Propaganda in Advertising

 Advertising is virtually irrelevant without the use of propaganda. It's near impossible to go through the day without some sort of ad trying to get through to you using these tactics. Some of my favorite examples use the Beautiful People approach, making everyday things seem glamorous. Feminine Hygiene commercials are famous for this, like in this commercial for Platex tampons.

Really? Apparently if you buy Platex tampons, you will becoming a beautiful model with flowing hair and bright sexy clothes..opposed to other tampon brands which leave you boring and stiff? SO if you want to have an awesome period, you have to buy Platex.

Another example of propaganda often seen is the Common Man technique. I see it a lot in weight loss ads, like this one for the bowflex treadclimber:

It's the whole idea of "I'm just like you! If it works for me, it HAS to work for you too!"

Internet

There seems to be well over a 100 recognized social media networking sites. Most of which, I have never heard of. Many of them are specfically for certain demographics, like certain races/cultures/ages/and occupations. There also seem to be a lot focused on interests ( like blogging!), and socializing (new moms). One site that caught my eye was Ravelry, which is a SMN site for knitters and crotchetters. It was founded in 2007 by a husband and wife. They made it for people who shared an interest (whether novice or experienced) in yarn work. People can make friends, meetup groups, or share patterns. I have had a lot of experience with SMN sites (like this one!), from myspace, to yelp, to facebook, to diaryland. Sometimes it can be a good experience (reunite with friends and family/express myself/keep in touch), but I have had a lot of negative experiences too. I really despise Yelp. I have pretty much all of my posts removed from their site, and for stupid reasons (I won't get in to). I feel like they have bad business ethics and are not honest with their users. Bottom line, people need to be aware and competent when using these sites. If you use good judgement and common sense, you more than likely will not run in to problems.

Television

Length: 5:06
Description: Ali G discusses "The Media" and it's affects on society with a bunch of Media Analysts.
Chapter2: Media Impact
Question: Ali G is a character played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Do you think this character represents the "average" viewer? What do you think the point of this video is?
Answer: Ali G represents the "average" ignorant  viewer, and although it is extreme, I think it is some what accurate. I think this is a satire of our media, and meant to poke fun at the media critics.

Movies

It's really hard to narrow down my favorite to one. A lot of great movies came out in 09, like The Hangover, The Informant, 500 Days of Summer, Up, Up in the Air, Avatar, and Inglourious Basterds.

Honestly, I love them all for different reasons, so it feels impossible to pick one.  Most of these movies I saw through netflix, and a few were on HBO. Avatar is the only one I saw in the theatre.

However, for the sake of this blog and for the fact that I just got back from Vegas,  I pick The Hangover as my favorite for movie of 2009.

It was hard enough to chose a movie for 2009, but an all-time favorite is down-right impossible to pick. I love movies that make me feel good, laugh, think, cry, and pretty much feel emotions. Again, for the sake of the blog, I will choose Garden State as my favorite movie. It has a combination of all those emotions, and the soundtrack is amazing.

Magazine Proposal

Fang Times



 Concept- Fang Times is a magazine for the "fangbangers" in the world of True Blood. Fang bangers are similar to Groupies, in that they follow vampires around, doing anything they can to get into the "Vamp" lifestyle. This magazine would be a novelty for True Blood fans,  but put together as if it actually exists in the pretend world of the TV show.

Readers-This magazine would, like stated, be directed towards fangbangers, new vamps, or wannabe vampires. The demographic would more than likely be for 20 somethings, since the lifestyle is contraversial, and does not appeal to older adults (or very young people, for that matter).

Competition-It is hard to say who would be competition, since this is a hypothetical situation, but I can imagine there would be a few other magazines out with the same target. This magazine would be more authentic, and have actual vampires involved in the articles to make sure it is legitimate information. On the other hand, there may be anti-vampire groups set out to sabatoge my magazine. Because of that I would make sure my magazine was pushed to the limit in terms of controversy, but still abide by the laws.

Advertisments-1)Faux-ngs(fake fangs for those trying to "blend in")

                        2)Vamp-off necklace (wooden stake necklace, easily consealed under blouse, but ready in an instant!)

