Abstract
Television advertising is not as consumed as it once was because of the new technology, the DVR or TIVO. Viewers have the opportunity to forward past all of the commercials. How does television advertising and the messages these companies are trying to send out influence the viewer? How does the lack of ad watching affect that companies profits? Messages are being sent by companies but a very important question is being asked and that is, "Are the viewers getting the messages that these companies are sending?" "Content critics commonly take the media to task for defining how things are our ought to be in ways that they believe unduly influence, if not their independent-minded selves then all those credulous others." (Gitlin, p. 138)
The Advertising Influence
Companies want to send messages to consumers about their product. Companies feel the need to influence consumers because at the end of the day, its about money for these companies. For instance if you go in to the grocery store, there is more than one brand of coffee, more than one brand of toilet paper and more than one brand of bread. What might influence a consumer to pick a particular brand? "In the United States, we have 260,000 billboards, 11, 520 newspapers, 11,556 periodicals; 27,000 video outlets for renting video tapes; more than 500 million radios; and more than 100 million computers."(Postman, p. 69) From television to mail, consumers are being bombarded with various messages sent by these companies as to why their product is better.
The Message Being Sent
What messages are these CEO's of these companies wanting to send to the consumers? "By the end of the nineteenth century, advertisers and newspapermen had discovered that a picture was worth not only a thousand words but, in terms of sales, many thousands of dollars. (Postman, p. 68) Why do companies feel like they have to use sex to sell? Does sex sell? Is using a particular shampoo going to make you look and feel like the very model that is the consumer sees endorsing it? "In sum, making judgments about sexist vs sexy depends on the values, preferences and perceptions of the viewer, and these evolve over time." "These sexual images
aren't intended to sell us on sex - they are intended to sell us on shopping.(Lipman, 1991)"
Who Do We See the Most in Ads?
"In the world of advertising, only young and beautiful people have sex. We rarely see eroticised images of older people, imperfect people, people with disabilities." (Lipman, 1991) I have been watching television ads all just so I could blog about this issue and I have seen more women than men, I have seen more women that are young, skinny, beautiful and I have come to the conclusion that being sexy does influence a consumer to buy. As a woman, I wonder if I use some of these weight loss products, will I look as good as they do in the ad? I have yet to see someone trying to sell me a product in television advertising, that has a disability. In my investigation of television advertising, I have seen an ad for bras that are for women that have more curves. Because I am not obese but I am not skinny, that television ad actually made me feel confident that I am not the only curvy woman that requires a particular bra.
Superbowl Television Ads
The Superbowl is one of the only events that I believe consumers gather around the television to watch the advertsing. The Superbowl is the one time of year where companies pay insane amounts of money to influence so many people at one time. The ads that are displayed during the Superbowl are different. Companies purposely make them entertaining, different and funny.
I found the top 10 ads on YOUTUBE from Superbowl 42. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Ce-SJreIA
In conclusion, watching advertising on television influences self esteem. Television in itself is not reality. Whether you are watching a television show or television ads, the consumer has to make up their mind how what they are watching is going to influence them or modify their behavior.
References:
Gitlin, T. (2001). Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelmsour lives. New York: Metropolitan Books
Lipman, J. (1991) Advertising: sexy or
sexist.'' Recent ads spark debate. Wall
Street Journal, 30 September, p. Bl.Miller, C. (1992)
Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology. First Vintage Books Edition: New York
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
They are selling, are we buying?
Society relies on news organizations for details of events that occur at the local, state, national and global levels. Think of the events that made the news and how they were covered by the media. While a picture is worth a thousand words, radio was often listened to once upon a time. Then, it was the job of the radio announcer to paint a picture. "President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Congress investigates Watergate, the Iranians seize American hostages, the pope visits Poland, Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem, Nelson Mandela is released, Chinese students occupy Tiananmen Square. Those are just to name a few. The twenty four hour news channel came along and viewers had access to continuous coverage of the Gulf War, the O.J. Simpson trial, Princess Diana's death, Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, The Elian Gonzalez standoff, the Florida election debacle, the Gary Condit-Chandra Levy affair and finally the World Trade Center tragedy". (Gondit, 2004 p. 164)
Images can tug at our heart strings. Words can depict emotion. Whether it's in black and white, across a frequency or in color, images and sounds influence emotion and modify behavior."Communication comes at a price." (Gondit, 200 p. 59) It is nearly incomprehensible how much society relies on what news organizations say is going on in the world. Just imagine what news stories are not being covered. There are only a handful of stories that are covered on a daily basis and it comes down to which organization is covering it best. They are selling us their version but are we as a culture buying?
After viewing "Outfoxed" twice, the meaning of being fair and balanced automatically meant politically. After pondering this very intense documentary for nearly eight hours and discussing this among family members, I began to have other questions. What does fair and balanced mean when the story is not politically driven? Does fair and balanced mean that if a drunk driver slams into a family of seven, the coverage will include a segment on the intoxicated driver's life or quotes from his family? Fair and balanced means what the corporate heads want it to mean for that given day. In "Outfoxed" when Bill O'Reilly read an email that discusses his usage of the word shut-up and he claimed to have only used that word once in six years, I found it interesting that all of his "shut-ups" were edited together to prove otherwise. Had I not seen the edited "shut-ups" following that, I might have believed what O'Reilly was trying to convince his audience. It all does come down to backing up facts.
