MEN'S BODY IMAGE: HOW TO IMPROVE IT?

What do you think about your own body image? Are you satisfied with it? I am not so much with mine. Because I am too slim, not muscular like Rambo. Additionally, my nose is big and hooked.
There are much more men not satisfied with their body images because of other reasons. One because of obesity (= increased body weight, fatness). Another because of hair on his body. Or because of sweat. Or because of smells. Or he might be bald. Or he might have too many skin blemishes.

What is the problem with a male body image?

The common bad problem is that a poor image of a male body does not begin and stop just in one's mind. Instead, a man not satisfied with his muscles tries to use anabolic steroids to improve his appearance. A guy with a long nose goes to plastic surgery. Are you sure it is always safe?

What is NOT a solution?

I am not talking about usual diet for fighting obesity. I am not talking about all the stuff on cosmetics you can find on the web without me. I am going to talk about much more important point. I am going to talk on what you transmit to others. What does your image convey to the public? What does it do to the people subconsciously?
My point is psychology / public relations.

What is a solution?

The solution to improve your image is between the body and psychology. It is about the influence your POSTURE makes to your mind / self esteem and then to your image in the public opinion.
For that purpose I put this video here. It is about your posture: shoulders, chin, muscles.

IMAGE TRAINING FOR MEN

I am proud to announce an on-line training for men's image. The trainer is a woman, Julia Bakhtina, and she knows what she is talking about.
However, it will be in Russian, not in English.
Имидж-тренинг для мужчин. Подробности здесь http://training.myluximage.com/

HOW TO MAKE VIRAL MARKETING THROUGH HIRING FOLKS?

More and more I see this simple & effective viral marketing example: job ads as if a company is hiring folks. What happens? 'Join us', 'Recruitment', 'Vacancies', 'Career' - all this buzz is passing on from one guy to another.
The fresh example is the site of Microsoft Israel R&D Center.
Another example is about Google. In 2004 Google Labs published so called GLAT - Google Labs Aptitude Test. Readers were asked to mail in their answers and promised that they would be contacted by Google if they scored well.
The declared reason was to attract high quality people into their ranks. Actually, it was a clever viral marketing which generated a lot of interest.
How does it improve the company PR image?
1. The public gets the idea that the company (= Google Labs, in this case) is hiring only very clever folks.
2. The public gets the reminder that the company is on the map.
3. You get much buzz, interest and involvement about this point.

Now I remember one example more. In September 2006 the Shin Bet (= Shabak, the Internal Security Service of Israel) launched its first-ever public recruitment drive. The employment campaign was targeting computer programmers.

The viral marketing example for brains, intellectuals and know-it-all guys is declare that you are hiring folks.

HOW TO RAISE YOUR PR IMAGE SUCCEEDING YOUR BOSS?

I have read an article depicting the future Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's speech patterns.
He appears to continue Putin's patterns. For example:
* A style of articulation that intentionally mimics that of the tough-talking Putin.
* Sharply stressing the first syllable of each word and pausing for effect.
* Specialists have worked with Medvedev to make his voice sound "tougher" in response to focus-group data showing that voters want "someone like Putin,"
* Medvedev is even imitating Putin's gait.

By having him talk like Putin, Medvedev is emphasizing that he is the president's heir.
Former President Boris Yeltsin was not so popular in the country, so Putin had to do his best to distance himself from him. Now the situation is different. Any resemblance to Putin is only positive.
By parroting Putin's speech, Medvedev is also reassuring voters that the relative stability under Putin will continue after he leaves office.
Medvedev has only recently begun studying up to become president, and the first step of any apprenticeship involves imitation, like babies do with adults.
When he becomes president he will develop his own way of walking and talking, and then we may have Putin parroting him.

So, to raise your image you should learn the image of your predecessor / boss. If his image is not popular in the country, then you should distance yourself from him. But if his image is popular, then any resemblance to him is only positive.

