The first blog that I really ever became addicted to was irvinehousingblog.com. This was mainly due to an interest in purchasing a house in Irvine, CA in 2008. A friend said that if I wanted to buy in Irvine, this blog was something I definitely would be interested in. So I clicked on the link she aimed me and just like that I was pulled in. I love the way they profile houses on the market and analyze real estate data. The comments by the readers are relevant and because real estate has become such a touchy issue nowadays, comments are opinionated, argumentative, and the conversations are just plain cool to read.
Reading this blog however, made me feel like the economy was on the verge of a recession, creating caution in my desire to purchase a house which turned out to be a good thing because although housing prices are low right now, everything being projected through the media gives the impression that we are far from the bottom. Anticipating a recession makes sense though, housing prices are falling, foreclosures are becoming common. This coupled with the news that the dollar was still falling seemed to provide framing to the notion that yes, a recession appears to be inevitable. But the NY Times article, Is It a Recession? Marketers Seem to Think So (reading material for the Social Dynamics of Communication Technologies class), states that "a recession is defined traditionally as two straight quarters of contraction — and officially, there has not even been one." So why do I feel all this economic pressure?
The article goes onto say how the marketing industry through their recent slogans and sayings are creating a need to save instead of spend. That seems contradictory until you think about Walmart's "Save Money. Live Better" or Quiznos new $2 Sammies sandwich. Or how about North Folk Bank's “Uncertain times call for a very certain rate”. There's a whole slue of them in the article.
*Tilting head to the side while stroking chin*... Hmmmm... Interesting. Maybe Bush is right... our economy is still pretty good right now and we are not on the verge of a recession. *Shudders* Ok ok, well I highly doubt that, but it still makes you think. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the next two quarters. My bet is that there will be two quarters of economic contraction (it might take 3 quarters to get there due to that pesky stimulus package - you gotta admit, it seems like a nice gesture, but it's like putting a band aid on a gunshot wound). If anything, whether there's a recession or not, I will have tried out the new Sammies sandwich, seriously considered shopping again at Walmart (it's so hard to morally stay away when those prices are always falling!), and taken a look at recent CD rates. Marketing industry takes this round. American consumer - it's your move.
Tanget (yet somewhat related, perhaps tagged in a future blog): I did a case study on Walmart during college, so I am a hard core loyal Target shopper. But the article Target Tells a Blogger To Go Away makes me angry! Is Target not as forward thinking as I thought they were? I don't really agree with what the blogger said - but that doesn't mean Target can disregard new upcoming types of media as irrelevant! However, Miss von Walter, a Target spokewoman said "we are reviewing the policy and may adjust it". I wonder if that they're just saying that or if they really will look into this more seriously. Oh, Target. *shaking head disapprovingly*
1 comment:
That Target article was interesting... I must have missed that last week. Makes me think about the reading that we did this past week with Virtual World Business Brands. Target brands itself as hip and forward-thinking yet their non-response to new media inquiries disappoints me.
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