"Buying the War", sold me on how difficult it can be for any news organization to call themselves fair and balanced. After the tragic events of 9/11 had occurred, and life slowly got back to normal, from a viewer's point of view, it seemed like the media had a showdown of who could pass the blame the fastest on why 9/11 happened.
What is their definition of fair and balanced? Once FOX News started that slogan, other news outlets wanted to appear to be fair and balanced. That slogan seemed appealing to the audience and it showed on the Neilson ratings. Tony Snow, former press secretary to President George W. Bush began working for CNN in April of 2008. CNN, as depicted in "Buying the War" is seen as a liberal news organization. Was that CNN's attempt at fair and balanced by having a republican on their payroll? "Buying the War" shows FOX news as the conservative station and CNN as the liberal station.
As Stuart Hall states in his theory, the media sends messages to influence society. Fox began to carry the slogan, "We report, you decide." Society bases their decisions on what they hear, read and see. Every media outlet has the ability to manipulate news stories because of the advertising dollars at stake. In "Outfoxed" when the news coverage showed the people of Iraq drinking water, going to school and living what appeared to be a normal life, there was a reason for that coverage. It was most likely easier to find war zone pictures than pictures of the Iraqi people living a normal life. The corporate heads wanted pictures of a normal life in Iraq and they got them.
When former Fox reporter Jon Du Pre was told to cover Ronald Reagan's birthday bash at the Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, he struggled to make it appear as if there were vast amounts of people there celebrating. Du Pre was told by Fox corporate suits what they expected on that report. Du Pre could not help it if only a few people were at the library which included a fourth grade class taking a tour. Perception is reality. "If media invisibility detracts from solidarity, this is not to say that the opposite is a sure thing." (Gitlin 2004, p. 171)
Gitlin, T. (2001). Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms
our lives. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Greenwald, R. (Director). (2004). Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism [Documentary]. United State: The Disinformation Company.
PBS Television. (2007). “Buying the War”. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://jesuitnet.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_2172_1%26url%3d
Images can tug at our heart strings. Words can depict emotion. Whether it's in black and white, across a frequency or in color, images and sounds influence emotion and modify behavior."Communication comes at a price." (Gondit, 200 p. 59) It is nearly incomprehensible how much society relies on what news organizations say is going on in the world. Just imagine what news stories are not being covered. There are only a handful of stories that are covered on a daily basis and it comes down to which organization is covering it best. They are selling us their version but are we as a culture buying?
After viewing "Outfoxed" twice, the meaning of being fair and balanced automatically meant politically. After pondering this very intense documentary for nearly eight hours and discussing this among family members, I began to have other questions. What does fair and balanced mean when the story is not politically driven? Does fair and balanced mean that if a drunk driver slams into a family of seven, the coverage will include a segment on the intoxicated driver's life or quotes from his family? Fair and balanced means what the corporate heads want it to mean for that given day. In "Outfoxed" when Bill O'Reilly read an email that discusses his usage of the word shut-up and he claimed to have only used that word once in six years, I found it interesting that all of his "shut-ups" were edited together to prove otherwise. Had I not seen the edited "shut-ups" following that, I might have believed what O'Reilly was trying to convince his audience. It all does come down to backing up facts.
"Buying the War", sold me on how difficult it can be for any news organization to call themselves fair and balanced. After the tragic events of 9/11 had occurred, and life slowly got back to normal, from a viewer's point of view, it seemed like the media had a showdown of who could pass the blame the fastest on why 9/11 happened.
What is their definition of fair and balanced? Once FOX News started that slogan, other news outlets wanted to appear to be fair and balanced. That slogan seemed appealing to the audience and it showed on the Neilson ratings. Tony Snow, former press secretary to President George W. Bush began working for CNN in April of 2008. CNN, as depicted in "Buying the War" is seen as a liberal news organization. Was that CNN's attempt at fair and balanced by having a republican on their payroll? "Buying the War" shows FOX news as the conservative station and CNN as the liberal station.
As Stuart Hall states in his theory, the media sends messages to influence society. Fox began to carry the slogan, "We report, you decide." Society bases their decisions on what they hear, read and see. Every media outlet has the ability to manipulate news stories because of the advertising dollars at stake. In "Outfoxed" when the news coverage showed the people of Iraq drinking water, going to school and living what appeared to be a normal life, there was a reason for that coverage. It was most likely easier to find war zone pictures than pictures of the Iraqi people living a normal life. The corporate heads wanted pictures of a normal life in Iraq and they got them.
When former Fox reporter Jon Du Pre was told to cover Ronald Reagan's birthday bash at the Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, he struggled to make it appear as if there were vast amounts of people there celebrating. Du Pre was told by Fox corporate suits what they expected on that report. Du Pre could not help it if only a few people were at the library which included a fourth grade class taking a tour. Perception is reality. "If media invisibility detracts from solidarity, this is not to say that the opposite is a sure thing." (Gitlin 2004, p. 171)
Gitlin, T. (2001). Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms
our lives. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Greenwald, R. (Director). (2004). Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism [Documentary]. United State: The Disinformation Company.
PBS Television. (2007). “Buying the War”. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://jesuitnet.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_2172_1%26url%3d
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