As I'm sure most of us have heard, the iPhone 7 is coming out sometime in October. This is the perfect example to talk about what the book calls a Status Symbol. If we’re really being honest, the iPhone 7 is not significantly different from the 6s or even the 6. And yet, everyone on social media is talking about it and when it comes out, almost everyone with an “old” iPhone will get it. This is because having the newest iPhone is a symbol of popularity. Everyone wants the newest iPhone because it would be so “uncool” to have an outdated one. Having it means we can not only afford this cellphone, but we now fit in with everyone else who has one. I think having the newest phone somehow makes us feel better about ourselves and in a way, better than everyone else. I think Apple realizes that we as Americans have a constant need to be better, but at the same time, we have a need to fit in and be “popular”. Apple plays on this need, and is able to release new phones with confidence that people will buy them ( Aside from the iPhone SE, which wasn’t as popular as suspected), even if they aren't that different from the ones we already have. With that being said i think that the iPhone is an elitist and populist status symbol because we purchase it to fit in with others with them, but also to be better and “rise above” people without them.
I agree that the IPhone 7 is a status symbol because the other IPhone are not that far off from the most recent one. IPhone just appear to hold that superior status than any other phone such as Androids. It's an easy way to keep current with everyone else or to rise above than anyone else whom don't seem to have it.
I agree that many use it as a status symbol. I also think that apple has made a way that the treadmill of consumption for this product is impossible to avoid. They iPhones have IOS updates on them all the time and if you have an older iPhone adding all of the old update with the new one cause you to run out of space and eventually you cannot do any more updates without deleting stuff off of your phone. This ake it to where you almost have to get a new one o that it is already preset into the phone and you still have room for more stuff. That's just my opinion on the IPhone though because I have experienced this.
Yesterdays class really stuck out to me. Especially when we started going more into detail about "populist" vs "elitist". And a commercial that I recently seen that really pops out to me is an axe commercial and it plays the lowest card in the trick of advertising it plays to sex appeal and it even say "This is an average guy. No one pays attention to him" "If you use axe girls will pay attention to you" Its so unrealistic that I find it amusing yet right in the fine print it shows why this is both a Populist and Elitist ad. He's an average guy, yet if he uses ax girls will then crave him. The ad even goes into girls doing everything he does but only while he's using the ax body wash. The moment he stops they stop duplicating his movements. This ads favors more of the nineties. when advertising was sorta on the fence as to populist or elitist it played the role of doing both simultaneously but also added some humor into its appeal. The ads that lean more to one side are more obvious to me. It feels like you know what they are already pushing for and thus loses value because their motive or intentions are blank in your face. For example the Pandora ad for music. It makes you want to connect to those people. People you can relate to and look like you. Thus the more subliminal ads I usually find more attractive.
It's funny because they basically took it to a place of ' use AXE and girls will strip for you(almost)'. But the thing is they're playing on the emotions of the guys that have never had girls flock to them in such a drastic manner, so it's like okay, you wanna be "popular" with women, here just use this.
Analyzing ads has been quite interesting because when you sit down an actually watch them you look at it in a different way than what you did the first time you seen them. Such as the sex fanstasies ads that has always been around for many generations. I knew that it served an important place within our pop culture. I was just unaware that sexual coercion was an desperate need to make certain that clients were getting their money worth. I guess it makes since but I never thought about it in that light. I do understand that it can be difficult to try to continue on getting people attention as the times has gone by because they have lost interest.Just like the Victoria Secret ads, they use sex to gain your attention to the lingerie that they are trying to sell for the ladies. The sexual fantasy would be for the men to imagine that particular lingerie on there own woman to get them to buy it for them maybe for special occasions. Even though, I do feel as ads are getting better now because there are more comedic. I feel as though an example of that would be an Summer Eve ad which is making sure that you smell good when you wash away your day. These two typical women are describing what kind of day they had by explaining whom had it worst. The reasoning behind it is because they both would love to have a shower to unwind. There are some ads that still use guilt to keep you to buy there product today by pushing the desire to not be socially rejected by society.
Victoria Secret does use sex as a way to sell, but like you said it is to sell lingerie and other underwear so of course their models must be appealing.
What we define as "appealing" traditionally are the thin tall blonde models that Victoria Secret tends to use but I think it's cool how companies have been transforming the idea of "appealing" by having models of all sizes in their ads. The rise of "plus size" models like Iskra Lawrence are changing the modeling game and the way we advertise "sexy" things like lingerie.
Sex is definitely something that is used a lot in order to sell certain things. It’s kind of sad because it makes our world seem a little “dirty”. When I really think about it, it really makes the companies seem dirty, especially the marketing and advertising team that comes up with these ideas. I don’t think that sex should be the only thing that comes up into someone’s mind when they want to buy a Hardee’s burger, but everyone thinks differently, right? Guilt is surprisingly also a good way for companies to get consumers to buy their products. The ad makes the consumer feel like they have been living wrongly without the product and that they can redeem themselves by acquiring the product. This reading also touched on how some commercials are elitist and others are populist and their differences. By defining them, I could definitely see how the American Dream is tainted now. America is supposed to be a place for its citizens to be socially equal, yet we try our hardest to be at the top and watch others try to get where we are. Advertisements like elitist ones make us want to move up the social ladder even more in order to be at the top. Companies make it seem like without the product we won’t be able to move up socially, such as luxury car companies and designer fashion. They try to mask our desires into needs and we fall for it most of the time. Populist ads make someone want to feel like he or she belongs to a certain group of people.
American philosophy is kind of weird. We expect equally but we compete with each other to be the best, enough is never enough so we are link hamsters on a spinning wheel not accomplishing much. But in a way, in order to be completely equal wouldn't we have to become a socialist society? The way our values are set up in society we will never be equal to one another.
You aint slick, you tryna catch everyone's attention on this blog by using "sex" as the first word. Well it worked, congrats. I like how you incorporated the American dream being tainted by elitism, it really instilled guilt. You'd be a good advertiser. If elitism is about being the best, and populism is about fitting in, then where do those that stand out in an un-coveted way fit in?
