Thu
May
8
When ever I see media now, it gets me thinking and analyzing what I am seeing. Before, media was just there and sometimes I did not even understand what I was seeing. But now with media, I try to decipher the meaning or message that the creator was trying to imply. Since I am an advertising minor, I especially apply this to advertisements. With advertising, the creator sends a message to the viewer to help them form an opinion about the product or service that they are seeing and try to appeal to the viewer to make them want it. For example, many times with fashion advertisements, they use sex appeal to attack people. There was a Dolce and Gabbana magazine ad that came out a few years ago. The image was of a sexy and beautiful woman who was surrounded by all good looking men. The woman is on lying on the floor and the one man is over her in an aggressive position. This appeals to many woman because it is sexy and makes them want to be that female in the image.
Another example is a commercial that Volkswagen used to do. The commercial was of two people driving in a car together and talking. All of a sudden they a hit from the side by another driver and the air bags go off. The commercial kind of shocks you, but it is showing that accidents do happen and that a Volkswagen is one of the safest cars on the market. When people shop for cars, one of the main focuses is safety. The commercial is different from many other car commercials, but it does make you think about safety.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UjcSWW3vCBk&feature=related
Another example is of a billboard that I used to see last summer. It was an image of a group of women in there underwear. However, they were not glamorous models. They were real women. The advertisement was for Dove’s firming lotion. On the ad it said “tested on real curves”. I thought that this was very clever and appealing. Many times with advertisement, the people we see are sexy, skinny, and beautiful models. But this ad show average women. The ad has truth to it and that most women have curves and want to help target these problems they have with their bodies. I really enjoyed this ad, and I think that Dove was successful in appeal to women.
Wed
Apr
30
I have seen the movie Gattaca a few times before. I watched it two three years ago for a social and ethics class. The purpose of watching the movie was to analyze it and then write a paper about if the idea of the movie was ethical. I remember in my paper saying that I thought that to live in a society where you can play God is wrong. When science gets involved with creating a child it is wrong. In one part of the movie, they show a couple trying to have kids and they are picking out what they want in their child. This to me does not seem natural. Watching the movie a few years ago made me wonder if our society would really become like this. I know the science is a good thing and can help cure people, but when is it a bad thing. We are a society that likes to be technologically advanced therefore, to some the idea of playing with genes and creating a superior race is ideal. This can be very appealing to many. When we see something that we want, we must have it. And when it comes to science and new developments, it seems to always attract many people. I do not want us to become a society that plays God and plays with genes to create the ideal child. To me this is unmoral and I hope that this is never done.
Sat
Apr
26
On Monday, after watching a bit of the film Blade Runner and seeing what the future might look like, it reminded me of the film Idiocracy. I had seen the movie last year and found it funny that we watched some of it this past Thursday. When I first saw the movie Idiocracy, I really thought it was a horrible movie. It made me feel like I was becoming stupider as I watched the film. Even though, I thought that movie was retarded, it still made me laugh and realize that this is not what our future would be like. We are a very smart society and we would never allow ourselves to turn into morons. We also won’t let machines do everything for us. Every time people think of the future, they think of flying cars and life like The Jetsons. However, now that it is 2008, I do not see flying cars and machines running everything coming soon. I also do not think in the future our society will be anything like the people in Idiocracy. We are too smart to ever turn into that. 
Sun
Apr
20
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L_U2lEgvMq0
In this movie, main character was having problems selling boil cream. However, after he was able to make boils glamorous it was easier to sell the cream. In world of advertising the key is to make things glamorous to entice people to buy the product. Recently, I have seen covergirl commercials for mascara. In the commercials, they use Drew Barrymore as a celebrity to attract women to buy this product. If Drew Barrymore uses it, then these women can use it to make themselves more glamorous. Also, covergirls tag line is easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. This implies that their make up is easy to use, its light in coverage, and it can help you make beautiful like a covegirl. This is a way to entice women to buy their products. This is a method that many companies use to glamorize the products to attract people t buy what they are selling.
Mon
Apr
14
Glamour is to attract or allure. It can always provide excitement or desire. In advertising, glamour is used to attract consumers. The book explains that many times, well know celebrities are used to sell a product and be shown as flawless and happy. They are glamorous to the consumer. That having that product will make you feel glamourous and satisfied. In the film, that lead character was trying to sell a boil cream. The product is to help take care of the boil and make the person feel glamorous and not ugly. The problem is the lead character does not know if the product works and how to make some one want to buy this cream. Everyone desires a nice face that is boil free, but it is hard to sell a product that you are unsure will work and make people feel glamourous. In advertising, you want people to be attracted to what you are selling and many times you need to make it glamourous even if it means being deceitful. This is all part of the advertising game and this is what drives the lead character crazy.
Thu
Apr
10
Uses:
It can be used as a weight
To break into something or just for breaking things
Use it as support such as with a table or chair
To sit on
as art
Door stopper
Sat
Apr
5
Myspace is a form of media that is coming increasing popular. Almost everyone has a myspace page or a facebook account. There seems to be this craze of these networking sites. I have both a myspace page and facebook account. With these pages you can find friends, keep in contact and network. I have never used either one for networking, but I know that it is very popular for new up coming music artists to use myspace for networking. They can spread their music all different people all over the world. This is one way to promote their stuff for free. I think that this is an interesting way, but it seems to work well. I have found some cool bands and new artists that I like on myspace. This is a useful form of media to get in contact with other people and spread ideas.
