Looking at the Media Looking at Us

Doing the Media Log this semester has made me look at advertising and mass communication in a different way. I don’t really read the newspaper very much, but I’ve watched a lot of television and movies in my life and I definitely use the Internet. Advertising in the media is everywhere, so much so that we are hardly even aware when ads are bombarding us. It’s like even product placement in movies is advertising and we’re so used to seeing it that we don’t even stop to think about it.

Mostly after doing these logs I feel like we shouldn’t waste our time on very much of the media. But, in a way, I’m kind of interested in looking at ads now to see who the ads are focused on and what techniques and appeals they are using to win us over.  These logs have definitely made me think more about what media I’m consuming, especially with ads that are directed at people like me.

I hope this will make me a better consumer. I hope that I will look at ads now and wonder if I really need these products. I feel smarter about the ways of media after this and I noticed this as the semester progressed. On my first couple of entries I really had to think hard about the ads, but it got easier as I did more, and I started seeing the techniques more quickly. 

What would be good, I think, is for more people to learn about advertising so that they aren’t such easy marks. It seems like ads directed at kids, for example, are really powerful because young kids actually believe the things the ads say about the products.

One of the areas we discussed that really stuck with me was about ethical decision-making and the test cases we studied. I hope in the future that I will think about some of those when I am considering buying something or I am drawn to a particular ad. I like the Role Exchange Test, for example, because I think it’s a good idea to put yourself in someone else’s shoes if you’re trying to figure out what decision should be made.

Overall, media literacy is really important and we should probably start learning about it much earlier in school.

Whiskas--Feeding Your Cat's Instincts

This is a series of print cat food ads by the company Whiskas. There are several different ads in the series, and they've even changed their product labels to include this same theme.  In some of the ads, they say, "Big cat, little cat" to let consumers know that little cats have the same instincts as "big" cats, like lions and tigers. The ads all show cats and kittens in the wild with other "big" animals. 

One online ad says, "Just like big cats in the wild, your cat is a natural carnivore – seeking out food that provides it with essential nutrients." This is a clever ad campaign that appeals to our need to nurture--in this case to nurture our pets with what they need. The online ad makes a point of saying that cats shouldn't be vegetarians. We don't really know if this is true, but the Whiskas company knows that we want to do what is right for our pets, so we want to feed them what is good for them. It appeals to our paternal and maternal instincts to do the right thing.

Pet food commercials are often very creative and interesting because no one wants to do the wrong things when it comes to taking care of something like a kitten or puppy. These ads put pictures of pets in all kinds of circumstances, many of them not real or true. Most of these are cute or funny or entertaining, and that definitely draws people into the ad. then, when you're at the grocery store in the pet food aisle, you see Whiskas, you remember those entertaining pictures of them in the wild.

Sharpie--Very Permanent Markers

http://www.funnyplace.org/stream/sharpie-permanent-24308/

This is a really funny ad because this is the kind of thing that is everyone's worst fear. In this case, a kid is playing with a Sharpie in his living room and is drawing on his face.  We've all probably written on our hands or arms with Sharpies and our parents have told us not to do it because the ink might be permanent. Of course Sharpies say that they're permanent, but kids never really believe that. 

In this case, the ad flashes forward 20 years to this very fancy business where the CEO is interviewing people for a job. When he turns around and sees the grown-up "kid" who drew all over his face with a Sharpie, he just says, "No" and shreds his resume. 

The appeal here is definitely to entertain, but it also appeals to our need to succeed. No one wants to go to a big job interview with Sharpie all over his face.  The interesting thing, though, is that the ad is really FOR Sharpies, so they are making their point by showing the extreme result. Maybe people doubt that Sharpies really are permanent. The company is making its point here by appealing to our desire to succeed and our need to achieve. 

The Sharpie company uses humor to show us that we can be certain that the pen does what it says it is going to do. 

Inside Coolhunting

When I think about the line "MTV is a commercial, one long infomercial," I think that in many ways everything in the media--at least on television--is like one big infomercial.  When I was watching this, even though lots of the examples seemed out of date, the ideas were really true.

I can really imagine that companies hire "correspondents" to sort of check out what teens are doing and what they are buying.  Then, of course, as we saw in the film, they change their advertising and how they are presenting their products so teens will find them more attractive and spend more money.

When everything seems like a commercial, it's hard to decide what you really need or want and it's hard to use good critical thinking skills when you're looking at products or ideas online. I know I've bought things that I don't really need--or at least I've wanted things that I don't really need because some company or story convinced me that everyone my age has this or want this. Seeing all of this from "behind the scenes" in this film was kind of weird on one level, but also interesting.

One of the other things that I thought was interesting about this film was the way they stereotyped people into the groups of Mooks and Midriffs. In some ways, I imagine that this would make some people feel that this is who they are and how they are supposed to act. Even if you don't fit into one of those groups, you might feel less good about yourself or maybe even sort of "superior."

