Happy Accident by Emily Hoyer When using focus groups as a research method to explore consumer needs and preferences, it’s common to take a “blind” (or un-branded) approach. This basically means that the company for whom the research is being conducted is not divulged to the participants. When this is the case, it’s…
Douglas Holt’s 2004 book “How Brands Become Cultural Icons” defines iconic brands as brands that are time-tested, important cultural symbols – they represent popular values, ideas and identities within a culture and are highly symbolic or meaningful in a society. He writes that iconic brands and iconic individuals “serve as society’s foundational compass points –…
Photographer Holly Norris’s “American Able” makes a powerful statement on the standard practice of excluding women with disabilities from the mass media and the othering that occurs through this exclusion. From her website: “American Able” intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are made invisible in advertising and mass media.…
This weekend, I picked up a few things from LUSH Cosmetics, just one of the many companies with a presence in the “ethical” products market. The items I purchased (lotion, face mask and cleanser) stand out to me for a number of reasons: they smell irresistibly yummy and they make my skin feel divine, and…
