Call Her Thor—But Don’t Stop There

 Is She Enough, Or Will Marvel Continue to Market Diversity?

The mighty Thor, thunder-God, symbol of aggression, war, and masculinity is now a woman. To which I say: it’s about time!

As of October 1, 2014, Marvel has updated its iconic character’s DNA to include two X chromosomes. All one has to do is take to Twitter or Facebook to see varying degrees of encouragement and backlash regarding this character change.

When I saw the image trending of the new female Thor, I was instantly excited. She’s strong, striking, AND feminine.

But I felt a twinge of lingering skepticism.

Her image transported me back to my childhood when I would sit with my older cousin and read comic books with him. I loved the intricate story lines, characters’ inner turmoil, and stunning imagery.

But it wasn’t long before I noticed there were no faces like mine in the pages of comics, and I began to drift toward books with a strong central heroine.

I’ve since peeked my head into the super hero world—mostly, I’ve watched a few blockbuster movies, studied mythology, and fell in love with Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which is a multi-generational epic that follows two cousins as they create their own comic book empire.

The book is a fantastic literary achievement, but what irks me is the only female character starts out as a strong, interesting creator of comics, then gets tangled up in love, sells out, and scrapes by writing romance books.

Ugh. But let’s be honest, the media doesn’t exactly tell us we’re all perfect just the way we are.

This is something that I’ve seen communicated time and time again in books, movies, and media: these painfully obvious, missed opportunities for intellectual, diverse characters.

Don’t get me wrong; I commend Marvel for this seemingly huge step toward changing how we as media consumers, readers, and humans think about gender.   

But I worry that Marvel will smile and wave, take a pretty bow, and grow lazy in all this media-generated praise. “Look—We’ve diversified! Yes, Thor is still blonde and white and able-bodied….but she’s a woman!”

And while Thor is the most recent, she’s definitely not the only notable woman in comics. We can’t forget Elektra, Wonder Woman, and Storm.

While these characters have made huge advances for gender inclusion in the genre, the comic universe—and the media— still has a long way to go in communicating and marketing gender for what it is: a spectrum that is both diverse AND equal.

I don’t know what roads Marvel will take this new Thor down. I do find consolation in Marvel’s female employees speaking publicly about character changes like Thor’s; these are voices we need to hear more of. I do think social media is a great platform for Marvel to communicate with us as readers and consumers. Social media can be a two-way street where Marvel can ask questions and fans can offer feedback. I do know I want to see more changes like this.

Changes where people, and super heroes, are marketed for what they really are: powerful enough, despite gender or color, to change the planet.

Written by Casey Nichols of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Donald Sterling and His Apol”oh-geez”

One can’t turn on the television or flip on the radio without hearing about the infamous story of Donald Sterling and has racial rant to then girlfriend, V. Stiviano. His recorded message has been playing on loop on nearly every news-casters' morning, afternoon and evening showcases. Athletes and celebrities took to their own personal podiums to express their anger and frustration with such racial slurs coming from an important figure. Sterling realized he needed to do some PR work (which, if you continue reading, I’m not convinced any sort of PR professional was consulted.) He agreed to sit down with Anderson Cooper and issue, what is most noticeably, the worst apology this century.

Sterling, Cooper (where’s Draper & Price?) meet in a quaint room inside Donald’s home to discuss the videos, Sterling’s relationship with V., and finally air out Sterling’s side of the story. Conversation casually carries on as they discuss the details that have so obviously been thrown around by the media. Any normal person would figure that this was him coming forward to apologize, not only to his Clippers team, but to the African American demographic that took offense to the owner’s words. Sadly…that wasn’t the case. He explains, “Am I entitled to one mistake? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners.” So, attention fellow NBA owners: Donald Sterling didn’t mean to offend you. Shockingly enough, what was to follow was even worse.