                        3)Vampire-Girl(cover-girls new line of make-up for fangbangers-includes fake bite-marks, sickly-white makeup, and the most authentic blood-red lipsticks...)

                        4)Fangtasia-(hypothetical vampire club from the show, advertise the club and special discounts ie bring two vamp-virgins and get admitted with no cover-fee)

                        5)TruBlood-(also from the show, the faux blood is made for vampires to taste as close to human as unhumanly possible...Here is an example of what the ad would look like [from HBO]

{I also found some really cool ads that were made for the second season, I didn't want to steal them, but still cool to check out. If this were a real magazine I think there would be ads similar to these.}

Articles-1)How to Blend-It can be pretty obvious when a human is trying to blend in with vampires. This article include tips on how to dress, talk, and behave like you're 221 rather than 21.

              2)Gossip-The facts on who is dating who, and what vamputante was recently arrested for posession of V (vampire blood).

              3)Vampire Recipes-what to cook when your guest doesn't eat.

              4)Revamping Your Living Quarters-The gothic-look with function.

              5)Advice from the Vamps-"Help-I fell in love with a vampire, now what?!", "Can we have a baby together?", "My mom found out I'm dating a vampire, now she refuses to talk to me, what should I do?", "He comes home to me, but I know he's been biting other humans..." etc.

Cover-The cover would be sexy, gothic, and dark. It would be a dark background with blood-red writing (not dripping blood though). Here are some examples of the types of pictures for the cover

The key is sexiness (everyone knows sex sells). There would be a hint of the past (pin-up, classic styles), but will steer clear of the cliche-vampire type styles (sorry, no "Grampa" from The Munsters in this magazine!)

Books

Narrowing down my favorite books to 3 is quite a task. I love books, and even though I don't get to read as often as I would like, I still have a long list of favorites. Books stick to me for many different reasons, but I find that I generally favor books with girls or underdogs as the many character. In writing this, I decided to try and stray from my usual.
    The first book I picked was Tweak by Nic Sheff. It is a true story that takes place from around 2006-08. It appealed to me right off the bat because of the setting, which starts off in the Haight District of San Francisco. The basic premise is a guy growing up in a well off family gets addicted to drugs. The story begins about a year after he has been clean, when he ends up relapsing. I have never tried meth or heroine (the two drugs he is addicted to in the book), but I can still relate to his story. Of course every aspect of it involves drugs, the emotions he expresses in the book can be related to by many people. He is just young and unsure, motivated yet dispassionate. He goes from being so in love with life to wanting to disappear forever and then back to being on top of the world. It is raw and sentimental and you will not want to set the book down.
   My second choice is Franny and Zooey by J.D Salinger. This was the first Salinger book I read, and is still my favorite. I've noticed that I tend to like books that focus on the nature of humans. This book follows the Glass family. I realized after reading more of his books that they are in many of his stories. It's hard to pin point what made me love this book so much, but like in Tweak, it appealed to me emotionally, and I felt like many questions I had about life were being answered through the inquiries of the characters.
   Lastly I decided on To Kill a Mockingbird. Like I said, I love stories with girls and underdogs, and this is a bit of both. I know a lot of people who never got into this book because it was a required read for class. For me, I never grew tired of it. I had to read it twice for class, as well as help teach it to a class. It again appeals to me from an emotional point of view because I think most people can relate to the themes of the story. Not only is it a historical look at issues in America, it deals with universal themes as well.

Media Impact

Media Research Project Proposal: In what ways do Ads differ from country to country? How might an ad agency alter their advertisements (for the same product) based on demographics, and in what ways might there be negative repracussions for not altering advertisements?

