The Bargain Hunt.

After much searching today all across the interwebs I finally found a fun ad worth sharing that fits the stipulations of this blog. [Reminder to those of you who forgot, the 30 Day Marshall Mass Communications Challenge is not a 30 day Feminist rant.  March is Women's History month and thus both the journalism website as well as this blog are honoring that celebration.  Next month will be something completely different and run by an entirely new student. I for one am looking forward to seeing where else this blog can really go :D.  The sky's the limet]

Thus the BARGAIN HUNT.




The copy reads "Three Crazy Days, Starts Thursday 2 October".

Advertising Agency: Selmore, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Creative Directors: Bas Korsten, Michael Jansen
Art Director: Esin Cittone
Copywriter: Dom Nash
Photographer: Jonathan Barkat
Account: Rina Verweij, Wencke van Lankveld

I think these ads do a great job of pulling concept across.  The whole idea of having a literal hunt for fashion is SO how I know at least I feel like when I'm going out on a day like Black Friday or something.  In fact how fun would this be to run it through the ages? Have pirate women taking back their booty even...too far?  Maybe.  But seriously, what about modern gangsters / bounty hunting after their shoes, purses, tops and accessories?  Or even showing desperate housewives repelling from roofs and setting crazy traps for the animated products they covet so intensely. 

The photography is here good.  I like the bright images.  If you make them too dark and vogue wedding photography I feel it will not keep the fun feel to the experience a woman is about to have.  But you have to admit there's nothing like walking into a store and knowing you're on safari?  (ladies? you know this to be true.)  Men, let me try to relate... Call of Duty, video games... how much effort do you put into getting that new release.  The hunt to a acquire and conquer is born into you.  These ads strike that a connection and a concept on that primal level that we as advertisers don't always think about.  I dig this.  

Women, and their Fear of Public Transportation.

Fact:  More women today use public transportation than men.


Fact: Women feel public transportation to be unsafe.

So what must be done?  There is currently a cry out to agencies to figure out a way to help both men and women feel "safer" when using any form of public transportation.  Cries for ideas from designers, not engineers, transportation specialists, or some other specialists in their field is what they are looking for.  

What's more is the companies have realized they need to call their target to the table.  Women have an issue with feeling safe and thus women are the ones being called on.  What does this say for how society is building itself?  The people are crying out, and the agencies hear them.


How awesome is this?!  People now realize the implications of good design.  Not only is it useful, good design plays an extremely important part in how we perceive the environment we live in.  Happy design makes for happy people. 
____________________________________________________________________
Article

How to Ease Women’s Fear of 

Transportation Environments:

Case Studies and Best Practices

ABSTRACT

The relationship between women´s fear and the built environment has been the subject of research with clear findings that women feel unsafe in many public spaces. These often include transportation environments. Desolate bus stops and train cars, dimly lit park-and-ride lots and parking structures, but also overcrowded transit vehicles represent stressful settings for many women, who often feel compelled to change their transportation modes and travel patterns in order to avoid them. Past research has shown that transit passengers´ fears and concerns about safety influence their travel decisions. But while the relationship between women´s fear of crime and public space has been the focus of considerable research, transit environments have received less attention. This study seeks to address this gap by, 1) identifying the perspectives and needs of women regarding safety from crime in transit environments through a comprehensive literature review and in depth interviews with representatives of 16 national women´s interest groups; 2) assessing if these needs are met by transit agencies, through a survey of 131 U.S transit operators; and 3) discussing model programs and best practices from the U.S. and overseas that address women´s concerns about safe travel. We found that women transit passengers have some distinct travel needs, but these needs are not well addressed in the U.S., where only a handful of transit operators have specific programs in place targeting the safety needs of women riders. In contrast, some other countries have adopted specific measures and policies in response to women´s transit safety needs. We also found a mismatch between the expressed needs of women passengers and the types and locations of common safety/security strategies adopted by transit agencies. Based on feedback from our interviews and case studies we offer a series of policy recommendations. While community opposition to TODs has been pronounced, very little empirical research exists that indicates whether this opposition is well-founded. Economic theory suggests that if a TOD has a negative effect on the surrounding residential neighborhoods, then that effect should lower land prices and in turn, the housing prices in these neighborhoods. Similarly, an increase in the housing prices would mean a positive effect of TODs on the surrounding neighborhoods. This study empirically estimates the impact of four San Francisco Bay Area sub-urban TODs on single-family home sale prices. The study finds that the case study suburban TODs either had no impact or had a positive impact on the surrounding single-family home sale prices.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D – Principal Investigator Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is professor and former chair of the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She holds a doctorate in urban planning and master´s degrees in architecture and urban planning from the University of Southern California. Her areas of specialization are urban design, and physical and land use planning. She has published extensively on issues of downtown development, inner-city revitalization, cultural uses of parks and open spaces, transit-oriented design and transit safety. Her projects have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Federal Transit Administration, California Department of Transportation, Poverty and Race Research Action Council, California Policy Research Center, the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, and the Mineta Transportation Institute. Dr. Loukaitou-Sideris has served as a consultant to the Transportation Research Board, Federal Highway Administration, Southern California Association of Governments, Los Angeles Metro, South Bay Cities Council of Governments, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Transportation and Education Ministries of Greece, and many municipal governments on issues of urban design, land use and transportation, and higher education. She is the coauthor of Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space (MIT Press: 2009) and Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form (University of California Press: 1998), and the coeditor of Jobs and Economic Development in Minority Communities (Temple University Press: 2006).

