Reflection

Media greatly affects my life. It affects the products I chose and the way I look at things. It is quite impossible to be be unaware of all the advertisments in the world today. I can't enjoy a television show without commercials interrupting. I can't go on informational websites without advertisments on the margins of the page. I can't even go on Microsoft without an ad being on there, and I can't even exit/hide the ad. Media is everywhere, and unless you live in a city where advertisement is outlawed, there will be plenty of it. Before this critical thinking class I knew that people in the advertising business had some type of guidelines they would follow to market their product, but I never knew what. After learning all the techiniques and the needs companies try to fufill, I realized that every advertisement follows at least one of the techniques. I have made fun of commercials and ads plenty of times, but I now know that the reason I found them to be funny was because the commercials would over do one of the techniques. The company would be heading in the right direction, but doing so in a cheesy manor. I would like to think that before this class, I didn't fall for the tricks that advertisements or commercials use. But now I know I am conscious of products that seem appealing because I look more in depth of the advertisment and notice key information that a commercial or ad will lack, like if an ad said that "this soap is better." But better than what? I have learned some of the tricks behind the media by analyzing commercials and will be smarter with my decisions from that. It is important to have media literacy so there are no foolish decisions made or foolish products bought. Advertisments just tell people what the audience wants to hear and they will slither their way into your brain to make you choose them. The techniques taught in class worked on the uneducated of media and cheated them out of their money. Being more knowledgable about the media, will save quite a few bucks. If you don't truly read into what a company or brand is saying, you could be disappointed with your decision of choosing them. Words are twisted into phrases that sound appealing, but with a vagueness that people fall for, just enough to trick people. By keeping this media log, I have become more aware of the media and the media techniques being used to draw in customers. I had no clue how money was spent on advertisments to attract customers and much time and thought was put into making the advertisements. So much money is spent on a risk; commercials have now guarentee of attracting customers. I wish that there was less advertisments, but I don't know how I would survive if there were no signs on stores. I need some type of sign to tell me where stores are. There is no happy medium about advertisments because having less ads than now would still be a ton. Media has grown so much, there is almost no turning back.

Media Log #12

6/3/12 Since the weather has been warming up, I've been eating some type of frozen dessert everyday now, so I thought doing a write up on one would be appropriate. I have yet to try this dessert, but it looks delicious. I have not seen this ad on television, but other ads by Blue Bunny on television. The channels they advertise their products on are either a food channel or a channel that people watch when they just want to sit down and relax, but are also intrigued, meaning the people they are showing their product to is either a person who likes to know more things about food or a couch potato who just sits down and watches their interesting shows.  Those are the types of people Blue Bunny is trying to reach out to, but with this product in particular they are targeting people who like to indulge in sweet treats, but are calorie cautious. In the commercial the ice cream is described as a "health smart bar" and that it is "better for you icecream" so they are using glittering generalities to to try enhance their product. Since this is a food product, the need they use is the physiological need to satisfy hunger.

Media log #11

6/3/12 I was looking for the Blake Griffin commercial that I normally see on telelvision, but I couldn't find it, but luckily this commercial still carries the same essense. The target audience are sports fans who can afford to purchase a Kia Optima. This commercial appeals to both genders because guys think Blake Griffin is good basketball player. This commerical can appeal to women because Blake Griffin is a good basketball player and because they find him attractive. The techniques used are testimonial and the humor appeal. It is testimonial because Kia is using a famous basketball player to promote their Kia Optima. It seems he has been Kia's spokes person ever since he dunked over one during the dunk contest. At the end of the commercial, it is even written "not your average spokesman." This commercial uses the humor appeal in many ways, from Blake looking as if he is interested in the painting at the beginning of the commercial, from the awkard look in the car he gives as he driving. What makes this commercial funny is its awkwardness and that's what made me whant to write about it. This commercial uses the need to satisfy curiosity because Blake brings up that the Kia Optima has class leading horse power and class leading fuel efficiency.

Media Log #10

5/29/12 I also found this ad on the MSN homepage. The target audience are people who have/need car insuranse who are willing to become part of the Allstate family. One of the techniques being used is testimonial because the man is well known and he promotes Allstate. It seems as though a simple solution is also being offered by the bullet points. I never paid attention to this until now, but I just realized that the Allstate logo is a pair of hands, and the top text says good hands, which stresses that Allstate is a company that keeps its customers in good hands. This ad uses the contrast of color in this ad to help advertise their company. They use the contrasting, bright colors of blue and orange/yellow. The words that are most important are in yellow and the words in white tell what the brand has to offer. The color scheme gives the audience a sense of happiness because of the bold colors.

Media Log #9

5/29/12 As I was scrolling down the MSN homepage, I came across this ad. The target audience would be people who like to keep up with the news and who own a tv, computer, and home phone. I thought the use of color was important to the ad. They use contrasting, bright colors of blue and orange/yellow. To have the text pop out they used white lettering. I don't know much about paying bills yet, but I am assuming that the price for a 1-year term is a steal if it is the biggest text in the ad. Thus, they are using the bribery technique. This ad is going for a simplistic approach because of how it says what U-verse entails. They use "+" to show what is included as well as pictures of objects. They made sure to include the AT & T logo on the bottom right hand corner. My favorite part of the ad is the writing on the bottom left hand corner. First of all it is a small font. Second of all, the color of the font is very similar to the background color so it blends it. My favorite part though, is what it actually says, "other charges & restrictions apply." In other words "what we are advertising is false." Gotta love advertising.

Media Log#8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=CAPUanqziLk&feature=endscreen
I also saw this commercial as I was watching the retrospect episode of House on fox. I like this commercial mostly because of the song. It is such a feel-good lively song that makes me feel at ease and relaxed. I don't really get all the high fives going on in this commercial, but it does give the audience a sense of unity and community. This commercial is just supposed to inform the audience that the beetle is back. This commercial did not name any of the car's features or put emphasis on anything special about the car besides its ressurection. Everything is focused on the driver receiving high-fives from everyone. It is assumed from this commercial, that if you own a beetle everyone will be so nice and friendly to you and just want to high-five you. This uses red-herring because it is diversion from the products features, and focus is own high-fives. Although it may sound as I am bashing this comercial, I actually love it when it comes on. However without the catchy sound in the background, I would be talking poorly of the whole commercial.

Media Log #7

As I was watching the retrospect episode for House, this commercial came on. The target audience for this commerial is middle-class to upper-class people who can afford smart phones. The commercial is very close to using testimonial. What I mean by that is that the famous faces, they are using are only known because they are introduced in this commercial, but they should be known for their great inventions. Also what these famous inventors are saying is not marketing the product of Best Buy, but of people who invented things found in a smart phone. They use faulty analogy to sell their product. Inventing a "better" way to buy a smart phone is not neccessarily linked to people inventing instagram or camera phones. They use weasel words to enhance their product like "better." Better  compared to what? But it makes their store sound better. By using the word "inventing," they use the avante garde technique because it makes the audience feel like by choosing Best Buy they are choosing the next new place where they can by smart phones. Although the inventors weren't tightly connected to Best Buy's purpose of the ad, I still find it interesting to see the people who invented everything mentioned in the commercial.