Three Icons

Star Wars could be one of the biggest influences on Popular Culture that our modern world has ever seen. The movies began playing in 1977 and traces of their influence can still be found throughout our culture today.  The largest grocery store chain in the world, Wal-Mart has emerged as the giant in the merchandise field; they sell everything from food, clothes, guns, oil changes, and electronics. Wal-Mart has it all. Starbucks Coffee has helped spark the coffee/ caffeine craze. Starbucks has coffees from around the world and flavored drinks Einstein couldn’t spell, Starbucks coffee chains offer a laid back atmosphere with people reading, and using the Wi-Fi while sipping on their Americana.

Star Wars is a movie franchise developed by George Lucas, it began in 1977 and released two more movies over six years. Sixteen years after the release of the last Star Wars, George Lucas released the first three episodes over a three year period again, because the first episode ever released was number four in the volume. Star Wars was a worldwide phenomenon and grossed over $4.41 billion dollars in movie sales. Star Wars included everything from Humans with Jedi mind powers, Droids, and alien like creatures, and galaxies far far away. The interests in Star Wars range from children to adults and are timeless. Star Wars are movies that defined a generation and helped open the door to science fiction movies. Star Wars were movies I watched again and again growing up and helped spark my imagination, I watched them with family members and I will never forget playing as Luke Skywalker with my brothers in the back yard.

Wal-Mart is a grocery chain that sells discount department items, last year along in was deemed the largest public corporation by revenue. I myself am indifferent to Wal-Mart and applaud the prices but not the method they choose to get their merchandise, as in importing most of their items. There are over 8,500 Wal-Mart stores in 15 different countries, even know they are under different names, they are owned and operated by Wal-Mart ownership. Wal-Mart is an excellent example of American entrepreneurship; Wal-Mart was started by one man Sam Walton. Wal-Mart shows me that it takes one person to start a dream, and that no matter whether your from Arkansas or Ohio that anything you set your mind to can become a reality in the business world.

Starbucks coffee is an international coffee chain selling coffee and everything that goes with it in stores across the world. People love their coffee and I know people who have to drink Starbucks, or they get cranky. Starbucks has almost 17,000 stores in 50 countries worldwide, in the 90s there was a Starbucks opening somewhere every business day. Starbucks has been the cause of debate between labor practices and environmental impacts to name a few.  Starbucks although controversial, makes some of the best tasting coffees in the world. And give people an opportunity to try coffees from around the globe that you would normally not have the opportunity to try.  

Assign. 2-1

A popular culture event that has caught my attention would be the Ultimate Fighting Championships or UFC for short.  Cage fighting has been around for some time now, but only within the last decade or so has it really caught fire. The UFC is one of many fighting leagues around the world, but it has emerged as a leader in fighter’s skill and fan base. The UFC travels the world and fights in large venues that always sell out, and also are available to watch on pay-per view television for around $55 an event. The UFC has merchandise such as clothes, work out gear, and television shows to help fill the gap between the matchups. There are a number of websites dedicated to the mixed martial arts and fighters themselves that people can visit and read about. Some fighters themselves have a following, much like popular sports athletes have a following also. My favorite fighter is Anderson “the Spider” Silva, he is a current champion in his weight class and his skill set is nearly unmatchable in any weight class throughout the sport. Silva and the main card fighters make an incredible amount of money, although their contracts aren’t as lucrative as major traditional sport athletes, they are still clearing six figures. Every event has its peak, in my personal opinion I believe the UFC has hit or is close to hitting it’s pinnacle, just like boxing crashed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the UFC will struggle to stay as popular as it is now. Cage fighting has come under criticism for its violent fights and so called message certain people think it gives, what most people don’t realize is the these fighters are among the most trained and disciplined athletes in their field in the world. Most are experts in the style of fighting that they have chosen, whether it is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Muay Thai kickboxing and everything in between, these fighters have dedicated their lives to the art of fighting.  For a lot of people in the sport and who are interested in the UFC, it is a life style, the sport has a way of drawing you in and before you know it you’re wearing the clothes and training with the same supplements and tactics as the fighters themselves.  Its funny how many “cage fighters”, came out of the wood work since the UFC has became popular, makes one laugh to see all the tough guys walking around in shirts that they could barely fit into in the 8^th grade. In my opinion the UFC is very exciting to follow and watch and will develop some of the greatest fighters the world has ever seen.

My first blog...

In my opinion without any prior knowledge on the subject, Pop Culture is an intangible item that a certain era’s interest was or is captured by. It is something that helps define a generation or culture, sometimes they are movements or ideas and sometimes they are people or physical objects and styles.

Popular culture at a business standpoint could help companies to cater to the ever changing needs of their target audience. If companies don't shift their focus when the paradigm does they could miss the boat and end up sinking. As far as a pop culture artifact goes, for some reason I keep getting a picture of the Italian Stallions bronze statue standing atop the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art used in the Rocky movies. This to me would definitely be a pop culture artifact, just about anyone who has watched movies know exactly the statue I am talking about.