Media Blog Reflection

Some of this video may not make sense to you if you do not follow John and Hank Green on Youtube (vlogbrothers) but in a nutshell, they are a community. And I being apart of that community, came across this video that they posted about three weeks ago. It basically wraps up some of the ideas that we have been learning in class. John (the guy above) discusses how in reality, ads are worth more than they cost. We normally don't look at the advertisements that are around us, especially ones in this video if you are viewing it from Youtube. We tend to think that commercials don't effect, maybe we thought that before we took this course, but there are advertisers out there that try to buy you for less than you are worth because they know of the effects they have on you. Before doing media blogs or knowing about different techniques and ways that advertisers try to catch our attention, we thought that we were not affected by the ways of the media. But now we, or maybe just me, understand the impact it has. Though this assignment didn't make me consume more or less media, it made me open my eyes to media consumption in general. There isn't a time when you are not exposed to it. Currently, I am writing this reflection at a coffee shop, Old Soul. They are advertised on their cups when you order a drink. There is a bulletin near on of the doors where people can some and put fliers of things that are happening in Sacramento. You may not notice it but it is everywhere. You can't escape it, sadly. We are especially aware of media when we are watching TV. When given this assignment, I would start to watch TV and see commercials and say out loud to my parts, "Media blog." Not only did it annoy them, but it also made me think of the different techniques and needs that the advertisers were using. And I'm not saying that as, "Oh yeah I expanded my learning horizon from the classroom to the outside world." But once I learned about the different ways of media, you can't help but to notice them. What I really noticed when doing this assignment was how we are portrayed as the product. They are more interested in making sure that the consumers are attracted to their product rather than the product itself. The question that left me after this assignment (and brought up by John Green), should we be okay in being the product?

"Who wouldn't want to see David Beckham with his shirt off?!"

I originally saw this commercial on ESPN. With David Beckham being a good soccer player and basically the icon for modern day soccer, it only makes sense that he appears on a sports channel. The target audience is directed to those males who know who Beckham is but it is also directed towards women because Beckham is used as a sex symbol in this commercial. It takes on the role of need for sex. We all want to see Beckham with his shirt off, this sex figure in this commercial. It also uses wit and humor. When the Burger King worker suggests that David Beckham takes off his shirt since it is dirty, all the women in Burger King raise their hand agreeing that his shirt needs to come off. But if you watch the commercial, there is only 6 seconds (0:03-0.09) that really describes what Burger King is trying to sell, their "fresh made" smoothies.

Title quote brought to you by Mama Hennessy

The Kids Are Ready To Die

"This isn't an anti-war song, it's an anti-going-to-die-for-no-good-­f***ing-reason" - Mikel Jollett, Lead Singer of The Airborne Toxic Event (Montreal 2011)

While trying to figure out what I should write for my media blog, The Kids Are Ready To Die by The Airborne Toxic Event came onto my Pandora. So let's analyse this. This is one of T.A.T.E.'s more emotional songs. Not only does the use of an acoustic guitar draw me in but also the story that the lyrics give. It talks about how people make one action and it can lead to another. It uses the fallacy hasty conclusion. In the beginning of the song it talks about how there is a group of kids sitting on a wall, where he got his first taste of danger, not knowing where to store all of his anger. From this event, it just got worse and worse. It then goes to when people were trying to changed and fix them, "You could burn our clothes/ you could wash out the ink and the die/ but you can't look me in the eye/ and say you don't feel like a little destruction." It is addressing how everyone has a part of anger built up in them that they cannot escape. When there is outside pressure for you to be good, it is hard because you know that the outside pressure is also experiencing some sort of anger inside of them. There is also a line later in the song (3:18) "He had a gun in his hand/ and I thought what could you say to make it ever make sense to his mother/ "well ma'am he was excitable /we were just trying to make him a man"." Not only does this address the problem of how a rebel child got worse, it also shows the assumption of men. When they are explaining to his mother that they were just trying to make him a man, like the only thing that could make him a man is a gun and the idea that he has the power and control. It also hits the need to nurture when it talks about this rebels mother. We never realize that when we hear there is another bad guy who just got locked up what his mother could possibly be thinking. No doubt she would be ashamed but she wouldn't know where her precious little innocent boy went wrong. What is also noticeable is the music video. This whole music video is shot on a stairwell in a tight space with completely dark lighting. It is acting as a parallel to the song.