If you were raised watching television and being online, like most kids my age, it's hard to tell what's real and what's not real in terms of facts or ideas or products. After watching this, I realize that I will probably start questioning a lot more when I see an ad or watch a video. I'll wonder who and what is behind it and what actions they want me to take.

MIss Representation

I've thought about the ideas presented in this documentary before, but not with the same intensity as they are presented here.  All in one place, it was pretty eye-opening. As a teenage girl, I feel as if lots of the ads about who women are and what they should look like are directed at people like me, so it was interesting to think about all of this from this perspective.

Lots of the facts from the film have stayed with me, like that 53% of girls feel bad about their bodies, and that only 16% of the protagonists in movies are women. One of the ones that really stood out was the fact that only 17% of the people in Congress are women.  Since it hasn't been that long since I studied about the development of the Constitution and democracy in America, it is amazing to me that one half of the population is pretty much left out of the decision-making. Instead, they are left to feel "too fat" and "not pretty enough." When you think about how many really intelligent women there are in the world, it is ridiculous to me that women are treated this way.

I was impressed with all of the women in the film like Geena Davis, Katie Couric, Lisa Ling, and Jane Fonda, who all talked about how powerful the media is in presenting ideas about women. they talked about how the media sets people's values and that it really is "an instrument of change." These are women who really know because they are in the media and they have had to deal with the way women are presented in movies and on television and in advertising. I also thought it was interesting that the movie discussed the way that people like Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have been presented in the media. Not only are women treated as just beauty objects. They are even criticized and viewed as nothing more thsex symbols even when they are running for national office.

I was impressed with the fact that Jennifer Siebel Newsom made this film. It seemed like she worked really hard on behalf of women to show how they are presented in the media and in the real world.

Two Pictures, Three Words

This is a print ad from the World Wildlife Federation about sharks and how they are threatened by humans. The initial target audience for this ad is anyone who has ever thought about sharks and has been afraid of them. Beyond that, the real target audience is really people who care about the environment and how humans are hurting it. The audience for this ad is probably more educated and probably higher on the socio-economic scale because they would have the time and the resources to be concerned about the environment and even, hopefully, to donate to it.

At first it seems that the ad appeals to our need to feel safe, but it is really on two levels. The first photo uses a common photo--the shark fin coming out of the water. We associate this picture with everything from the movie "Jaws" to cartoons to signs on the edge of beaches. We fear for our lives that sharks might kill us and eat us if we go into the water. Just as the ad says, when we see this picture it is "horrifying." We want to feel safe from the horrifying things that sharks can do to us.

But, on a much deeper level, the ad is saying that without sharks what can happen to the world is much "more horrifying." With only two words, the ad is saying that we are more dangerous to sharks than they are to us and that, if we kill too much wildlife, we will destroy the ecosystem, which will be much more dangerous to us in the long run than a shark killing us.

Kentucky Fried Chicken-- Now with "real" Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken--Outraged Kids

This is a funny ad that has been running on television for the last few months. Everyone would be entertained by this, but it is definitely an ad that is targeted to parents and kids. It's a very modern commercial, aimed at families who need to feed their kids fast food because they have a lot going on, but don't want to give them "fake" food.

The primary target audience is parents and it appeals to their need to nurture. These are all cute kids and every parent would be drawn to watching it. But the content of the ad is kids telling parents that they've been doing the wrong thing by giving them chicken nuggets that aren't made of real chicken. In part, this is in response to recent reports that McDonald's Chicken McNuggets aren't made of real chicken. They don't say that in the ad, but that's what they mean. Also, the reference to nuggets that are dinosaur-shaped is in reference to store-bought frozen nuggets. So the ad is really saying that it's fine to buy fast food for your kids (whether it really is or not), but you should buy fast food that is real food and they're saying, and showing that this chicken is real. Parents who want to feel like they're taking good care of their kids would appreciate this.

To go further with this idea of parents' need to nurture, they have the kids speaking directly--cameras straight on them--to parents and kind of accusing them of tricking them all these years with fake chicken nuggets. It's like they're kind of busting the parents for saying it was real chicken when it really wasn't. Now that they've tasted these KFC nuggets they see that their parents have been lying to them all these years.

Kids are the secondary target audience because they could relate to the characters and, if they're old enough, they might actually question their parents themselves about what kinds of nuggets their parents have been feeding them.

One of the most important techniques in this ad is humor. Even though these kids are very serious in the way they are speaking to the camera, the whole thing is funny because they are so serious in their accusing tones toward their parents.

The ad is short and funny and to the point. Of course there is also a Pepsi shown in the ad because the same company that owns KFC owns Pepsi, so it's almost like two clever ads in one.