Mass Communications December 7, 2007

If anything can be taken away from the Intro to Mass Communications class it is that Mass Communications, in all forms of medium, are constantly changing and inevitably will always change. People’s needs and wants change with time and therefore what influences their life must be changing as well. New technology opens pathways  for new medium while unfortunately leaving others in the dust.

 In the past ten years mass communications have changed a great amount and they will only change more in the next ten years. While “older” medium such as paper books and newspapers will never entirely leave our society, “newer” medium such as the internet will soon be more used, if it isn’t already.

In ten years textbooks could be replaced by ebooks. Newspaper routes could be replaced by email alerts. No one can be sure what the future holds for mass communications but there WILL be a change, and evolution. All media is sure to turn toward the digital and electrionic fields. The internet and computers make everything faster and cheaper to keep up with the pace of society. Society won’t be slowing down anytime soon, therefore mass communications won’t either.

In ten years, I’ll be reading books to my children for sure, but I know that my kids will be turning to the internet far before I did. The lessons i learned on the chalkboard my kids will learn on their laptops. There is an obvious difference in technology familiarity between our grandparents and parents and our parents and us. There’s no denying that there will be a difference between us and our children.

Yours is here! December 3, 2007

It is that time of year again– Christmas.

Companies start advertising more and more because it is the season for giving. While there are many other gift-giving holidays throughout the year, Christmas is the BIG one. The largest and most expensive gifts are given this month.

Dell Computers is using celebrity endorsements in order to market their product this season. An average man is asking for a dell laptop for Christmas. Unfortunately, he is just that..an “average” person and therefore cannot be “heard.” They use 3 celebrities to endorse their product. At the same time they are making fun of the fact that they are using celebrities. The new tactic in advertising seems to be making fun of the fact that they are advertising.

Dell is using the slogan “Yours is here” at yoursishere.com. You are supposed to send one of the celebrity endorsements to a family member or friend so they know what you want for Christmas.

 I’m sure there are going to be many many more good advertising techniques this holiday season!

BK November 28, 2007

Burger King is another company that is pretty decent at advertising. BK’s commercials are usually entertaining and creative. Their latest icon has been the “King” himself. I must admit, I was somewhat creeped out when Burger King introduced the King. His plastic face with its demented smile is strange enough to disturb anyone, but I know that was not the intention…it probably stems from a fear of anything with a mask since my brothers used to scare me day-in and day-out with every mask possible. lol. The King, in actuality, is no more strange then the dancing chicken or talking chicken that wanted to be a fry (promotions for chicken sandwhiches and chicken fries).

The King has been used for “Wake up with the King” and having the King in bed. Or just having the King drop in on everyday activities. Burger King is now using the King in a different way. In the new commercials, three mothers are trying to kill the King because he is responsible from taking their jobs away as housewives preparing meals for their kids after school or husbands after a long day at work. Every attempt they make however is unsuccessful. The mothers try to hire hitmen. One attempt leads them to having their minivan backed into by the King after they had his brakes cut. Burger King is trying to get a message across; they’re sandwiches are just as good, if not better, than what momma can make you.

Duh November 25, 2007

So a couple of weeks ago I was complaining about the bland commercials put forth by all automobile companies. However, I actually saw a car commercial this past week that I enjoyed! Hyundai has three or four commercials advertising for their Holiday Sale.

The commercials are not much different than the regular car commercials. A Hyundai car is shown from side, front, and rear views and information about the car and sale are quickly stated near the latter end of the commercial. However, what caught my attention was the music. While all commercials rely on good music, I especially enjoyed the music used in these commercials. Hyundai hired different choirs to perform classic Christmas songs and sing using “Duh.” They use “Duh” not only because it fits with the songs but to state that it is so “Duh” or obvious to buy a Hyundai.

Unfortunately, the commercials are not up on youtube yet or on the Hyundai site. However, the commercials have been on repeatedly for over a week now so if you have not seen any of them yet, you certaintly will soon.

“Happy Holiduh!”

Advertising Techniques November 25, 2007

I finally appreciate the efforts put forth by advertising and public relations personel. The work my group and I put into our project allowed me to see through an advertiser’s eyes. I know we studied both careers in the book and with presentations, but you never truley understand something until you apply it to your own life.

Doing an audience analysis is very important to the advertising process. We decided to create a survey and link it on the internet. Without the information we collected through our survery, we would have created useless materials. We would have wasted a lot of time if we did not understand the desires and fears of our target audience. The locality of the audience also allowed us to place materials in areas where the audience was most likely to see them.

Another thing I learned is that I do not want to pursue a career in the advertising or public relations field. While the group project was interesting, creating materials and doing countless auidence analysis would not satisfy me. I consider myself somewhat creative, but more in a writing way, not in a visual way.

Hopefully our efforts will pay off and and many students will go see the performances of I Think You Should…

So here’s one last advertising attempt…

Go see LVC graduate, Katie McCarty’s comedic, autobiographical play, I Think You Should…. this Thursday and Saturday at 8pm and Friday at midnight in Leedy Theatre. Tickets are free to all LVC Students!

America on Drugs November 18, 2007

Why is EVERYthing a disease anymore? Why is 50 percent of all commercials on TV advertising some new drug to cure some made up disease? And the other 50 percent is about hiring a lawyer to sue a drug company about horrible side effects from one of these drugs? It is not ethical to promote medicine and brainwash Americans into thinking they are not healthy through tv commercials.

Drug comapanies should not be the ones to advertise a drug. Non-profit organizations to fight diseases and professionals should be the only ones to offer advise on drugs.  Of course, drug companies could get around it by hiring professionals or hiding behind a non-profit organization like some do, but hopefully it would be able to eliminate a good amount.

