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Since all of my favorite TV shows have started back up for the season, it’s safe to say that I’ve been watching too much TV. I’ve been watching so much TV that I’ve actually been paying attention to commercials, which is something I usually do not do.

As I’ve been seeing these commercials, there have been a couple of them that have sparked an interest because they are concerning to me.

The first commercial that has concerned me is a spot for Velveeta cheese (well, I guess people consider it cheese.) It shows a woman perusing the grocery store with her shopping cart, and the narrator in the background is saying something about how in our day and time, it seems like everyone is cutting back, but not Velveeta. The point to the commercial is that while cheese packaging is getting smaller, Velveeta is still in the same size block it’s always been and cheaper than other choices. The ad ends with the slogan, “Forget cheddar, Velveeta’s better.”

I usually wouldn’t think twice about a commercial like this, but for some reason I did. Do they really have to throw in a political statement in a Velveeta commercial? The advertising company is not only using our weak economy to market Velveeta, but they are trying to compare it to actual cheese. Velveeta is a pasteurized cheese product and isn’t even in the same aisle as the other cheeses, so how can you compare the two?

The second commercial was one I’ve now seen several times. It is a commercial paid for by the Corn Refiners Association. They have started a huge campaign to try to get consumers to think again about buying products with high fructose corn syrup in them. I’ve seen their ads in magazines and newspapers as well.

There are a few commercials they have out now, but the one I saw shows two mothers at a party talking to each other. One mother has a huge jug of a Kool-Aid lookalike and is pouring it into a cup, presumably for her child. The other woman looks at her and says, “You don’t care what the kids eat? That has high fructose corn syrup in it.” The other woman responds with, “It’s made from corn, doesn’t have artificial ingredients and like sugar it’s fine in moderation.”

I really could not believe that the Corn Refiners Association was running a huge ad campaign to try to convince people that high fructose corn syrup is OK. They have had a big PR problem for many years since doctors have been telling us how unhealthy it is. Mothers are even told not to give their children fruit juice since much of it contains the syrup.

The line when the woman says, “It’s fine in moderation” is the part that kills me. Isn’t all food fine in moderation? And the fact that they have to admit that it’s OK only in moderation says a lot about the product. Trying to compare corn to corn syrup isn’t a good tactic, either. Corn is healthy on its own, but not when it’s processed and turned into something unnatural like high fructose corn syrup.

Maybe I’ve been watching too much TV, but I really don’t think either of these commercials are the best way to address and try to fix a PR problem. Consumers aren’t that stupid.

Last week I read that MTV has decided to end its show TRL (Total Request Live) after 10 years. The last episode will air on November 10. Sadly, the show was basically the only one left on the network that focused on playing music videos, as most of the programming is now reality shows. TRL had a guest, or sometimes several guests on every show, who promoted upcoming albums, movies, and television shows. I can still remember rushing home from middle school just so I could catch TRL on the days I didn’t have after-school activities. This was during the time when MTV would actually play music (ironic, since MTV stands for Music Television), and TRL was THE show for us preteens and teenagers.

Now, I can’t even remember the last time I watched an episode of TRL or even caught a glimpse of one while flipping through channels. When I asked my friends tonight at dinner if they had heard that the show was being canceled, one of them replied, “I didn’t even know that show was still on.” It seems like TRL has lost its touch, but maybe I’m just too old to be watching it. Regardless, TRL was a great PR platform for celebrities and musicians.

TRL was somewhat of a cultural phenomenon with many events in pop culture history going down on its set. Who can forget Mariah Carey performing an impromptu striptease on TV, P. Diddy’s “Rock the Vote” campaign, or the debut of Carson Daly as a television show host? No matter what the issue, TRL was a go-to for celebrities to promote their causes. It was sort of like CNN’s Larry King Live, but for teenagers. When TRL concludes its run, there won’t be another outlet like it.

Some TRL fans might be questioning the cancellation of the show, but I believe the show has more than outlived its prime. The Internet has forced many media outlets to become obsolete, and it seems we can add music video countdown shows to that list. There are so many different ways to view the content that is shown on TRL now, particularly online. Teenagers are now so used to having everything at the snap of their fingers, so why would they sit on their couch and wait for an hour to find out what the No. 1 video of the day is when they can just go onto iTunes and find out on their own? And with the creation of YouTube, they can watch music videos all day long whenever they want.

