Blog #3 - Women in Advertisements

Many advertisements in our media dehumanizes women immensely. The advertisements that are advertising something simple like jeans or jewelry are sending out the wrong message and trying to get the viewer’s attention in the most extreme way.  It is not just in the United States using these kinds of advertisements but other cultures around the world use them as well. The Dolce & Gabbana Italian luxury industry fashion house released a very controversial advertisement showing a women dressed in black being pinned down by a shirtless man in jeans with sunglasses while three other men strike poses and are menacingly staring at the woman. This promotes violence towards women and shows this particular woman being controlled by not just one man but four men. The intended meaning of the advertisement was probably to show men that if they wear their products then they will be able to gain control of women and make them theirs. The cultural meaning though shows the women in a position of helplessness and making it obvious to the viewer that women are not in power and men are free to do what they want with women. It promotes the idea that it is okay for men to force themselves upon women making them think that they enjoy it when in actuality it is clearly unwanted. b

Blog #2 - Frith methodology

The surface meaning of the ad: The ad starts off with a man traveling the desert looking thristy and being sweaty. He sees a giant coke bottle in the distance and suddenly many different types of people from show girls to men on motorcycles racing towards the bottle. The man looks back to see that he actually had a coke bottle with him in an ice cooler the whole time and now he has the last laugh. It is revealed that the giant coke bottle is a sign pointing towards the nearest coke location which is 50 miles away. The racers are still racing towards this regardless of the distance.

The advertiser's intended meaning of the ad: They wanted to replicate the sense of being thirsty to the viewer. The man in the ad is sweaty and is obviously thirsty. A common trope in any media depicting desert travel is that the one doing the traveling is always on the search for something to drink. Once the viewer sees that coke bottle they themselves are going to want to have a drink from it because they are imagining themselves in  a desert without anything to drink. Once they see many people racing to obtain that coke they know that it is a valuable drink and many people would go to extreme lengths to obtain it.

The cultural or idealogical meaning of the ad: culturally coke is seen as a pivotal beverage. If someone goes out in public they are most likely guaranteed to see at least one person drinking a coke. The ad depicts people racing to obtain that coke like they have to have it. It's a summer soda. The ad demonstrates this by using the desert as its' setting. When people are thirsty in the summer or when it is hot outside they should be drinking a coke to quench their thirst.

Favorite Ad

Robin Williams and Zelda Williams enjoying Ocarina of Time

My favorite ad campaign would have to be the campaign for the 3DS port of the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. The first ad started with the traditional Legend of Zelda tune that plays whenever a player finds treasure in the game. The first thing you hear after that is the sound of a familiar voice. When I first saw this commercial I knew I recognized that voice. The commercial when then repeatedly show clips of a young girl's face during the narration of the familiar voice. I completely lost it when I first saw that the person narrating was Robin Williams. It was then that many people in my age group found out that Robin Williams named his daughter (The young girl who was repeatedly shown throughout the narration) Zelda. Seeing a crossover of two formats of entertainment that I never thought would crossover resonated with me. Robin Williams and Zelda were two things that many would not imagine have had a history together. Robin Williams' voice also sounded very epic while he was doing the narration. It was a perfect voice to emphasize the majestic gameplay of Zelda. It was a genius move to combine a celebrity many children and teens recognize to a game that many children and teens mostly likely played and still play to this day. The best part is that Robin Williams himself is a fan of the game so he's not just doing it without any knowledge of the game itself.

Blog #7 - Tonight Show

For the most part I do not care for late night network TV. I don't know many people who stay up late just to watch those shows. Those late night shows upload the highlights of their show on the internet so there isn't a point into staying up late to watch the shows in my honest opinion. I know that people still watch the shows even if it's on the internet but companies should take into account the internet views.

Blog #8 - advertisement

The movie was very interesting because I was unaware if how advertising actually operates and I wasn't aware of all the product placement that took place and how easy it actually is to get advertisement places to put their product in your movie as long as you have enough money. Almost anybody could do it as long as they have the resources.

Blog #6 - TV

I watch TV on Thursdays at 8:30 to 10:00 for Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. On Sundays I watch the Walking Dead at 9:00 and sometimes watch the talk show for the Walking Dead afterwards sometimes hoping I can get my tweet read or if they answer my phone call. Also to see a review of the episode right after it aired. Sometimes when I miss these episodes or forget to watch them then I watch them online on the TV show websites as they post them on there. Sometimes I watch them on my phone when I am not home.

Blog #5 - Music Industry

Personally it makes no sense that artists want to sign on with itunes because it seems like they spend more money than they receive money. But because of the decrease in illegal downloads I suppose it would make more sense for artists and bands to hop aboard itunes and spotify. I see many people using spotify now and it seems to be doing well as it is quick access to everybody's favorite music and genres. Also when songs become popular most people want the highest and purest quality of that song so they do infact go out of their way to buy it just to be sure they can get the best quality.