Black Friday
Many of you already know that today is Black Friday. For people like my sister, this is her favorite unofficial holiday, literally. She lives for Thanksgiving just to go shopping the next day. For those of you who don't know what Black Friday is I'll explain. Black Friday for some is the best day of the year, while for others it is the worst. This is the day that people wake up at 4a.m. just get a good deal at Wal-Mart. Some people risk their lives staying out in the cold all night and risk getting trampled when the doors open in the morning. Here is a story from ABC 7 News about a women who was trampled today. I once worked in retail and Black Friday was nothing to look forward to. LOOONNNNGGGG lines, cranky customers, it is just a recipe for disaster. All week long you are bombarded with advertisements on television that stores open at 4 a.m. and have specials for the crazys that go there at these times. Is this what we are subjected to to get "good deal" and more importantly, are the deals really that good? Here is a list of discounts being offered posted on MSN.com. Headlines such as "Save 30%" and "Special Event" this is a marketers dream that people are in this much of frenzy to save a few bucks.
Word Count: 231
Friday, November 23, 2007
Fish Out Of Water
This past week I had a friend of the family pass away. Being that I am not Catholic I am literally a fish out of water when it comes to Catholic practices. Funeral’s in general are creepy, especially when it is an open casket. That’s right, open casket. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with how these ceremonies typically go, here is a recap. The night before the funeral, there is a rosary. The traditional rosary can last up to an hour or so. For each bead on the rosary there is a prayer. Just to let you know there are a lot of beads on the rosary. At the rosary I was unfamiliar with these prayers, while many of the others there knew them all by heart. Also many knew when the Priest would say a prayer and they knew exactly what to say after. Whether that was “thanks be to god,” “Amen,” or even “And also with you.” And then there is the body lying in the open casket at the front of the room. This was what everyone was looking at. Since I had never seen a dead person before, I was intrigued. My mom had always told me stories of when my Grandfather passed and had an open casket and how she never forgot what it looked like. Waxy is how she describes it. I would have to agree. The hands and face look waxy as if the body was dipped in a wax coating; creepy yet interesting. People would come to the front of the room and look at the body. Many were Catholics so they would cross themselves (father, sun, and holy spirit) traditionally done in this religion. I do not practice Catholicism, so I wondered if I should go up there and do I mimic what the others are doing to fit in? I paid my respects but I decided not to cross myself. The next day is the funeral. We went back to the mortuary in the morning to view the body one last time. If you wanted to place a note or memento into the casket you do that at this time. The casket is closed and then brought to the front and placed in the hearse. The whole time at the mortuary I was reminded of the movie “My Girl.” If you have ever seen this movie, you know why. We had a police escort, which is really retired cops escorting the procession. This is where you get to run red lights and stop signs. Then we went to the church and had a mass, which also takes about one hour. Again the questions arose, do you cross yourself like everyone else, and do you take communion, all of these questions for someone who literally was a fish out of water. After the mass is the drive to the burial sight. At this point, it was more like a funeral that I had been to before. Another prayer and the body is laid to rest. There really is no way to know what you are getting yourself into when going to a funeral. If you can, bone up on the religious practices or do what feels comfortable. Although I was a fish out of water, it was interesting and a valuable lesson to learn.
Word Count: 560
Word Count: 560
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Blog Post Week #12
Yahoo and Chinese Journalists
The recent events between Yahoo and Chinese journalists have been a big discussion in two of my classes. In my introduction to public relations, we are discussing conflict management and how Yahoo dealt with this conflict. And in my organizational communication class, we have been discussing cultural differences when companies from one country (example the United States) go into another country (example China). These companies going into other countries have to abide by those country’s rules and customs of their culture. So basically what happened was that two Chinese journalists were arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison and according to some, it is all Yahoo’s fault. The journalists were told by the Chinese government not to report on the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. The journalists forwarded this information to human rights activists. The Chinese government pressured Yahoo to turn over information about the journalists that sent out that information. Yahoo complied with the government and the men were then put into prison. Yahoo has just settled with the families of the journalists in an amount not released. I guess it is compensation for these families. It raises great questions as to weather this was ethical on behalf of Yahoo. What do you think, should they have done what they have done?
Word Count: 213
To read a full story click here.
The recent events between Yahoo and Chinese journalists have been a big discussion in two of my classes. In my introduction to public relations, we are discussing conflict management and how Yahoo dealt with this conflict. And in my organizational communication class, we have been discussing cultural differences when companies from one country (example the United States) go into another country (example China). These companies going into other countries have to abide by those country’s rules and customs of their culture. So basically what happened was that two Chinese journalists were arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison and according to some, it is all Yahoo’s fault. The journalists were told by the Chinese government not to report on the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. The journalists forwarded this information to human rights activists. The Chinese government pressured Yahoo to turn over information about the journalists that sent out that information. Yahoo complied with the government and the men were then put into prison. Yahoo has just settled with the families of the journalists in an amount not released. I guess it is compensation for these families. It raises great questions as to weather this was ethical on behalf of Yahoo. What do you think, should they have done what they have done?
Word Count: 213
To read a full story click here.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Blog Post Week #11
McGurk Gives Public Relations Insight
Michelle McGurk, Senior Policy Advisor and Public Information Officer for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, spoke with Public Relations students on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. San Jose State students majoring in Public Relations attended the keynote speech given by McGurk, for the department’s annual PR Day.
McGurk informed the audience about what exactly she does for the mayor. She explained that her main focus is to “connect the mayor with the press.” McGurk prepares the mayor to be in front of the camera and to answer the press’ questions.
