U.S.D.A.: To Market and Protect

Today's New York Times online features an excellent article on Dairy Management Inc., a marketing division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and its efforts to promote increased cheese consumption among American consumers. You may remember Dairy Management's successful "Got Milk?" campaign, which began in the early nineties and rapidly became a contender for the "most parodied advertisement of all time." Although the "Got Milk?" campaign has since faded into obscurity, the position of Dairy Management Inc. may be stranger and more ironic than ever before. Today the irony is this: at the same time that its dairy marketing division is attempting to increase the amount of milk and cheese eaten by Americans, the U.S.D.A. is one of the key participants in the Obama administration's anti-obesity campaign, which actively discourages excess consumption of foods high in saturated fat -- including milk and cheese.

Rarely does one find a single institution so neatly divided against itself, attempting to undo with one hand what it does with the other. From the Times: "Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese."

One question that springs to mind is this: Why does the federal government play a role in the marketing of dairy products to begin with? It may be that the root irony is not about health per se, but about the existence of a branch of the federal government tasked with both protecting consumers and selling to them.

For more info an Dairy Management Inc., see their official web page, some of their other marketing efforts here and here, and this scanty Wikipedia entry.

And enjoy this blast of cheesy goodness: http://www.ilovecheese.com.

Logical Fallacies

The web site that Dr. Rizzieri presented during this weeks LIB110 can be found here. It defines and provides examples for a great number of logical fallacies (errors in reasoning) that frequently occur in advertising and in writing. They even show up in student papers! so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the most common ones, such as "Appeal to Authority," "Post Hoc," and "Appeal to Tradition."

McDonald's Training with the Nintendo DS

The Japanese branch of McDonald's is reportedly preparing to extend its collaboration with the Nintendo Company, expanding the use of the Nintendo DS portable game system to employee training.

McDonald's already has a "synergistic" relationship with the Japanese video game company as one of only two providers for its wireless "Nintendo Zone" service (available only in Japan). "DS owners who visit McDonalds shops with their system... have access to such free services as character distribution, digital stamp rallies, coupons for McDonalds food items, comic distribution, and exclusive game demos" (Nintendo Partners With McDonalds for New DS Service). The other provider is the "third sector" Tsukuba Express rail system.

Now, the fast food corporation is developing game software for the Nintendo DS that will be used to train its new employees. "Using the new DS software, McDonalds believes it can cut training time by half over conventional methods, in part due of the familiarity of the DS system" (McDonalds Uses DS To Train Part Time Workers). The US military has been using video games for combat training for decades (in recent news, see here). The corporate sector has made also been using games technology for training. But, to my knowledge, both military and corporate efforts have focused primarily on games developed in-house: this seems to be the first time that an existing game system will be used to train employees in partnership with the corporation that developed the game system. As such, the McDonald's-Nintendo partnership represents a significant new development for the gaming industry. One thing will remain the same, however: as legacy games, the end products of this collaboration will undoubtedly become the horrid "training videos" of the future.

I'm curious to see how far McDonald's will take this effort if it turns out to be successful, for example whether they will retool their own equipment along the lines of the Nintendo DS gaming system or its controller in order to create a more fluid transition for new employees. Again, such efforts have long been under discussion within the military-industrial complex (for example).

Finally, I can't end this post without making some kind of reference to the popular 1984 film "The Last Starfighter," in which a teen boy discovers that his favorite arcade game is actually a training tool that an alien civilization is using recruit pilots for a battle in space. (No kidding.) Imagine how he would have felt if he'd been training for a job at McDonald's all along.

Assignment: Response #1

This assignment combines a response to your reading and independent "field research." Before you write, you will need to complete two other steps:

1. Finish reading Eric Schlosser's "Your Trusted Friends," focusing on Schlosser's remarks on marketing and "brand essence" in the fast food industry. Take notes as you read: What is a "brand"? How do the companies Schlosser discusses construct or maintain a "brand image"? Pay attention to the use of advertising, but also to the development of characters, fantasy worlds, and stories or narratives that figure in the branding of these companies, their use of "interactive" elements like clubs or online games, and their use of attractive "synergistic" materials like promotional toys. Who is the primary audience for this brand, and what strategies does the company use to capture the interest of that audience?

2. Visit a McDonald's or Burger King. Go by yourself or with a classmate, so that you won't be distracted from your task, and stay for at least one full hour. Observe the restaurant as closely as you can. Don't involve yourself: maintain an ironic distance. You are here to do research, just like an anthropologist might research an unknown, mysterious culture. Take notes on what you see and hear: How is the restaurant arranged (the placement of the furniture, the counter, the work stations visible behind the counter, etc.) and why is it arranged that way? How is the restaurant decorated, and why is it decorated that way? Note all of the places where you see the restaurant brand being invoked: list them all in your notes, without missing anything. What are the different kinds of branding or promotional materials you see? Describe them. Do they address the same audience or different audiences? Where are they placed, and why? Are there any fantasy elements present in the restaurant, either physically (in the design of the restaurant) or in the form of promotional materials? Describe them. What "brand image" is this company trying to construct?
          Now pay attention to the customers. How are they interacting with their environment? Is anyone reading the promotional materials or otherwise engaging with the brand elements of the restaurant? Are there any children present? Are they interacting with the brand elements of the restaurant? Describe what they are doing. How is this environment affecting you? Are you nervous, hungry, excited, grossed out? How do you feel about the brand you are encountering? Does it appeal to you? In what specific ways? Before you leave, pick up copies of any brand-related or promotional materials that you can: coupons, pamphlets, brochures, placemats, etc. Visit the website of the chain you've chosen and look for clues about the companies "brand image" and their marketing strategies there.

Now, using your reading notes and your field research, write a 300-600 word response (1-2 pages typed and double-spaced) in which you take an idea from Schlosser, explain that idea, and show the reader how that idea helps you to understand what you discovered in your field research.

This response is going to be your first post to your blog for this course. Anyone with internet access will be able to read it. As I mentioned on the syllabus, we'll be doing some collaboration with other LaGuardia classes this semester, so you can be sure that other LaGuardia students and professors will read your blog this semester!

Because you are writing to people from outside this class, you'll need to think about audience when you write -- in other words, you'll have to think about how to write for someone you don't know, who isn't in your class and hasn't read what you've read. For example, if you refer to "the essay we read in class" or "the reading" without mentioning the author or title, your readers won't have any way of knowing what essay you're talking about. If you refer to an idea from your reading without thoroughly explaining that idea using paraphrase and/or quotation, your readers won't have any way of knowing what you mean. As you write and revise your work, keep your audience in mind. In addition, you'll want to "polish" and correct your response: this is going to be a public document with your name on it, so you'll want to put your best foot forward.

Bring an electronic copy of this response to class on Monday so that you can post it to your blog.