Christina & Deadbeats

Being a single woman in the twenty first century gets harder every second. Finding a decent date is a task and let’s face it, to find a man who is boyfriend-material is like striking gold in Trenton. Through my personal experience and the tales of others, I have come to the conclusion that most relationships fail because the man ended up being a cheater or a deadbeat. The definition of cheater is universal. However, just so everyone is on the same page, I have come up with my own criteria that qualifies someone to be labeled a deadbeat. Deadbeat [n. ded-beet; adj. ded-beet] 1.) A man with very little or no steady income. 2.) A man with children he does not acknowledge or take care of. 3.) A man who lives with his parents or whose bed is his best friends couch. 4.) A man who only wants to “hit it and quit it”. With that said I know that there is no woman reading this who wishes to be in a relationship with a cheater or a deadbeat. Therefore, I have spoken with a marriage counselor, several admitted cheaters, and men who are a deadbeat by definition. After interviewing these people I have come up with ways to avoid these types of men.
Avoiding a cheater is very easy because there are plenty of signs when a man is cheating on you. I can not guarantee that you will not endure a few dates with this man before you realize all the signs are there, but at least you will not be like my roommate. She wasted months before figuring out her man was everybody’s man.

8 Ways to Spot A Cheater/Deadbeat:
1.    He is probably a cheater if his phone is always on silent or vibrate. You may think it is because he does not want to be rude, but in reality he does not want his real girlfriend to interrupt his date with you. A man who goes by the alias of A.C, writes an entire blog on how to cheat and not get caught listed this as his number one way not to get caught cheating.
2.    If you started dating him while he was dating someone else he is a cheater. I really do not know who said it first, but they were not lying “karma is a b**ch, and she bites”. As admitted cheater Armet Coles said “what I did to the ex, can be done to the next”.
3.    It screams cheater when a man does not take you to his house. Another admitted cheater Eric Holland said “my girlfriend and I were close enough where she would just show up at my apartment, so I always made sure I had something planned when I would take out other women.”
4.    If you are receiving phone calls from an anonymous woman, your man is a cheater. It is no secret that women are territorial when it comes to their men. Mr. Coles told me about how his girlfriend would go through his phone and if there was a new phone number with a woman’s name she would call it and tell the woman that Mr. Coles was in a committed relationship. Only a woman who had a gut feeling she was cheated on would go through such extremes to confirm her beliefs, that statement brings me to number five.
5.    If you feel like you are being cheated on, then you are. That advice does not come from someone who is a cheater. That statement comes from the mouth of a woman whose husband cheated on her for two years. Ms. Jones said she had a feeling for years she was being cheated on, once the feeling was confirmed she discovered her husband’s affair had been going on for about two years.
6.    Your man is a deadbeat if he is known at the bar by various random women and the bartender. Admitted deadbeat Marcus Jackson said he frequently goes to a bar called Headliner. The buys different women several drinks in an attempt to get them drunk just to see how far they will go. The bartenders love the tips and apparently the women the deal with love to be used.
7.    If your man has no job, but has children, and still manages to stay in the latest trends your man is a deadbeat. Admitted deadbeat, thirty year old Marquise Easley has two children, no job, and drives an Acura. Now lets take a look at this situation. Knowing these three facts you can tell a lot for one he does not financially support his children, two someone is paying for his car and car insurance, and three someone is buying his clothes. At thirty years old I can definitely tell you the person doing this definitely not his mother. Right now his girlfriend is supporting him and if you continue to deal with a man like that you will be the next one in line to support him.
8.     Finally, you can spot a deadbeat by the way he talks about himself.
Joe Bellem, a marriage counselor said “that men who do not have much in terms of accomplishments and financial stability tend to talk a lot about themselves in terms of how great they are as people.” In other words beware of men who consistently talk about themselves. They do that because they have no career, and the only thing they have worth mentioning themselves.
By using these tips you will be able to notice a cheater or a deadbeat in record time. Perhaps one day there will be a cheater/deadbeat detector and it will beep every time a woman is in the presence of a deadbeat, but until that day this list will suffice.