Magic Johnson, who was photographed with Donald’s girlfriend on Instagram and was the kick-start to this ordeal, was quoted by Sterling to “want to help” with the whole ordeal. That’s why Sterling claims to have waited so long to issue any sort of statement or come forward with an interview. But when Magic supposedly “fell through,” Sterling decided to one-up himself with his offensive comments. He tells Andersen, "Here is a man who's—I don't know if I should say this—he acts so holy. I mean, he made love to every girl in every city in America, and he had AIDS, and when he had those AIDS, I went to my synagogue and I prayed for him. I hoped he could live and be well. I didn't criticize him. I could have—is he an example for children?"

What this PR crisis lacked, besides an actual PR team, is sincerity. His mock sob session while on the air really did convey a sense of being sorry, but only for being caught. As a PR Professional, it is absolutely key to make sure that a client is not only timely with a statement/apology, but offers a genuine acknowledgment of a wrong committed and a solution at hand to make it right. Sorry Donald, but I guess it looks like magic just wasn’t on your side.

Written by Maggie Burke of Rebecca Adele PR & Events.

To watch a few highlights of the interview, the link of provided below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4r8TrfWznQ

Sophia Bush Declares War on Urban Outfitter

One Tree Hill’s Sophia Bush is making news with her campaign against Urban Outfitters

Sophia Bush loved fashion as Brooke in “One Tree Hill,” but now she is speaking out against it. Urban Outfitter’s newest graphic tee states “Eat Less” across the front and strategically placed on a tiny model. Talk about revolting, who would buy this?

Bush decided to continue to promote healthy body images for women and boycott the entire fashion outlet. She also took some sexy pictures of her in a shirt that says “0 is not a size.”

She turned to her blog to discuss her issues with the “anorexia-promoting t-shirts.”

“You should issue a public apology, and make a hefty donation to a women’s organization that supports those stricken with eating disorders. I am sickened that anyone, on any board, in your gigantic company would have voted ‘yes’ on such a thing, let alone enough of you to manufacture an item with such a hurtful message. It’s like handing a suicidal person a loaded gun. You should know better.”

Whoa, go Sophia!

Although I love the store so much, something like this makes me want to think before I step foot into another store ever again. What is your opinion on this? Will you boycott Urban Outfitters?

Written by Kate Kelly from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Top 3 Social Media Trends Coming in 2014!

It is no surprise that businesses are taking full advantage of the marketing benefits that social media has to offer. Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., businesses are seeing an amazing increase of traffic and revenue with the help of these platforms. Experts have put together the top fifteen social media trends coming to us in 2014 and I’d like to focus in on the big three that I found the most interesting and educational for myself here as a social media intern at Rebecca Adele PR & Events!

First, I’d like to explain how absolutely ecstatic I am that businesses are finally realizing the gains of social media. 93% plan to either maintain or increase their social media budget for 2014. Instead of looking at social media as a group effort, many will start to employ actual in-house media specialists to maintain customer engagement, increase brand awareness and keep track of the traffic that social media is bringing to the table. For me, I could not be happier. Of course I enjoy the social benefits of my own personal media sites, but that has really increased my passion and education for utilizing social media tools for marketing and branding. Here at Rebecca Adele, I have learned proper social media techniques that I will carry on into the business world once I graduate!

My first day on the job, Becki made a point to make sure that we display a proper image with every single media post we create. Why is this necessary? Well, experts found that in 2013, text-based posts got 50% less interaction than those with images. When you provide your potential customers with an image from the very beginning, you are displaying exactly what they can expect from your site and appealing to their aesthetics. Instagram, in it’s efforts to compete with the newest app SnapChat, has created Instagram direct. With this new feature, businesses can send direct images and contest entries to the customers who choose to follow them.

The third point I think will be a HUGE social media trend is Pinterest. In 2013, every pin on Pinterest had an 80% re-pin rate. For social media, that is insane! Sites have seen a 15% traffic coming in from Pinterest and has seen a $100 increase per sale.

With 2014 officially on it's way I'm excited to see where this year's trends take us! Stay tuned!

Written by Maggie Burke of Rebecca Adele PR & Events