The Wonders of Advertising

This semester, I'm lucky enough to be taking a "Media Effects" class for my communications major. This class is super interesting and fun and the teacher is really entertaining, funny and smart! And the best part? He literally sounds exactly like Jack Black when he talks.

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Anyway, in class the other day we talked about the power of advertising...which basically turned into an hour and a half of us watching our favorite commercials and discussing them. It was the best class ever. 

Some funny gems:

Video retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw

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And some tear-jerkers:

Video retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V-20Qe4M8Y

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Video retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eubWYPhcEEo

These commercials all made me smile. And I hope they made you smile too. 

Being in a lot of PR and business classes this semester, I've been thinking a lot about promotion and the fact that advertising is powerful. I believe it can be used for good or bad and it's really neat for me to see the ads that go deeper than simply a product—the ones that really dig into the heart of a brand. 

In short, great advertising makes you feel something.

"The work of an advertising agency is warmly and immediately human. It deals with human needs, wants, dreams and hopes. Its 'product' cannot be turned out on an assembly line."

- Leo Burnett

Hello 2015

Happy New Year!!!

And may I officially apologize for being the worst blogger of all time....my last post was in October.

October!?!

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So embarrassed for myself right now. 

However, I realized that it's a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate, if you will. So...*drum roll*...I resolve to be a much better blogger this year. I also resolve to lose 15 lbs. While I'm making goals I'm sure to fail, I might as well resolve to end world hunger.

As I look forward to 2015, I've also taken some time to reflect on all that's happened to me in the last year. There were good times and bad times, laughter and tears, but I think of all the things I learned during 2014, there was one lesson that stands above all the others—Don't be afraid to take risks.  

I'm a person who appreciates comfort: comfort foods, comfortable couches, and the security of knowing what's going to come next in life for me. I don't like to make a choice unless I'm fairly positive about the outcome. 

But this year, I started taking chances. I took some risks in school, work, love and friendship. I surprised myself with some of the things I gambled on. It took more courage than I knew I had, but I got out of my comfort zone in many ways this year. And the funny thing is, when I took chances, things ended up working out better than I could have imagined.

Venturing away from the safe route is not always a bad thing. I'm grateful to 2014 for teaching me the valuable lesson that sometimes, I need to get out of my own way. 

After all, life is too short to be too careful.