Audience Segmentation

Over time mass media has changed immensely. Mass media has come to a point where it is fragmented; mass media fragmentation refers to all of the choices people have of where to get their news and entertainment. Every form of mass media from television down to newspapers is specialized and therefore it targets a certain demographic. Due to the segmentation of audiences through demographics there has been a change in the way America receives their mass media. This fragmentation has been well received and is an asset in the public relations industry.

The early 1930’s were considered to be the golden age of radio. This was a time when there were very few radio stations and radio was a primary source for entertainment. Families would sit around the radio and listen to things like news, music, comedy, quiz, and variety shows. Radio was not only entertainment as a domino effect it also provided quality time for families. However, the popularity of radio seemed to fade out by the 1950’s when televisions began to flood the living rooms of America .Families began to watch television together as opposed to listening to the radio. It was no secret that television was watched by all; therefore public relations practitioners could send out a message on one channel and get that particular message out to everyone at one time. As the Federal Communications Commission began to issue licenses for more television stations, the number of channel options began to expand as well as the audiences who watched them. At this point television did not diminish as radio had, it expanded.

Today there are several forms of television available to “John Q. Public” and the list is vast. Only a few areas can broadcast standard local television without the assistance of some form of paid communication firm. Some of the major cable and satellite companies are Direct TV, Dish Network, and Comcast Digital Cable.  Another reason these companies are so popular is because of the hefty amount of channels they offer. Comcast Digital Cable offers their customers over one hundred channels, Dish Network offers over two hundred and forty channels, and Direct TV offers it’s customers over two hundred and fifty channels. Needless to say there is a channel that appeals to everyone. These channels are very audience specific, for example there is Nickelodeon for kids and the next channel up is Nicktoons which is nothing but cartoons twenty four hours a day. The movie channels have also become very specific; Direct TV offers plenty of variations of HBO. There is HBO East, West, Family, Comedy, Latino, Signature, High Definition, and HBO2.  This sea of information and viewer’s choice carries the benefit of on demand information and entertainment; however there is a down side.    

This separation of the audiences has led to the demise of the family circle around the television. Different demographics for the most part have different interests and tastes which is why it is so easy to target audiences today. Certain people have a tendency to watch certain channels. For example older crowds of people tend to watch CNN or ABC while the younger generation prefers channels such as MTV, VH1, and BET. Through these different channels people can watch news and shows that are of interest to them that they can relate to. With so many channels and multiple televisions in one household it is very common for the average family to be in separate rooms watching television. For instance the children may watch cartoons in the living room, while mom cooks dinner and watches the six o’ clock news. As that is happening dad is upstairs watching ESPN in the bedroom, as big sister is watching MTV in the family room. The role of public relations now enters this realm of “family time” in terms of families sharing information that other family members have not been exposed to and the information passes on can be considered current and accurate.

Segmentation of the media has made the job of being a Public Relations practitioner a lot easier. Now public relations practitioners can research their audience and match the audience they are targeting with what television station that group watches. Therefore the message can be pushed out to the audience that the story would get the most publicity from. When a popular rapper named Cassidy was involved in an accident the story was covered on MTV News. Due to the fact that public relations are presented as news it is easier to put “celebrity news” on MTV than it would be to have it featured on CNN. However, CNN tackles more world news and politics. When Governor McGreevy said “I am a gay American” the story was fully covered by CNN.

