John Cheese

Based off a few other reads, it does seem that John Cheese’s article regarding bullying is a bit out of place, but the truth is, the title of the site is “CrackedOut,” with a title like that would you expect any type of reservation?

I didn’t think so either…

Maybe you look to Cracked Out for your funny, stress relief at the end of a day, but I am sure that one article from John Cheese will not change your opinion on the site as a whole. Besides! It seems to me that whether you prefer the hilarious, comedic articles to the thought provoking mixed emotion articles, most anyone can relate and find interest in the truth!

Let’s face it, the extensive and obnoxious, reality-TV craze is proof of that.

 So although Cheese’s article didn’t flow with the typical content that explains how video games can double your testosterone or how five bad habits could change your life, it’s really not that out of place!

Bullying is a prevalent problem beginning with kids as young as four and continuing until men have their own nerdy children. Cracked Out seems to be a site that is intended for males aging from teenage years to mid-20’s, why not approach them with the issue?

 I actually commend John Cheese for reaching out of what seems to be his humorous light-hearted comfort zone and speaking of personal experiences to make readers aware of a valid cause. Let it be known though that Cheese, even in the midst of his seriousness, managed to toss in an occasional laugh.

Basically, it’s simple. Sure Cheese’s article was out of the norm for Cracked Out, but I didn’t really find any of Cracked Out’s material to be “in the norm.”

This was on the home page... point proven?

Cheese is obviously a well-respected writer for this site and his material was from the heart, informative and entertaining. In my opinion, any read that can hold your attention is a success.

Sneeks!

Peer pressure, good or bad, may arguably be the most influential concept pushed upon teenagers. With that being said, it seemed obvious for our campaign approach to target the stereotypical teenage influences- the good ones of course.

We chose to work with a comic book type of vibe. Although the middle and high school years replace short and sweet gossip novels with endlessly boring history books, we figured the comic book vibe would symbolically represent a happy medium between the necessary reading and the more preferred modern, fun, artsy world of music, comics or teenage novels.

Basically, we’re hoping that our talking “Sneek” can relate to just about any walk of life.

In the boy’s advertisement, we chose the bold colors of black, white and orange. The advertisement in general was very simple, so the use of the three main colors was a big part of our “look at this” statement. We chose to place both a basketball and a JanSport backpack in the ad with the shoe, because JanSport is a popular backpack and basketball is a popular activity for many young men.

We chose to use a worn out backpack because JanSport is immediately related to the middle to upper-class kid, simply based on price range. The fact that the bag is not brand new indicates that it has had its fair share of use and therefore relates to the middle to lower-class kid that may not have a new backpack every year.  

We do understand that the use of basketball immediately eliminates certain types of boys, but we figured that basketball, for the most part, is a popular universal past time for both the athletic and un-athletic boy.

Our approach was intended to be simple, inclusive and most importantly, catchy. We thought the “Lace up Bro,” comment was a nice final touch to the ad. It’s similar to Nike’s “Just Do It” because it’s short and sweet and we thought that was the way to go. The use of “Bro” was just another attempt to become relatable to the potential buyer and frankly, the use of the word, “Bro” is in. We’re always trying to tap in to that peer pressure.

The girl’s advertisement looks very similar to the boys as far as being simple yet still attractive. We chose an artsy theme while emphasizing the colors red, teal and black. The edgy colors and artsy twist was our attempt at catching every teenage girl’s eye.

The use of a heart, a common doodle for a boring math class, was our effort to pull in the everyday girl. What girl doesn’t like hearts? It resembles love, like, peace, anything you want it to mean! It’s universal.

The camera was just an addition to go with the artsy heart, but it potentially has multiple meanings depending on the viewer. A camera could mean that the shoes are worth photographing or even you in the shoes are worth a smiling picture. Also, in an age of technology, pictures are covering the internet via Facebook and Twitter, so a digital camera is a regular sidekick, just like Sneeks should be.

The last advertisement was meant to entice either gender. We used a vibrant red to appeal anyone who might come across the ad and red is typically neutral to all genders. The upright shoe was purposefully placed as a powerful centerpiece which symbolically represents the power of the shoe and the authority of those who wear them. The wings are an extra push for the “powerful” vibe. Wings immediately resemble flying and we want the viewer to think that these Sneeks could make them fly.

We placed the Sneeks logo in a generic spot in the other advertisements, but figured we would tilt it above the shoe in the unisex advertisement to resemble a halo. The halo resembles an angel, which was another attempt to promote the good peer pressure.

The last touch is the placement of the faded words in the background. The words offer the same teenage school vibe and put an edgy more creative twist to reading.

