Beautiful Girls

Total Request Live, or TRL, is a daily, hour long show on MTV, featuring the top ten most requested music videos of that day. Usually airing Monday through Thursday, TRL is not actually "live"; most shows are, in fact, pre-recorded. Interestingly enough, the top ten videos requested in one day most often coincide with the top ten videos in the nation.

But why is any of this relevant? We all know about TRL and MTV but do we really know the subconscious reasoning behind why certain videos are so popular? The answer is no. Obviously songs on the top of the Billboard are constantly fluctuating, but this is because of the music and the message the song is portraying. A music video is a whole different thing.

Wikipedia defines a music video as a "promotional device"; a strategy to encourage people to buy an artist's album. The airing of a particular music video can make or break the sales of an album. And artists like Justin Timberlake, The Backstreet Boys, and Christina Aguilera, who went on a break and then made a come-back, have all been boosted by the airing of their videos on stations such as MTV and VH1.

But it's not just the music that makes a video popular. Actually, it has nothing to do with the music. The images flashing across the screen often overpower the music being heard. Often found in male artists' videos, scantily clad, attractive women dance in the background while an artist is singing. Sometimes, as in the case of Rocco Deluca and the Burden's video to their hit "Colorful", the female will have more screen time than the actual artists. And in a female artist's music video, the camera will often focus on her seductive dancing and/or barely covered body.

The next time you have the chance, check out TRL (3:30 on MTV) and watch the top videos. You will soon come to the realization that the videos all share a common denominator: young, attractive women.

That's Hot

Everyone knows about Paris Hilton; the eight year old boy across the street, my journalism teacher, even my grandmother. We ALL know. Yes, she's gorgeous, rich, and has good fashion sense, but what can she do? She's an actress, but she can't act. She's an artist, but she can't sing. She's an author, but she can't write. But none of this matters because she's "hot", right?

In 1964, CKE Restaurants was incorporated by Carl Karcher. Forty-five years later, CKE is the parent company of Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Red Burrito, Green Burrito, and La Salsa restaurant chains. An ultra-conservative businessman, do you think Karcher approves of current CEO Andrew Puzder's recent marketing ventures? Probably not.

In November of 2003, Hugh Hefner signed on with Carl's Jr. (a predominantly West-Coast chain), agreeing to appear in a commercial with three beautiful young women. After an overbearing amount of innuendo, the commercial concludes with, "Because some guys don't like the same thing night after night." In reply to the outrage by such groups as the American Family Association, CKE President and CEO Andrew Puzder stated in a press release, "Who better to deliver the message of variety than Hugh Hefner? Hefner appeals to our target audience (young, hungry guys) and credibly communicates our message of variety."

No more than two years later, Carl's Jr. was at it again, this time, with Paris Hilton. Clad in a revealing bathing suit, the young heiress takes a bite out of the new Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger after suggestively washing a beautiful Bentley. Research director for the Parents Television Council, Melissa Caldwell, called the commercial "soft-core porn." This time, Puzder shot back with, "get a life." To CKE, people like Ms. Caldwell don't really matter; a sales increase of $400 million in one year makes it all worthwhile.

It's true, advertisements are rapidly approaching the "too inappropriate for TV" category but we are also in a time where businesses are more successful than they're ever been. So, whether we deem it morally right or wrong, sexually themed campaigns are proving to bring in more profit when compared to the average advertisements. The proof is in the purchaser.