MEMBERS OF THE RESEARCH TEAM Amanda Bornstein Amanda Bornstein holds a Master´s degree from the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She has a B.A. in American Studies from Tufts University and a B.F.A. in Visual Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Her research interests include how urban design can be used as a tool to improve safety and quality of life in neighborhoods. Camille Fink, M.A. Camille N.Y. Fink is a Ph.D. student in the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. Her interests include transportation safety and security; transportation equity; race, gender, and the built environment; and ethnographic research methods. She has a B.A. in sociology from the University of California, Davis, and an M.A. in urban planning from UCLA. Shahin Gerami, Ph.D. Shahin Gerami is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Program of Women´s Studies at San Jose State University. She holds a law degree from the University of Tehran, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma. Linda Samuels Linda Samuels is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida. Before coming to UCLA, she taught in the College of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her current research considers the role of the road as a political space in the American built environment. TECHNICAL MTI Report 09-01 How to Ease Women´s Fear of Transportation Environments: Case Studies and Best Practices Principal Investigator: Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris Published: October 2009 Keywords: Transit safety, Women         Research Brief        PDF Version

The Art of Being Woman

This week The Marshall Artists Series gives to the campus of Marshall University, along with city of Huntington their Spring International Film Festival.  I have worked this festival for three years now and I can safely say this has by far been my favorite.  Watching the films is always like taking a two hour trip around the world, away from my own home and into the eyes and lives of someone else's.  

That being said, a few days ago I saw a film that I know will stick with me for a very long time.

A Mid-August Lunch, from Italy tells the story of a man who lives with his mother and basically, in order to pay rent this man has to baby sit his mother and her three cohorts for one night.  What I find most intriguing about this film is how simple and honest it is.  Here are three women near the end of their days who would never let you tell them them that.  I love this film for so many reason but perhaps the best one being, it's a lesson on how to age gracefully; DONT.

For one night audiences are invited to taste the lives of four people and never know anything about their before or after, merely their present.  The film allows you to see all a person holds dear in an instant  and know that good times must be cherished, because they cannot last forever.  Although, it is never polite to end them too quickly.

Honestly, after leaving the beautifully ornate Keith-Albee all I could do was smile and feel blessed that I had the opportunity to meet such vibrant  women

If you haven't already gotten a chance to see this film, find a way.  To you, though, I offer this, don't go waiting to be entertained.  Instead, understand that you have been invited to take a trip to Italy and join three exuberant ladies for A Mid-August Lunch.

Shape What's to Come.

I can easily say I don't think I have ever been so proud of a company in my life.  The following video I've watched multiple times now and I just become inspired every time.  Levi's has created ShapeWhatsToCome.com, a global community encouraging women to increase their impact by connecting and collaborating with other innovative women who share their passions and interests. It's a place where mentorship has been re-imagined as a communal, peer-to-peer exchange.


