Over the past couple months, I came to a conclusion that people have consumed media everyday. Media is all around us and has created all of this clutter in our heads. Personally, I probably consume up to a few hours of media everyday. From commercials to print ads, and even in movies or the internet, the media advertises what we as consumers want to see or think we should see. This has made an impact on my life by becoming a detraction to the way I'm living. I've realized that media has been involved in my life way too much during this time period. Instead of doing important things, such as doing homework, I would find myself on YouTube or looking stuff up online to keep myself entertained. But after finishing this unit, I noticed how media uses different techniques to find ways for products to be entertaining and relatable to the audience will and forever be involved in out lives.
After learning about the techniques, needs, value assumption, reality assumption, etc., I am able to point out what the media is trying to tell us. Whenever I see an ad come up on T.V. I think of what the advertisers are trying to say. Are they using the need to nurture, the technique of simple solutions? What are their value assumptions about us? These are the questions I ask myself when there is a commercial that is trying to get our attention. I have opened my eyes more in on media besides commercials. After watching the documentary Missrepresentation I have become more aware of what not products are being advertised but how women are being miss judged. The media has its own value assumption that women are just a tool for people to look at. Models are an example that missrepresent of what a woman is seen as in media, than what they should be which is a strong and independent women. Because of the false assumption that men should always be the strongest and hold the most power, or women should be portrayed in having a flawless figure, young girls are losing the confidence in themselves and make them fell less worthy. My media consumption habits have changed after learning about media in Critical Thinking. All of the tricks that we learned in class and how media uses it, made me aware of what advertisements are trying to do to consumers. I am able to not be one of those consumers who are blinded by some ads that make me want to use me "oh's" and "aw's" because I know what methods they are trying to use to reel people in.
Since media has been with us in our lives, it is very important to have media literacy. Being and educated consumer, like myself, about media literacy has allowed people to not to give into what people are trying to advertise. This blog made me able to not see the surface of products advertisers are trying to show, but the value and reality assumptions that they have about people in the world. They use different ways to find things that appeal to the audience in order to come up with an advertisement for people to relate to and consumers to see. I am able to also see the needs and techniques used in the advertisements to attract the consumers. After watching the documentaries and learning about media in class, I have now seen that media is EVERYWHERE surrounding us and has affected the way the world is seen today.
Many pictures, celebrities, etc. influence us everyday with the help of media. In the documentary, Missrepresentation, it explains of what the world's view on people is and how it is being advertised. This documentary mostly referred to women and how they are viewed mostly as an object and not as a strong independent woman. When I was watching this, the first thing I thought of how women are being missrepresented is in clothing, especially the brand Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria's Secret.
Many models in brands such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Victoria'
s Secret etc. are mostly viewed as very beautiful and slim women. When I saw the scenes in the documentary, I immediately thought of what this clothing store advertises, which mostly attracts women. Recently, Abercrombie and Fitch haven't had much success in selling their products. This is the effect of what Jeffries thought. He believes that women that are a size zero jeans are what people should be. Jeffries quotes, "That's why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that." By marketing "good-looking people," he is also advertising that women are only seen as an object. The models that he advertises are very slim and are seen with the "thigh gap" and good looking men surrounding them. He has the value assumption all women and men in the world should be seen like the models that have been advertised for years who are beautiful and skinny.
The brand Victoria's Secret especially advertises women being an object to the world. When shoppers walk into their store, the first thing they would see is the models on the walls or poster boards of models in directly in front of the entrance. By putting these women out there for everyone to see shows that women are the eye of what the ideal women should look like; with their perfect skin flawless figure. An event that really caught my attention that involved the brand Victoria's Secret was the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion show. The thought of women strutting down the catwalk with the beautiful costumes they have on made me realize that everyone that watches the show don't think that these women are being used as tools for men to look at. But in reality, models flaunting themselves to the world can lead to the use of women getting what they want.
These models missrepresent the role of a woman. Women's roles in life are't about branding to being skinny and beautiful. Because of this, it causes women all over the world to be insecure about themselves. This mostly targets the younger generation who are in the ages between their early teens to late 20's. These girls measure themselves with models and think that they are worth nothing compared to them because of what attention they get. These girls give into peer presure and begin to do things that make them want to be thin. Some start hating themselves and get suicidal thoughts and begin self harming. In the real world, we don't need models to show people what they should be. We need role models for people to be themselves.
Whenever I have relatives coming to town, they would always bring in the latest gossip magazines for my mom and I to read. And these magazines advertise so many perfumes. I tend to write a lot about perfumes, such as the One Direction and Justin Bieber perfume, but the reason why I blog about them is because they grab my attention. Whether it's in magazines or music videos, those little things that are in the background or plastered on a page really capture my attention. The recent perfume that has captured my attention is the Nicki Minaj Minajesty fragrance.
