Week 6 EOC -- Nevada Tax Cuts

In the article Nevadans Say That Income Tax Cuts Should Stay, the individuals being poled were asked if they wanted the ‘Bush Tax Cuts’ enacted in 2001 and 2003 should stay in place in the coming years. This question seems quite arbitrary and perhaps dated. Wouldn’t the better question be, do Nevadans want Income Tax Cuts? At the time those tax cuts were first enacted it may have made sense for the country at the time. If the people who issued the poll wanted a response that reflected the state today, they needed to find a more open question, rather than such a restrictive one.

For one thing, many of the people being polled probably never knew, or have forgotten, what exactly the Bush Tax Cuts were. How can one make an informed decision if they do not know what they are being asked? Most people will just say that yes, the tax cuts should be extended because they think that it will be less money for them to pay to the government and more money to save or spend on themselves. What most individuals don’t realize is that by this point the only group of individuals who would further benefit from these tax cuts are the wealthy, and not so much them and their families. In this sense, asking if they feel tax cuts in general should be extended would show a further idea of the idea currently. Many people would probably still agree that there need to be tax cuts but they may now be more free to also say, or perhaps start contemplating, how these tax cuts should work. The only information that the polling company is getting now is whether or not people are still thinking about how to help themselves and not them and everyone in their community around them by wrapping them in a biased question based upon already enacted laws.

Week 5 EOC -- Poll

For week 5 we were asked to add a polling feature to our blog and have various students answer the poll. I added two questions, how much are you willing to spend on a tshirt, and what high-end label do you prefer. As fashion majors I would suspect that for the most part my peers would be more willing to spend more money on a tshirt than perhaps the regular 'Joe' from the street, though I think being in college some will still be somewhat price conscious and will answer somewhere in the $20-$30 range. My other question about high end designers may be a bit more challenging to predict. I chose brands that were not obvious luxury brands (ie Louis and Gucci) because they are too easy and obvious. This question asks my peers to think a tad bit more deeply for a moment to come up with an answer but I suspect the answer may be Chanel or Givenchy.

Week 5 BOC -- Men's Hairstyles

Men’s hairstyles seem to change just as quickly as women’s, which may be quite surprising to some. Right now there seem to be about four different major trends; the bangy, medium length, the curly long length, the stylized short length, and the classically modern short length. The bangy, medium length would be hair like mine (when it’s cut regularly) Chace Crawford, and Zac Efron. The front of the hair, the bangs, extends to about eyebrow level and the back is kept somewhat shorter and the top is layered and usually choppy.

The curly long length has been popularized by skaters and snowboarders like Shaun White. The style is just as is sounds, hair that usually extends to about shoulder length and is usually naturally curly by that point. Since most men these days don’t want to perm or curl their hair if it’s naturally straight they may leave it so.

The stylized short length includes fauxhawks and shorter hairstyles a la David Beckham and Jake Gyllenhaal. It is kept shorter and closer to the face and is usually very choppy and layered to keep the entire style interesting and texturized.

The classically modern length is much like those favored like business professionals in the 60s and brought back into style today by the likes of Jon Hamm from Mad Men. It’s a shorter style with the hair side parted and combed back. Quite chic.

Week 4 EOC -- Big

The movie Big has a very interesting meaning when evaluated from a marketing research perspective. In the movie they talked specifically about marketing reports while walking through the toy store and about how they can’t really give the kind of information that going to an actual store can. It’s a lot of numbers that a lot of people don’t understand. When they were in the marketing meeting Tom Hanks’ character Josh had probably one of the best points, I don’t get it. There are all these numbers showing that the company has grown in action adventure toys over the years but they have the potential to grow more if they made products that kids wanted even more. “It’s a building that turns into a robot? Why not a robot that turns into a bug?” A unique perspective got the entire staff excited about the prospect of a new toy and even more profits because the toy sounded fun even to them. The movie offers, perhaps unknowingly, one of the ideal things that a marketer and company would want. They have at their disposal their target market, a 13 year old boy who plays with and has an opinion about toys, working for them and they don’t even know it, and yet he will probably have, or at least the possibility of, having a huge impact on the financial success of the company by being able to tell them almost exactly what their main consumer will want and (have their parents) eventually buy. They have sort of been handed a focus group without having to go through and actually create the group, and it may be better because he is willing to tell them the truth whereas perhaps some children who may in fact be chosen to participate in a focus group would become nervous around the adults and may not want to be completely honest and tell the adult that the toy is not fun. If only an actual 13 year old boy could end up working for a toy company….

Week 4 BOC -- Beautiful Stranger

The site beautifulstranger.tv is a very interesting concept that I have sort of fallen in love with! According to their about us, street style swat teams scour the world’s hippest cities for trendsetters, stop them in their tracks and ask them to spill their style secrets. (beautifulstranger.tv) I really enjoy the idea of capturing American street fashion from the city and bringing it to those who are not fortunate enough to travel to them often. I think that it will help to expand the reach of fashion (which is already readily available almost anywhere) to areas with less dense populations where the accepted uniform is that of Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister. The way the website was set up was also interesting and kept my attention. With the simple white background and the unobtrusive ads it was a pleasure to browse. The layout while at first confusing (there was only one main post on the front page and others had to be found by clicking) became very easy to use after some exploring and lead to a plethora of more shots, style tips, and rankings. Another amazing feature is how the people behind the site have taken the time to find the pieces that the people they photograph are wearing and have links to the designers’ pages right from their website so that if one were to see something that they like they would be able to purchase it right away and not have to make a trip to the mall, or in some instances, a trip to New York or Los Angeles. I also enjoy how they have mini interviews with the people in their photos, allowing the reader to connect with them a little more, and who knows, if they have something in common with the featured then they my try out something that they are wearing and it will work out amazing for them.