Commodification has become an essential aspect of all advertisements from food to clothes. This association of desires, some logically unrelated, to a product being advertised has led commercials we see today such as Carl’s Jr’s 3-Way Burger advertisement that blatantly is associating sexual desire and satisfaction with their hamburger. Hamburgers are in no way related to sex yet the company uses this in order to associate their product with something everyone desires. We learned that there is a difference in advertisements in regards to whom they are marketing their product to. Advertisements for things that are generally cheaper and more readily available, such as a Toyota, are marketed in a communal way that emphasizes everyday common folk use while advertisements for more expensive and less readily available objects, such as a Lexus, are portrayed in a way that is elitist and highlights being better that others. While this split is evident and both ads have their differences, they both still implement commodification in order to associate their products with a certain desire or feeling. An example of this would be the Lexus car commercial I attached. It shows a wealthy man handing the keys of his brand new glistening Lexus to a valet and then shows a montage of the valet driving the car and engaging in many rich and luxurious events such as private parties, a red carpet premiere, and a fashion show all in which he is the center of attention and is extremely desirable to women. At the end of the ad the valet returns the keys and the car to the owner and returns to his mundane life of parking cars. The ad associates the elitist lifestyle and having an increase in sex appeal with just the ownership of a Lexus and shows that all advertisers in some way incorporate commodification into their advertisements.
Carls Jr. - https://youtu.be/EvEnVY99DUE Lexus - https://youtu.be/12boP35oDbg
I agree that commodification is becoming more essential to advertisement. Its weird how advertisers are becoming more creative with their means of reaching target audiences.
It is interesting how the MTV VMA's are a culmination of all popular culture that rewards the most popular. I agree that the commercials advertising the event were portraying it as a must watch show. Also, it is very evident as you mentioned that the celebrities influence our fashion choices. Finally, it is crazy how even negative encounters among celebrities grab our attention and result in even more consumption of their products.
In this weeks reading "Men's Men and Women's Women" they talked about how companies use gender imagers in their ads/commercials. After reading it and thinking about it, I definitely agree with them. I had never realized that they played certain commercials at certain times of the day. During the day they play commercials geared toward moms and women in general for all of the stay at home moms. In those commercials men are portrayed as husbands and family men, or often no even in the commercials. But at night, especially when some kind of sports game is on, they play commercials for men. In most cases they are about car, beer, food, etc. In these commercials women are either not in them or they are just "admirers." It talks about how most men's commercials are about them escaping from life. Women are used as sex symbols a lot of the time. Blond, thin, pretty, wearing heels, and little clothing are a pretty good description of them. About ninety percent of companies use appeal in their commercials. Whether they are trying to sell beer or cars or cologne, sex appeal plays a major role. It wouldn't be a smart move for axe to play their commercials during a soap opera in the middle of the afternoon for a couple of reasons. 1. The majority of men are not home watching soap operas in the middle of the day. 2. Their commercials are normally pretty provocative and they're not going to appeal to women. Advertisers have a lot to take into consideration when planning a commercial. They have to figure out a theme, which way they're going to take the commercial and the biggest thing of all, who their target costumers are. They want to get as many people as possible to watch their commercials and to effect as many as they can. Men's Men commercials are usually shown during weekend sports. They mostly consist of men enjoying themselves with their guy friends. Women are normally not in these commercials. Men's women commercials are still geared toward men, but women are often seen as admirers. These commercials are all about masculine fantasy. Women's women are in most cases trying to sell women something that has to do with their physical attraction. Men are normally seen as husbands and family men. The last is Women's Men. The men are usually good looking and romantic. They are strong but also vulnerable. Gender images are used to associate feelings of pleasure from fantasies and anxieties.
Really well put. I find it rather annoying that nowadays, companies are stooping so low to always have sort of genderization within each commercial. All the way down to the music.
After reading the chapter, Men’s Men and Women’s Women in the book Signs of Life In The USA by Sonia Maaskik and Jacks Solomon, the authors talk about how gender plays a role in television advertisements. The chapter discusses how advertisers, essentially, advertise their product to consumers. In the daytime, advertisements are centered on women who work from their house and on week-ends the advertisements are usually aimed at men. I found this information interesting, but a little unbelievable. I decided to test their hypothesis. In order to test their theory, I watched television on Friday from 7:00-9:00 P.M. The authors stated that prime time hours were the best time to reach women who don’t work from home and other target audiences. While watching television I noted the ads that were shown on a Friday during prime time hours. The advertisements shown were primarily focused on family and women. These ads were like “Weight Watchers”, “Febreze”, a new drug with irreversible side effects and a list of other ads. When looked at the ads carefully, all of the advertisements focused on women. The ads usually had a female lead and tried to make you (women in particular) empathize with the women in the commercial. The book states that “The gendering of programming allows the industry to provide the proper audience for advertisers by constructing shows pleasurable for the target audience to watch, and one aspect of this construction is in the gender portrayals of characters.” (Maasik and Solomon 183) Due to the fact that the commercials had a female lead shows that the advertisers are trying to get women to buy their product. By testing their theory, I came to the realization that the authors were actually right about ad placements.
I find it very interesting as to why ads are starting to use a lot of sexual visuals and emotions in their ads and commercials. Many of these do not even relate to anything sexual at all, but pop culture is changing this. Ads like Perrier are an example of an ad that doesn't have anything sexually related, yet they show a half-naked woman in the ad for a sparkling water. They could have just focused on the taste and quality of the water instead. Another great example of this is a Samsung ad that I saw of a laptop to which the key board and part of the computer is a curved shape. Usually the computer companies would focus on the details of the computer. They specifically would focus on how it out performs all of the other brands and tell its viewers things like what processor, storage, and size screen their computers have. Instead of doing this, they have a picture showing a naked woman sitting in the upright position and quoting "True Beauty is curved" and they use the woman's curves to show that their computer is better. To many people this is irrelevant to what they are selling. They are simply using this to grab younger generation’s attention because sexual themed ads are whats popular to a lot of the younger generations. I find this very interesting how the change in pop culture for ads has developed a more sexual and gender seeking focus. They use the sexuality to make people thing this new thing they are advertising is popular with the opposite sex, but everyone thinks differently. This is something that I am curious to see how it became so popular.
I completely agree with you! There are so many companies that have nothing to do with sex that somehow find a way to include sexuality in the commercials. It would be understandable in, let's say, a Trojan commercial which focuses on condoms which, in turn, can lead one to think sexual. However, it's ridiculous to see half naked women in fast food commercials.
So we all know that Apple launched the iPhone 7 launched last week, and I think it came at the right time for us due to the nature of our class. It's funny to me that so many people were so hyped to see what they were gonna do with the design, hoping it would be waterproof, eager to see if the rumors of this new version not having a headphone jack would turn out to be true or not. As it turns out, Apple lived up to the rumors, the new iPhone is water resistant and doesn't have a headphone jack among other changes. Now many people have expressed disappointment with the new initiative, already the memes have begun and the phrase “ Steve jobs didn't die for this” coined. I for one am not very intrigued by the fact that 1. I would have to ensure my headphones were charged at ALL times to listen to music and 2. That there are so easy to lose and are $150+ a pop. I get that they give you the option of attachments to alleviate the problem but I don't wanna have to think about all of that, what I will say is I'm glad that they FINALLY produced a waterproof phone. Now that I'm done with my little rant, I say all this to say, even though we aren't all the way impressed, we are all running so fast on that treadmill of consumption and Apple has found this perfect balance between populism and elitism that most people are gonna upgrade when it drops. And for the people that don't, they're probably gonna be mad that they have to walk around with the “shame” of knowing that they don't have the latest version of a phone to impress their peers.
