A well informed public reflection November 1, 2007

So today in class I started off thinking that I was considered a well informed member of this society…oh, how wrong I was. I used to watch the news every morning when I was getting ready for the day–I’d even switch between Fox and CNN, just to get the different sides. Sadly, I don’t do that anymore. I barely even put time aside to read a news headline on Netscape before I check my daily horoscopes! How did I let myself get so far out of the loop?

Most college students get like this. No one wants to put time aside to search news stories when they can “do better things.” I personally would rather pepper a volleyball in the social quad than surf the net looking for unbiased news stories. I’m not going to get up at 6 o’clock to watch the morning news if I don’t have a class til 10 and I’m not going to watch the 10 o’clock news at night when I should be studying for the next day’s exam.

Doesn’t this lack of importance put on imforming ourselves hurt the democratic government we live in? If I’m so ignorant of local, national, and international news, how can I form an opinion, let alone voice it? I feel bad saying that I really don’t seem to care about anything anymore unless it has a direct impact on me. I’ve put trust in the goverment to do whatever they feel necessary, without actually trusting the government.

I should–we all should–inform ourselves in order to form a better nation and world…but I’m just too lazy.

E-News October 29, 2007

Electronic News and media in general is blamed for releasing bias information. Liberal news releases good information about conservatives and good information about liberals, and vice versa.

Online sites can not be blamed for the bias however. Freedom of press has always allowed bias attitudes to be spoken and printed. The online thing that electronic news does is allow easier access to these bias opinions. People are more likely to search for their bias however. These biases are not going to sway a person, but only reinforce their ideas. I do believe that people should not only stick to their bias however. To get a whole story you need to look at both sides. But no matter how hard some company tried to portray both sides, there would always be a bias. It is the responsibility of the reader to get the true concepts, not the writer.

Another conflict is news as entertainment. Television news shows are being condemned for the fact that they are portraying news in such a way to bump of viewership. News is distorted to please the audience. They most entertaining stories are shown, such as celebrity news, while the real stuff is left out, like war coverage. People are not getting what really matters out of news shows. The American public can’t possible know what’s going on in their own country when news channels concentrate on Paris Hilton’s trial or Britney Spear’s custody battle.

What is a person to do? In order to get the whole story, of every story, people need to not only pay attention to both liberal and conservative works but in all forms of media. To get everything going on in the US people need to watch TV, read magazines, newspapers, and books, and listen to the radio. But how many people honestly want to do that?

Privacy? October 29, 2007

So whatever happened to personal privacy? With the invention and wide use of the internet, privacy went out the window.

Regular people, hackers, and stalkers can access an unprecedented amount of information on the web anymore. Purchasing goods online can be dangerous. Entering a credit card number can lead to identity theft. It’s a gamble everytime you log into a computer.

Some people purposely put information about themselves up online-but don’t always realize the consequences. There are plenty of community sites like Facebook and Myspace where teens post personal contact information and pictures of themselves for the world to see. Dating sites like Match.com have people post details about likes and dislikes. It’s easier than ever to get to know a person without even meeting or talking to them. People can now judge each other off of their websites. What most people don’t realize when they put this information up however, is that it’s not all innocent. Stalkers and perverts search such sites for young or “weak” individuals to prey on. The biggest group of victims would be teenagers. Young boys and girls think it’s cool to have their own sites with their own pictures- and the smaller amount of clothing, the better. Older sexual predators love this- it’s like an online menu.

While identity theft through credit card and social security numbers is a huge and horrible problem, I believe that the amount of information put out on personal sites is worse. Parents need to monitor their childrens’ site. I would not care if my mom looked at mine- I’d know she was just protecting me. The potential dangers for kids and teens online is tremendous. What ever happened to not talking to strangers?

Happy Cows! October 29, 2007

As an agricultral advocate I totally love the Happy Cow commercials for California Cheese and Milk- “Happy Cows come from California.” Some of the commercials consist of cows playing marco-polo in a field of fog and then playing tag when the fog lifts or two bulls talking about how to woo a lady cow. The cows are given an identity that people actually relate to.

