Cover Girl

 Marathon Lip Color by Cover Girl
 Marathon Lip color
 1998
 Procter and Gamble

There are so many ads that we see everyday and most of the time we don’t realize what the ad is really showing us or the hidden messages that it is relaying. Honestly, who likes to watch commercial ads? Yes some of them get our attention because they are funny, clever, or have really attractive people in it, but a lot of them we just flip through. The Cover Girl ad isn’t one of my favorites but I know why is gets our attention. The ad has a very attractive girl, Niki Taylor, who is trying to sell to the niche audience of girl viewers, a lipstick product that supposedly doesn’t wear off. Is this ad really selling lipstick or something girls want to look like? Of course this ad isn’t just selling lipstick, but instead it’s trying to sell the idea of what girls should look like, at least their lips anyway. Honestly to me there isn’t anything that makes this commercial memorable or effective. I guess for those who are longing to have long lasting lip wear, this commercial is ideal for them. The actress is showing us how the lip stick stays on her lips and doesn’t rub off on things like a straw, a coffee mug and even her fingers. Come on now, how often do us girls kiss our hands and fingers? Along with watching the ad, if you listen closely you can here the ad using puffery words like; “transfer resistant”, “lush”, and even the song tells us if we use this product we will be “fresh faced to the world.” Ok girls, here is a warning, if you DON’T use this lipstick, please don’t go out in public. Even though the actress is never holding the product I think she is also displaying Juxtaposition, which is another type of puffery. She is always smiling while supposedly wearing the product. I’m not really sure of the first time I saw this commercial, but I’m pretty sure that the advertisers were smart enough to show this commercial during an episode of America’s Next Top Model, or Sex in the City. This ad really didn’t work for me. Normally I don’t wear lipstick, so this commercial didn’t make me want to go out and buy it. Maybe if Cover Girl had a Chap Stick commercial my actions would be different.

Good Old Rift

Let me tell you about a man named Rift. Yes his real name is Rift. To be exact his name is Rift Fournier. He got his named from his mother, after her and his dad rifted around trying to come up with a name. His dad wanted to name him a jr. and his mother was very against it. At birth Rift was born a Jr., but after being baptized his mother legally changed his name to Rift. At the age of 16, Rift got Polio, which confined him to a wheelchair but did not stop him from adventuring out into the world. It seems that Rift has been all over the world and back and had worked everywhere possible. He has been to New York and California where he went to school to become a writer. Later he changed his mind and went to law school, which later on decided was also not for him. He worked at places like a morgue, which he ran, and then worked at a jail. With all of his experiences he then went into writing. He first wrote just wrote jokes and then became a dramatist in New York. He then went to a television station in Omaha, Nebraska. He has written a bunch of children series and wrote some dramas and documentaries. He also wrote scenes for the hit television show NYPD Blue. He won the 1973 Peabody Award for all of his hard work. Since he wanted to teach and shape the minds of future writers, he now teaches at Lindenwood University. His main advice that he gave to us was to READ! If we don’t read we will not make it. He said that creative people steal. Not steal literally, but when people read they come up with great ideas. I really enjoyed listening to Rift talk about something he was so passionate about. It was a real eye opener.