Now here's a video of people being fooled into thinking that they're trying out the iPhone 7 😂ðŸ˜
As many of you know, the Iphone 7 was recently announced and people are going a little crazy over it. In addition to a new and improved camera, design and all that fun stuff, Apple has gotten rid of the famous headphone jack. Not only does this mean that we can no longer wear our headphones as a universal signal of “do not talk to me right now”, but also that we can no longer be the designated aux cord kings and queens. Speaking as an owner of a car that doesn’t support Bluetooth, this sucks. This tragedy has blown up all over social media. Being an avid twitter user, I was expecting the memes to flood in immediately after Apple’s announcement, which is of course exactly what happened. Pictures of slashed earphones with the same caption flooded my timeline which led me to realize how fast social media spreads new information. Now the new wireless ear buds that Apple plans to charge a whopping $159 dollars for are spreading like wildfire, but not in a good way. This is a great example of how social media can negatively influence businesses and their products. The crazy thing is, despite all the negative comments about the new Iphone and ear buds that everyone seems to hate, the same people who are sharing those memes on twitter have probably already sent in their order to Verizon for them. The obsession with having the newest items and obtaining that status symbol outweigh the cons that are supposedly deal breakers to many people. This stuff blows my mind. It goes to show that regardless of what you front of social media, people are always still worried about being high class and having the newest things in order to seem like they’re better than you when in reality, you just got played into paying $159 for ear buds that you’ll probably lose in a week.
As far as pop culture goes, I believe the most prevalent topic sweeping the nation is the release of the IPhone 7. Aside from water resistance, a new and improved camera design, and the absence of the headphone jack, this IPhone is not much different that the previous one. However, the missing headphone jack has caused a lot of upset amongst Apple users. As a generation obsessed with music and technology, It is upsetting for many to think that they won't be about to use the auxiliary cord in our cars. Although IPhone has also released a ridiculously overpriced pair of wireless earbuds to accommodate the absence of the jack, this has failed to mollify the customers. There are numerous complaints about how easy it will be to lose the earbuds and, priced at $159, that's just not something many people can afford. However, despite the "problems" many people see with the product, I can guarentee the line for the new IPhone 7 will be ridiculously long. This all winds down to fact that the IPhone 7 is a staus symbol. People are willing to put up with the things they are unhappy about in order to have to newest phone available. With this, comes the status of having a new IPhone. The obsession that people have with having the newest items and obtaining that status that comes with it heavily outweigh the problems that are present in the product. This seems crazy, but it's hard to say that everyone isn't affected by the need to feel that we have status amongst our peers. Apple has found a way to find a perfect balance between being elitist and populist. They make everyone within the Apple family feel like they have a common interest while also constantly releasing "new and improved" IPhones that make people feel like, in order to remain relevant and on top of trends, they must always have the newest version.
I completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
I completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
I completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
I suppose this weeks blog post is going to be about how worse the iPhone 7 is. With Apple's new release of their iPhone of course, millions of consumers are out ready to buy it. Everyone is tuning in on television to view the premiere in California and low and behold, the thinner iPhone 7 now in jet black. After only a few days, reviews upon reviews are completely scattered across mass media including every social network. Everyone has to either talk about how it looks, or how it's so much better than the 6. sure the processor is going to be faster and better, the camera is going to improve, the size and shape of the phone, and they also get rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack. (what?) It seems that the only thing they did wrong was take that out of the phone. I watched a video that was more of a spoof or parody of the Apple CEO ( look alike actor) would mention that in the video and said with anger, "AGH! F***, What should we do? OH, just buy our new airpods, or get bluetooth headphones." Now when something like this comes up, there are immediate signs of just Apple telling you to come buy more of our products. So of course, don't bother looking out for the customer to have a great experience with your product, and all they care about is just constantly finding a way to make you spend your money. I've noticed that that's where business are heading for their money making plans, where you have to start paying a subscription every month or so to use their product. So instead of paying for a product once and using it for however long you need while taking care of it, you are now paying to use the product every time you use it. It does seem like a smart way to sell something but then you still have to constantly spend money to make it back. Not only that, but their pretty confident that people will continue to use the product and basically hope for new competitors to not even stand a chance to what it is that you know. Because that's the only tactic in business that's essential; what do I know that my opponent doesn't know.
Dear Diary, Today I read Men's men and women's women (and men's women and women's men. Hey why is "men's" listed first in the book? Is this more effects of patriarchy? Was Jack Solomon that afraid of feminism too?) This week's reading had me thinking about a certain demographic that was barely mentioned: old people. How many of you actually sit down and watch the stock channels? If you don't, I don't blame you, honestly the commercials are the best part. But for those of you who do, you might recall a very funny commercial for a lift system attached to your stairs, or an even more comical commercial for life-alert. Less targeted towards the crypt-keepers are commercials for erectile dysfunction, blood pressure medication, and laser spine surgery. I'm willing to bet that none of these commercials have been aired on Nick-at-Nite. The reason for that is more than just "George Lopez doesn't provide good naptime ambience". Most successful stock marketers are men in first class, are "old people", and will be home midday to win the abundance award for viewers of that channel. As far as the actual reading, it struck quite a chord. Upon reading the excerpt that said “…the whole possibility of being loved and comforted hangs on how their [women’s] appearance will be received.” I was like “WOW THEY GOT ME HOW DID THEY KNOW” then I realized that having that idea even subconsciously means you have been manipulated by the patriarchy in media and now I’m just having an identity crisis. But it’s cool, cause ya know, education.
I agree with your inquiries on whether or not the patriarchy is at play...but what would happen if they put women's first? Would men outrage? Can humans ever just get along? Why can't the two be interchangeable? Does order matter? So many questions, so little time.
The term commodification really stuck out to me in last week's reading, I had never really put much thought into how advertisements seek to deceive us in an illogical manner. A good example that comes to mind when I think of commodification would be Beer/liquor commercials where beer is around overly sexualized images, such as scantily clad women wearing next to nothing while they down a beer or alcoholic beverage. In a way, beer companies are trying to get the consumer to think that drinking their product is "sexy" and that you can get girls like those in the advertisements if you drink their product. In my eyes, this method of advertisement is seen as illogical because on its own, beer isn't physically attractive at all, nor does it taste decent at all. Understandably this method of advertisement works, however, I think the logic missing in this situation is that the consumer shouldn't have to choose their alcohol based on how flashy its ads are, but by whether or not the beverage tastes good or not. Sure, it is next to impossible to advertise taste as everyone has their own specific taste buds, etc. so in turn these companies have to try to "wow" the masses in hoping that the populist crowd (think like PBR, Budweiser crowds vs. high end scotches and whiskeys) will want to follow the trend of being cool by drinking a certain beer over another.
