Angels on the Catwalk

Every year I sit in awe staring at the TV wondering how in the world those stick thin women support the weight of those infamous Victoria’s Secret angel wings. This year will be no different! With the angel’s 2008 fashion show right around the corner, the minimal clothed beauties grace our television sets more and more as the days pass.



NAME OF PRODUCT:
Lingerie…and a few unmentionables :)

YEAR AD WAS MADE:
2008

AD AGENCY PRODUCING AD:
Good question……back in 2000 there were two agencies contending for media duties, Pro Media and KSL Media, but I’m not sure who won the battle!?!

Funny that I’m going into the communications/advertising industry, when I, like most others, fall into the category of people DVRing every show imaginable just to be able to skip the ads that amount to 30 minutes of a one hour show. Not with the Victoria’s Secret 2008 fashion show advertisement though. This one catches my eye…..but why? I guess Limited Brands, the company behind Victoria’s Secret realized it doesn’t take a genius to understand the appeal of beautiful women parading around in their underwear.


Though we may view the commercials on TV and think, “oh those undies are cute!” We also know that like all advertising, puffery is ALWAYS a big element. So, let’s face it, we all know sex sells and that is exactly what the ad agency had in mind when they create these eye catching ads of the Victoria’s Secret models. These women are among the tiny percent of the population with prefect sink, bodies and those beautifully mysterious accents. But us “average” women is like to think we can compare our bodies to these rare finds…talk about a shot to the ego…


Last week I DVRed (of course) my favorite show, Gossip Girl. When the show went to commercial I had my finger on that wonderful fast forward button! Then, I saw the angles and thought ooooo- what’s this? So I place my finger on the play button to see what the angel’s were up to (that right there shows that the advertisers were successful in reaching their target market) me and other females my age! Viewers that usually tune in to Gossip Girl are females anywhere from 16 to 25. How convenient for Victoria’s Secret to have a commercial featuring their upcoming fashion show for 2008… not a coincidence!


I believe that advertisers know what gets to females. This ad, while giving women a false body image, is right on! It’s exactly what we say, “ooooo- what’s this?” to. I think that no matter how much we tell ourselves that we shouldn’t compare our bodies to model body types, we still do and always will.

Uncut & Uncensored

Well after experiencing Professor Rift Fournier for a full class period I think it’s safe to say that he’s had a fun filled career in the communications industry. Being a writer, producer and actor for many major television series, he has seen all sides of the industry.

While Rift is big in the business I still think that one of his best stories he told was how he got his name. If only I had such a cool story to tell about my name…

His journey to what he became known for was quite interesting! Mr. Indecisive should be his name! Starting as a med student, then changing to a law student, and then finally deciding on writing he couldn’t make up his mind if his life depended on it! From working in the morgue to running the jail he had his fair share of experiences throughout college. After dropping out of law school he sold jokes for five dollars a pop in California (who can say that they’ve actually done that) and then went to the Big Apple to try and make it big, which actually worked out pretty well for him.

He has worked on TV shows like, NYPD Blue, Matlock, Charlie’s Angels, Kojak, and so on… But the show that he got the most praise for was a children’s series called “Go” which he actually won an Emmy for.

As far as his opinions on media go…I agree with him a lot! The internet has changed everything and in my opinion it will continue to change everything. Media is constantly changing and it’s something that current and future (us) media professionals have to keep up with, which isn’t always easy, but the technology that we have today - like the internet has helped out immensely

After all of his experiences I believe that the advice he gave us in class is pretty valuable… “The hardest thing about writing…is writing” and “You have to let the muse know where to find you!” Now isn’t that the truth! And the 50 minutes I got to spend with him was inspiring and really enlightening