Biodome the Sequel!

Epic Records and Dr.Pepper have teamed up to promote the band Cartel and their sophomore CD. The marketing stunt, "Dr.Pepper Band in a Bubble" will film beginning May 24 the band living in a giant bubble located near the Hudson River while they record their album, which will "burst" the final day June 12. The film will turn into a 4 episode series on MTV and and webcams will show live footage on the www.drpepperbubble.com Cartel understands the criticism they'll get as "sellouts" for the hokey promotion, but point out the difficulty of releasing a successful sophomore album. They had a successful first album "Chroma" and played on the Warped Tour, but a failed sophomore album is known death wish to the band. Cartel wants to do what they can to help prevent this and believe this project will help them stick out in a sea of bands. While the idea of watching people in a confined space make me feel like a total creeper, the difference of this stunt, "is intended to give fans a first-time, real-time look into the making of the band's newest album."
By MTV showing the episodes, does that mean its going to have a Real World meets Making the Band kind of vibe? With P. Diddy-esque dude hovering in the background giving demands and the Real World "disease" that makes everyone in the house go totally nuts? Cause that would be sweet to watch. But in all serious, when I first saw the news article, I was upset to see it was about Cartel, whose music i've liked for a while, but i'm getting used to seeing bands I like endorsed by large companies like Honda Civic's Fall Out Boy tour. I understand why Cartel agreed, its natural for people to want promotions at their job, so why not them? If living in a giant bubble for 3 weeks help sales of their CD or give them more fans, fine. great. But seeing the members of my favorite bands like performance monkeys of the big sponsor throwing their brand in my face every 3 seconds, it's just...a little...disheartening.

When you think of good hair, what comes to mind? Madonna? OMG guys me tooo! Apparently Sunsilk does too because they announced that their new campaign "Life Can't Wait" will debut Madonna's first single "4 Minutes" off her umpteenth album named "Hard Candy," that also featured Marylin Monroe and Shakira. David Rubin, the Director of U.S. Hair Care Operations says that the commercial will show the different looks of Madonna throughout her career with the idea to inspire young girls to play around with their hair for different looks. In this article http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2008/0004774298&EDATE=
Rubin said, "Madonna continues to be such an inspiration for young girls by continuously reinventing her looks, and we expect the new commercial will also encourage girls to evolve by changing their looks and making their hair and lives happen in a variety of exciting ways." The idea is that girls who have great hair in many different styles will give them the confidence and success like Madonna has had.

Don't get me wrong, Madonna has worked extremely hard for over 2 decades and has inspired girls in fashion and "take-charge" attitude. She seems to have a great family and I admire her adoption of a young child from a disadvantaged country. But excuse me if I'm wrong, but wasn't she also the woman who put nude pictures of herself in a book and has admitted to experimenting with drugs? And while changing her image can be seen as empowering to some, you could also see it as someone who needs to change as often and as dramatically as Madonna is someone who isn't happy with themselves, or don't know who they are as a person? Maybe I'm reading too much into this. I'm guilty myself for cutting of my hair and changing it from blonde to red at times, so I have no problem with Sunsilk's campaign to encourage girls to change up their looks. But perhaps choosing Madonna isn't the best choice. What about Rhianna who has gotten daring haircuts AND is a good role model for young women. I know why: because the music industry is so hard to break through, by playing Madonna's single in a commercial it will get the tune stuck in young girl's heads and might influence them to download her CD, set to release on April 29. niiiiice, Sunsilk, way to play on girls insecurities on their hair AND pressure to look like celebrities. I know that this Friday, I'm going to try the classic 80's Madonna crimped, bleached look :)

your thoughs?