I agree, I think it is crazy that alcohol ads all have to have some type of "sexy" in them. I also agree they have to do something to relate and catch our attention since you can't advertise taste.
I really enjoyed learning about “elitist” and “populist” last class. The book talks about how over the different decades how the advertising has slowly changed. It states that in the twenties the ads were very “status-conscious”. In the twenties the cigarette company ads made it seem like smoking was cool or that was what the rich did. The book goes on to talk about the seventies swinging between elitist and populist. Then on to the eighties where it talks about the “elitist eighties”. It is just so interesting to me that us as Americans can change so much over time in what we relate to for advertisement purposes. In the nineties the ads started to be focused on humor. That was a new form of advertisement. With the internet taking off and Saturday Night Live becoming popular ads pushed to be like Saturday Night Live “funny.” Moving into the two thousands the ads are set for a niche market. They are trying to target certain people or age groups when advertising. A great example of this is all the different TV channels there are now. You can get the biggest package with DirectTV and have over like 300 channels. Back when TV was invented you could get two maybe three channels. Everyone is trying to hit that “niche market” to sell you something. I just can’t get over how we as Americans can not make up our minds! We like to have every option of advertisements right at our figure tips.
With the new Iphone 7 dropping this weekend, the internet’s reaction to it was mixed. I saw many people talking about how thinner it was going to be, how the camera quality has a higher resolution, how they have made it water proof. I also heard how annoyed they were with the simple fact that they couldn’t listen to music while charging their phones. What many people don’t realize is that with this new update, not much has changed. But the demand for this phone is crazy. This phone is the start of a generation where aux cords and headphones become obsolete. If you want this new and hot Iphone, not only do you have to buy Bluetooth headphones but you have to have a Bluetooth car if you want to listen to music and charge your phone. This minor change to make the iPhone waterproof has set a president to how we will further achieve our higher social status. Just to have the new Iphone and to be able to use it to its full potential without inconveniences are they willing to change everything else? Will this change the standard of how cars come? Will cars now have to have Bluetooth to even sell? I really start to analyze certain things I had brushed off as it is what it is. Recently a friend told me he set his alarm to wake up early enough to order the new iphone 7. I asked him what was wrong with his old phone, and he said nothing I’m just one of those people. It made me realize that I was also one of those people, who got the newest hot item just to have it. Not because I needed it.
In addition to many exciting popular events happening this past week from the iPhone7 coming out to the start of football season the 15th anniversary of September 11th was also among us. Aside from its global influence 9/11 changed a multitude of things in American culture. 9/11 inspired countless movies and songs. This single most tragic event managed to bring not only the U.S. together in support of the Red, White, and Blue, but also 200 countries that participated in the telethon to raise money (Tom Templeton of The US News The Observer) . My point in saying all of this is to show how even the biggest events in history impact pop culture. September 11, 2001 social media was not a topic of discussion much less a part of people's daily routines, yet 15 years later #neverforget is the top trend on twitter. September 11th was not just a tragic day in 2001. The site itself attracks thousands of people each year with endless memorabilia on each block. The day itself has become an annual celebration of patriotism and day of honor for those lost. People make this known now through, social media such as twitter and instagram posting messages and pictures in remembrance of those events. #september11 is a popular search on Facebook, and some of the top stroies on snapchat are titled for 9/11. September 11, 2001 may not be at the top of the list when pop culture comes to mind, but the impact it had definitely changed pop culture, especially then and even now. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/18/usa.terrorism?CMP=share_btn_link
This is true and I find it interesting that we still find ways to show support so long ago. Not all tragic event become such pivotal moments for a country. However it wasn't necessarily the event that made it so memorable, but how the country handled the aftermath together. I like your post!
While reading this week's assigned reading called “Mens Men and Womens Women”, a couple of things came to mind. I thought of the pens by bic that specifically directed at women.I never understood how that made sense. Do men not use pens? Do women have such different hand shapes or maybe even finger lengths that we need specially designed pens? I remember growing up that I was super into Digimon. For me, as a young child, I didn't care that the toys were sold in the “boy toy” aisle, or that all the shirts were in the boys section. For me, I just wanted a shirt for my favorite television program. At what age do we start looking at things in the lens of “blue is for boys, pink is for girls”? More importantly, at what age are we taught to? We market things towards men with images of beautiful women, or fast cars, or sports. We market things towards women with flowery patterns, light colors, and pretty fonts. Although it seems sexist, it also seems to be working. Axe ads show men who are buff and doing dangerous things, because they want their audience to relate or to want to relate to that. Pantene shows beautiful models, singers, and actresses who have perfect smooth hair and appear to be happy, because they assume their audiences strives to be that way and thinks that it will appear as though their product is the reason selena Gomez has great hair. They work on the basis of showing their audience what they could be. Maybe if you use axe you will suddenly have a six pack, but it's unlikely. Maybe if you use Pantene you will become Selena Gomez, but probably not. However’ when viewing the ad all we see is something we want. Which makes us think this product will get us there.
As I'm sure most of us have heard, the iPhone 7 is coming out sometime in October. This is the perfect example to talk about what the book calls a Status Symbol. If we’re really being honest, the iPhone 7 is not significantly different from the 6s or even the 6. And yet, everyone on social media is talking about it and when it comes out, almost everyone with an “old” iPhone will get it. This is because having the newest iPhone is a symbol of popularity. Everyone wants the newest iPhone because it would be so “uncool” to have an outdated one. Having it means we can not only afford this cellphone, but we now fit in with everyone else who has one. I think having the newest phone somehow makes us feel better about ourselves and in a way, better than everyone else. I think Apple realizes that we as Americans have a constant need to be better, but at the same time, we have a need to fit in and be “popular”. Apple plays on this need, and is able to release new phones with confidence that people will buy them ( Aside from the iPhone SE, which wasn’t as popular as suspected), even if they aren't that different from the ones we already have.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said i think that the iPhone is an elitist and populist status symbol because we purchase it to fit in with others with them, but also to be better and “rise above” people without them.
I agree that the IPhone 7 is a status symbol because the other IPhone are not that far off from the most recent one. IPhone just appear to hold that superior status than any other phone such as Androids. It's an easy way to keep current with everyone else or to rise above than anyone else whom don't seem to have it.