            Celebrities are continually in the media which is why the best way to reach people from a public relations standpoint would be to have celebrities show interest in the event that is being publicized or the product that is being publicized; that way when that celebrity is in the spotlight so is the product or event that is being publicized. There are plenty of current and historical campaigns that have proven this method to be highly effective. One case is the De Beers “A Diamond Is Forever” campaign. The campaign started when a mass of diamonds was discovered in Kimberly, South Africa. De Beers felt that if people thought diamonds were only for the rich it would increase the demand for diamonds. The company gave movie idols De Beers’s diamonds and even had Queen Elizabeth accept a diamond from De Beers while on a publicized trip to Kimberly, South Africa. Another past example of celebrities boosting products would be the Pillsbury bake off, when the bake off started in 1949 Eleanor Roosevelt was a judge for the competition. The technique of using celebrities to get recognition to something is still used a lot today. Such as the Vote or Die campaign that P.Diddy started in an attempt to get young people to vote. Through his efforts people brought Vote or Die tee shirts and it became a movement. An additional instance is BET’s rap it up campaign. The campaign uses celebrities such as Lyfe Jennings and Alicia Keys to encourage people to use condoms and get tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

It is obvious that the above technique is very effective, but what if there was a better technique people could use that has not been thought of yet? There are several public relations cases that would have been handled differently if it happened in a different time period; one that stands out is the Miss America pageant. When the Miss America pageant first started in 1921 it was an attention-grabber to attract more tourists to Atlantic City. On the other hand today the pageant is viewed as classy, educated, gorgeous women from all across the country competing for the crown. Nevertheless if the pageant were to have been started and publicized today by public relations practitioners it would probably follow the latest trend; reality shows. It would feature a format similar to America’s Next Top Model. First there would be a woman from every state, these fifty women will have to complete in a talent and evening gown competition. After those two competitions only fifteen women would remain, throughout the reality show one contestant will be eliminated per week based on votes that people cast online. Changing the pageant will be better for all involved. The contestants on the show will constantly be publicized and so will certain products that the show will endorse. It also works out for those at home because after the show is done America will have chosen a woman they feel they connect to and love to be Miss America.

Americans are leading busy hectic lives and have very little time to decipher news and entertainment information. Public relations practitioners find things that relate to the public and then relay the information to those individuals, the process is in full swing and is very effective. As media changes so will the approach of public relations practitioners the field will chance as constantly as the public does. Practitioners will also find new ways to reach and research groups of people. However, for the time being fragmented delivery is working just fine, information has provided the public relations industry with

portals into the lives of every demographic in America. 

How Do I Make Moral Choices?

