prize 2009 exhibition opened today at Tate Britain, London. The four nominated artists are Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright. The judges for the Turner Prize 2009 are Mariella Frostrup, Charles Esche, Jonathan Jones and Andrea Schlieker.My favourite is Roger Hiorns' piece bellow, where he has transformed a derelict flat into a cave of blue crystals.

Lucy Skaer is the artist who's work opens the exhibition. Below is her work 'coal dust', which, as implied, are sculpted from coal dust. I fail to recognise their beauty personally, and I was surprised when I read that they were praised for bringing beauty to something ugly- this isn't a piece of art that I would describe as beautiful! I would however describe Roger Hiorns' crystal piece as "turning something ugly beautiful".

Aubrey Beardsley

Writing about the 60s/70s music posters, and the Italian Medusa sculpture, I was reminded about one of my all time favourite artists and couldn't resist looking up images of his work. One in particular is the Salome piece shown above. It captures the biblical story of Salome ordering John the Baptist's head to be chopped, after he described her parents marriage as unlawful. Below is another one of his pieces, showing the intricate detail and flowing lines that I love in Beardsley's monotone pieces.

Soft Machine Promotion

For a few years now I have been interested in 1960s-70s psychedelic music posters and promotional material. I love the style, and the colour techniques they used. The bottom poster is one of my favorites and it really reminds me of one of my favourite artists, Aubrey Beardsley- in fact some of the posters resemble his style so much I'm pretty his paintings must have influenced many of the poster designs in the 60s/70s. I also like how you notice more and more as you study the picture- for example, the bottom poster shown above has the copy positioned to form the shape of a skull.

Medusa Sculpture

'Head of Medusa'
Sculpture
By Benvenuto Cellini.

I recently saw this statue in Florence, and was fascinated by it. I love sculpture, interested in mythological stories, and have always love artwork where there's a story behind it. The Statue has it all! Depicting the story of heroic Perseus decapitating the evil Medusa, the sculpture captures the gore and victory beautifully and dramatically. The bronze statue presents Perseus holding up the head of Medusa over her decapitated body, modelled with the writhing snakes of Medusa's hair.
The story behind the construction of the statue adds more depth and evil to the piece- Cellini used all his household cutlery and metal pieces in order to complete the sculpture, and as a result of it being so big, he set fire to the roof of his house as he stoked the furnace.

Ayios Neophytos Monastery

A Cypriot guy who I recently met was telling me about this monastery, and I had to look it up. It is situated in Paphos, South Cyprus and is thought to have been founded by a Cypriot Saint in the late 1100s. The reason I was interested in it was because he said the building was carved out of the mountain side, and is a beautiful piece of architecture to visit. Looking at the pictures I am a little disappointed- maybe he praised it a little too much for my imagination, as I expected something much more intricate. Still, an interesting piece and an alternative method of architectural construction!

No Sad Big Smile

This clever and original advertising campaign for Adidas caught my eye a while ago now, but it is one that I still think about and remember clearly- which is always evidence of a good, successful campaign. The video ad tells the story of a Japanese man's career as a break up service, presenting a range of situations he has to go through when breaking up with people on behalf of their partners. At the end it then shows the new Adidas clothing range in his scooter, marketed as perfect for stressful every day wear. Here is a link to it on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFaKNttGP9U

Although I'm unable to find the original website again, I remember the great impact it had, and the interactive services it offered. There was one that allowed you to send your own break up text using a choice of various messages, sent to your partner on behalf of the 'no sad big smile' break up service. I thought this was really witty, and an original concept- especially for a clothing line rather than something more directly linked like mobile phones.