Kraft's Yiayia ads

Kraft's Greek grandmother ad draws criticism- This article from USA Today contains a 30-second Kraft commercial for Athenos Hummus. In the clip, the Yiayia insults her granddaughter by telling her she "dresses like a prostitute." There are three slots for Kraft's hummus commercials with a Yiayia and her granddaughter, all deemed offensive.

Here is a direct quote from the USA Today article: "While Granny doesn't approve of her granddaughter's attire, she does approve of one thing: the brand of Greek hummus the young woman is serving- Athenos. (You can find more of the Athenos ads here).

"These commercials are not appropriate from a Greek perspective," says Maria Anagnostopoulos, program director at The Greek Institute, a non-profit cultural center. The article says that she wants them pulled. It adds, "Brand expert Martin Lindstrom calls the ads a desperate attempt to generate attention and predicts they will be axed."

I agree with the decision to pull the prostitute advertisement, but not as an offended Greek American. First of all, in my Principles of Strategic Communication class, we learned that the three qualities of good ads are as follows: strategically sound, creative (with a strong concept) and well-executed.

A Yiayia (or any grandmother, for that matter) calling her granddaughter a prostitute does not fulfill any of these. Kraft's director of advertising says in the article that "people will see them for the light-hearted fun they are having." ..."Any Greek Americans we ran them by thought they were really funny."

And I must admit, they are really funny. Of the 3 slots- one is on apparel, one on parenting and one on relationships. But to advertise Athenos hummus, is using such a derogatory term to a woman--nonetheless, a relative--necessary?" I did not consider until the article pointed out, children might see the spot and ask their parents what a prostitute is.

Therefore, I give Kraft some credit on their creativity. It's an amusing campaign to directly show Greek Americans when advertising a product primarily associated with them. But I advise them to thoroughly think through the various aspects they include in the ad and their necessity.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY:

Columbia professor says he's behind @MayorEmanuel- I will never understand humans' fascination with creating Twitters and taking on the persona of someone they are not. They are amusing to others, but I don't see the incentive or purpose.

New York City Hypocrisy Highlighted by Anti-Abortion Ad- This ad reads "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb."

Columbia's new 10-story parking garage- It's kind of embarrassing how the practically tallest building in Columbia, Mo. is this parking garage. In fact, one of my sorority sister's is on an assignment from the Columbia Missourian right now driving through and filming the facility for a clip. Considering its location downtown and so far off of campus, I really don't see the necessity.

Hickman could change to block scheduling- Coming from a high school that had block scheduling, I think this could be very beneficial to Columbia high school students. And want to credit Shaina Cavazos for doing a great job on her article :)