This campaign is the right place to be going when it comes to how big companies should be doing not just charity work, but pushing the world we live in to be a better place. 


Watch and be inspired.

Now do something about it. 

What Defines You?

  

Self discovery.  Who are you really?  In this video Madeleine Albright does talk extensively on what it's like to be a female democrat, but she hits on something even more interesting in the opening of this discussion.  Who am I? What defines me as a person?  Madeleine tells as story about when she was speaking in against Saddam Hussein's country and the next day the a poem in the newspapers compared her to many things but among them  "an un paralleled serpent". She then goes on to talk about how she happened to have a snake pin, and wore it for the press every time she spoke.  

Rather than be offended by the acusation this became one of Madeleine Albright's trademarks.  In the video Madeleine goes on and on to talking about all sorts of things but I just couldn't get passed the idea in question, "What characteristic defines me?"  Think about it.  If you were turned into a symbol what would it be?  Personally, I have no idea what I would be? (Haha, and I really want to know.)  That's the best part though.  You can't tell yourself, it's what the world says for you!

This is a question about looking into your soul and learning what it is about yourself that everyone will remember.  This question pulls at the strings of your character with an answer being simple and blatantly obvious.  What do you think you are?  Has anyone ever defined you?  Did you like it?  If not, or if so doesn't really matter, what do you want to be remembered as? 

I have it! Moose Tracks Ice cream.  Cold when I need to be, full of tasty hidden nuggets, and always trying to make people smile!  :)

Why Can't More Campaigns Be Like This...?

Not long ago NIKE launched the "Make yourself" campaign just for women.  I feel this is the right direction for advertising to be going.  Dead are the days of people being told what to look like.  Today, women of the world have united and they are tell us, the advertiser what THEY  ACTUALLY look like.  We are not all "Stepford Wives" so why try and be one.  Each of us has a different way we try to get healthy and fit.  


I Say "GO NIKE"  for encouraging women to be exactly who they are and more.  Nike's Women Facebook profile is like a free gym buddy that you never knew you had.  On the “I’m Making Myself” wall women can leave comments with statements in order to inspire other ladies to follow their example. Statements starts with the phrase “I’m Making Myself,” and users can finish it with adjectives such as “strong,” “healthy,” “fit,” amazing“” and so on and then give a short description of what helps them have the above-mentioned characteristics. These statements can be commented or liked by other Nike women profile on Facebook fans making it fully interactive. 

Nike Women's I'm Making Myself Facebook

The only critique I have is this:  Why use athletes in these ads?  

The everyday woman not an athlete, she's just that a woman.  If I were to make this campaign better I would take out the hot female sports stars, go to the park and the local gyms to see who's there.  I would stop in a healthy eatery and get my photographs there.  I would seek out the health continuous, shape-up wearing, everyday women of the world.  After all in a campaign about showing off the best you, shouldn't you start with the real one?

Because Sometimes Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

As a women we are imprinted from birth how to think, see and feel constantly by the culture in which we in find ourselves in.  In this inspiring TedTALK though, Liza Donnelly shows that women in the media do have the power to cultivate positive change through joy and laughter.  I don't know if I exactly agree with her ideas, but, perhaps by me not agreeing I am really just saying, I'm one of the many stuck in a mold of "Political Correctness"  too worried about who and how I may speak, and less concerned with the actual issues at hand. Worrying about offense creates too many mental barriers and often never allows the real problems to be heard. (Interesting how even as my fingers strike the keys, the words still seem like concepts I should possibly hold my tongue over for fear of being labeled "unworthy" or "offensive").   

Donnelly suggests that perhaps we are too "Politically Correct" to begin with.  Maybe this world needs a few good media queens to take the reins and show the country how they can "loosen up a bit"?  Look at John Stewart and Steven Colbert, where's insert name of woman? 

The rules of society have been laid down long ago.  What if rather than terror and guns war raged with, laughter and joy? What if the media could become the next great bullet of revolution?

Thoughts?