DeleteI agree that many use it as a status symbol. I also think that apple has made a way that the treadmill of consumption for this product is impossible to avoid. They iPhones have IOS updates on them all the time and if you have an older iPhone adding all of the old update with the new one cause you to run out of space and eventually you cannot do any more updates without deleting stuff off of your phone. This ake it to where you almost have to get a new one o that it is already preset into the phone and you still have room for more stuff. That's just my opinion on the IPhone though because I have experienced this.
DeleteYesterdays class really stuck out to me. Especially when we started going more into detail about "populist" vs "elitist". And a commercial that I recently seen that really pops out to me is an axe commercial and it plays the lowest card in the trick of advertising it plays to sex appeal and it even say "This is an average guy. No one pays attention to him" "If you use axe girls will pay attention to you" Its so unrealistic that I find it amusing yet right in the fine print it shows why this is both a Populist and Elitist ad. He's an average guy, yet if he uses ax girls will then crave him. The ad even goes into girls doing everything he does but only while he's using the ax body wash. The moment he stops they stop duplicating his movements. This ads favors more of the nineties. when advertising was sorta on the fence as to populist or elitist it played the role of doing both simultaneously but also added some humor into its appeal. The ads that lean more to one side are more obvious to me. It feels like you know what they are already pushing for and thus loses value because their motive or intentions are blank in your face. For example the Pandora ad for music. It makes you want to connect to those people. People you can relate to and look like you. Thus the more subliminal ads I usually find more attractive.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I99nK3I3Ad4
DeleteIt's funny because they basically took it to a place of ' use AXE and girls will strip for you(almost)'. But the thing is they're playing on the emotions of the guys that have never had girls flock to them in such a drastic manner, so it's like okay, you wanna be "popular" with women, here just use this.
DeleteAnalyzing ads has been quite interesting because when you sit down an actually watch them you look at it in a different way than what you did the first time you seen them. Such as the sex fanstasies ads that has always been around for many generations. I knew that it served an important place within our pop culture. I was just unaware that sexual coercion was an desperate need to make certain that clients were getting their money worth. I guess it makes since but I never thought about it in that light. I do understand that it can be difficult to try to continue on getting people attention as the times has gone by because they have lost interest.Just like the Victoria Secret ads, they use sex to gain your attention to the lingerie that they are trying to sell for the ladies. The sexual fantasy would be for the men to imagine that particular lingerie on there own woman to get them to buy it for them maybe for special occasions. Even though, I do feel as ads are getting better now because there are more comedic. I feel as though an example of that would be an Summer Eve ad which is making sure that you smell good when you wash away your day. These two typical women are describing what kind of day they had by explaining whom had it worst. The reasoning behind it is because they both would love to have a shower to unwind. There are some ads that still use guilt to keep you to buy there product today by pushing the desire to not be socially rejected by society.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LABS7yRKHv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9qlfwBWsM4
Victoria Secret does use sex as a way to sell, but like you said it is to sell lingerie and other underwear so of course their models must be appealing.
DeleteWhat we define as "appealing" traditionally are the thin tall blonde models that Victoria Secret tends to use but I think it's cool how companies have been transforming the idea of "appealing" by having models of all sizes in their ads. The rise of "plus size" models like Iskra Lawrence are changing the modeling game and the way we advertise "sexy" things like lingerie.
DeleteSex is definitely something that is used a lot in order to sell certain things. It’s kind of sad because it makes our world seem a little “dirty”. When I really think about it, it really makes the companies seem dirty, especially the marketing and advertising team that comes up with these ideas. I don’t think that sex should be the only thing that comes up into someone’s mind when they want to buy a Hardee’s burger, but everyone thinks differently, right? Guilt is surprisingly also a good way for companies to get consumers to buy their products. The ad makes the consumer feel like they have been living wrongly without the product and that they can redeem themselves by acquiring the product. This reading also touched on how some commercials are elitist and others are populist and their differences. By defining them, I could definitely see how the American Dream is tainted now. America is supposed to be a place for its citizens to be socially equal, yet we try our hardest to be at the top and watch others try to get where we are. Advertisements like elitist ones make us want to move up the social ladder even more in order to be at the top. Companies make it seem like without the product we won’t be able to move up socially, such as luxury car companies and designer fashion. They try to mask our desires into needs and we fall for it most of the time. Populist ads make someone want to feel like he or she belongs to a certain group of people.
ReplyDeleteAmerican philosophy is kind of weird. We expect equally but we compete with each other to be the best, enough is never enough so we are link hamsters on a spinning wheel not accomplishing much. But in a way, in order to be completely equal wouldn't we have to become a socialist society? The way our values are set up in society we will never be equal to one another.
DeleteYou aint slick, you tryna catch everyone's attention on this blog by using "sex" as the first word. Well it worked, congrats. I like how you incorporated the American dream being tainted by elitism, it really instilled guilt. You'd be a good advertiser. If elitism is about being the best, and populism is about fitting in, then where do those that stand out in an un-coveted way fit in?
DeleteCommodification has become an essential aspect of all advertisements from food to clothes. This association of desires, some logically unrelated, to a product being advertised has led commercials we see today such as Carl’s Jr’s 3-Way Burger advertisement that blatantly is associating sexual desire and satisfaction with their hamburger. Hamburgers are in no way related to sex yet the company uses this in order to associate their product with something everyone desires. We learned that there is a difference in advertisements in regards to whom they are marketing their product to. Advertisements for things that are generally cheaper and more readily available, such as a Toyota, are marketed in a communal way that emphasizes everyday common folk use while advertisements for more expensive and less readily available objects, such as a Lexus, are portrayed in a way that is elitist and highlights being better that others. While this split is evident and both ads have their differences, they both still implement commodification in order to associate their products with a certain desire or feeling. An example of this would be the Lexus car commercial I attached. It shows a wealthy man handing the keys of his brand new glistening Lexus to a valet and then shows a montage of the valet driving the car and engaging in many rich and luxurious events such as private parties, a red carpet premiere, and a fashion show all in which he is the center of attention and is extremely desirable to women. At the end of the ad the valet returns the keys and the car to the owner and returns to his mundane life of parking cars. The ad associates the elitist lifestyle and having an increase in sex appeal with just the ownership of a Lexus and shows that all advertisers in some way incorporate commodification into their advertisements.
ReplyDeleteCarls Jr. - https://youtu.be/EvEnVY99DUE
Lexus - https://youtu.be/12boP35oDbg
I agree that commodification is becoming more essential to advertisement. Its weird how advertisers are becoming more creative with their means of reaching target audiences.
DeleteLast week was the MTV Video Music Awards which is essentially one of the greatest examples of the transitions made in pop culture. It is literally a yearly event that recognizes the most popular of pop culture. More than that, it also is a showcase for the latest high in fashion choices, technology, and the play by play of who’s on top the previous year.
