#5- Surveillance or Law Enforcement

Surveillance Videos

If you stop to think about it, you are being watched pretty much everywhere you go. There are surveillance cameras in schools, hospitals, stores, gas stations, restaurants, government buildings, and neighborhoods. These cameras watch for people that might be committing any crimes, and one of the most popular crimes being stealing or shoplifting. There are people who sit down and monitor all the footage that surveillance cameras capture in order to catch someone in the acts. Overall, surveillance videos can either help identify a suspect in a major or minor crime or sometimes even can capture weird/funny happenings. 

On January 29 of this year, a surveillance camera outside a business in Las Vegas, Nevada, recorded a man named James Edgar Lewis being shot in the head by a man in an SUV. That same night, the man from the SUV had shot three other men (who were all homeless at the time) at different locations in Las Vegas. After the shootings, the surveillance video was released to the public, and the suspect, Joshua Castellon, was approached because he has been sleeping in an SUV that looked similar to the one from the crime. Castellon was arrested on February 20 because of a federal weapons charge but was later charged with several counts of murder. 

On February 18, a surveillance camera at a home in Brookfield, Wisconsin captured a rather large cat looking inside the home. The owner of the home had first noticed several large paw prints in the snow on his front lawn. The prints made the owner check the surveillance footage from his home's surveillance video, and to his surprise, he saw a cougar peeking into his house. He later called the police department who came to his home around 6 p.m. on February 18. The police were not able to capture the cougar because "of the proximity of nearby homes." The cougar had already left the man's home when the police came back to visit the next day.

On February 14, after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the suspect Nikolas Cruz was captured on a surveillance camera outside The Chai Center Chabad, a Jewish religious center. Cruz was making his way to the McDonald's next to The Chai Center. He had just committed a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers. Cruz sat inside the restaurant then left after a while. He was arrested about 40 minutes after he left McDonald's. Police were able to find his whereabouts to The Chai Center's surveillance video. 

Recently, in Plum, Pennsylvania, a 16 year old boy named Ryan Adams had $800 worth of baseball gear stolen from him at a car wash. The baseball gear included a backpack, two bats, a glove, a helmet, and batting gloves. Adams had been vacuuming his car with his dad at Carwash Country. After they had left the carwash, Adams noticed that his backpack that contained the baseball gear was missing. He and his dad went back and got in contact with the owner of the carwash. The owner checked the surveillance cameras and found a man in an SUV stealing the backpack from the boy's car. The man still has not been identified, although he was captured on surveillance footage.  

Although it may be annoying to feel like you are being watched all the time, surveillance videos can be helpful in many circumstances, such as identifying the suspect of a crime. There are a variety of surveillance videos out there, ranging from videos about crime to humorous occurrences, like this gem about a woman "who found a bag of cocaine in her order of cheese sticks."

#4- Advertising Analysis

Tide's Super Bowl Campaign

Tide, the popular laundry detergent brand by Proctor & Gamble, has been heavy in the news lately with the drama of people "supposedly" snacking on Tide Pods for Internet views. Recently, during the Super Bowl LII, Tide rolled out a plethora of new advertisements for their detergent.

 Mostly all of the advertisements starred David Harbour, an
actor who portrays Police Chief James Hopper on the Netflix series Stranger Things. Every ad was essentially a parody of stereotypical advertisements like a car ad, Mr. Clean ad, beer ad, and an Amazon Alexa ad. At the end of every advertisement, Harbour would proclaim, "it's a Tide ad." Some ads, like one for insurance, featured him saying it was a Tide ad because of a mechanic's bright, clean shirt, despite his face being dirty.

David Harbour

These Tide advertisements were trying to be self-aware with Harbour acting as a constant narrator. They question why every ad couldn't be a Tide ad, since most people in advertisements are watching clean clothes that could've been washed with Tide detergent. Proctor & Gamble were wanting to make ads for Tide that encompassed every genre of ads that are typically shown during the Super Bowl. The ads started with a: 45 spot that introduced viewers to the feel of the ad. By splicing up the spots and spreading them out throughout the Super Bow, Proctor & Gamble made sure that viewers wouldn't miss any of the Tide ads. The ads also had a social media campaign with the #TideAd.

