Masculine identity construction

Hey CB class,
Thanks for such a great conversation today! Class with y'all at 8:00 am is a fantastic way to start my day  :-)

As I was checking my email after class, this article, "Productive Consumption in the Class-Mediated Construction of Domestic Masculinity: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Home Improvement in Men’s Identity Work," clicked into my inbox.  What a coincidence!

It's not required reading, and yes, I know the title is off-puttingly long, but it's actually a fun read, and fascinating research. 

I'll post the full-text PDF in D2L, in case the link above doesn't work. 

Of course, reading this article made me think of the "Overly Manly Man" meme (pictured at the top of the post)...

Hmm... I wonder what happens in the metaverse if I type #overlymanlyman ... ? Will this post show up somewhere? I'd give an attendance point to each person who can find this post (my post) in a new place. Let us know what you find in the comments!

Kicking off the school year...

This newly released ad campaign from Apple has been getting quite a bit of attention, and press, and it's not good.

The Slate headline was "Designed by Doofuses in California," and the article gives a blow-by-blow analysis of why the ad isn't pulling well. Meanwhile, the LA Times provides empirical support for Slate's claim in "Apple's 'Designed in California' TV ad flops with consumers."

If you don't know what I'm talking about (I understand, the beginning of the school year is really exciting!), you can check out the ad here:



The campaign contains print elements as well:

Which have, naturally, inspired parodies:

 As Seth Stevenson, the Slate writer, says of the ad copy, "It panders to your self-conception." 

Along similar lines, my 16 year-old daughter, a high school junior, says, "It sounds like something a 16 year old would think is deep. I bet I have Facebook friends who have posted parts of this as their statuses."

Earn participation points, and my admiration, by weighing in on what you think about this campaign in the comments.

Hooray for studying CB!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to spring 2013!

This is going to be really fun, since the more you learn about consumer behavior, the more interesting people -- and the world around us -- become.  You'll start noticing all kinds of funny stuff...

I think the blogging assignment is one of the best parts of this class, and hope you agree with me (even if you find blogging to be a slog... which I'm guilty of!)  It can be really fun to come up with a topic, analyze it, and find really great pages / images/ videos that help illustrate your chosen subject matter.

One of the best aspects of studying consumer behavior is that when it comes to finding source material, pretty much everything is fair game.



Okay, let's let 'er rip!  Happy semester!

Culture: It's so black & white

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the fun conversation today!

In no particular order, here's more information on various things I mentioned in class...

Here's the article on metacognition that Lauren Brester sent me.  The comments at the end are almost as illuminating as the article itself!

You think bullet ant gloves and the Sun Dance sound painful?  Check out this blog post -- full of videos! so much fun! -- of various rites of passage that young men around the world endure. 

While I was looking up rites of passage, I stumbled upon a pretty awesome  article about movie stereotypes (also known as cultural formulae).  I remember Cracked magazine from my middle school years as being a cheap-ish, not-as-funny version of Mad. However, the online version is surprisingly good, and even great on occasion.  What do you think?

Diamonds!  Gitcher diamonds here!  Read the history of the creation of the engagement ring norm.  It's long, but fascinating.

Is this child a boy or a girl?  It's actually President Franklin Roosevelt as a young fella! Read about the gender norming & re-norming of children's clothes, and look at more fascinating photos from the Smithsonian archive as well.

Happy reading/clicking!  Feel free to riff on any of these themes in your own blogs, if they catch your fancy...

Image sources: 
http://veritasnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/einstein_thinking.jpg
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey/images/220/Passage/ABAranda-2.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSx2XLrbd7hHFNL-ldXC955Vqwau4lzEs6UgZIP7JYzRc9NGCo4
http://www.avictorian.com/victorian/proposal.jpg
http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/pink-and-blue-Franklin-Roosevelt-2.jpg

Be prepared!

Hi everyone,

I've uploaded the list of possible exam questions for this coming Thursday.

Also, you have your first opportunity for extra credit in this class -- if you submit thoughtful answers to these questions, you can improve your Exam 1 score by a letter grade (i.e., 2 points).

In terms of effective studying, I suggest at least looking at the e.c. questions before you start studying for Exam 2.  They should help...


Image source: http://www.adventuredad.com/images/boyscout.jpg

Article for Tuesday

Sorry I didn't mention this in class yesterday -- you have an article to read for next Tuesday, "Consumers and their Brands," which is available as a PDF through D2L.

Happy weekend!

Image source: http://www.5brand.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/brand.jpg

In honor of tonight's Presidential debate...

 I know I haven't blogged in a long time, so I apologize!

I've recently seen a couple of infographics related to politics + marketing that I think are really fun, so here we go...

Here's another look at essentially the same kind of consumer data:

Getting more product-specific...  What consumers' beer choices say about their political affiliations and activities:

It's imperative to note that none of these infographics are based on the companies' donations to candidates.  They're all pretty simplistic consumption constellations based on statistical analyses of buying + voting behaviors. 

These connections between consumers, their brands, and their favored political parties can sometimes cause cognitive dissonance when a spokesperson/exemplar of the brand doesn't personally align with the values the brand has come to represent in the marketplace.

P.S. Here's one last one about which TV characters are Democrats and which are Republicans.  It won't load onto my blog (because it's interactive), but it's worth a click and a quick read!


Image sources:
 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ey42VFr7_uZBANTjfnQfF4dPAKoOnXxzhMwCLBzpMU5mAWr7PNVzxciAFfMYDgBvFFxoMBLKY4LyVL8uh3WREqiPOm8ULSQkjc4zoax0aUvddTlKGexqf2KXMQ2grZdzFBz2Dqfq73Ai/s1600/ron-swanson-meat.jpg
http://www.loveinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/rbb-Political-Infographic_10.10-01.jpg
http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/political-brands_50290a7b48cef.jpg
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/beer%20chart.jpg