The company has been able to market the Happy Cow very easily. People have fallen in love with the commercials to the point that the dairy company now sells stuffed animals online. Wallpaper and calenders are available for computers as well. The site also has all the commercials and the bloopers.

http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/pages/english/happyCowsTV.aspx

 I believe that these commercials are a great way to advertise milk. I mean, come on, how can you really advertise milk? There are only so many shots of a milk glass or kids pouring milk into cereal. The commercials themselves actually never show the milk, they concentrate on the source-cows. This is a good example of how commercials are only used to portray a name or idea, not the actual good.

Even if you don’t care much for farming, or agriculture in general. you can’t help but laugh or at least smile at these commercials. From early childhood everyone wondered how animals interacted with each other. Well these California cows are happy and playful, so they milk has to be good, right?

What did we do before AIM? October 29, 2007

The internet is responsible for many good and bad additions to American culture. People can access more information quicker than before the web-age, but at the same time, the reliability of that information needs to be questions. Music and other media can be found easily. Overlooking all the pros and cons of the internet however, you have to admit that communication has never been so easy.

The internet has allowed online communication to flourish. From e-mail to AIM to Facebook- it has never been so easy to contact a person and stay in contact. Going away to college is not nearly as stressful because you can access your friends with no problem at all. You don’t need to play phone tag or wait to mail a letter across the nation. Saying hi to a friend, just for the sake of saying hi, is no big deal. So seriously, how did we survive before all this?

Personally, I’ve had AIM since I was in third grade. I used AIM to talk to my mom when I got home from school in the afternoons. She would work nights and I would be at school all day. A relationship between us would have been nonexistant without AIM. I get to talk to my cousins that live across the country and can even stay in touch with the people I met when I studied abroad in Europe. I feel totally connected to everyone in my present and past because of AIM.

Sites like Facebook and Myspace also let me send little messages or posts to my friends that have a different schedule than I do. If I can’t catch someone online on AIM, I can just leave them a message for them to get to when they can get online.

I know that I would have lost a lot of relationships if the internet wasn’t around- some relationships would have never started either. Facebook was resonsible for me meeting people before I even got on campus.

I could not imagine what moving to college would have been like without Facebook and AIM.

A little variety, please? October 29, 2007

Have you ever noticed that every single car commercial is exactly the same? Each commercial consists of flashy pictures of the car racing around some empty curved road in the middle of nowhere or a deserted city street. A catchy song plays in the background and there’s some catch line like Madza’s “Zoom Zoom.” And then finally at the end of the commercial some man reads the basic facts about the car in a matter of 10 seconds. A screen comes up that tells the leasing and purchase pricing along with financing options. And most importantly for today’s world- mpg is stressed. How is it that such a simple basic layout of a car commercial seems to work?

As I’ve said before, commercials anymore are not to get a person interested in the specific good but to remember a name. Flashy pictures and a catchy song/catchline will stick in the materialistic and visual brain of today’s average American. The facts are not nearly as important as the look.

Personally however, I like creativity. If a car commercial is new, I’d feel like the model itself was more innovative as well. Give me a little variety in what I’m watching. After a while I won’t be able to remember a name no matter how flashy the commercial, just because they’re all the same. I want the facts and something creative.

Stereotyping October 29, 2007

People seem to think that there is a huge amount of stereotyping on television and in mass media in general that is having a bad impact on today’s youth. I believe that stereotyping has its place however. Stereotypes are used for humor and to shorten time needed to develop a character. You can’t blame stereotypes for the lack of positive ethnic role models for children.

Stereotyping can not be blamed for racism or ignorance. If children are only learning about other ethnities and cultures through sitcoms and other noneducational programming, then there’s something wrong. Tolerance and togetherness needs to be taugh by parents and in school. Maybe a child is not racist because he saw an African American working as a janitor on TV but because his parents have raised him to accept that. If parents encourage racism and teach their children to look down on minorities then the stereotypes on TV are only a reinforcement, not a starting point.

Everyone may complain about the negative stereotypes, but what about the positive images shown on TV? There are plenty of programs that show minorities in a postive light. Children can see that minorites can hold high political and corporate positions. There are entire stations devoted to the positive image of minorites such as BET and the Spanish Channel.