The first thing I noticed when the page came along was her.The advertisement has Nicki Minaj in a ball gown and behind her a throne looking as if she was a queen. Advertisers wanted the singer to be the main focus point for the consumers so that it can capture their attention. In the lower left hand corner is her perfume bottle. Even though the ad is promoting the perfume, it isn't dominant compared to Nicki. What advertisers think is that superstars are what attract the audience the most in order to buy their product and with Nicki as the focal point, we as consumers notice her before the product. This makes us want to know what the superstar is trying to give us.
The need that is being used in this ad is the need for prominence. Nicki Minaj is seen in this ad as a queen which relates to her fragrance Minajesty. If the people buy this product, they would be respected as if you were royalty. Nicki is wearing pearls and diamonds and her facial expression is as if she wants to be respected, indicating that the perfume can be admired. The technique that is being used is glittering generalities. Advertisers show that if you buy this product, the. It will make you feel like royalty. Consumers would want that feeling of royalty, which relates to the need for prominence.
Out of all of the perfume ads I have seen in magazines, this is the most extravagant advertising, but it doesn't make me want to buy it. Minajesty's advertisment uses the help from the creator of the perfume to get people to buy their product. Because she is so famous and is shown wearing glamorous clothing and expensive jewelry, it will get the consumers attention to get the fragrance so they can be respected as of they were royal just like how Nicki is being shown in the ad.
During the holidays, families come in from other places to enjoy the company and love from one another. The little things such as going to the snow, decorating the tree, baking cookies, etc. brings happiness to those you love. And while watching holiday movies on TV with my family this year, Christmas commercials come up. In this commercial the Brand Apple brings happiness to these families.
The commercial starts with a boy and his family going to grandparents house for the holidays to spend Christmas with them. He is on his phone the entire vacation and misses out on family outings because he is too busy looking at something else. My first impression of this commercial was that it is rude not to spend any quality time with your family and are missing out on the the activities. Towards the end of the commercial, we see the boy on his phone and then turning on the TV. In the background, the father was mad at his son for his actions. But little does the family know, the reason why he was on his phone was because he was capturing the moments he was spending with his family on his phone and turned it into a slide show. And the phone that he was using was the iPhone. When the clips are finished, the whole family begin to shed tears of happiness and thank the boy for making the video.
Many families love being able to capture these memories, especially during the holidays, and what the advertisers are trying to target are loving families that want to cherish these moments. With the help of apple, people are able to keep these memories by using their product to document each and every event that is happening.
A need that is being used in this commercial is the need to nurture. When the boy is showing the video, the family begins to feel very happy and this makes the audience see that it is very sweet to watch family members get teary eyed from happiness and kind to be able to watch families get together and enjoying each others company. It makes us, the consumers, to think that because of this product, we will be able to do the same thing and bring happiness to our families and possibly see them have tears of joy.
The technique of plain folks was being advertised in this commercial. Apple is showing a very humble and loving ordinary family that are enjoying the holidays, like most families in the world. Because an ordinary family was using the product, this helps the audience know that they are able to use the product and record their family events.
What Apple is trying to advertise is that family is very important, and a great way to bring families closer is to use one of their products, such as the iPhone, to capture these beautiful moments and be able to share it with their entire family.
Over the past couple months, I came to a conclusion that people have consumed media everyday. Media is all around us and has created all of this clutter in our heads. Personally, I probably consume up to a few hours of media everyday. From commercials to print ads, and even in movies or the internet, the media advertises what we as consumers want to see or think we should see. This has made an impact on my life by becoming a detraction to the way I'm living. I've realized that media has been involved in my life way too much during this time period. Instead of doing important things, such as doing homework, I would find myself on YouTube or looking stuff up online to keep myself entertained. But after finishing this unit, I noticed how media uses different techniques to find ways for products to be entertaining and relatable to the audience will and forever be involved in out lives.
Since media has been with us in our lives, it is very important to have media literacy. Being and educated consumer, like myself, about media literacy has allowed people to not to give into what people are trying to advertise. This blog made me able to not see the surface of products advertisers are trying to show, but the value and reality assumptions that they have about people in the world. They use different ways to find things that appeal to the audience in order to come up with an advertisement for people to relate to and consumers to see. I am able to also see the needs and techniques used in the advertisements to attract the consumers. After watching the documentaries and learning about media in class, I have now seen that media is EVERYWHERE surrounding us and has affected the way the world is seen today. 