ReplyDeleteFashions:
year the VMA’s has a white carpet for the specific purpose of getting to know who is the A list as well as the hottest couture fashions. This year the most notable fashion choice came from none other than Beyoncé, who took home 10/11 of the moon man awards which led her to be the most decorated VMA award recipient in history, and her daughter Blue Ivy. Their over the top outfit choices generated hundreds of memes, giving both praise and criticism, on twitter and Instagram and thus feeding into the advertising frenzy on the social media websites. And as per usual no matter how much criticism Beyoncé gets for her wardrobe, someone somewhere will recreate that outfit, as they do every year, because she is freaking Beyoncé and we are a bunch of needy consumers.
Speaking of advertising, the weeks following the VMA’s it seems as if the entire world was consumed with advertisements enticing people to watch the show as if it was a life or death situation- but that’s neither here nor there.
Music:
Even though Beyoncé basically dominated the entire show in awards, fashion, and performance, the most recognizable moments of the award show came from Rihanna and Kanye West. Rihanna’s highlight was when she was honored for winning the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, which is basically an award that recognizes that her career produced some of the highest consumed music in history, thus making her a huge pop icon.
Kanye’s highlight was his really weird speech/ video premier. He of course spilled the beans about the feud he was having with Taylor Swift. This sounds insignificant, but every 15-year-old girl in America was tuned into that feud that transpired over twitter, which also seems insignificant until you realize that the sales in records by him as well as Taylor Swift largely benefited from that little debacle. But hey, what else are people to do when celebrities fight beside tune in and consume?
link to see beyonce's weird costume: http://www.whur.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Beyonce-VMAs-2016_AP-Images-597x800.jpg
It is interesting how the MTV VMA's are a culmination of all popular culture that rewards the most popular. I agree that the commercials advertising the event were portraying it as a must watch show. Also, it is very evident as you mentioned that the celebrities influence our fashion choices. Finally, it is crazy how even negative encounters among celebrities grab our attention and result in even more consumption of their products.
DeleteIn this weeks reading "Men's Men and Women's Women" they talked about how companies use gender imagers in their ads/commercials. After reading it and thinking about it, I definitely agree with them. I had never realized that they played certain commercials at certain times of the day. During the day they play commercials geared toward moms and women in general for all of the stay at home moms. In those commercials men are portrayed as husbands and family men, or often no even in the commercials. But at night, especially when some kind of sports game is on, they play commercials for men. In most cases they are about car, beer, food, etc. In these commercials women are either not in them or they are just "admirers." It talks about how most men's commercials are about them escaping from life. Women are used as sex symbols a lot of the time. Blond, thin, pretty, wearing heels, and little clothing are a pretty good description of them. About ninety percent of companies use appeal in their commercials. Whether they are trying to sell beer or cars or cologne, sex appeal plays a major role.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be a smart move for axe to play their commercials during a soap opera in the middle of the afternoon for a couple of reasons. 1. The majority of men are not home watching soap operas in the middle of the day. 2. Their commercials are normally pretty provocative and they're not going to appeal to women. Advertisers have a lot to take into consideration when planning a commercial. They have to figure out a theme, which way they're going to take the commercial and the biggest thing of all, who their target costumers are. They want to get as many people as possible to watch their commercials and to effect as many as they can. Men's Men commercials are usually shown during weekend sports. They mostly consist of men enjoying themselves with their guy friends. Women are normally not in these commercials. Men's women commercials are still geared toward men, but women are often seen as admirers. These commercials are all about masculine fantasy. Women's women are in most cases trying to sell women something that has to do with their physical attraction. Men are normally seen as husbands and family men. The last is Women's Men. The men are usually good looking and romantic. They are strong but also vulnerable. Gender images are used to associate feelings of pleasure from fantasies and anxieties.
Really well put. I find it rather annoying that nowadays, companies are stooping so low to always have sort of genderization within each commercial. All the way down to the music.
DeleteAfter reading the chapter, Men’s Men and Women’s Women in the book Signs of Life In The USA by Sonia Maaskik and Jacks Solomon, the authors talk about how gender plays a role in television advertisements. The chapter discusses how advertisers, essentially, advertise their product to consumers. In the daytime, advertisements are centered on women who work from their house and on week-ends the advertisements are usually aimed at men. I found this information interesting, but a little unbelievable. I decided to test their hypothesis. In order to test their theory, I watched television on Friday from 7:00-9:00 P.M. The authors stated that prime time hours were the best time to reach women who don’t work from home and other target audiences. While watching television I noted the ads that were shown on a Friday during prime time hours. The advertisements shown were primarily focused on family and women. These ads were like “Weight Watchers”, “Febreze”, a new drug with irreversible side effects and a list of other ads. When looked at the ads carefully, all of the advertisements focused on women. The ads usually had a female lead and tried to make you (women in particular) empathize with the women in the commercial. The book states that “The gendering of programming allows the industry to provide the proper audience for advertisers by constructing shows pleasurable for the target audience to watch, and one aspect of this construction is in the gender portrayals of characters.” (Maasik and Solomon 183) Due to the fact that the commercials had a female lead shows that the advertisers are trying to get women to buy their product. By testing their theory, I came to the realization that the authors were actually right about ad placements.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting as to why ads are starting to use a lot of sexual visuals and emotions in their ads and commercials. Many of these do not even relate to anything sexual at all, but pop culture is changing this. Ads like Perrier are an example of an ad that doesn't have anything sexually related, yet they show a half-naked woman in the ad for a sparkling water. They could have just focused on the taste and quality of the water instead. Another great example of this is a Samsung ad that I saw of a laptop to which the key board and part of the computer is a curved shape. Usually the computer companies would focus on the details of the computer. They specifically would focus on how it out performs all of the other brands and tell its viewers things like what processor, storage, and size screen their computers have. Instead of doing this, they have a picture showing a naked woman sitting in the upright position and quoting "True Beauty is curved" and they use the woman's curves to show that their computer is better. To many people this is irrelevant to what they are selling. They are simply using this to grab younger generation’s attention because sexual themed ads are whats popular to a lot of the younger generations. I find this very interesting how the change in pop culture for ads has developed a more sexual and gender seeking focus. They use the sexuality to make people thing this new thing they are advertising is popular with the opposite sex, but everyone thinks differently. This is something that I am curious to see how it became so popular.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! There are so many companies that have nothing to do with sex that somehow find a way to include sexuality in the commercials. It would be understandable in, let's say, a Trojan commercial which focuses on condoms which, in turn, can lead one to think sexual. However, it's ridiculous to see half naked women in fast food commercials.
