Stereotyping isn't Advertising...

Apparently down in the wonderful state of Georgia, there is a car credit company that is trying to advertise to their local communities, but the theme of their commercials is portrayed as both racial and social class stereotyping.  Here are their commercials where the car credit protagonist is the, "Credit MacDaddy."



and here is their follow-up commercial to the original.



This advertising campaign where they use the "Credit MacDaddy," is not effective because of its racial stereotyping, where they try to appeal to "gangstas", "mac-daddies" and "gurls" (as the commercial says).  The problem is that they are trying to appeal to their target market in an inappropriate manner.  They are also trying to appeal to the lower social class, those people who spend their money on ridiculously flashy items like those in the commercials.  I believe that the advertiser signed off on these commercials, because they are trying to show that they have an increase in wealth and other monetary items for using their car credit company.  Although the goal behind all companies is to make money, there is a fine line between effective advertising, and just plain stereotyping.  I was amazed when I found this campaign, and I feel that the advertiser's either didn't care enough about this company in order to give them a campaign idea that was a sound idea, or they had no idea of what to do, and that is why they signed off on this campaign.

Instead of putting forth this "MacDaddy"/ Retro 70's campaign, I would have taken the one piece of commonality between the two commercials, which I believe is a possible slogan of theirs, and would have capitalized on it.  Their slogan:  "It's as easy as pie!"  Because of their current commercials, their slogan seems almost thrown in there as an afterthought, or as if its not nearly as important as showing themselves as "MacDaddies" who want to "pimp your life/ride."  I would instead create the following types of commercials and print ads for them.

Print ad:  In their print ads, I would have it be all about simplicity.  I would have it as a full page advertisement, split into two parts horizontally.  On the top half, would be the ingredients for a pie: the crust, the filling, and the crust for the top cover.  On the bottom half, I would have a picture of a person smiling and walking out of The Georgia Car Credit store towards a brand new car, with a big smile and tossing the keys up and down in his hands.  Then below him it would read, "Georgia Car Credit:  With no credit checks, its as easy as pie!"  I feel that this print ad would act as a teaser, but would still get the idea across to the public that by using Georgia Car Credit, that its easy to get a car there than any other car company.

Commercial:  It opens on an old "grandmotherly" person in a kitchen, putting together a pie.  She's rolling out the dough, and then pressing the dough in the pan, filling it, and then putting the crust on top and putting it in the oven.  While she's doing all this there's a voice over saying, "Grandma's famous recipe for making pies has always turned out the most amazing pies, but has always with the same 4 ingredients: Dough, fresh fruit, sugar, and love."  Then the commercial fades to a family standing in front of Georgia Car Credit, with the father shaking the dealer's hand, and then the family driving off in a new van (for an alternate commercial, you could have two men shaking hands, and then the younger man driving off in new sports-car).  The voice over would then say, "Here at Georgia Car Credit we follow grandma's recipe of simplicity, but still take time to care about our customers needs.  Georgia Car Credit:  Its as easy as pie."

I really feel that these ads would provide more of a soft sell approach, but it would help pull in a different demographic of consumers.  It would help appeal to families as well as younger people, and in turn would hopefully drive up sales, by using these commercials that would draw in people, instead of pushing them away with their abrasive "MacDaddy" commercials.

Cobalt and Calcium: a combined element

To the average person the words "cobalt and calcium" are recognized as simple elements from the periodic table of elements.  To fans of the music group, "Coheed and Cambria," the Cobalt and Calcium is the completely fan-based and run website for the music group.  In addition to the band's official website, Cobalt and Calcium have worked hand in hand with band leader Claudio Sanchez (recognized by his enormous hair below), to keep the story of The Amory Wars, correct and up to date.  Instead of merely making great music, all of the band's records make up an intricate tale of deception, intrigue, and how a group of individuals are trying to save the universe.  Cobalt and Calcium is an excellent medium through which the band is able to announce tour dates, upcoming events, and announce new record work for the fans.  It allows the fans to voice their opinions and to interact in a community of other similar fans of Coheed and Cambria's music.  The band's success can largely be traced back to the Cobalt and Calcium website, and even helped the group to go on and win the 2010 MTV March Music Madness competition.  This style of advertising has proven very effective, and has helped to launch the previously no-name group of "Shabutie" into the musical giants of "Coheed and Cambria" that they are now.

Below is the group's trophy from the Music Madness competition, with the group's logo painted on.