In response to Donald's Porsche ads

I was very interested in your idea of looking up old advertisements to see how things have changed.  After looking at a few I watched another old Porsche commercial.  It showed a boring world with everything the same, and then said a Porsche would just be a dream.  Then it talked about the knowledge that goes into making a car, and the designing.  Then it almost turns into a patriotic sounding ad about the future and how children dream.  It was very over the top especially with the music, but it has the same ideas that most ads have today.
How much do you think it would affect sales and price of a car if Honda never advertised.  Most people know of the brand Honda, but do commercials really make people buy the cars?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D09qQ_NM6QA&playnext=1&list=PLB67893497C781F3A

Donate Some of Your Donation to Charity

I read an article from Forbes that said, "Some for-profit fundraisers who call on behalf of charities may keep anywhere from 25 to 95 cents of every dollar they collect".  With all of the natural disasters that have occured, I would like to donate money to help in the aftermath, but not when as little as 5% of my donation could be making to actually help the cause.  Another quote that shocked me was, "Their research shows less than 10% of the American Veterans Relief Foundation's expenses go towards the actual program while 83% of its spending goes towards fundraising".  This is also if your money gets donated to a legitamate charity, and not just a scam that can process credit cards to steal your money.  I could not find definate figures on the Red Cross, but I just think about how many times I see a sign, a commercial, or an internet advertisement; all of which cost lots of money.
Do you feel charities are overmarketing in times of disaster, or people wouldn't donate unless it was put in front of them?
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/30/choosing-charity-efficient-donating-personal-finance-charities.html

Response to Cam: Spring Break

My question is that is it really a good deal for many of these trips with us being broke college students?
Like Cam, I am not going away on vacation.  I have heard many of my friends and family say that they are going to Florida for the week or at least the weekend.  I live in the Keene area and my spring break is spent working a full 40 hours instead of my regular 25.  I think the advertisements are not meant for people like me, but families that have more money, or kids that get their school paid for.  Even if people are saving up money for their own vacation, often times they will spend even more money than they really have, because companies advertise such a cheap price, and then charge lots of extras.  Many people see a small number advertised, and then forget that they still need to buy a hotel, food and drinks for the week, nevermind what you want to do for entertainment. 
Have you ever bought anything and then not had enough money because of tax or another extra added onto the total price that you forgot about?

Hometown Prizm: Gilsum NH

I ran the prizm calculator for my hometown of Gilsum NH, 03448, and I thought the results were exactly what I picture in my town.  It is a small town with cheaper housing, lower income families mostly without children.  The prizm also showed that many of the people own trucks, go hunting, and woodworking and hunting were hobbies.  I only know a handful of people from my town, but this is the most accurate description that I would be able to give.  Many of the people I know are retired without kids and are happy living in this country lifestyle.

Would you ever look at the Prizm before moving to a new town to get an accurate idea of what life is like?

Coca Cola

Coca Cola is one of the most advertised companies around the world.  You might not be able to read other languages, but if you've seen their logo in Chinese, you still would probably recognize it.  It has an image of the cursive writing with the swirl, and it is forever burned into many peoples minds.  Other companies use the same logo with red and white to make joke shirts, and even though it does not say Coca Cola, that is the first thing that comes to mind.  They have been around for a long time, but how many years would it take a new company to have a logo this well known?

Popular TShirts = Popular Products?

Many companies are able to get paid to advertise by making famous logos that people want to wear on their clothes.  I am guilty of owning a few shirts that have nothing but a logo of a brand on it.  I might not even like the product, but liked the design enough to wear the shirt.  Instead of paying to put posters up, they are selling clothes and making a profit, and getting free advertising.  Would you buy a shirt of a company you don't like if you really liked the shirt?

Plastic Food

Many restaurants use plastic food and fake things in their ads to make their food look better.  The first time i heard of this was when i heard milk shows up a different color on camera so people use glue sometimes instead.  Im not sure if this is true today, but Dominos is one of the few stores that says they will only use pictures of their actual pizzas. 
If you have ever seen the picture of a burger and then actually ordered it and been dissapointed because it looked nothing like what you had seen before?