Social Media and the Olympics

I have recently stumbled upon an article that refers to the 2012 London Olympics and the tight restrictions towards social media despite the publics prediction of it being the world's "first social media Olympics".


It caught me interest and I decided to look further into it and how the restrictions carried unto to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.


Two of the big restrictions put in place during the London games is 2012 were the following:


1. Athletes were prohibited from posting pictures to twitter with brands that were not official sponsors of the games


2. Athletes could not post pictures or videos from inside the athletes village


Even fans could be barred for posting videos and pictures to Facebook or Youtube of themselves.


The circumstances for these tight restrictions are a result of recent legislation at the time on brand protecting.


So are the same rules and regulations on social media use during the game implemented at Sochi?


What I found was that pictures on social media are welcomed but videos of the events are looked at closely because of the broadcasting rights of the games.


There are still rules on what you can post and share but for the most part it is relaxed compared to the London 2012 Olympics.


There is still the question, however, if marketers and brands have too much power in sports events today.

Is Media Contributing to the Public's Strong Reactions to News Coverage About Murder Trials?

News stations, newspapers, the internet, radio, and even entertainment shows "news" segments cover a wide a ray of topics but a particularly controversial topic they cover is murder trials.


From Casey Anthony to George Zimmerman and now Michael Dunn, the news media has followed these cases not only letting the public view every part of the trial but letting the public become invested in it by promoting conversations and debates about them.

I do not personally think this is a bad thing, letting people be involved in what is going on in the world. The only concern I have is the manner in which these trials are covered.

Because news is shared so easily today I fear that such intense coverage on matters of this nature do more harm than good.


There are many questions we have to ask about how these trials are covered:

1. Are they covered with politically motivated coverage?
2. Are they giving these murders a sense/reality of fame?
3. Is the coverage doing the public a service of information or an unnecessary instigation of violence and backlash?

When watching coverage about these sad and at sometimes devastating incidents, I encourage everyone to watch with intent. I personally do not like to mindlessly watch these as entertainment which I am afraid some people do. I watch to learn and at the point I do not feel I am learning anything I turn it off.

Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl commercials are arguably just as important and riveting than the actual big game. People wait to see what crazy idea a company will come up with and then critique the implementation and rate it compared to other commercials throughout the programming. Well, if you watch the game with the kind of crowd I do get your pens and paper out because you definitely will be rating.




So who won big in the 2014 Shelby Super Bowl Commercial Competition and who lost terribly?




My favorite commercial from this years pickings was Audi's Doberhuahua takeover. The commercial took a risk with the unidentifiable beginning, but that paid off. From what I have read online people loved the cross breed and loved the Sarah McLachlan cameo and so did I. They tied in their brand perfectly in the end. This commercial hit a home run for me.




The Silver medal in the 2014 SSBCC goes to the second interracial couple ad by Cheerios. Cheerios received a lot of backlash for their first commercial, showing an interracial couple and their daughter, and Cheerios basically replied with we will not remove the commercial because we believe in the modern American family. The fact that they not only refused to apologize for the first commercial but then created a second one and aired it during the Super Bowl gives Cheerios a whole new respect in my eyes. Interracial couples are a part of modern America and to try to deny that is just sad.




Coming in at number three for me was Dannon Oikos yogurt commercial with the one and only John Stamos. Being a huge supporter of the greek yogurt consumption taking place with my generation, I think this commercial was enjoyed by the perfect market; young adults that grew up watching Full House. To see the three men of the show come back together and in such a comedic way was just amazing.


Now unfortunately I feel it is my duty to share with you my last place contestant in the 2014 SSBCC.


Subway. What in the world were they thinking? They are a sub shop using athletes to support their "we are a much healthier alternative to fast food" gimmick, to be harsh, at this point. They were advertising an enchilada sub sandwich with Fritos on it... Don't get me wrong, I don't judge the consumption of a sandwich like that, even though it's not quite my cup of tea, but I do judge that Subway did not think twice about putting their athletes in the commercial for it. I think the best way to describe my feelings after seeing that commercial were articulated perfectly by a Yahoo article which read "brand confusion if we've ever seen it."


That's it folks. The gold, silver, bronze, and medal of disgust. I encourage you all to hit up YouTube to watch all of the commercials and decide for yourselves what brands hit it out of the park and what brands hit it in their own teammates face.