LPGA may want to reconsider, again.

As one may assume, the Ladies Professional Golf Association struggles to acquire and retain viewers.  Some of the league leaders believe that the high number of asian women in the league may be alienating some viewers.  To combat this, the LPGA issued a rule that a player for the LPGA must speak English. Not even a week later, the LPGA changed the rule so that they do not have to speak English, but if they do not they are highly encouraged to learn the language.  This rule was changed due to the backlash they received in the media.

This may have been the worst course of action that the LPGA could have taken to gain more viewers.  

First of all, the LPGA should take a hint from their more popular male counter-parts in the PGA.  The PGA is historically known for playing courses all over the world and embraces the competition offered by the European league.  Even more specifically, the LPGA should look at the success of the NBA and MLB.  It is hard to watch a baseball game without listening to an interview from a player that can barely speak English.  Be it either Japan or one of the islands in the Gulf of Mexico, American baseball is a phenomenon in these areas.  The same could be said about basketball in China.   These phenomenon occur because the foreign players in this league have not only become successful, but also, they are embraced by the American fans.

When the LPGA tries to keep these players from the league, they should understand that they are in turn keeping away some American fans.  This is also preventing the league from becoming hugely popular in a foreign market.  At what point, did any of their public relations employees think, "Hey! That's a great idea!" If they did think that they should be fired and the LPGA should hire me.  This should be seen as one of the biggest PR flubs in recent memory.

What about the children!!!

This week I noticed two very conflicting messages sent by two very prominent t.v. networks.  The first of these messages is being sent by ABC.  To promote the new fall series' premiers, ABC is using the tagline "National Stay at Home Week".  Of course, ABC is using this campaign for all of their shows and this message is sent several times during each commercial break.  What's wrong with staying at home all the time?  Nothing, right?

This saturday Nickelodeon promoted their new campaign, "Let's Just Play", by blacking out the channel between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  By doing this they are hoping that children will go out and play, instead of sitting around all day.  During the advertisements for this campaign, Nickelodeon promotes an active, healthy lifestyle.

What about little Billy?  What is he to think?  When he watches Sponge Bob, he's told to go out and play.  When he watches Grey's Anatomy with mommy and daddy, or even ABC's saturday morning lineup, he's told to stay in ALL WEEK.  On one hand he's told to go out and exercise and have fun, on the other hand he's told to lock the door from the outside world and cower in front of the television.

In a way, ABC and Nickelodeon are competitors.  They are both channels competing for viewers.  ABC and Disney work together, while the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are direct competitors.  This may be the reason for the conflicting messages, but I certainly doubt it.  As an advertising major, I believe that there is a great deal of responsibility when dealing with the messages we send children.  Even if this means we must look at what the competitors are sending out as well.       

 

Josh Howard is an idiot.

Josh Howard plays for the Dallas Mavericks and he is considered, by some, to be one of the better players in the NBA.  Lately Josh has made the news for a series of remarks either made on the radio or on television.  His first blunder came several month ago, during the Mavericks playoff series with New Orleans.  He said in a radio interview that he smokes marijuana during the off season.  Something, I'm sure, the parents of children that look up to Josh really enjoyed hearing.  The latest bonehead remark came during the national anthem for a flag football game Josh was playing in.  He made his remarks to a person with a camera phone.  He said, "I don't celebrate that s*** because I'm black." (refering to the national anthem). He continued on by saying, "F*** Obama 08 and all that s***."  

I am not a black person so I can't really speak to much on the race aspect of this incident. If this is an actual sentiment of African-Americans I was absolutely clueless to it.  If this is true it doesn't make any sense to me personally.  I might be able to understand African-Americans not wanting to participate in the pledge of allegiance.  I don't believe anyone should be forced to say the pledge anymore.  It's a very outdated rule that doesn't really affect us anymore, unless Texas decides to become its own country again.

It does upset me as an American, though.  Josh Howard made around nine million dollars last year alone.  His contract is for over thirty million. ($9,000,000 and >$30,000,000 <-- they look much larger with the zeros)  How can anyone hate the country that allows them to get paid that much for playing a freaking game for a living.  For that reason alone Howard could be called an extremely selfish idiot.

The sad part about all of this is Josh probably won't see any repercussion for his actions.  Mark Cuban made a statement yesterday that he had, "Addresssed the issue".  My personal opinion is that the commissioner of the NBA should address him personally and suspend him or even expel him from the league.  I don't want Howard playing for my team that's for damn sure.