I would conduct my research by looking at ads (both printed and commercial) for a handful of products, and see how ads for identical products differ from the U.S and other countries (both impoverished and wealthy). I could also take a group of different demographics (ie nationality, age, culture, etc) and have them respond to questions after viewing certain ads. The ads would be for the same product's ad but in 5 different countries (not necessarily that of the test subject). I would use a mixture of methods to get a more thorough result, including content analysis, survey methods, and random sampling. Some more predictable ideas of the out come would be that, yes, they do differ depending on demographics. More than likely ads will be significantly different based on the culture and values of the targeted demographic. The first idea that comes to mind is Nestle boycott, where many people have opted not to buy nestle baby formula because they advertise in impovershed countries, where using baby formula can have many health risks.

Media Autobiography Books-As far back as I can remember, I have always had books in my life. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom getting me ready for bed, tucking me in, and reading me a bed time story. Sometimes we would read books so many times, I would have them memorized, and recite it a long with her. When I learned how to read, I would show off by reading my mom stories before my bed time. Eventually, I put myself to bed, but still kept the tradition of a before bed book. I went through fazes where books were a smaller part of my life, but by middle school,  books like The Princess Diaries, Harry Potter, and Gossip Girl, changed that for me. Newspaper-Growing up we always had the Mercury News delivered to my house. My parents would sit dow nin the morning with their cup of coffee, and read through the daily newspaper. I would rea the comics every once in a while, but for the most part are was more interested in cartoons. Teachers would assign current event assignments, and I would occasionally be forced to read the paper. Now days, I will read the newspaper, but only if I see it lying out, and a certain article catches my attention. Magazines-When I was a little girl and my mom and I would go grocery shopping, our first stop was always the magazines. She would skim through her favorites, and I would skim through the articles of magazines like Nickelodeon, and American Girl. Then there was Doctor and Dentist offices. They would always have Highlights, which I still like to look at to this day! I also have always had a guilty pleasure for fashion magazines, but I try to avoid them since they tend to have really bad advice. I randomly got a US and OK! magazine subscription, but am unsure how. However, I know look foreword to my weekly gossip news. Movies-Movies used to be a weekend ritual for me. Every weekend, especially in middle school, my parents would drop my friends and me off at the movies, and we would see the weeks "big blockbuster". In high school, I worked at Camera 12 (a movie theatre downtown), so I had unlimited movie access. That was both a blessing and a curse, since I was exposed to a lot of movies, however now find spending $10 for a movie ticket ridiculous, and thus never go to the movies. I do make exceptions for very-talked about movies, like Inception and Avatar. Recordings- From actual records, to CDs, to cassettes, to Ipods, I have utilized many forms of recordings in my life. My favorite is CDs for the fact that they are both portable AND tangible. I used to be really into my Ipod, however I had my car broken into, and all they stole was my Ipod and Roadtrip. Also, I once had a TON of music on my Itunes, and then my computer crashed (another reason I'm glad I have CD's). I do however wish I had the time to lounge in my room, listening to my old records. Radio-I tend to get my dose of Vitamin Music from the radio more often than other sources. It's not that I prefer the majority of the crap they put on there, but it's less to think about, and makes me feel connected to the world. Also, my CD player is broken. Also, I used to love listening to Loveline (back when it was Dr.Drew and Adam Carolla). I remember being grounded for a month in high school, and the cable was broken (which meant no television OR internet), so for a while that radio show was the ONLY thing I looked foreward to during the day! Television-TV held an important place in my childhood. It was my entertainment, babysitter, and even teacher at times. To this day, I always relax at the end of the day with television. When I was younger my favorite channels were Nickelodeon, Disney, and ABC. Now I love NBC, HBO, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Travel Channel, and Adult Swim. (wow, I watch a lot of TV!) Internet-How can you not have the internet in your life? Internet drawas in every kind of group and denomination- be it for religion, news, or netowrking, there is something for everyone. My first experience with the interet was at my bff's house (we used to always chat on AOLKids). Then we got a computer at home when I was bout eight. For a long time I thought AOL was THE internet, but soon the agonizing dial up disappeared, and high speed internet was introduced to my house. At times I feel addicted to the interent, but then I'll have an anti-interent spree, where I don't even think about going on. Bottom line, whether I like it or not, the interent is going to be in my life forever. It is a useful tool for many aspects of life, and it's here to stay!

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by Rhiannon

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