People also seem to be forgetting that caucasians are not always shown positively either. There are many sitcoms and comedy shows that portray “whites” as redneck, hick, or just plain stupid. Minorites are not the only ones that are stereotyped. Everyone is generalized on TV, for entertainment sake.

Geico October 16, 2007

Another GREAT company to use as an advertising example would be Geico. Geico car insurance has used multiple characters and scennarios in their commercials. The Geico gecko, the first character, is still being used. The Geico caveman, popular the past year, now have their own television sitcom! The newest sccenario presented however is like a private investigator show. Geico credits Geico savings for the riches of Jedd Clampett.

The best technique Geico has utlized however is that they present the scenarios and quick clips like movies and you don’t find out what the commercial is for until afterwards. The commercials never have to do with car insurance itself. The commercials catch the attention of the viewer and then reveal the name in order to have it imprinted better in the viewers mind.

 I hear my friends all the time say, “I’m going to get Geico insurance just because they’re commercials are so awesome!” I’m not sure if any of them will ever go through with it, since they all seem to still be on their parents’ plan. But what they say proves to me that Geico is being successful. They know that good commercials lead to good word of mouth. If people bring up a commercial in everyday conversation, then that’s advertising in itself. So is it a better technique to portray your product or to catch the attention of the viewer?

I believe that just catching attention is good enough. If the viewer is truly interested in the product, they’ll do their own research. Commercials anymore are just to get a name out there, not advertise the actual product.

A night at the opera October 16, 2007

Budweiser has always been creative when it comes to marketing. Just about everyone in my generation can recall the Budweiser frogs.  They got to be so overdone however that they had to retire them. Budweiser is constantly advertisting for their Bud Light product. Past commercials include alien fish using Bud Light to fish for humans and men using “rock, paper, scissors” to decide who gets the last Bud Light (the man throws an actual rock to win).

The most recent commercial however has been refered to repeatedly at the dinner table with my guy friends. The most commercial shows two men at the opera obviosuly against their will, with their wives or girlfriends. To lessen the pain of the opera, one man has packed his suit jacket with Bud Lights. When the opera singer sings, the bottles begin to break, bursting open, foaming everywhere. The commercial ends with the man in front of them calling them beginners and shaking a can at them. This commercial not only shows the two ways to “enjoy” a Bud Light (bottle or can) but is quite humorous and relatable to alot of men.

Bud Light has always been successful with encorporating humor into their advertisements and it seems to be working since they keep doing it. Not only that, but it is shown on almost every channel, over and over. Bud Light will basically be engraved in every man’s mind when it comes time to buy beer for the football game.

Trip Hop October 8, 2007

You wouldn’t believe all the interesting music out there that no one has heard of. The major record labels only market a small amount of the actual genres available. Most people have heard of rap and hip hop or rock and jazz, but how about trip hop?

Trip Hop, a.k.a. Bristol acid rock, is a combination of hiphop, downtempo, house, breakbeat, acid jazz, rock, and psychedelic. It has a moody and dark sound, yet is lyrical. Trip Hop started in the UK with the first single being DJ Shadow’s 1993 “Influx.” Trip Hop gets its name because the music makes the listener feel like he or she in “on a trip.” The melodies, bizarre noises, phat bass, and slow beats creat a high. Not many Trip Hop artists are famous today. The most well-known would probably be Gorillaz. The Gorillaz hit the main stream with “Feel Good Inc.” 2006. The animated band had been around since 1998, but unheard of because of the different genre.

Other groups include Lamb, Ruby, Zero 7, Bonobo, Howie B, and Sneaker Pimps. I’m sure that you have not heard of any of them.

It’s a shame that these groups have not and will probably never reach the status of most musicians in more common genres. Trip Hop has yet to hit a big wave due to lack of promotion and signing by major companies. Gorillaz entering the mainstream in the United States and winning albumn of the year in Germany has been a big step for Trip Hop however. Who knows what the future holds? Trip Hop could easily become the new Hip Hop.