Ultimately, we hope that our three advertisements offered a simple, catchy and edgy twist to a humble everyday type of shoe. We predicted that our use of dominate colors and comic book approach would attract a young vibe and leave our possible customers wanting Sneeks!




Pictures from : 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/livn2do/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemcdonald/4965113556/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwolman/177212396/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooohoooh/222131418/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42931449@N07/5517922985/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/docjohnboy/4487454218/

Sex Sells

Lil Wayne…

In the second it took you to read his name, you’ve probably already had five or six images of him smoking weed, rapping, dancing with women, cursing, or drinking. Maybe his tattoos came to mind or his butt because his pants are usually sagging far below his waist line.

DON’T WORRY! You’re not the only one. I typed “Lil Wayne” in to YouTube because I was sure a video disgracing women or abusing drugs would quickly pop up, but instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m not much of a rap listener, but I had heard Lil Wayne’s song “How to Love” and decided to watch the accompanying video.

Go ahead…

I know, you must be thinking the same thing! The video displayed a success story at its finest. A real life experience that could have potentially happened to both you and me depending on a few different decisions made throughout our lives.

Despite the positive image the video shows of a young woman learning how to respect herself in life and love, the video does give glimpses of the female as an object.

Prior to the “successful” life, the woman is portrayed as a beautiful failure. She has been rapped; she strips for money, and she has kids without a husband.  

Let’s face it, her “sexy” rebel side was intriguing to the viewer and although we felt bad for her lifestyle, we continued to watch her dance for money in clothes that barely covered her body. Only after seeing her half-naked did we truly appreciate her reformed lifestyle- one with clothes and school.

Her looks were essential to the video. Everyone wants to be that success story. Beautiful, educated and steady.

I suppose the stripping and lack of clothes could have been avoided, but Sut Jholly’s Dreamworlds said it best, “sex sells.” In this case, Lil Wayne was able to use sexual appeal to his advantage. He still had the naked woman but then explained that the naked woman was wrong- A mixed message at its finest.

I also find it interesting that in nearly every other Lil Wayne video he portrays women as something he expects to be there, such as the following:

This video truely represents the purpose behind Dreamworlds. Besides a few statements Wayne makes about women being "Hoes" etc... the women walking around are completely insignificant. But again, sex sells.

But who cares! Lil Wayne is working the market perfectly. Doing ONE video that shows women matter is a sly way to make all the women out there remember Wayne’s little soft spot.

Even I have a newfound love for him.

These are Comics

All three comics, yes, I am referring to them as “comics,” were entertaining to say the least.

As a rookie comic reader I'm forced to rely on what little knowledge I have as well as my personal opinion. Lucky for me our required reading did wonders for me.


In Scott McCloud’s, “Understanding Comics,” he talks of the various ways to create a comic. He claims a comic can be filled with detailed pictures, stick figures, few words or paragraphs, but ultimately a comic tells a story through imagery and possibly words.

I suppose my opinions of comics are fairly similar to McCloud. I personally interpret them as anything that can portray an unconventional short story/ novel.

           With that cleared up...

The Japanese comic was a bit shocking. I obviously had no idea what those symbols/words interpreted in to, but the pictures cleared things up enough for me. 


The use of internet definitely had a big part in the success of this comic. I think the same story read on paper would not have been as impacting. The use of technology enabled the reader to get the full effect of the bloody woman’s frightening attack on the young girl.

In fact, without that shocking factor of the bloody woman, I wouldn’t have been nearly as impressed.

McCloud’s comic format was also effective. I read the short introduction prior to reading the comic and it mentioned that he tried this layout as an “experimental format.”

I found it efficient and completely relevant to the actual meaning of the story. Think about it, each click left me asking, “what’s next!?” only to click and again ask the same question.

The story began with a blonde in the man’s bed, which after reading part one and two, makes me think it’s just another hopeful fling or he has finally found the right woman, but the story quickly flashbacks to the man’s relationship with Jodie, three years earlier.

What begins as a romantic love story, smoothly transitions in to a frightening obsession with finding a perfect lover, through the use of some mathematical phone number theory.

I suppose he has never heard of coincidence…

Clicking to see the next image becomes extremely effective when it gets to scene 45 on part 2. The man is first seen in a full body shot holding a camera, creeping on his potential women. The next click leads you to a closer shot of the man still holding a camera, but only from the waste up. The following click shows just his eye.

This short span of images successfully portrayed a man that had literally become consumed from (head to toe) in a sick obsession.

I wouldn’t say McCloud’s format was more successful than the Japanese format, because I think format is essential to the purpose and meaning meant to be portrayed from a particular story. With that being said, I preferred the weird, excitement of McCloud’s format rather than the Japanese one, but that may just be because a bloody woman is hardly my style of reading.