DeleteSo we all know that Apple launched the iPhone 7 launched last week, and I think it came at the right time for us due to the nature of our class. It's funny to me that so many people were so hyped to see what they were gonna do with the design, hoping it would be waterproof, eager to see if the rumors of this new version not having a headphone jack would turn out to be true or not. As it turns out, Apple lived up to the rumors, the new iPhone is water resistant and doesn't have a headphone jack among other changes. Now many people have expressed disappointment with the new initiative, already the memes have begun and the phrase “ Steve jobs didn't die for this” coined. I for one am not very intrigued by the fact that 1. I would have to ensure my headphones were charged at ALL times to listen to music and 2. That there are so easy to lose and are $150+ a pop. I get that they give you the option of attachments to alleviate the problem but I don't wanna have to think about all of that, what I will say is I'm glad that they FINALLY produced a waterproof phone. Now that I'm done with my little rant, I say all this to say, even though we aren't all the way impressed, we are all running so fast on that treadmill of consumption and Apple has found this perfect balance between populism and elitism that most people are gonna upgrade when it drops. And for the people that don't, they're probably gonna be mad that they have to walk around with the “shame” of knowing that they don't have the latest version of a phone to impress their peers.
ReplyDeleteNow here's a video of people being fooled into thinking that they're trying out the iPhone 7 😂ðŸ˜
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htVq7Cgrvh4
As many of you know, the Iphone 7 was recently announced and people are going a little crazy over it. In addition to a new and improved camera, design and all that fun stuff, Apple has gotten rid of the famous headphone jack. Not only does this mean that we can no longer wear our headphones as a universal signal of “do not talk to me right now”, but also that we can no longer be the designated aux cord kings and queens. Speaking as an owner of a car that doesn’t support Bluetooth, this sucks. This tragedy has blown up all over social media. Being an avid twitter user, I was expecting the memes to flood in immediately after Apple’s announcement, which is of course exactly what happened. Pictures of slashed earphones with the same caption flooded my timeline which led me to realize how fast social media spreads new information. Now the new wireless ear buds that Apple plans to charge a whopping $159 dollars for are spreading like wildfire, but not in a good way. This is a great example of how social media can negatively influence businesses and their products. The crazy thing is, despite all the negative comments about the new Iphone and ear buds that everyone seems to hate, the same people who are sharing those memes on twitter have probably already sent in their order to Verizon for them. The obsession with having the newest items and obtaining that status symbol outweigh the cons that are supposedly deal breakers to many people. This stuff blows my mind. It goes to show that regardless of what you front of social media, people are always still worried about being high class and having the newest things in order to seem like they’re better than you when in reality, you just got played into paying $159 for ear buds that you’ll probably lose in a week.
ReplyDeleteAs far as pop culture goes, I believe the most prevalent topic sweeping the nation is the release of the IPhone 7. Aside from water resistance, a new and improved camera design, and the absence of the headphone jack, this IPhone is not much different that the previous one. However, the missing headphone jack has caused a lot of upset amongst Apple users. As a generation obsessed with music and technology, It is upsetting for many to think that they won't be about to use the auxiliary cord in our cars. Although IPhone has also released a ridiculously overpriced pair of wireless earbuds to accommodate the absence of the jack, this has failed to mollify the customers. There are numerous complaints about how easy it will be to lose the earbuds and, priced at $159, that's just not something many people can afford. However, despite the "problems" many people see with the product, I can guarentee the line for the new IPhone 7 will be ridiculously long. This all winds down to fact that the IPhone 7 is a staus symbol. People are willing to put up with the things they are unhappy about in order to have to newest phone available. With this, comes the status of having a new IPhone. The obsession that people have with having the newest items and obtaining that status that comes with it heavily outweigh the problems that are present in the product. This seems crazy, but it's hard to say that everyone isn't affected by the need to feel that we have status amongst our peers. Apple has found a way to find a perfect balance between being elitist and populist. They make everyone within the Apple family feel like they have a common interest while also constantly releasing "new and improved" IPhones that make people feel like, in order to remain relevant and on top of trends, they must always have the newest version.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
DeleteI completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
DeleteI completely agree with what you have said. The IPhone is not only a status symbol but also a small that groups people together. Are you Team Apple or android? It no longer matters whether the modifications of a phone are better it's the fact that it is an Apple, a Samsung, etc. The newest version is nothat necessarily better, but everyone knows it's the newest and coolest despite its short falls, so people convince themselves they need it.
DeleteI suppose this weeks blog post is going to be about how worse the iPhone 7 is. With Apple's new release of their iPhone of course, millions of consumers are out ready to buy it. Everyone is tuning in on television to view the premiere in California and low and behold, the thinner iPhone 7 now in jet black. After only a few days, reviews upon reviews are completely scattered across mass media including every social network.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has to either talk about how it looks, or how it's so much better than the 6. sure the processor is going to be faster and better, the camera is going to improve, the size and shape of the phone, and they also get rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack. (what?)
It seems that the only thing they did wrong was take that out of the phone. I watched a video that was more of a spoof or parody of the Apple CEO ( look alike actor) would mention that in the video and said with anger, "AGH! F***, What should we do? OH, just buy our new airpods, or get bluetooth headphones." Now when something like this comes up, there are immediate signs of just Apple telling you to come buy more of our products. So of course, don't bother looking out for the customer to have a great experience with your product, and all they care about is just constantly finding a way to make you spend your money. I've noticed that that's where business are heading for their money making plans, where you have to start paying a subscription every month or so to use their product. So instead of paying for a product once and using it for however long you need while taking care of it, you are now paying to use the product every time you use it. It does seem like a smart way to sell something but then you still have to constantly spend money to make it back. Not only that, but their pretty confident that people will continue to use the product and basically hope for new competitors to not even stand a chance to what it is that you know. Because that's the only tactic in business that's essential; what do I know that my opponent doesn't know.
Dear Diary,
ReplyDeleteToday I read Men's men and women's women (and men's women and women's men. Hey why is "men's" listed first in the book? Is this more effects of patriarchy? Was Jack Solomon that afraid of feminism too?)
This week's reading had me thinking about a certain demographic that was barely mentioned: old people. How many of you actually sit down and watch the stock channels? If you don't, I don't blame you, honestly the commercials are the best part. But for those of you who do, you might recall a very funny commercial for a lift system attached to your stairs, or an even more comical commercial for life-alert. Less targeted towards the crypt-keepers are commercials for erectile dysfunction, blood pressure medication, and laser spine surgery. I'm willing to bet that none of these commercials have been aired on Nick-at-Nite. The reason for that is more than just "George Lopez doesn't provide good naptime ambience". Most successful stock marketers are men in first class, are "old people", and will be home midday to win the abundance award for viewers of that channel.
