Marketing is a first-world issue. Let's change that.

The plethora of my college experience was in marketing and communications. Just a few years ago, I was in love with strategizing and developing campaigns to drive markets, meet consumer demand and ultimately, make more sales and impact the economy.

Now, I despise it.

Our world has become one of extraordinary misinformation. Superficial needs raise above those of fact. It is a first world issue.

You may disagree. However, as I analyze what I grew up with and what I desire now, the two do not align.

In rural northwest Ohio, I did not grow up with much. I did not need to. Growing up, my family was content on our little row crop and livestock farm. My mom, dad, sister and I stuck to our agricultural roots and spent a majority of our time in the great outdoors, working during the day (or after school was out) and coming back inside for dinner together in the evenings. At some point during my youth, that all changed. I cannot pinpoint the exact year, societal pressures or cultural shift. However, the shift has accelerated tremendously to now.

It is saddening to see how much disconnect stands between families, friends, communities and the world. You might disagree. You might think social media has made us more "social" and more "connected" than ever. I beg to differ.

The quote "perception is reality" is the unfortunate view of today's world. For example, the above photo I captured while in New Zealand in 2013. Fun farm fact (on Friday), there are more total sheep in New Zealand than people!

Is the sheep helpless or being helped? 

Sheep is propped on her haunches in preparation for shearing. 

The farmer began by shearing her belly, and proceeded to shear the rest of her
wool to be cleaned and made into clothing goods.

This shearing not only lifted some weight off the sheep's body, but allows
her to grow new, healthy hair -- just like when we get hair cuts!

If you did not have these additional photos of the sheep, would you have been inclined to think she was helpless?

5 tips to avoid "get rich quick" pitfalls in "lose weight quick" programs

"Can I get that to go?" "I needed that done yesterday." "But I want this done now?" "Sorry, I'm busy. I have other important things to do."

Do any of these phrases sound familiar? I know they do for me. I'll be the first one in a room to raise my hand if ever asked, "Who considers himself or herself extremely impatient?" It's hard not to be. There are so many things to do, people to see, errands to run that we as a human culture in America especially want immediate results.

We want things to be simple, easy and fast. "Get rich quick" schemes are found on the Internet, through telemarketing phone calls and face to face meetings with sales people. However, if you are like me and my family, you know these are too good to be true.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table for supper when the land line telephone would ring. Dad would answer, look at me, mom and my sister excitedly saying, "We could win a free trip to Hawaii!" Mom and I would look at one another, shake our heads and tell dad to hang up the phone. Sometimes, he would listen to their chatter for a few minutes to complete their "survey." However, he would then need to provide his credit card information, go on a website and provide bank information or make a purchase.

It was too good to be true.

Unfortunately, there are many people out there falling into traps of these "get rich quick" pitfalls. However, it isn't for a trip or money. It's for your health.

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Social media is plastered with fitness, health and wellness tips, workouts, cleanses and "lose weight quick" programs. First, let me say I am glad people are becoming more interested in their health. I am even more pleased that people are starting to research more about food and agriculture! However, there is a fine line between facts and fiction.

What is good for one body may not be great for another.

One works well for one farmer might not work for another.

We are blessed with so many (sometimes, possibly too many) options! How do we avoid the "get rich quick" pitfalls that we might not know about? How do we make the most of our choices?

Amaranth: Food or Fiend?

As usual, I spent a portion of my day grocery shopping. I have become more intrigued by different products being marketed that people are eating, so I now will walk more isles to see what options are out there. Today, I had to stop dead in my tracks while in the organic section. I don't usually buy organic because

1) I know how it is produced and don't typically care about the difference

2) Am not into the whole "surplus marketing" thing 

3) What I eat is just as healthy anyways.

But, nonetheless, I wanted to see what was on the shelves. One product I found today gave me a little surprise. Within the grain and cereals section, there sat some bags of Amaranth.

Caroline the American Girl

I have always claimed myself to be an American girl. I am patriotic, devoted to the greater good and involved in providing for our nation through the agricultural industry. A few days ago, I found something that brought me back to my younger-years and passion for being an American Girl.

The American Girl company recently created a new doll set that ties to my background and passion in agriculture. I own two of my own American Girl dolls from when I was a younger girl, and when I discovered a new doll focused on working on her uncle's farm, I jumped on the opportunity to learn more!

I started to scope out the American Girl website and quickly found what I had been searching for: Caroline. The new doll is named Caroline and she is accompanied by a red calf named Garnet.

I could not have been more excited to discover a doll that not only shared my name, but also had a red calf with it. I determined that the calf breed must be Shorthorn. I may be a bit biased, as Shorthorn is the breed of cattle I own, but I was thrilled to see a breed of cattle besides the typically black and white Holstein.

If you are unfamiliar with the American Girl brand, they create these 18-inch dolls and write books about stories these girls have experienced. As quoted on their website:

"These nine-year-old fictional heroines live during important times in America's past, providing "girl-sized" views of significant events that helped shape our country, and they bring the history alive for millions of children."

I find it unique that American Girl is marketing this new doll with a story and involvement in agriculture. It seems to me that agriculture has been making its way into our daily lives more frequently and this makes my outlook for future careers even more exciting! With large companies like American Girl promoting farming and agriculture lifestyles, this will help advocate and educate young girls about this important industry.

I convinced my mom to purchase the calf for me. I couldn't resist adding it into my American Girl collection! Once I receive it, I will be sure to compose a review on their website about how happy I am to see them promoting agriculture in their new collection.

I couldn't help but share a picture to depict my background and American girl self. This is from my county fair in 2011 when I was washing my steer, Caesar. I love the connection you can have with animals and I think this image really shows the bond we had. Do you think they could write a story about me one day?

Pork promotional video: Shows potential or stuck in a rut?

As an agricultural advocate, it is my job to find new methods to share with consumers the practices and methods used in today's technology-savvy world. With this objective, many commodity groups and organizations are striving to enhance their efforts to promote the industry to society with increased use of social media and videography. One group recently released a video to do just that.

The Ohio Pork Producers Council published a Youtube video on Feb. 11 to depict how hogs are raised and provide different retail products we typically eat. The video titled, "Pork from Farm to Fork: Where'd Ya Get That Pork?", brings an animated side to farming.

Watching this video objectively, I see positives and areas of improvement to its effectiveness (these are my personal opinions). 

Positives:

• The video is fun and presents a down-to-earth feel with the music and cartoon images.
• It places an emphasis on current trends in agriculture. This is show with the modern style of housing for the hogs.
• It is concise and to the point in explaining hog production.

Areas of Improvement:

• Who is the target audience? This seems unclear. The video appears more sophomoric in its presentation.
• Was the selection of music the best way to present current trends in agriculture? The idea of using a version of "Old McDonald" could make the audience think of traditional livestock production methods while this video is promoting the new age in raising animals.
• Including real-life examples of hog farmers that are represented could strengthen the end of the video.

From the standpoint of a general consumer, I feel this video could be improved to better identify hog farming as a reputable career and livelihood of the farming families. It is important to share our stories in the industry and we must find the right techniques to do it successfully.

What are your thoughts on this video? Do you like the presentation of the information or do you feel it could be improved upon? Help me start a discussion about this video or others found in the agricultural industry.