Author Archives: Alex Lopez

Week H Assignment

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1.I would consider them as personal selling because when they first moved in, they quickly made friends and then started to compare the number of things they sold in the last month. They were making friends just to try and sell products to them to make a profit, as they all had increases in the sales they made. One of the ladies who visited called it “Self-Marketing” and explained how the family was there to sell a lifestyle. They also had a lot of luxury that made it very easy to try and convince their neighbors to buy things from them because “they know the lifestyle”
2.The tactics they used in the film was trying to use themselves as an example of the products they used, such as luxury items accompanied by jewelry, nice clothing and cars. An example is in the film’s beginning where the husband predicts that their neighbor Alex is a “Sad bastard” and sleeps in a different room than his wife. He then invites him to their party and his wife kisses him in front of him to show the type of marriage they had, as this is what Alex wants. Amazon is a brand that uses social media and using young influencers as can convince people to buy products that young people can use like cosmetics or clothing apparel. Amazon will also host live streams showcasing products to people to try and show people the item they want and how it looks or performs.
3.The method the Joneses used felt like it was not ethical as everyone they befriended they made sure to show off the stuff they had, to try and get people to want the things and lifestyle they wanted, instead of looking out for the people. They used the neighbors to profit from them and used them purely for business.
4.I would feel like they had betrayed me as I would friend someone to look out for them and to engage with them positively. Still, if someone is just there to use me for money and business, then I would feel like that friendship is useless as if you look out for them and they just abuse the friendship to get what they want, it would feel bad.

Week F assignment

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Out of the 4 products shown in the episode, the marker parker seemed very intriguing. The entry of how they made a mess on purpose, trying to irritate the shark tank crew but this was to help the product’s message. I feel like they wanted to show how much of a mess can be avoided with a product like that. It made me feel like sometimes this would be helpful in school situations, as I remember when I was in elementary and middle school using markers that at the end of the class were demanded back, and whenever I forgot a cap or I lost it a teacher would get frustrated as then we would have to spend time looking for the cap which would affect the free time the teacher had after our class as she would spend time looking for the cap in hopes of not having that marker dry out. I also even had a teacher that had scented markers, and she liked them so much she wouldn’t allow kids to use them because she was afraid we would end up losing the caps.

Having a product like this would quickly help schools make kids more organized, as well as teach responsibility easily as kids would just have to put the marker back in something that looks very attractive to a child. This can also make classes cleaner as I had classrooms where markers would be left in a bucket and sometimes that would give off the idea of a messy area where stuff is left. Having the idea of something clean and colorful gives off more of a positive and cleaner lesson to the classroom. I think this product could have won over the shark tank crew if the mother didn’t cry during her performance. I feel like it was trying to win them over with emotions that didn’t really work out for them.

I also agree with one of the sharks and how they explained that they should be “laser focused” on one thing which would have helped them a lot as they could have made variants where you can stick it to the wall or bigger options for something like 20-30 markers. Having multiple options for colors as well such as multicolored ones or a rainbow. The lady also did not do very well presenting her sales as she saw positive ones as good when the sharks wanted to see something better than average and having made multiple products without paying off the debt that she had for her business did not look very good when showing to the sharks. I disagree with the price as it might drive away parents from buying it. I think the product could still succeed if there is good marketing and trying to strike deals with something like schools, as many children go to art class where markers are used often so it can alleviate some stress on art teachers when a cap gets lost. Running ads on a children’s channel could get the attention of mothers and children as well as it looks very playful and attractive with bright colors.

Week D Assignment

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If I had moved to Salt Lake City and started to look for food, the first thing I would do is check reviews online, then I would check the pricing of the food as some food can be very expensive when it’s a fancy restaurant. I would probably look for something like pasta or a pizza, and depending on how far the restaurant is I will go pick it up. If it is further than a mile, I will then order the food as it would take a long time to walk back home to eat and the food would get cold. I personally look for the cheapest food, but the best value as well. I will spend lots of time browsing as sometimes delivery services offer coupons for ordering delivery which can make the food cheaper if you order instead of picking it up. There are also sometimes offers with new delivery services and can give up to a 50% off the first order which is really good. One thing I would also look out for is how the food is wrapped and packaged, I sometimes did delivery services and some places do not pack the food well and when driving it can shake a lot and sometimes open if food is not wrapped or sealed good enough which then leads to issues with the courier and the recipient. Looking into the ads of Salt Lake City, I noticed that a lot of the advertising involved mentioning delivery. Almost every ad I found showed in big letters “DELIVERY”.