HOW TO USE PITHY SAYING TO BELITTLE YOUR RIVAL?

Do you know the popular expression "a quiche-eater"? It means a person far removed from practice and concerned only with academic matters, unwilling to "get their hands dirty"; a man who is effeminate or who lacks some putative masculine virtue. The source of the term quiche-eater was a bestselling humorous book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche", by Bruce Feirstein, published in 1982. And why? Because a quiche is considered to be a "womanly" dish like other Carbohydrate dishes (сasserole, pasta etc.).

More example for the use of catch-words.
Arthur J. Finkelstein (a United States Republican Party PR professional) is credited with helping to make "liberal" a dirty word in the late 1980s and 1990s by using messages like this, intended to damage Jack Reed's image:
"That's liberal. That's Jack Reed. That's wrong. Call liberal Jack Reed and tell him his record on welfare is just too liberal for you."

Using negative buzzwords is an effective PR move to humiliate your rival.

HOW TO ESTABLISH YOUR IMAGE AS A HUMANE ONE?

Today Hillary Clinton began campaigning before dawn at a Manchester (New Hampshire) elementary school. Joined by her daughter, Chelsea, she poured coffee for voters at the school and pledged, "We're going to work all day to get the vote out."
So, Hillary, first, appears with her daughter, second, hands some material, perceptible, tangible item to the voters. This acts psychologically.

PR TIP: HOW TO FURTHER INCREASE YOUR POPULARITY EVEN IF YOU CHALLENGE PROBLEMS?

Jessica Simpson’s (an American pop singer and actress) recent divorce further increased her popularity. Why? Because people wish to relate to others. They wish to relate to somebody facing similar problems. Ordinary people are struggling all the time, and they wish to see they are not alone.
So, showing you struggling improves your image.

The PR tip is to share your own personal challenges, battles and triumphs, because you inspire your target audience to continue working to overcome their problems.

HOW TO IMPROVE THE COUNTRY'S INTERNATIONAL IMAGE?

The article ANNALS OF MARKETING by ARON HELLER is talking about revealing new sides: liberal, cool and funky – of a country's international image. Call it "a new face", or "framing a new look", or "rebranding", or "an image makeover". You may call it image marketing. In this case he is talking about Israel. The following PR moves should be reminded:
1. Sending unofficial envoys to improve an international image; focusing on their personal stories to create basic empathy.
2. Portraying Israel as a desirable tourist destination.
3. Sending women, Ethiopian immigrants and Israeli Arabs into high-profile positions.
4. Presenting Israel as a vibrant, modern society - with recent Nobel Prize winners in chemistry and economics, cutting-edge medical industries and innovative companies traded on NASDAQ.
5. Shifting away from the conflict and focusing instead on Israel's successes in business, medicine, science and technology. Separating the issue of policy and everything else. Reporting exclusively on Israeli achievements and non-conflict issues.

The PR move to reframe a country's international image is to reveal its new sides: liberal, cool and funky.

PRESENT YOURSELF AS OPEN-MINDED & TOLERANT

In January Pizza Patron (Dallas-based company) began accepting Mexican pesos.
The company's goal was to sell more pizza to its Latino customers. But the company's action attracted public attention. The promotion has been a boon to the company. In January and February sales were up more than 35% compared with the same period last year. The experiment in pesos was to end in February, but then the company extended it through April.
I am not arguing the controversy of using foreign currency in the United States. The very fact of using foreign currency points (in the public judgment) to some broad-mindedness.

So, the PR move for various social, ethnic, racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural groups / communities is to present your image to these groups as tolerant & broad-minded.

ONCE MORE: PROMOTE YOURSELF AS ANIMAL-FRIENDLY (PR TIP)

In January 2007, the Mayor of the city of Saskatoon (Canada) Don Atchison expressed a desire to see a mounted police patrol (= officers on horseback), saying it would be beneficial and a great public relations move.

