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.

Media Log #6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBoImLUbaoE
I have seen this commercial so many times, so I decided to write a post about it. It can be annoying at times, but it has seemed to grow on me. Everything in the commercial is a dull color, but the cheetos bag pops out because it is bright orange. The lady playing chopsticks with the cheetah doesn't have anything to do with anything really as far as a bag of cheetos goes, but it is an annoying repetitive song that makes their commercial memorable. The phrase at the end is using the begging the question fallacy because the answer to how to take a cheetos break is already in the phrase. You can't take a cheetos break without cheetos, or else its just a break... But they wrote "with cheetos" to make sure. I think my favorite part of this commercial that I never realised until I had to analyze the commercial thoroughly was how they wrote their website. I found it so clever. They put a picture of two cheetos and after they just added ".com" It is so simple and so to the point.

Media Log #5

5/8/12 I wasn't even planning on doing a media log tonight, but I decided I would because I found an advertisement as I was doing my outline for history on microsoft. In the corner of my screen is an advertisement that stood out because it of the contrast of colors. The Microsoft Word screen is a light blue color and the ad being black, using white lettering so the words pop out. It's crazy that i can't get away from advertisements as I am trying to do my homework. I think one of my favorite things about this ad is that above it, it is literally labeled "advertisement." I also found it funny that an ad for Microsoft Office Web Apps was in a Microsoft Word Program. It is all about product placement with this ad. This ad relates to the movie we are currently watching in class about how people advertise and about the ridiculousness of many companies feel they need to advertise everywhere. This is is really vague and is shown through the use of weasel words. "If you want your style and formatting to stay put." What does that mean? That doesn't even make sense, but underneath those words it says that style matters. The advertisers feel that if they put "style matters" it makes the audience feel like they would need to use Office Web Apps in order to have their style stay put. Whatever that means. I see what the advertisers were trying to do, but I don't think they did a very good job. If anyone starts using Office Web apps it will be because the company has their name written everywhere, but not because of the slogans they made to atrract buyers. Whatever gets the job done, I guess.

Media Log Entry #4

5/6/12 As I was looking through Penny Saver I came across this ad. The advertising technique used in this ad is the use of weasel words. Although in the picture, the words on the top left-hand corner of each picture are blurred from my bad camera, the words "ultimate" and "perfect" are used to describe the meals. The phrase used to promote these barbecue sauces also includes the word "ultimate." As if these barbecue sauces actually make the party. No condiments ever make a party great, bet that's the angle they are using. Another technique being used in this ad is patriotism.  The meats have a reddish tint, the background for the food is white and the background for the wording is blue. The craft logo is also the color of the American flag. The use of these colors made me think of an All-American barbecue, which is probably what Kraft intended. I think that they did a good job slyfully inputting patriotic ideas into the viewers mind.

Media Log Entry #3

 5/6/12 I go threw Sunday's ads every week normally to find Target's ad, but as I was searching, I found this ad for Belgard. This ad uses couple advvertising techniques. Ther first technique that caught my eye instantly was snob appeal. This is no average backyard, there is a outdoor fireplace, like that is needed. There are potted plants near the fireplace although the background of the backyard looks like a forest. There is wine and wine glasses on the table.  All of which is near a big pool. Not to mention the color scheme they chose for this ad screams wealthy snobby neighbors who want to brag about their backyard, but I guess it is good that that is what Belgard is trying to advertise because those are the people who are going to buy their product. It doesn't seem like a middle-class person can afford this. That's probably why no prices are advertised. Smart thinking. Another advertising technique Belgard uses is the use of weasel words. "Behold the power of a magical outdoor space." Magical has so many meanings, what do they mean by this? It doesn't matter to them because magical has a positive connotation. The whole phrase sounds like something a magician would say because of the word "behold." With the connotations to those words it enhances the effectiveness of their ad because people do fall for magician's tricks like their play on words.

Media Log #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjcyAWO5Jo
5/1/12 In my opinion almost all shampoo commercials are funny because most of them start off with people whose hair looks gross and then towards the end there are people with unnaturally glossy and bouncy hair in bright light. This commercial successfully followed the trend. Although this commercial is a lot like most shampoo commericals, there was one thing in particular that really stood out. This commercial focused on the reification to promote Garnier shampoo. The company knew that when people hear the words "go green" that there will be people who are thinking that if they use this product, they can help the enviroment in some way. However the reason it goes green is because it is 92% biodegradable. Whoohoo! Who cares if shampoo is biodegradable? It is shampoo that cleans your hair and goes down the drain, the same drain connected to your tiolet. Does it really make a difference if it is biodegradable? No, but hey it is proven to be "pure health" and "4 times healthier." How exactly? Who knows, it is not mentioned in the commercial, but the word "health" also makes people want to buy their products.

Media Log Entry #1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRf35wCmzWw&noredirect=1
5/1/12 I provided the URL for the commercial because I have problems with using this site on my ancient computer. This ad can be a bit awkward, just because of the product that is being promoted, but I felt I needed to write about it because this commercial and a couple other very similar commercials from Kotex were played quite often the last month or so. I don't like these ads because in my opinion they are annoying, but I do commend them on making memorable commercials. The commercial is 46 seconds long and it isn't until the last 4 seconds that the brand and product is named. However, it is made very clear that the commercial is talking about women's periods. The reason I especially wanted to write about this commercial is because it talks about exactly what I am learning in critical thinking. This commercial mocks other tampon commercials' ad tactics to persuade people to buy their brand. They make fun of how "ridiculous" some tampon commercial are. Tampon commercials make periods appear to be something they are not! Everyone knows the most popular symptom of being on a period and that is moodiness. This commercial proves a good point that being on your period does not make you want to dance or twirl. This commercial is a good example of some ways brands try to change people's attitude to a joyful mood to try to purchase a product that no one enjoys to purchase.