According to AdWeek, "the company bought an ad in every quarter- a 45-second establishing spot in the first quarter, along with 15-second ads for each of the following three quarters." The ads cost Proctor & Gamble around $15 million dollars to create. The lighting, scenery, clothes, makeup, and more aspects of the ads were designed to reflect the genre the ad was parodying, trying to trick viewers into thinking they were watching something else when it was only just a Tide ad.

In my opinion, this was a pretty clever advertising campaign. Usually when people see an ad for brand, they know what kind of product the ad is selling due to the tone (music, lighting, acting, storyline) of it. This Tide campaign threw viewers for a loop and managed to catch their attention everytime. The ads were creative and humorous, featured a familiar face that a lot of people know (David Harbour), and managed to advertise their popular laundry detergent in a new, fun way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkcZbhTAznQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doP7xKdGOKs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kulyPinO49I

Sources

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/every-ad-is-a-tide-ad-inside-saatchi-and-pgs-clever-super-bowl-takeover-starring-david-harbour/

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-a-tide-ad

#3- Product Review

Fire TV Stick with Alexa

This streaming stick and remote combo by Amazon can be used with any HDTV to stream shows and movies and also access apps. The Fire TV stick is plugged into the TV, while the remote is used to navigate the system. The handiest aspect of the Fire TV Stick is that you do not have to use it with just one TV. It goes wherever you go. As long as you have a wall outlet, an HDTV, and an internet connection, you're set.

Fire TV features around 190 channels and a variety of apps. Amazon claims that Fire TV has over 500,000 shows and movies for you to watch. There are apps such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Sling TV, and more. Users can watch series and movies from networks like STARZ, HBO, and ShowTime. The Fire TV sticks also allows users to access websites if it is adequate Wi-Fi. An Amazon Prime membership allows full access to Amazon Prime (movies, shows, music, and more). Subscriptions to apps like DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV brings a variety of live sports and tv shows.

Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa is included within the Fire TV remote. Users can tell Alexa to play any show or movie they wish to watch, or they could ask Alexa to show a certain genre that they might be interested in. You could tell Alexa to "Launch Hulu," and she would pull up your Hulu account on the screen. Alexa can pause streaming, open apps, play music, and even order food. Music can be streamed through Spotify, Pandora, VEVO, and more. Alexa can also be used with Fire TV through the Echo Dot, one of Amazon's voice-controlled devices.

Currently on Amazon, the Fire TV stick has 4.4 out of 5 stars. In the reviews, people praise the stick for being able to have a streaming services that lets them watch the shows and movies they actually want to watch. With cable and satellite TV, people usually end up having to packages full of channels that they never even watch. It seems like a waste of money to pay more than you need it. The Fire TV lets people choose which channels they want for only $39 a stick. They can watch countless shows and movies, play music, and use apps/Alexa. It helps people save money and has all these great qualities in one, small package. Reviews also point out that there is little to no set up hassle and that it is easy to use.

Even though there are positive aspects of the reviews, some reviews do feature some of the cons of the Amazon Fire TV stick. One review said that sometimes stick can tend to overheat which slows down the usage of it. Another one points out internet connection problems and slow video playback. There are more positive reviews on the Amazon Fire TV stick (73% of reviewers on Amazon gave it 5 stars), but people should still take the negatives review into consideration when they are considering purchasing the stick. 

Overall, the Amazon Fire TV stick is great for those wanting the a la carte approach to TV. The stick places consumer favorite streaming services (like Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, and more) into one convenient location. People can stream music, scroll through apps, pause streaming, and use Alexa as a personal assistant. The stick is also very portable and can be plugged into any HDTV, limiting the hassle of lugging around a big electronic box. Despite some negative reviews (citing slow connections and overheating), the Amazon Fire TV stick has managed to due very well on the market, and the number of positive reviews do outweigh the negative. The $39 price tag is also a major selling point because people want to watch the shows and movies they like without having to pay a hefty price for them.