First, "In any city where I've seen a horse patrol, people have been drawn to the animals. You never see them running away," said Atchison.
Second, positioning officers at such a height above large crowds improves their safety and gives them a clear view of what's going on. The horse can go where a patrol car can't and can move faster than an officer on foot.

So, once more we see the PR move to present one's image as animal-friendly. Wish to make the public feel good towards you? Present yourself connected to an animal.

PR TIP: TELL THE PEOPLE YOU ARE A GENIUS

From time to time we hear of a person having visions.
Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 - 1824), the German Nun, claimed to have had visions in which she talked with Jesus.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 – 1772) was a Swedish scientist. At the age of fifty six he experienced dreams and visions. He felt he was appointed by the Lord to write a doctrine based on a reformed Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, devils, and other spirits.
Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805 – 1844) was an American religious leader who founded Mormonism.In autobiographical accounts of his life, Smith said that during his adolescence he had a number of visions, including a theophany (= an appearance of God to man, or a divine disclosure) in his early teens. Smith said that from about 1823 to 1827, he had been visited by an angel named Moroni.
Nat Turner (1800 – 1831) was an American slave, a leader of slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. He frequently received visions which he interpreted as being messages from God.
My question is: how do we know they really had visions? The answer is simple: they themselves told us.

So I remember a joke:
"Our rabbi carries conversations with God every day."
"How do you know?"
"He himself told me that."
"What if he lies?"
"How could a person lie while every day he carries conversations with God?!"

What is my point? Just learn a PR tip on building your PR image from these examples. Want the people to think you are a genius in your field? Just tell them about it.

KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES

Who rules in America, demos (= people) or chronos (= time)? America is a chronocracy no less than a democracy. Clothes and household things still of good quality are thrown out for the simple reason that they are old. Scientific, economic, and cultural trends are replaced every certain period of time. Presidents, computers, car models, artistic trends, dress cuts, textbooks have to change periodically to maintain their authoritative status as "new."

So we can learn the PR tip: Make your image as if you keep up with the times. Wish to promote your production? Present it as NEW.

WHICH POLITICIAN IS CHARISMATIC, AND WHICH ONE IS NOT?

Charisma is about PR image.
Not arguing the definition of the charisma, let us just agree on the main point: charisma means personal attractiveness, interestingness, influence, charm, magnetism, appeal.
Look at the today's leaders, and tell: which politician is charismatic? Who is a real leader?
What impression do you get from looking at Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) or Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora? Can you call them charismatic leaders?
When you see them on TV, you think something is wrong with them. You see them hide themselves and their real feelings behind their glasses, or behind the expression of their look. Compare it with the open expression of other Arab leaders like Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak or Hamas PM Ismail Haniya.
One choosing to support not-charismatic politicians has some non-clear reason for that.

CHANGING ORGANIZATION'S PR IMAGE

In September 2006 the Shin Bet (= Shabak, the Internal Security Service of Israel), launched its first-ever public recruitment drive. The employment campaign is targeting computer programmers. The security service is calling on high-tech geeks to join the anti-terror battle.
The ad campaign is also intended to change the organization's image. Do you think it's investigations and dark rooms? No, it's high-tech! Advanced technology! Software development!
Which PR move we learn?
Wish to change your organization's image? Launch employment campaign.

EACH GROUP IS PUSHING ITS INTEREST BY MEANS OF COMMITTEES AFTER THE WAR

All the media in Israel are talking about establishing a committee of inquiry to look into the management of the war in Lebanon.
The discussion is about the type of committee to be set up. Should it be an independent committee of inquiry? A full-blown state commission of inquiry? A hybrid type of committee, set up by the cabinet, with less power? Remember: one committee is set up already - that of defense minister Amir Peretz.

So, be sure: after each war there will be plenty of committees. Each committee will get a full coverage. PR is everything. Each group will promote its view, its interest & its PR image.