The uncertainty of morals is an issue that has withstood the test of time. Many written descriptions of moral and socially accepted behavior have become a “living document” in and of itself; ever changing and growing. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines morals “as the dealing with right and wrong”. Unfortunately morals can not be universally defined, if they were it would make day to day life easier and everyone would probably get along. Morals also could never be universal due to the fact that everyone’s rationale for action would have to be the same. Personally feel that my morals are based sixty percent on personal gain, twenty percent on religion, and twenty percent on what my parents instilled in me growing up (house rules and consequences etc). My morals have not changed much but the grounds and foundations on which I make moral decisions are consistently changing. Dr. Bosah Ebo defines this process as a moral hierarchy. Everyone has a moral hierarchy, meaning certain things in life are more important than others and this ranking change as much as life moves.          The majority, sixty percent of my moral decisions are based on personal gain. College has made me very career oriented and driven for success. I believe that this sixty percent is an accurate account of my thought processes in terms of who I am as an adult. My major (communications and journalism) lend itself to feast or famine in terms of moral decisions and “getting the story”. Last year there was a tragedy at Rider University and the campus was filled with reporters attempting to receive comments from the students and any other person who was close to the situation. The school ended up calling in extra security to keep the reporters out of the student center and the chapel. My belief is that church is sacred ground. There is something morally wrong to me when reporters violate a church to interview grieving college students. However, I understand why they came into the church. If I felt the breaking story would have a positive impact on my career I would have done the same thing. A few years ago I would never have said such a thing. I realize that my zeal for success and financial stability may cause me to violate a few moral standards however; I do not intend to violate my morals for financial gain forever. I think if I am cut throat enough In the beginning I can reach a pay level where I can be my own boss, that way I will never have to go against my morals again, but until that day comes I may need to “do whatever I have to do”. Hence the sixty percent moral base being career centered. If the matter at hand is purely personal (without career issues) the twenty percent category of moral standards comes into play.             I come from a close knit family, and my mother has spent her time and effort teaching me the difference between right and wrong. The fact that I would only account my upbringing for twenty percent of my moral foundation simply shows that money and shifts in focus really does change everything. Those moral values and teaching through childhood make up the moral fibers that will keep me grounded even during times when my morals will be compromised. These “fibers” will keep me from being amoral. My parents have their own moral hierarchy which they have instilled in me, however now being an adult myself I have found my own way. They took me as far as they could and I eventually made my own decisions. Although I do occasionally ask my parents for advice on moral issues their advice goes against what I want to do. I would attribute this difference in opinion to the generational gap between my parents and me. When I come to that type of personal impasse and my parents and I do not morally concur, I search for a spiritual outlook.My religious foundations are also closely related to my upbringing. My parents have always stressed the importance of having God in my life. Every Sunday morning I was expected to be in church and I was always encouraged to pay close attention to the message. I have carried with me several morality teachings from my Pastor from church into my everyday life such as treating others the way you want to treated, the virtue of patience, and that if God wants you to have it, it will come. Again twenty percent would seem like a small percentage, however this percentage continues to increase more and more every year. That is because my relationship with God and my church involvement continues to increase the more I continue to discover the harsh aspects of life, the more my family can no longer protect me from the harsh realities of life.  I realize how hard it is to make it in life in every aspect from financial issues, emotional issues, to the maintaining of relationships. The more trails and tribulations I come to face the more I believe this percentage will increase, simply because the older. As I get older I realize the importance of a relationship with God is. I have mentioned the moral hierarchy earlier because it explains how I make moral decisions. This assignment has made me think about exactly how I base my moral decisions. In the past I have just pulled out a piece of paper and made two columns; one side listing the pros of my decision and the other side listed the cons of my decision. In the end whatever decision had the least amount of cons is how I would base my decision. It seems self centered that I would base sixty percent of my moral foundation on personal gain. As I grow older I am fully aware that the grounds on which I base my moral decisions will change, but since I am a single, twenty year old-college student-with no children. Most of my decisions overall are in fact self centered. Metacognition is a term used for thinking about your own thinking and I must say that this process is enlightening and a bit frightful all at the same time. With that said I will conclude this paper with a quote from William Hazlitt ; “every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality”.

My View on PR

In a lower lever public relation course we were asked what our idea of public relations is and the following is what I replied.

Public relations (P.R) is an area of expertise that involves a person or a firm finding the best way possible to boost and insure interest in a person, place or thing. The field of public relations supersedes many peoples common misconception that “PR” is the same as advertising. Public relations involves a broad sense of understanding how to reach an audience in such a powerful way that they relate to the product, place, or person and can’t help but ultimately fall in love with it.  Public relations also involve treating people with extreme hospitality, and making sure the needs of others are fulfilled in a timely fashion.

A prime example of public relations involving hospitality is at Madison Square Garden. In Madison Square Garden there is a lot of expensive advertising space that is available and utilized on a regular basis. Since selling advertising space at Madison Square Garden generates such an immense amount of money it is important to ensure that the companies continue to purchase the advertising space. For that reason there are often free tickets to events that are held at Madison Square Garden specifically for those companies who advertise and/ or who are affiliates of Madison Square Garden. While these important people are at Madison Square Garden they are treated very well by the public relations staff. The staff always makes sure these people have the best seating possible, they are comfortable, all their wants are met, in order to overall ensure that these people are pleased with their Madison Square Garden experience. This as a chain reaction should serve as bait to keep the companies coming back.  

Respect For Obama

For this weeks case study we had to research a Presidential canidate’s website and point out the key messages and target audiences. While looking through the website I noticed one thing about Obama that most people would not notice, the price of Obama’s campaign t-shirts. The “Students for Obama” t-shirts are only $10.00 and all the other shirts are priced at $20.08. It is the small gestures like that, that let’s a person know that the canidate cares about the people. Obama has a lot of supporters who are students and instead of milking students for the little money they have, he cuts then a break. I am ordering my Obama t-shirt today, you should too!!  