There should be a limit put on how drugs can be presented. Asking vague questions and listing common symptoms can only lead to mis-diagnosing oneself. And most of the time the side effects are worse than the actual symptoms!

Many people suffer from the diseases presented by the drug companies on TV, but more don’t than do. Drug companies should not worry about getting their name and product out to the public because if people actually needed something, they would get it. While drugs are made to help people, they can only do harm if they are given to the wrong person. A person could persuade a doctor to give them the prescription or even lie to them based off of what the company describes on the commercials. Diagnosing should be left to the doctors, not the clients.

These companies are obviously very well-off. They need to be able to put the public’s safety before their own financial gain.

Dropped Calls November 18, 2007

Have you ever been talking on your cellphone when you suddenly realize that the other person isn’t there anymore? You don’t know how long they haven’t been able to hear you and you have no idea where your conversation got to. Well AT&T realized that most cellphone users could relate to a similar situation and made an advertising campaign based around the fact that they are the most reliable company with the least amount of dropped calls.

There have been many commercials made by AT&T that have little skits and scenarios ending in a dropped call and confusion. One person assumes that the other person is either speechless out of anger or confusion when in fact they actually just can’t hear the reaction.

In the following commercial, Roger Clemens uses a dropped call to get his wife’s permission to return to another season playing for the New York Yankees (yay!).

My personal favorite is the one where a deli owner calls his provider and asks for 50 lbs of roast beef only to have the supplier tell him that they area all out. The deli owner laughs and says, “What? Did your wife wolf it all down for breakfast?” The provider starts to crack up laughing but the owner can’t hear him because the call was dropped. The owner tries to make excuses and talk his way around making fun of the wife to save himself. Most of the commercials follow a similar pattern.

I feel that these commercials are very effective because they are not only funny, but are relatable.

Do alcohol advertising campaigns target the American youth? November 8, 2007

It’s quite interesting that even though the drinking age in every state in the U.S. is 21, most advertisements for alcohol seem to target a younger crowd. Some commercials are definately aimed at the post-college crowd like the ones that show business coming home from work to enjoy a Bud- “For all you do, this Bud’s for you.” However, a large majority use young women, animals, and high school humor to attract customers. And who exactly are they attracting? They’re attracting the portion of the public that can’t even consume their product legally!

When beer companies use commercial and advertising campaigns that show young people consuming their product during what seems to be a “spring break” type occasion, high school students are drawn to it. High school students anymore celebrate spring break in the same fashion as college students. In fact, most of the people that go away on spring break are kids still in school and therefore more than likely underage. Alcohol should be shown at different occasion, one where mainly legal age people would be. Drinking at a bar, for example would work, since to get into most bars you need to be 21.

Besides setting, ads use humor relevant to a younger crowd. The famous “Wazzup” commercials targeted high school and college students. It would be rare for anyone to here the crazy “wazzup” coming from a professional or college graduate. I’m sure “wazzup” was being uttered from every male high school and college student for a full year after the ad ran on tv.

A product should be marketing to the appropriate crowd; It is not appropriate for alochol ads to be aimed at those that can’t even buy it.

Advertising November 8, 2007

If you’ve been following my blogs at all, you can see that I’ve brought up commercials just about everyweek to talk about both the good and the bad that are out there to watch. In class, we discussed advertising in general. From billboards to magazine ads to tv commercials, advertising is a creative and sometimes annoying aspect of mass media. For every hour of television programming shown, at least 15 minutes are commercials. In my recent Cosmo magazine, just about half of the entire magazine was advertisments! I understand that advertising is a necessity for most forms of media because they have no other way to raise enough funds to produce their product. But come on…it does seem to be getting a little bit excessive.

Advertising is starting to have the opposite effect then what it is intended. I find myself being so disgusted with the ads that I ignore them altogether. I completely skip over the ads in Cosmo and flip the station on the radio during the what seems to be half-hour-long commercial breaks. And forget about tv…unless I am dedicated to the program that I’m at the point that I can’t miss a single second, I surf until I see that the show has returned.

I will admit, some ads are quite entertaining and clever, as I have mentioned in the past. There are far too many, however, that are dull and overshown that I can’t sit around the find the good ones. The only time I will ever sit through, and pay attention to, an entire set of commercials is during the SuperBowl, which is what alot of Americans do. Hence, companies pay millions of dollars to post a 30 second ad. Every other commercial break is just an excuse to surf, go to the bathroom, or grab a snack.

Euphemisms and PR November 2, 2007

Public Relations personel and companies are constantly being blamed for using euphemisms in place of plain language in order to make a situation or object sound better. That’s what euphemisms are! The PR’s job is to present a better image of something or someone, so word choice in explainations plays a major role.

I don’t blame PR people for using euphemisms. We use them all the time in everyday conversation!

Some examples of euphemisms utilized by PR people are:

adult entertainment=pornography, preowned automobile=used car, economically deprived=poor, selected out=fired, negative savings=debts, strategic withdrawal=retreat, revenue enhancers=taxes, chemical dependency=drug addiction, downsive=lay offs, correctional facility=prison

Euphemisms used in everyday conversation are

using the ladies’ room=going to the bathroom, passed away=died, sleep together=have sex, unmotivated=lazy

So if we know what the euphemisms actually mean, why do we use them? Sometimes parents use more intricate combinations of words to avoid children understanding the conversation. Sometimes people use different wordings to not hurt someone’s feelings. And sometimes people are just too embarassed to say what they actually mean.

We constantly use euphemisms to avoid saying what we actually mean. Whether it’s for manners (to be polite) or PR reasons, euphemisms are perfectly fine and sometimes necessary. The English language is changing daily; It is the job of every person to “decode” the real meaning behind what someone is saying. The public should not be fooled by flowery language.