Here is an interal memo from America Online about AOL RED.
We're pleased to announce the initial soft launch of a major new AOL initiative that will soon have teens seeing RED - RED, the new AOL service for teens that is. This radically new, unique application for teens will allow today's hip-to-click group of Internet users to control and choose the online experience they want, when they want it. While millions of teens currently use the AOL service, and AOL's previous Teens channel was ranked as the #1 online site for teens aged 12-17 according to Media Metrix, most teens would not want to admit using the same AOL service that their parents do. So AOL went to work to discover what a teen wants in an online experience. We assembled focus groups and conducted interviews to get teens' feedback, all of which went into the development of RED. The end result: a decidedly different online experience ' one that's not their parents' AOL. RED is cool, edgy, and ready to meet the needs of the 17 million teens who are online today, according to Jupiter Research. As teens told us loud and clear that they want control of their online experience, complete with access to their favorite content ' on demand and on their own terms ' we delivered and then some. Every day at 3PM ' post-school and prime time for teens ' the RED service will light up with 'big wins' for teens to check out, giving them the big skinny on what's hot through First Looks and First Listens, Celeb Diaries, Featured Comic Sneak Peeks and more. RED, available through AOL(r) 9.0 Optimized on either a dial-up connection or through AOL(r) for Broadband, will allow teens to customize their desktop ' including their own version of the toolbar and Buddy List feature, and select the kind of content, features and programming they want to see, front and center. For teens, the RED service will superserve this segmented market with on-demand entertainment, including exclusive irreverent, cutting-edge content and features from leading brands such as TEEN PEOPLE, DC Comics, and MAD magazine. Plus, teens can enjoy original content produced just for the RED service, new music and games, advance premieres of the latest videos, TV clips, shopping and more. And we all know that teens love to chat and interact with other teens online; a whopping 81% of teens aged 12-17 use the Internet to e-mail friends or family and 70% use it for instant messaging (AOL/DMS, August 2003). The RED service delivers plenty of soapbox opportunities available in The Lounge area, opportunities for teens to be heard as instant messaging, polls and monitored message boards and chat rooms are threaded throughout the service. Now for a little 'Pssst' for parents: the RED service is fully integrated with our industry-leading Parental Controls, so parents can rely on all of AOL's built-in safety and security features to keep their teens safe in the RED zone. We want to thank all of the teams involved for working tirelessly to deliver the kind of customizable online experience that connects today's teens to the content, community and commerce they crave most. Now go be a hipster and check it out for yourself at Keyword: RED. Your favorite teen may even think you're totally cool.
Sincerely, Jim Bankoff and Ted Leonsis
These two were pointed out to me..
EXTREME CHECKING Poochieness ain't just for kids.
Here's a website called INCONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION, which touches on a lot of "extreme" food products. Note the sunglasses on the Pepridge Farm Goldfish.
Now here's something that will probably get me in trouble. I'm kind of thinking more and more that Hollywood often aims to get Poochieness out of African Americans. A while ago, I was working on a script idea with a producer and another writer for a pitch. It's not important what it was or what it was about, but in the pitch there was a black guy who was a nerd. It wasn't a huge character and we made him a nerd for some small reason that I don't remember. After the pitch to the studio executive, he zeroes in on the character and asks if he has to be a nerd. Not being insane, we all say that of course he doesn't, but what followed was this big speech about how you always want the black guy to be cool -- like you're wasting his blackness if he's not or something. I couldn't believe he was spending this much time on it, but it was, like, really important to him. He kept saying the words "attitude" and "edgy." Sometimes when I look at roles played by African Americans, I still hear the words of that executive. A few examples.
--Queen Latifa as Charlene in Bringin' Down the House. The whole point of the movie seems to be how uncomforable Steve Martin is around black people and how QF has to hip him up and teach him some attitude.
--Wanda Sykes as Wanda Hawkins on Wanda At Large. The above example and this one should proove conclusively that Poochie attitude certainly isn't just for men. Wanda definitely embraces the "in your face"ness that Poochie creators espouse.
--Will Smith as Agent J in Men in Black. Yeah, Tommy Lee Jones wears the sunglasses as well, but, in the words of J "You know what the difference between you and me? I make this look good." and
from the sequel (pointing at K) "Old and nasty." (pointing at himself) "New hotness."