Advertising - Get Off the Internet, and Chew Some Gum - NYTimes.com - The Diigo Meta page

• 26 Sep 08
  

  Tara McGowan

  Dentyne Gum ads: the original instant message, etc.

  advertising youth culture psychosocial addiction communication interpersonal

  • a series of ads encouraging them to “power down, log off, unplug ... make face time.”
  • “Make face time,
  • People under 20 are the most avid gum chewers, the industry says, and the Dentyne campaign touches on the explosion in digital tools that help those young people connect, share and network. But it also seeks to make customers stop and question whether all that online communication is really making them closer.
  • “Everyone loves technology and everyone uses it,” said Josette Barenholtz, the marketing director for Dentyne. “What’s meaningful is being reminded that being face to face can’t be substituted.”
  • “In fact, they’re checking out these sites in the hopes that sooner or later it will end up in a hug or kiss.”
  • “When people are surfing the Web, they’re missing the best part of life — being together,” it reads.
  • The site includes a Face Time Finder, powered by Google Maps, to locate places to meet offline.
  • “There was a real paradox in that we want to have an online presence, but wait a second, we’re telling people not to be online,” Mr. Markus said. “That’s where we came up with the idea of the three-minute Web site.”
  • People use online tools as a way to be more social, she said, updating their acquaintances on what they are doing and making plans to meet in person. Her research has shown that people who use these tools have just as many offline friends and spend just as much time with them as people who do not socialize online.
  • “Have we gone overboard with the ‘pseudo-intimacy through virtual hyperconnectivity and social networking thing?’ Dentyne, you may be at the forefront of an emerging social phenomenon!”
  • The message is emotional instead of functional, Ms. Barenholtz said, and appeals to a broad range of people looking to connect with family or friends, not just lovers.

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  Jason K

  701

• 25 Sep 08
  

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