There is no question that the ending of TRL will cause celebrities and their publicists to search for other outlets to promote their newest album to the teenybopper demographic. It is somewhat scary to see how much of an impact the Internet can have on such a long running show as TRL. I will always remember the glory days of MTV’s TRL and I am thankful for all of the juicy pop culture moments it has provided me over the years.

Since the 2008 presidential election is now less than two months away, it seems like you can’t go anywhere without seeing the faces of Barack Obama and Joe Biden and now John McCain and Sarah Palin. Their faces are displayed all over the newspapers and on what seems like every news channel on television.

This past week, I saw something at the grocery store checkout line last week that shocked me. As I was checking out, I picked up the newest issue of US Weekly, just as I do every week. This particular week, Sarah Palin, GOP vice presidential candidate, was on the cover cradling her baby with the headline “Babies, Lies and Scandal.” Because I read US Weekly to learn about the latest celebrity gossip and to get up to speed on what Britney has been doing lately, seeing Palin on the cover of this pseudo-tabloid made me rethink this political campaign. Has the election coverage become too much like celebrity coverage?

I did a little bit of research on the subject and discovered that the GOP chose People magazine to introduce Sarah Palin to America, while just a few weeks before, Barack Obama and his family were featured in the same magazine. I’m sure in the past presidential elections, candidates made their debuts on credible news shows or in popular newspapers. That by itself shows how much voters want to know about the candidates’ personal lives, just as we love to know about the personal lives of the celebrities.

Just this past weekend, Saturday Night Live opened the show with a skit in which Sarah Palin, played by Tina Fey, addressed the nation. Fey, who was a cast member of the show until 2006, came back to the show just so she could play the role of Palin. It is sometimes said in the entertainment business that you’re not a celebrity until you’re made fun of on Saturday Night Live.

It is blatantly obvious that this year’s presidential campaigns are trying to market their candidates as celebrities. The fact that John McCain even mentions the name Paris Hilton in one of his ads bashing Obama is clear evidence of this. The campaigns have made a smart PR move by doing this because they know that a lot of times personality wins over the issues. Our world has become so celebrity-obsessed, and the campaigns are using that to their advantage. Some people would rather read an article discussing the Obama family daily routine or Palin’s recipe for chili than an article discussing their stances on foreign policy or healthcare. You can’t really blame them though – one is definitely more relatable.

So, to answer whether the election coverage become too much like celebrity coverage, my answer is both yes and no. Yes because campaigns are pushing candidates to become more like celebrities just to attract candidates, when they should be pushing the issues. And no because political candidates are essentially celebrities when it comes down to it, and they always have been. Candidates have always been spoofed on Saturday Night Live and featured in People magazine. The campaigns have made clever PR moves, and you can’t really fault them for that.

It is my first semester of my senior year of college, and everyone I know is talking about jobs. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been asked the question, “So what are you going to do when you graduate?” I’ve been asked by friends, parents of friends and even teachers on the first day of class. My usual go-to response is, “I have no idea.” And I really don’t have an idea at all.

Some people might think I am crazy for being so lost as to what I will be doing with my life just 8 short months from now when I will be thrown out into the real world after graduation. Sometimes I think about my friends in nursing school, and even though they have had to endure countless long and stressful hours working in the hospital during the past two years, I can’t help but envy them. I envy them for the fact that they actually know what they will be doing when they graduate. They have the option of moving to any city in the country and knowing exactly where they will work – a hospital.

I, on the other hand, have chosen to major in public relations, which is somewhat of a broad field when considering potential jobs I could have. There is no obvious area or job to consider for a public relations major, which is exciting but also scary at the same time.

Since I should probably start thinking about potential jobs for me in the public relations industry, I did a quick Google search of “Jobs in the public relations field.” A website called aboutpublicrelations.net came up, so I started browsing through its content trying to alleviate some of my worries. I discovered that in the upcoming years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that PR jobs are expected to increase at a rate higher than all other jobs combined.

Because most organizations are required to have some sort of public relations department, it is possible for a public relations major to end up in virtually any industry. For example, if you love medicine, but you weren’t quite focused enough to go to medical school, you could still work in the medical field doing public relations for a healthcare company. This is something I find very exciting, considering I love sports. Doing PR in a sports-related environment would be very fulfilling, as I would be combining two things I enjoy.

Although I don’t need to decide right now exactly what I want to be doing less than a year from now, it is important to start thinking about my options. It’s reassuring to know that public relations is a thriving industry with many job opportunities in different industries. Although my friends in other majors, such as nursing, have the luxury of being certain of what they will be doing when they graduate, I have the luxury of having many different options and not being tied down to one career. And that is more exciting.

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