Brave- the girl with amazing hair

<-- What Merida actually looks like


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   How Barbie portrays her



Pixar's new movie Brave is about a young Scottish archerist. She has this amazing crazy wild bright red hair. And like many Scottish people, she has a round face. Barbie took it upon themselves to alter Merida's image when coming out with the Barbie for her. If you notice her face on the Barbie, her face is much more narrow, her eyebrows are more defined, her eyes are tilt up, and her features are much sharper. Not to mention that her hair is not is crazy curly, it is a maintained deeper red that looks like she curls it with a curling iron every day. Barbie also made her pale Scottish skin tanner. I don't know if it is because we just watched Miss Representation and it opened my eyes but Barbie changed Merida to fit the cut out of modern day women. It is miss leading to have a heroine such as Merida to be reformed to fit what is established as okay and pretty in today's society.

Really Tic Tac?

While my sister was reading Seventeen magazine, she pointed to this ad and laughed at me saying that it is accurate for me. But that's a different argument. I get that they used statistics and facts, 13 years of your life is spent watching TV, but I just don't see how it is relevant to Tic Tacs. The only part that has to do with Tic Tacs is the fact that the information is spelled out in Tic Tacs. I just don't get where Tic Tac was going with this. Not to mention that the slogan "Shake it up," is very vague. What do I shake up? Or do I wiggle rather than shake it up? So many unanswered questions. What is also interesting (if you can see it on the bottom of the page with this awful picture) is the fact that they advertise an app where you can see all the different Tic Tac ads. This whole ad just doesn't fit for me. It is like they are trying to compact some excess information that they didn't know where to put into one ad.   

Yee for City Council

This flier for Joe Yee's campaign came in the mail the other day. The main idea behind this campaign advertisement is the fact that the three previous mayors are in favor of Yee. The front (the second picture) simply just says, "3 Mayors Agree, Joe Yee for City Council." It is using the bandwagon technique. If these three people that had served as Mayor, then they automatically get some kind of reliability. If three people that were able to run our city say that they are voting for Yee, then the majority of the people are going to believe that is all the power that they need. Something else that is worth pointing out is on the back side (the first picture). It starts out with "Dear Friends and Neighbors." He wants us to feel close to him rather than a leader and a follower relationship. By saying this, it is trying to show that he is connecting with the people in Sacramento and breaking down the barrier that separates us. Also, there is the picture on the side with Yee and his family. It has nothing to do with the connections that he has with the prior mayors, but it shows that he is a family man. They use the need to nurture, showing him standing next to his wife and his two children. It's trying to show how he is like all of us with our families living in the city of Sacramento.

Innovators at Best Buy

This Best Buy commercial features several different people that had created something that we now use regularly. There were the guys who created the camera phone, the first text message, and the guy that gave you the ability to share videos. There were also the people who invented the popular apps of Instagram, Shazam, and Words With Friends. Something that is worth pointing out is that all of these people are men. As if they are telling us that men are the only ones that have the ability to create such popular things that are used in our society. I know that there are women innovators out there in the world, but the people at Best Buy just decided not to use them. There is also the idea that Best Buy wants their viewers to associate them with the innovators of the world. These people that created these apps and technology are very intelligent people.  Best Buy wants you to think of them as these very intelligent people. There is also the need for affiliation. If you notice, these apps are all ways that you can connect with people. There is the camera phone to take pictures of you and your friends, there is the video sharer so you can show your friends, there is the app called Words With friends (something you can't play by yourself). This all relates to the bigger picture that by going to Best Buy, you will be intelligent, have friends and be popular, and be on the cutting edge of what is new and popular in the technological world.