ENTERTAINMENT: BET Music Awards

Graduation time is upon us, or rather upon my friends and I. I have no idea what this weekend will hold and though I'm looking forward to the ceremony, I'm kind of scared at the same time. It's weird to know that next fall I won't be coming back here and moving into a new house with friends, I won't be packing up my backpack full of school supplies, or dreading spending $300 on text books. I have a great summer ahead of me, if I can even call it summer anymore.

So as I turned in my last final this afternoon, I didn't really know what to do with myself. Do I jump up and down and cheer or do I sit back and realize that this serene moment only occurs once in my life?

The next few days are going to be rather insane as I see it. Lots of goodbyes, lots of cheers, lots of photos and lots of hugs. Maybe this will be the best transition into the "real-PR world" as my mentors call it...

PONDERING: Is this Dove campaign for real?

Dove's Sleeveless Ready Campaign cracks me up! As if woman didn't have enough things to worry about in regards to their appearance, here comes a company that promotes women's true beauty, begin to make women worry about the beauty and appearance of their armpit.

When Dove asks consumers, "Think your underarms are beautiful?" Personally, I'm not trying to debate with anyone if they're beautiful or not, I'm rather worried about if they're smelly or not.

I do agree with BL Ochman's blog entry, Dove's Sleeveless Ready Campaign: File Under WTF?', when she said that the campaign would be better if Dove leaned toward a something humorous, rather than of serious concern. In America, most of us are concerned with our everyday appearance, however we must not forget that there are also women in other countries worried about their lives and if they're going to see tomorrow or not- and I'm sure they could care less about their armpits.

So I think that the Dove campaign for their new deodorant goes a little too far. Dove should focus on raising the self-esteem of our future children, and adults now, by teaching and showing us that real beauty isn't about your armpits, it's about the way you feel inside about yourself. Sure you can't deny that appearance doesn't have something to do with our personal perceptions (we do live in a culture that is very concerned with beauty), but Dove should instead focus on helping people recognize that beauty starts within.

INSIGHT: Blogging at the University of Oregon

See what other students at the University of Oregon are blogging about in the Public Relations Campaigns class!

PR@SOJC

Post comments if you'd like. As a student, we love feedback!

RESPONSE: Female-only floor

In the article JW Marriott responds to female-only floor concerns, JW Marriott plans to build a female-only floor in their new hotel in Grand Rapids, MI that includes upscale amenities. However, with the marketing of the female-only floor comes public debate. People are skeptical about the idea and whether or not the idea is discriminating to others.

"Marriott's listening," she added. If a man should happen to request a room on the 19th floor, "it's not going to be an issue... he won't be excluded." Shouldn't he be excluded if it's a women's only floor? Isn't that the point? It's not like JW Marriott plans to conduct background checks on every man or woman that enters that hotel, but potentially this can serve as a dangerous situation for women- such as potential opportunities for assault or attackers. Though this idea sounds great at first, and sort of relaxing from the floors that are packed with big families, I'm just worried about safety in the long-run. Perhaps JW should consider a men-only floor?

Any thoughts?

INSPIRATION: Mental and Physical Rejuvenation

This past Memorial Weekend I took a trip to visit a few long-time friends in Bend, OR. My cell phone barely had signal, my laptop sat at home, my planner remained in Eugene, no iTunes, no Internet, no e-mail inbox. And guess what? It was EXACTLY what I needed. I didn't realize how mentally drained and exhausted I was with school, applying for jobs and fretting about the next phase of my life (graduation, jobs, moving, expenses). While relaxing on the couch in Bend, I fell asleep. I NAPPED. I didn't have to wake up to go to a meeting, to type a paper or even the CLOCK. I woke up when I felt like it. I woke up to the sunset, not my itinerary. I felt refreshed. I heard the birds, the wind, the rustling of the trees and SILENCE. It felt SO good. No work could of given me this satisfaction.

I had conversations that I wouldn't of had if I didn't take a personal break. Instead of having conversations about what I currently NEEDED to do, I talked about what I WANTED to do. New friends had no idea about my passion for PR, my passion for great relationships and my passions for the future.
(Above: stopping by the Detroit Lake Dam with my best friend Brittany)
Instead of discussing the mundane tasks I needed to do to get there, my discussions revealed to them, and myself, the epitome of why I am doing the things I am doing. Instead of looking for inspiration, inspiration was offered to me. Everyone has their goals, but to have friends there to share moments, hopes and dreams instead of schedules and stresses, IS NECESSARY to grow as a person. Sometimes one can forget that work goals don't necessarily satisfy one's life goals.
(Left: taking time out to laugh)

So when I read Sometimes it's the Little Things, I couldn't agree more with the article. Professor Tim Christy said that you don't see many employees who are older in the PR/AD Industry because of mental and physical burnout. BURNOUT. Burnout that may have been prevented.

So I encourage you to read the article and take a break from your hectic schedule- even an hour where every electronic item is turned off and the only voice you can hear is yours is a start. Take a drive, turn off your cell phone, don't talk about work, laugh from deep inside your stomach, eat whatever you damn well please and know that what you need to get done will get done because tomorrow is another day.

KNOWLEDGE: Schmoozing Skills

Very interesting article about The Art of Schmoozing. I think that graduates will find this to be beneficial because we are in the midst of doing some extreme networking to better provide for ourselves the opportunities that we want.

PONDERING: What the NBC News President said

Though the Virginia Tech University shooting occurred a little over a month ago, I can't help but share with you something that has sort of "irked" me in regards to how NBC handled the broadcasting about the package they received from the gunman. I highlighted the words that have followed me since watching the interview. I'm trying to make sense of it in my own PR world and I'm trying to really apply it to current news topics. I'd like to find out what you think he means and what it means to you. I'm just sort of having a hard time figuring out why NBC said it was bad PR for them. They received a skyrocketing amount of viewers! Here is an excerpt of the interview that took place on Oprah between Oprah and NBC News President Steve Capus:

When NBC received the gunman's package, NBC News president Steve Capus says his division reacted like many other news organizations would have. "The first thing, of course, your competitive juices kick in," he says. "But then we did something that doesn't always take place in newsrooms. We hit the brake pedal. We stopped. And we didn't even mention to the world that we had this material. We sat on it all day long, and we waited. And we thought about how to handle it and what to do with it. What was appropriate. What not to show."

Steve says the network decided to air what it did after having the head of NBC's policy and standards group and others look at everything and decide what was unusable, such as "over-the-top profanity and incredibly violent images."

At the time of the report, Steve says, the largest unanswered question was "Why?" Steve believes that airing some of the videos helped give the public insight into that question. "This was a videotape that showed somebody on the edge. Somebody who was ready to blow. … To me, this started this dialogue again about what is going on in America. What about the society? What about the pop culture?" Steve says. "Sometimes good journalism is bad public relations. And I'm a father. Brian is. These are very difficult decisions."

If Steve had to make the same decisions again, would he? "I would. Because I believe it was newsworthy and I believe we handled it with as much sensitivity as we possibly could," Steve says. "This is a great discussion. …

Do you think that "Sometimes good journalism is bad public relations?"