Facebook For Kids?

With Facebook becoming more and more popular each day among teens and adults, the Walt Disney Company has decided to jump on the bandwagon and market their own version of a social networking site called, Togetherville. This site will allow parents to interact and monitor their kids. While the kids can somewhat freely roam around on the site and talk to friends, play games, update statuses, etc. parents have the control of who their child is friends with and what they can post on a daily basis. 

My thoughts on this newest social media site is that I think it is a good idea and a bad idea at the same time. Why it's a good idea is because as time goes on and new generations come into this world, this is the sort of communication we are learning to have. Kids need to start learning how to use these skills on being on the internet to an extent because that is just how things are starting to become. Why it's a bad idea? I don't think that it will reach the popularity as Facebook has and I'm not sure how well the site will actually do. Also, the idea of being safe on the internet is something that kids need to be taught, but at the same time how do we know parents aren't just going to let their kids get an account on Togetherville and do what they please. I mean even kids can start up a Facebook account without the permission of their parents as it is. 

Here is a link to read more about the topic:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-acquires-togetherville-a-social-161023

Mission For Health

Over the weekend as I watching television I noticed a new commercial that Lysol is running. The commercial focused on a new campaign that is called, "Mission For Health". This campaign is targeting mothers, schools, and disaster relief efforts. Health is clearly very important and extending their efforts to beyond just the normal household they are hoping to create a nationwide brand that can do more than just that. They want to focus on the bigger picture. With this latest campaign, the Lysol website provides tips and information for mothers, schools, and disaster relief workers about how to better the health of the environment around them and educate others about it too.

For mothers, the website gives helpful health tips and information to prepare for the arrival of newborns and the future of their babies after they are home from the hospital. For schools, Lysol is striving to improve attendance and educate students on better health through a new program called, The Blue Ribbon School Attendance Challenge. For disaster relief efforts, a donation is being made by Lysol to provide families who have been struck by a disaster and trying to aid them in anyway that they can.

As a Public Relations major, I have noticed that I tend to pick out the advertisements that aren't solely focused on selling a product, but an idea. It is important to public relations to focus on social responsibility and campaigning these ideas such as Lysol's Mission For Health to people so they understand the importance that their product may offer and how they can participate in the efforts. I thought this campaign will be very affective because I know that I use Lysol frequently in my dorm room. In college you live so closely to so many other people that germs spread fast and so Lysol is a necessity in order to prevent from spreading germs or getting sick.

For more information about the Lysol's Mission For Health campaign visit their website:
http://www.lysol.com/mission-for-health

The Puppy Bowl Is More Than Just Entertainment

Over the weekend while the Super Bowl was the topic of most conversations leading all the way into Monday morning, there was another type of bowl on that was going on. The Puppy Bowl. For the past seven years, Animal Planet has teamed up with local pet adoption agencies and feature a cute line up of puppies that are looking for homes. The two hour show consists of puppies running around interacting with one another and being just plain cute. Even the audience gets involved by being able to go online and voting for the MVP of the show. At the end, the MVP is announced and if you were like one of my roommates in my house that was really into the show it was exciting to see your puppy win.

This is a great public relations tool since not only is the audience being entertained because not everyone is into football or the Super Bowl, but it is also trying to bring awareness to pet adoption. Every day there are animals out there who are abandoned or abused and are in need of a good home, so by creating this show which has been a success for the past seven years is a great way to bring about awareness and give dogs and cats homes. How they do this is throughout the show a graphic continuously pops up and encourages people to go to PetFinder.com and adopt a dog or a cat that is in need of a home. It is almost impossible to not want to go to this site after watching two hours of just dogs running around being cute. Even the dogs featured on the show, as well as cats, are adoptable. However, they do go for a high price.  Either way this PR tool is smart and will hopefully increase the pet adoption rate over the years.