Should Marketing run our presidential elections?

I was thinking today about marketing and found my self wondering about how much marketing picks our president.  Whatever the candidates do is told to them by an advisor.  What they dress, speak, drive, everything is planned.  We as Americans want a president that looks good and can speak well.  I believe those are the few things, along with how many cool signs we see out on the road, that we pick our presidents by.  The presidential campaigns are all about who has the best marketing.  Back in the day there were no television ads or debates, all it was were few public appearances and maybe a radio discussion later on in history.  Most of the time Americans had no idea what the president looked like only what his beliefs were.  We used to pick a president on who we thought would be the best at leading our country not who had the best T-shirt or written speech. Do you think Americans feel differently and if so how do you think we pick a president?

In response to Todd

In the first hour i think that the target will be on those football enthusiasts that cant wait for the season to start so they have to watch this.  I think that there are too many commercials during the draft but thats my view.  I think that it is way to built up and that it needs to scale down.  Im surprised with the stats that it beats out the NHL Playoffs and basketball because i only care about who the Patriots draft and no one else.  I switch the channel after the first 3 people are picked and wait until my team is up.

Charlie Sheen Dropped from Hanes Advertising Campaign

Actor and very popular sitcom star Charlie Sheen has been removed from the advertising campaign for Hanesbrands.  Charlie who had been a pitchman for the company for almost 2 years has been released because of his famous arrest on Christmas Day.  The star was charged with domestic violence and the company said that it was a straight forward easy call for them to make.  Since Charlie's arrest he has been removed from 2 and a half and has been on a celebrity roast which the other members really got to him about his troubles.  What i remember most about Hanes are the commercials they do with Micheal Jordan about the T-Shirts and underwear not Charlie Sheen.  I believe the company made the right call but do you?  After all some television networks think the publicity works in their favor.  Would you now hire Charlie Sheen for a new television series?

In Response to Maggie about Dr. Pepper

I think that it was a bad move on Dr. Peppers part as well.  I also thought that the female customers that enjoy the drink will no longer enjoy the drink.  I think that the fact that it has less calories can benefit women along with men so I dont know why they did that.  I do think that the move was intentional.  I think that they knew what they were doing but may not have understood the repercussions.  

Advertisements in Video games

In video games today companies do little advertisements in the background and sometimes during play that dont always catch your eye even though they are right in front of you.  When i play Tiger Woods 09 i sometimes see these little hidden advertisements that i had never seen before and they are so obvious.  For example when i hit the golf ball it sometimes zooms in on the ball and shows the symbol for EA sports on it.  This i thought was clever. But do i really buy the game because i saw the little ad. Or even do other people watching the game buy the ad? There arent many golf games out there so im wondering why they do it.  Do you buy video games when you see the ads in the games or buy them because they are good and you heard about it from a friend?

In response to Matt

Personally i love baseball and am a die hard Red Sox fan.  In my eyes they didn't go too far just because the fact that this is the oldest and most iconic park in the history of the game.  I think the more they flaunt it the better and i love the fact that it is a country wide phenomenon. Even people outside of New England should come enjoy the park because it has been through so many catastrophes.  The one problem i have with all this marketing is that Fenway cant really fit any more people.  Fenway park had sold out for something like 10 years in a row and your put on a waiting list for season tickets for almost a generation.  I know friends that have  grandparents that were on the waiting list and still have yet to receive the opportunity to purchase the tickets.  An average game at Fenway can cost 80 dollars.  So Fenway doesn't really need the marketing because the people already go for the significance of the ballpark not always the game.

In response to Emmit

I like that people are starting to come up with other social media sights instead of Facebook because i think Facebook is getting old and boring.  I to agree that Facebook will die soon and some other social media sight will come in and swoop everyone off there feet but I don't think it will be this one.  Facebook to most people around the world is still too popular to overtake.  Even with the creation of twitter i still think it is too powerful. I believe that twitter will be a goner before Facebook is.