Grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock and means ‘’filthy’’ or ‘’dirty’’. The grunge scene took off in Seattle. Some theories reason that the birthplace of Grunge was Seattle, because the city was very isolated from trend metropolitans like New York or Washington and thus a completely new trend could develop. In addition Seattle is located in a very rainy area, so people gathered in houses to socialize and organized house parties where grunge became a very important element. Main characteristics of Grunge are heavily distorted guitars, contrasting song dynamics and depressive or angst-filled lyrics. At the beginning, in the 1980s, Grunge mostly existed underground, but in the first half of the 1990s, grunge achieved public attention due to the release of Nirvana’s album ‘’Nevermind’’ and Pearl Jam’s ‘’Ten”.

Summary of Chapter 2

The second chapter of 'No Logo' deals with the increasing influence by brands on society. Brands have set themselves the goal to not only brand their prodcuts, but furthermore brand people's lifestyle and culture. That's why brands decide to sponsor cultural events, like music festivals or sport tournaments. However, brands are not happy with the numerous regulations on advertisement, so that they create their own festivals where they are free to choose how to advertise their products. One good example for a sponsorship is the involvement of the clothing company J-Crew in the movie Dowsons Creek. J-Crew provides the clothing for the actors and in return for that they attain a perfect product placement for their product.
The increasing popularity of music and especially music artists and music groups constitutes a new platform for brands to advertise on. So, brands sign contracts with famous music artists, like Jay-Z to promote their brands. A good example is the Rolling Stones concert tour which was the first sponsored tour in music history.
Next to music, sports becomes another significant advertising platform for brands. Again, brands sign contracts with famous sports stars to promote their products, with the intention that young people buy these products to become part of their lifestyle. Its all about brands trying to appeal to the consumer's lifestyle and Michael Jordan is a perfect example of this development in the sports business. Nike and Michael Jordan are so closely linked to each other that they have become synonyms for each other. So the athlete Michael Jordan has become his own brand.

The Doha Dilemma

Doha Dilemma

May 29th 2008

What is to blame for the global food crisis? Is it government intervention in agriculture or free farm trade that is responsible for the current price spikes on food, which primarily affect the poor? Even though critics of a free farm trade think that only the government can guarantee food security and stop the unfair situation of the poor people, whose businesses are disadvantaged by rich world's subsidies, free farm trade doesn't necessarily preclude these points and furthermore it has shown that free farm trade alleviates poverty in most of the cases.
The argument of food security can be countered at the example of North Korea. In this country, people experience an increase in food prices, since trade barriers prevent the export of food especially rice. Thus, the global supply of rice is disrupted and farmers cease producing rice which makes rice scarce and therefore the price of rice goes up.
A study executed by scientists of the world bank have shown that free farm trade would reduce poverty in most of the cases. On the other hand, another study has shown that due to free farm trade, staple foods will get more expensive (slash of subsidies) and thus increase poverty. However, this study has only taken staple food into consideration as opposed to the other one, which focused on all farm goods. And that's why the effect of expensive staple food can be outweighed by the increased demand for farm exports as the rich countries cut the tariffs.
So in conclusion, these two studies suggest that the nature of trade reform matters, since it would be more sensible to fight poverty by cutting tariffs than slashing rich world's subsidies. It can be said that free farm trade is not a cause for the global food crisis, however the crisis has shown that it is important to establish the right reforms.

Lifestyle vs. Product Advertisement

1. Advertisement: Sprite Commercial:

What is being sold?

This lifestyle commercial sells the idea of being cool, hanging out with cool people, being able to do crazy things (play basketball in a swimming cool), so simply gives you the impression that you can do whatever you want.



How is it being sold?

The commercial is based on the weird idea of playing basketball in a swimming pool. So this idea conveys freedom, light-heartedness and differentiation. Since, the target demographic of Sprite is mainly the teenage population, Sprite promotes these values, because they are important to teenagers and appeal to their lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1latJ7K8zc

2.Advertisement: Red Bull Commercial:

What is being sold?

This product commercial conveys the impression that you, if you drink Red Bull, you appeal to girls and that you can fly, meaning that you get so much energy from the dirnk that you can do whtaever you want.

How is it being sold?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9iYweART4

Summary of Chapter 1

The first chapter deals with the emergence of the term branding. At the beginning in the 1880s, the company's main focus lays on manufacturing their products and promoting them as necessities that are lifechanging. However mass production leads to the fact that everyone can produce identical products which requires companies to create an image around their products to be more diverse from the other competitors. Companies like Nike realize that marketing trend early and become pioneers in executing this idea called ''branding''. This trend about creating a brand that appeals to the customer's lifestyle keeps going and reaches its peak when in the 1980s the company KRAFT is sold for 6 times its value. This example of KRAFT shows that the idea of a brand is much more worth than the actual product that a company produces. So due to branding companies keep spending more and more money on advertisement, having finally realized that the brand is more important than the product. However, inexpensive products make life hard for brands. People find it hard to stay loyal to a brand when they can get the same service for a better price from a cheaper provider. As opposed to Malboro who really suffered from competing with inexpensive product providers, Nike doesn't experience a decline in profits and brand loyalty. That's because Nike really understands to apply the idea of a brand not only to the product, but also to the very fabric of the company (''branded to the bone''). So this again illustrates the importance of a brand and its impact on peoples' conscience.

global me painting