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

This week has been slow in general so I am going to take it easy and share with you my favorite poem. This poem motivates me and reminds me of the legacy the women in my family have left behind. Furthermore, if I could ever meet a famous person it would be Maya Angelou. She is creative, smart, successful, and she possesses a great ammount of will power.

PHENOMENAL WOMAN
by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I’m not cute or built to suit a model’s fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I’m telling lies.
I say
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It’s the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say
It’s in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It’s in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

Scott Lecture

            During the David Scott lecture I was all ears. He had a lot to say and most of it made sense. To my surprise his ego did not get in the way of his lecture. When Scott commented on my classmate’s blogs he came off as very sarcastic and like he knew everything, but in person he is not like that at all.

The only thing that threw me for a loop was when David said to include your blog URL on your resume. That may be a good idea in the future when everyone is more familiar with blogging. However, I think putting that on your resume today would show that you do not know the format of a resume and as if you like to give unnecessary, useless information. Even if the blog had to do with public relations I think one’s knowledge in the field could be showcased in portfolio just as good, if not better, besides portfolios are more traditional.

Some Days I wish I was A Kid

On Saturday I went to Target with my suitemates and while we were shopping I found a copy of Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss. I got go excited. I flipped through the pages of the book and read it out loud to my friends as a joke, but the crazy thing is reading this book made me recall my childhood. Thoughts of running to the ice cream truck and playing Skip It filled my head. I also reminisced about all my childhood, everything from watching school house rock, to playing tag, and drawing pictures only a mother could love. In my head I thought I was a kid again until I got to the register and got snapped back to reality by the fact that I now have to pay for my own groceries!! J

The Tipping Point & Internet Campaigns

In the book “The Tipping Point” tipping is defined as the process in which something only a few people know about is turned into a popular trend and the question at hand is can an internet campaign be tipped? The internet is accessible to people young or old, rich or poor, all around the world, that is why I believe tipping a campaign on the internet can definitely be done (especially with the help of mavens). Mavens are the people you want to make sure know quite a bit about the campaign and because they are well informed people they can pass along details and positive things about the site/campaign. Mavens can range from people like Perez Hilton to the people who work for OIT at Rider University because at one point or another someone is looking to these people in order to receive a trusted opinion or vantage point. For (a small scale) example I started using YouTube because someone told me about it and I told my friends about it and I can definitely say the word of mouth did not stop there.  Well known bloggers would fall into the maven category and serve as a good target audience for a website because if people are reading their blogs it is safe to say they are avid internet users who may take the time to view the internet campaign. Finally, I believe the rules of the tipping point are exactly the same while dealing with the internet. 1.) There is the law of the few, even when dealing with a website if the right people are well informed the site will tip. 2.) The stickiness factor, if the campiagn looks and navigates exactly like popular competitors campaigns, the campaign does not stand out. 3.) Good context is imperative because the time and place in which people view the campaign can have a positive of negative effect.   

Chapter Seven Comments

    The textbook “Public relations Practices” separates the strategies that have survived the test of time from the ones that work in today’s environment.  I like that format because  it allows me to see the blending of methods. “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Scott had me scared that once I get into the PR realm that I will not use the strategies I learned in college because the strategies will have evolved again. I no longer have that fear because the foundation  I am getting is very necessary.

There is also a section in “Public relations Practices” about the balance between your employer and public interest. That is one aspect of PR I have not thought about until now. It seems to me like the employer would do what is best for the public because the public is what keeps the company going.  However, I suppose another balance that has to be maintained is the balance between  the PR professional and the public. Untimately, the PR professional’s relationship with the public is more important than the relationship with the employer because if an employer ever asks a PR professional to do something unethical, and they do it, and get caught their career is over because their credibility is ruined.