As far as the actual reading, it struck quite a chord. Upon reading the excerpt that said “…the whole possibility of being loved and comforted hangs on how their [women’s] appearance will be received.” I was like “WOW THEY GOT ME HOW DID THEY KNOW” then I realized that having that idea even subconsciously means you have been manipulated by the patriarchy in media and now I’m just having an identity crisis. But it’s cool, cause ya know, education.
I agree with your inquiries on whether or not the patriarchy is at play...but what would happen if they put women's first? Would men outrage? Can humans ever just get along? Why can't the two be interchangeable? Does order matter? So many questions, so little time.
DeleteThe term commodification really stuck out to me in last week's reading, I had never really put much thought into how advertisements seek to deceive us in an illogical manner. A good example that comes to mind when I think of commodification would be Beer/liquor commercials where beer is around overly sexualized images, such as scantily clad women wearing next to nothing while they down a beer or alcoholic beverage. In a way, beer companies are trying to get the consumer to think that drinking their product is "sexy" and that you can get girls like those in the advertisements if you drink their product. In my eyes, this method of advertisement is seen as illogical because on its own, beer isn't physically attractive at all, nor does it taste decent at all. Understandably this method of advertisement works, however, I think the logic missing in this situation is that the consumer shouldn't have to choose their alcohol based on how flashy its ads are, but by whether or not the beverage tastes good or not. Sure, it is next to impossible to advertise taste as everyone has their own specific taste buds, etc. so in turn these companies have to try to "wow" the masses in hoping that the populist crowd (think like PBR, Budweiser crowds vs. high end scotches and whiskeys) will want to follow the trend of being cool by drinking a certain beer over another.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think it is crazy that alcohol ads all have to have some type of "sexy" in them. I also agree they have to do something to relate and catch our attention since you can't advertise taste.
DeleteI really enjoyed learning about “elitist” and “populist” last class. The book talks about how over the different decades how the advertising has slowly changed. It states that in the twenties the ads were very “status-conscious”. In the twenties the cigarette company ads made it seem like smoking was cool or that was what the rich did. The book goes on to talk about the seventies swinging between elitist and populist. Then on to the eighties where it talks about the “elitist eighties”. It is just so interesting to me that us as Americans can change so much over time in what we relate to for advertisement purposes. In the nineties the ads started to be focused on humor. That was a new form of advertisement. With the internet taking off and Saturday Night Live becoming popular ads pushed to be like Saturday Night Live “funny.” Moving into the two thousands the ads are set for a niche market. They are trying to target certain people or age groups when advertising. A great example of this is all the different TV channels there are now. You can get the biggest package with DirectTV and have over like 300 channels. Back when TV was invented you could get two maybe three channels. Everyone is trying to hit that “niche market” to sell you something. I just can’t get over how we as Americans can not make up our minds! We like to have every option of advertisements right at our figure tips.
ReplyDeleteWith the new Iphone 7 dropping this weekend, the internet’s reaction to it was mixed. I saw many people talking about how thinner it was going to be, how the camera quality has a higher resolution, how they have made it water proof. I also heard how annoyed they were with the simple fact that they couldn’t listen to music while charging their phones. What many people don’t realize is that with this new update, not much has changed. But the demand for this phone is crazy. This phone is the start of a generation where aux cords and headphones become obsolete. If you want this new and hot Iphone, not only do you have to buy Bluetooth headphones but you have to have a Bluetooth car if you want to listen to music and charge your phone. This minor change to make the iPhone waterproof has set a president to how we will further achieve our higher social status. Just to have the new Iphone and to be able to use it to its full potential without inconveniences are they willing to change everything else? Will this change the standard of how cars come? Will cars now have to have Bluetooth to even sell? I really start to analyze certain things I had brushed off as it is what it is. Recently a friend told me he set his alarm to wake up early enough to order the new iphone 7. I asked him what was wrong with his old phone, and he said nothing I’m just one of those people. It made me realize that I was also one of those people, who got the newest hot item just to have it. Not because I needed it.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to many exciting popular events happening this past week from the iPhone7 coming out to the start of football season the 15th anniversary of September 11th was also among us. Aside from its global influence 9/11 changed a multitude of things in American culture. 9/11 inspired countless movies and songs. This single most tragic event managed to bring not only the U.S. together in support of the Red, White, and Blue, but also 200 countries that participated in the telethon to raise money (Tom Templeton of The US News The Observer) . My point in saying all of this is to show how even the biggest events in history impact pop culture. September 11, 2001 social media was not a topic of discussion much less a part of people's daily routines, yet 15 years later #neverforget is the top trend on twitter. September 11th was not just a tragic day in 2001. The site itself attracks thousands of people each year with endless memorabilia on each block. The day itself has become an annual celebration of patriotism and day of honor for those lost. People make this known now through, social media such as twitter and instagram posting messages and pictures in remembrance of those events. #september11 is a popular search on Facebook, and some of the top stroies on snapchat are titled for 9/11. September 11, 2001 may not be at the top of the list when pop culture comes to mind, but the impact it had definitely changed pop culture, especially then and even now.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/18/usa.terrorism?CMP=share_btn_link
This is true and I find it interesting that we still find ways to show support so long ago. Not all tragic event become such pivotal moments for a country. However it wasn't necessarily the event that made it so memorable, but how the country handled the aftermath together. I like your post!
DeleteWhile reading this week's assigned reading called “Mens Men and Womens Women”, a couple of things came to mind. I thought of the pens by bic that specifically directed at women.I never understood how that made sense. Do men not use pens? Do women have such different hand shapes or maybe even finger lengths that we need specially designed pens? I remember growing up that I was super into Digimon. For me, as a young child, I didn't care that the toys were sold in the “boy toy” aisle, or that all the shirts were in the boys section. For me, I just wanted a shirt for my favorite television program. At what age do we start looking at things in the lens of “blue is for boys, pink is for girls”? More importantly, at what age are we taught to? We market things towards men with images of beautiful women, or fast cars, or sports. We market things towards women with flowery patterns, light colors, and pretty fonts. Although it seems sexist, it also seems to be working. Axe ads show men who are buff and doing dangerous things, because they want their audience to relate or to want to relate to that. Pantene shows beautiful models, singers, and actresses who have perfect smooth hair and appear to be happy, because they assume their audiences strives to be that way and thinks that it will appear as though their product is the reason selena Gomez has great hair. They work on the basis of showing their audience what they could be. Maybe if you use axe you will suddenly have a six pack, but it's unlikely. Maybe if you use Pantene you will become Selena Gomez, but probably not. However’ when viewing the ad all we see is something we want. Which makes us think this product will get us there.
ReplyDelete