She also explained that most people think of a mayor’s press secretary to be in front of the camera answering tough questions from reporters, however that is not the case. “We want the mayor on camera, in front of the press as much as possible,” said McGurk. For a city as large and diverse as San Jose, McGurk explained that it is important for the city to see their mayor. Especially since the prior mayors for the city, were hardly seen by the public.
McGurk gave a brief history of her career in public relations. She started out as a news reporter for seven years. After reporting she worked for non-profits and community relations. She previously was the Senior Director for Media and Community Relations for the $1.7 billion Silicon Valley Community Foundation. At that position, McGurk managed press outreach for the organization and community and civic leadership.
McGurk was editor for a major trade magazine and decided to leave that position to work for political campaigns. She was the legislative aide and then chief of staff for former San Jose Vice Mayor Frank Fiscalini in 1995 to 2000. The problem with political relations is that “once the politicians term is up, it’s time to find a new job,” said McGurk.
She had no problem finding a new job, as she now works for the current mayor of San Jose. She explained that recently with the earthquake, she experienced an emergency first hand and how it plays out. She said everything went well and worked as planned and stated that “that night we did about fifteen to twenty press interviews in two hours.”
At the end of her speech, McGurk gave the audience some words of advice:
1. Be a news junkie. If you don’t watch the news you can’t pitch it. Know local and national reporters.
2. Networking, networking, networking. It is very important.
3. Very important to be able to write well and know grammar skills.
4. On a resume, you should highlight your experience in customer service. This shows you have people skills.
5. A few things she wishes she was told 20 years ago:
• Better to have a job you love than to make a lot of money.
• If you want to travel do it now.
• Start saving for retirement now, even if it is $10 a month.
• Only use credit cards for emergencies.
• Send handwritten thank you cards.
This was an informative speech. I learned a lot and found McGurk to be very interesting and the words of advice were great to hear from someone other than my mother.
Word Count: 537
McGurk informed the audience about what exactly she does for the mayor. She explained that her main focus is to “connect the mayor with the press.” McGurk prepares the mayor to be in front of the camera and to answer the press’ questions.
She also explained that most people think of a mayor’s press secretary to be in front of the camera answering tough questions from reporters, however that is not the case. “We want the mayor on camera, in front of the press as much as possible,” said McGurk. For a city as large and diverse as San Jose, McGurk explained that it is important for the city to see their mayor. Especially since the prior mayors for the city, were hardly seen by the public.
McGurk gave a brief history of her career in public relations. She started out as a news reporter for seven years. After reporting she worked for non-profits and community relations. She previously was the Senior Director for Media and Community Relations for the $1.7 billion Silicon Valley Community Foundation. At that position, McGurk managed press outreach for the organization and community and civic leadership.
McGurk was editor for a major trade magazine and decided to leave that position to work for political campaigns. She was the legislative aide and then chief of staff for former San Jose Vice Mayor Frank Fiscalini in 1995 to 2000. The problem with political relations is that “once the politicians term is up, it’s time to find a new job,” said McGurk.
She had no problem finding a new job, as she now works for the current mayor of San Jose. She explained that recently with the earthquake, she experienced an emergency first hand and how it plays out. She said everything went well and worked as planned and stated that “that night we did about fifteen to twenty press interviews in two hours.”
At the end of her speech, McGurk gave the audience some words of advice:
1. Be a news junkie. If you don’t watch the news you can’t pitch it. Know local and national reporters.
2. Networking, networking, networking. It is very important.
3. Very important to be able to write well and know grammar skills.
4. On a resume, you should highlight your experience in customer service. This shows you have people skills.
5. A few things she wishes she was told 20 years ago:
• Better to have a job you love than to make a lot of money.
• If you want to travel do it now.
• Start saving for retirement now, even if it is $10 a month.
• Only use credit cards for emergencies.
• Send handwritten thank you cards.
This was an informative speech. I learned a lot and found McGurk to be very interesting and the words of advice were great to hear from someone other than my mother.
Word Count: 537
Friday, November 2, 2007
Blog Post Week #10
Ads for Super Bowl are 90% Sold Out!
Can you believe it? It’s the beginning of November, halfway through the football season and the Super Bowl advertisements are nearly sold out. According to the article on Adage.com, “typically, networks have a few spots left as Game Day nears and usually have to sell them cheaply.” Increasing demand from automobile companies and movie studios has motivated the marketplace. In advertising, the Super Bowl is not really for the game, it is more like the Super Bowl of advertising. It has the most viewers out of any other program during the year. And as mentioned in the article, some tune in just for the ads. I know I do. The thought that the Fox network will probably sell the rest of the ad space for full price or an increased price is outstanding. While most of us aren’t even thinking about the Super Bowl yet, advertising companies sure are. And if you haven’t got a spot yet for the big day, as the saying goes, you snooze, you loose!
Word Count: 169
Can you believe it? It’s the beginning of November, halfway through the football season and the Super Bowl advertisements are nearly sold out. According to the article on Adage.com, “typically, networks have a few spots left as Game Day nears and usually have to sell them cheaply.” Increasing demand from automobile companies and movie studios has motivated the marketplace. In advertising, the Super Bowl is not really for the game, it is more like the Super Bowl of advertising. It has the most viewers out of any other program during the year. And as mentioned in the article, some tune in just for the ads. I know I do. The thought that the Fox network will probably sell the rest of the ad space for full price or an increased price is outstanding. While most of us aren’t even thinking about the Super Bowl yet, advertising companies sure are. And if you haven’t got a spot yet for the big day, as the saying goes, you snooze, you loose!
Word Count: 169
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