For the shop I chose, I went with City Creek Pizza, I saw they had a website where you can order takeout, or order pick up ahead of time so that it was ready when you arrive. They had a lot of variety and if you did not like any of the options, you can customize a pizza to your liking which I liked. It also had some good prices, ranging from 9-22 dollars for a pie, the images on the website looked very appealing as well as on every page there were images of pizzas. I think that the ads were very centered towards making the pizza pop out more than others, as there were many pizza providers that would look similar, the review on City Creek Pizza was 4.5 stars on yelp and some people would talk about how it was homemade dough. I like to regularly order from the same spots, as I know that they are good so when I order something new I always check the reviews to make sure that the food is good.

I think I am very different from most customers, as when I did delivery myself I realized a lot of people would order up to 30-$40 of food most of the time and as well would tip me on top of that and for me, an average order is around 25-30 because I always like to go with cheaper food as a lot of new places like to say their pizza is high quality, but it is just overpriced and because of its popularity a lot of people like to pay the price and don’t complain about the quality. A lot of people also would order fast food or Italian foods, I don’t see the reason for ordering fast food on something like uber or doordash, because they charge more than what the restaurant does and on top of that they charge you delivery so it is seriously overpriced. One restaurant I know does this is Popeyes, sometimes they charge up to 3-4 more dollars on uber eats than ordering off the Popeyes website. I usually order from smaller local spots as they give higher quality food for about the same price.

Week B Assignment

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A brand I would like to discuss is Amazon. I personally work at Amazon part time so I would like to describe my personal experience there. Workers at Amazon have lots of safety precautions while working in a warehouse. Workers are also given a $100 credit for a pair of boots on their website which has a steel toe so that if something heavy were to fall on their legs, it would protect their feet from any harm. The managers always perform safety checks before workers are allowed to work, to ensure that nobody gets hurt by the fault of Amazon. Workers are given very safe training as whenever an employee is hired, they are supervised for their first couple of days until they finish their training. 

Amazon also gives a lot of incentives for workers, for example, things such as a $100 bonus if you had reported a covid-19 vaccine. When people are working during the holiday season, a lot of opportunities pop up for people such as being able to get more shifts or bonuses on top of the shift(s) you already have.  Amazon recently has endured pressure from labor unions, for better pay as inflation is on the rise and so is the cost of basic necessities. In Nyc pay has risen from 2-5 dollars which is very good for public relations and for workers, as other businesses such as Mcdonald’s or Burger King still offer $15 as their pay which is not really liveable anymore in a place like Nyc. I have received a pay raise from 16.25 to 18.30 which I am really happy about.

Amazon’s policies for customers are very lenient, as they value customer satisfaction even if it comes at a loss of profit. If you receive a product that you purchased on Amazon and used it, you can return it for a full refund, many businesses today will not refund your money if you open and use the product. This is very good for customer relationships as you can buy practically anything and then return it if you don’t like it, as other competitors do not have such a policy. Amazon also will price match other competitors, so if it shows that Amazon has higher pricing then you can contact support and show proof that it is offered at a lower price at another competitor and they will give you the price that they have.

If you decide to bank with amazon, their credit card offer is very good and also a business tactic. Credit card holders can receive 5% back on any purchase that is on Amazon and Whole foods (Which Amazon owns) but only receive 1% on any other purchase. This heavily incentives for people to shop only at Amazon, because of the benefits that you can receive vs the ones you get on other purchases. Many credit cards only have 3-4% but a majority of the time is only on certain sections such as things like gas or dining which you will not see using very often compared to something like buying groceries or ordering house items to your house.

I feel like Amazon should take more of a bigger social outreach as many people do not hear about the positives that amazon offers for their workers, which is mostly hidden from the public and only known to workers. Amazon sometimes does things such as raffles where workers are given a chance to win a prize, it can consist of money, TVs or video game consoles. In my station personally, during the Christmas season, they gave us workers a raffle to win a Ps5 and a Nintendo switch, which I feel shows Amazon does care for workers as it is a very big reward sometimes compared to other big businesses that don’t do raffles at all.

Alex Lopez

Hello, My name is Alex Lopez and Im 19 years old, I am currently in my second year of bmcc. I am majoring in communications and my some of my hobbies is going outside with my bike and playing games as they bring me joy and I have fun doing so. My BMCC email is: Alex.lopez001@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu