I can't even comprehend the amount of media I consume in a single day, because it's everywhere. Everywhere I look there seems to be some form of media and it just becomes so overwhelming. I feel as if I'm going to explode, but I guess we have ourselves to thank for that. Since we started this whole unit on media, I have become so much more aware of what the media is trying to portray. Whether it be an ad that is targeting a certain target market or if an ad is using the need for affiliation. With this new information I have learned over the past couple months I tend to judge certain brands or products more harshly. I don't want to buy that product anymore or I will just turn the TV off all together because I know that they are trying to get a certain reaction out of me so I will go buy their product. I'm not susceptible to these ads anymore, but I have 0 period to thank for that. Media literacy is so important these days, due to all the ads in our society. With all the media in our society people need to understand what is going on around them. We need to be educated consumers or we will fall short and be completely overwhelmed because we won't be able understand why Nike is the only thing that will make us achieve our dream. As a society we need to be educated, there are no ifs or buts to it. Keeping this blog has actually been a blast. I really want to keep it going. There are so many things that I see through out the day that I want to write about and this blog gave me the key to do just that. Well that's a wrap!
On my mom's van, her license plate frame reads "Out of my way i'm going to Starbucks". She also is a gold member at Starbucks and has Starbucks at least once day. This got me thinking how much our society is dependent on certain stores and Starbucks being one of them. Starbucks is usually preferred over other coffee places such as Peet's or Temple. This popularity is due to the amount of advertising they have done. Which has created such a huge culture. In big cities such as San Francisco or New York, you can find a Starbucks on almost every block. Need a place to study? Starbucks has a place for you. Need a quick pick me up? Starbucks has that iced coffee waiting for you. Starbucks has become one of the many lovemarks we have in our society. Starbucks became a big part of my life when I was around 4 or 5. Whenever my mom went to go get her coffee I would tag along and get a hot chocolate. As I grew up I would try different drinks and let my friends no about them. When I would go out of town the 1st place my mom and I would go was Starbucks and we still do. Starbucks just became part of my life and I didn't even realize it. Starbucks is a place that I have an emotional connection to because I grew up with it. I would rather go to Starbucks than to Peet's any day of the week. i hate to say it, but it's something I can't live without. BTW I wrote this while drinking Starbucks
As I went to go see Pitch Perfect 2 last weekend, I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm not just talking about the stereotypical jokes and fabulous singing, but the product placement. The first week Pitch Perfect 2 was in theaters, the movie brought in 69.2 million dollars. That's a hell of a lot of people who went to see the movie! With the amount of product placement in the movie, people were basically watching a commercial for almost 2 hours.
The product placement is ridiculous. When the Barden Bellas go check out their German competition at a German automobile fundraiser. The name, Volkswagen is everywhere. If that wasn't enough, at that event they are serving VOSS water. VOSS is then a huge sponsor at World's later in the movie. Covergirl and Nike make their appearance in the dressing room of the elderly home. Followed by the enormous amount of iPhones throughout the entire film. I just couldn't believe my eyes and it wasn't just me, Scotlyn and I would turn to each other whenever we saw any product placement. Though, I guess we have critical thinking to thank for that!
Did you know that 18% of girls are unhappy with their bodies? Girls get the message very early on that their value and worth is about how they look, instead of about their education or their job. In the documentary "MissRepresentation" and out in society, I have learned and seen that women are now conforming to men's ideals. Women want to be skinny, with flawless skin, and a big butt and boobs. Though in reality how many women look like this? In the movie "White Chicks" Lisa has a melt down about her body in the dressing room. She talks about her thighs, back, and stomach. She believes that she isn't beautiful and can't wear what she wants, because her body isn't perfect. She believes that she is fat even though she is one of the skinniest girls in the movie. Though it's not just men's ideals that women are conforming too, women began to pin themselves against other women. Women see actresses with these perfect bodies and they strive to look like them. "MissRepresentation" put it this way, "You never see the photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn't been digitally altered to make her absolutely, inhumanly perfect". Women end up measuring themselves against an impossible standard and as a result we see women starving themselves for the perfect body, and that is never good.
Actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence have taken a stand on this issue. She believes that women should strive to be "healthy" instead of "skinny". To her, starving yourself is out of the question, it just makes no sense, you need food to survive. As a solution to this ongoing problem, we as in men and women, need to start supporting women that believe their bodies aren't perfect. Every woman should be proud of their bodies' and themselves, instead of worrying about how others will judge them.
While in the bathroom at my temple I saw this advertisement on the back of one the stalls. Now I believe in standing up for yourself and saying "no" to abusive and controlling relationships 100%. Though I don't think this is a great place to put this advertisement. While going to the bathroom most women don't want to see this. Instead the advertisement could be posted outside the stall maybe on the wall or on the mirror. I believe it's a great idea to put the advertisement in the bathroom, just not in the stall. The advertisement is for the National Domestic Violence Hotline and is directed towards women and that's why the temple put the advertisement in the women's bathroom. I just don't find it very appealing to put the ad on the back of a stall.
Gossip Girl was a show about privileged highschool students living on the Upper East side of Manhattan. The show was very drama filled and attracted teens just like me. The show is told from the perspective of an online blogger called "gossip girl". This blogger shows the audience the ins and outs of New York city as well as the relationships of all the characters. Through out the series we can clearly see that the message being conveyed here
is that to be successful and happy in life you must have lot's of money, a good
solid relationship, and material goods. A key example of this is one
of the characters named Blair Waldorf. In the final episode of
Gossip Girl, Blair get's married to another character named Chuck, she's very
rich, and with that comes material goods, such as clothes. Her happiness is
based off all of those things, and she is never really happy during the show if
she doesn't have money or a good relationship.
A characteristic that is presented to the audience about teen culture is that teens are obsessed with being popular. Gossip Girl conveys the message that being popular and having a high social status is the key to success and happiness. If you don't throw extravagant parties and have tons of friends you aren't a successful and happy teenager. I believe that the feedback loop came from teens and ends with teens. Most teens I know want to be popular and successful, but teens wanted to be popular and throw huge parties before Gossip Girl started. Now that Gossip Girl has ended people are still throwing parties and trying to be popular. This is why so many teens were attracted to this show because Gossip Girl conveys to us what our life should be like and how to be successful. Now I don't believe one bit that most people live like Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen. So this image of teens is very distorted. Though most teens want to be popular and successful whether they are living on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Gossip Girl first aired in 2007 so around 8 years ago. The characters within the show had so many devices ranging from the flip phone all the way to the iPhone in the last episode. Over time there was such a big change in technology. I cant predict the future but I believe that in 15 years media will be everywhere. It will be with people at all times no matter where you go. The devices will change, but the messages the media is trying to convey will still be the same.
While going through a Starbucks drive through in Elk Grove this past weekend I saw this add for a dentist office. Now you usually don't see any advertising on the back of buildings, but since the dentist office was right next to the Starbucks they put one of their advertisements on the back of the building so when people drive through the Starbucks drive through they can see it.
This is just another way businesses are trying to break through the clutter. Instead of advertising their name on the front of the building they advertised on the back, because they know that the Starbucks next door gets a lot of customers that will see the ad, when they drive through the drive through. I find this such a simple but genius idea.
Since we started this whole unit on media, I have become so much more aware of what the media is trying to portray. Whether it be an ad that is targeting a certain target market or if an ad is using the need for affiliation. With this new information I have learned over the past couple months I tend to judge certain brands or products more harshly. I don't want to buy that product anymore or I will just turn the TV off all together because I know that they are trying to get a certain reaction out of me so I will go buy their product. I'm not susceptible to these ads anymore, but I have 0 period to thank for that.
Keeping this blog has actually been a blast. I really want to keep it going. There are so many things that I see through out the day that I want to write about and this blog gave me the key to do just that.
