Digital School Library

VERUS

Digital School Library

After reading the Digital School Library article, there was quite a bit that I learned. It is very interesting to see how technology is changing so rapidly, with inventions such as Kindle. Personally, I don’t really agree with any of the people who commented on the article. I believe that reading online would be extremely beneficial to our society. This is because it will be very easy to access books, as you wouldn’t have to go to libraries or purchase books every now and then. Furthermore, most students, like Heather Hughes said, do a lot of research as it is on their computer, and get used to it. If the problem is relating to staring at a screen for too long soon as new technologies are introduced, the screen will be improved upon greatly as well. I believe that in the future, everything will be with the use of technology, I think that all books will eventually be published online.

New York Times Article Reflection

Individually, respond in writing on your blog page with the following prompt: "In the New York Times article, the author writes: 'Indeed a manipulated image, which is often more powerful than the sum of its parts, can affect not just visual perception, but opinions as well.' Reflect on this statement. What specific power do photos have to tell the truth? Are there specific guidelines that we should follow? What limitations should there be on image manipulations, posed events, and other types of fakey? What counts as manipulation, and what counts as reasonable editing, cropping or enhancement? "

Yes, I most definitely agree with the author of the New York Times Article; a manipulated image is undoubtedly more powerful than the sum of its parts, and affects both visual perceptions and opinions. Something that helps to understand the power of photos is when in class; Mrs. Ben Ozilio gave the example of a former student who went to this school. He was a nice fellow, however, in The Word (school newspaper), they quoted him for saying something he would never even think of. Over here, in the article, he was quoted saying that one should not bother to recycle, as someone else will obviously step in and recycle for you. The author of that article made a mistake, and quoted the wrong person. As a result, many people around campus started viewing this innocent student in a bad way. Although, in the next version, they sent out an apology letter, it was already too late, all the damage had been done. The same can be applied to manipulated images, as it can unquestionably change other people’s opinions and views towards a particular topic. A good example of this could be that of O.J. Simpson in the Time Magazine (as shown above). In this situation, Time Magazine altered with his skin color in an attempt to make him look more like a criminal. This was extremely unexpected, as I believe Time Magazine only did this to add some personal flavor to the news, to make it sound much more interesting and applicable. I believe that there should be specific guidelines that we should follow, which should include asking questions to yourself such as where the picture is from, who the photographer is, who uploaded it, etc. There most definitely should be limitations on image manipulations, posed events, and other types of “fakeys”; they should be based on to what extent it is published, who the audience is, whether it affects the people/places/etc. involved in a positive or negative way, etc. Nevertheless, I believe it will be extremely hard to monitor these image manipulations, as there is a steady increase in technology and products for digital manipulations. I believe reasonable editing, cropping or enhancement counts as long as it doesn’t affect anyone, a place, the audience, etc. in a negative way. This includes image manipulation of peoples faces, changing a site to make it look better/worse, changing the tones of a person, stereotyping a particular race, etc.

Digital Truth

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/digital.essay.html

Is digital truth important? In what context?

After reading the article posted on the website above, I’ve learned quite a bit about digital truth. Digital Truth is when photographs have been manually manipulated. The article talks about how digital imaging and manipulation of images on the computer goes against “traditional” means of photography. Furthermore, it definitely affects how people view the images and how people see images in newspapers and magazines. Then, the author talks about how the biggest problem with digital truth is that its extremely easy; it’s “a slippery slope is created where minor cleaning up of an image can easily lead to major changes”. He talks about how digital truth can lead to missing realness of a picture, as pictures “enter the realm of fiction”. He ends the article by saying, “Our sense of the truth to be found in images may be changing because of digital manipulation. But we still are waiting for our first great test case of digital truth, that is, digital lying.”

Personally, I feel that in our modern world today, digital truth should be important, however images must be manipulated in order to please the audience. I believe that it is important to present the “truth” rather than what the photographer/digital manipulator sees the picture as. I think that in most contexts, the population deserves to see first hand accounts. For example, I believe that Digital Truth should be important in examples such as the picture shown above. This picture has been digitally changed to make that particular place seem a lot prettier and better than it actually is. I believe that actions, such as these, should definitely be stopped, as it tricks the tourists into believing something wrong. However, at the same time, I personally feel that, if we only saw images, as they were, which weren’t digitally manipulated, our world would be much different. Pictures, brochures, advertisements, magazines, etc. wouldn’t be as appealing and interesting. Our world today, has evolved so much that we only like seeing and reading about what we like, rather than what the truth is, which is why, in some contexts, such as entertainment contexts, digital manipulations should be allowed; for the benefit of the population.

News Evaluation- CNN

I decided to watch CNN news, for about half an hour. Over these 30 minutes, they went over three major news topics. The first one was about bombings in Pakistan. Another major story talked about Israel and the United States beginning to do joint military trainings and exercises. Lastly, the third major story talked about was about a comedian on TV, Soupy Sales dying.

Bombings in Pakistan:

This story talked about how there were bombings in Pakistan where at least 7 people are reported to be dead. A suicide bomber committed this crime, and this bomb was blown near a military facility outside of Islamabad (the capital).

Israel and US combined Military Training:

This story talked about how Israel and the United States started their ‘largest’ ever joint military exercise. This occurred on Wednesday.

Soupy Sales passes away:

This story was centralized around Soupy Sales who was a comedian who came on television for quite a bit. This 83-year old died on Thursday in New York. He was seen many times on popular game shows.

Did the newspapers meet the criteria for what is news? Explain.

I think that the newspapers both met and didn’t meet the criteria for what is news. I believe that the Bombings in Pakistan story definitely meets the criteria for what is news. This is because it was something very surprising, and involved many deaths of innocent people. It is something that people should be informed about, as there is chaos going on in Pakistan. I believe that the Israel and US combined Military Training is considered for what is news, but shouldn’t be a top story/main headline. This is definitely something interesting and something that people should be informed about. Lastly, the story about Soupy Sales and his death is undoubtedly does not meet the criteria for what is news. This is about one man, and shouldn’t be telecasted at all on good news networks, especially like CNN.

What news was relevant or useful to citizens of the local area, including young people? In what way was it useful or relevant?

The bombings in Pakistan doesn’t seem relevant to citizens in Israel. However, the story about Israel and US combining military services and trainings is extremely relevant and useful to the local area (Israel). This is because the story is about the local area. This story seemed pretty useful and extremely relevant to Israelis as they get to hear about their country excels in terms of military. Lastly, I don’t believe that the story about Soupy Sales is useful or relevant to the local area. It might be useful and relevant to fans of Soupy Sales, however that’s about it.

Edward L. Bernays & The Birth of PR

This is a good reading I found on Bernays, who is considered, "The Father of Spin", when we had to read about him. This reading helped me quite a bit to understand the concepts Bernays presented in his book. This filled in the missing gaps presented in the reading we received on October 16 about Bernays. I think everyone should read this as it gives some valuable information in a clear manner.

Here is the link to the book review: http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1915.html

Fox News

Here is an article I found as a follow-up to the video we watched last class. This article talks about how Fox News isn't just bad, it also goes against America with its horrific bias.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218192

And heres a funny photo I found with Fox News and their bias:

Norris-5 Article

Norris-5:

Here is the link to the article I read and did Norris-5 on: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/15/un.world.hunger/index.html

1. Informative vs. Superficial: I’d say this is superficial. This is because the length of the article isn’t too long, and there is a lack of detail present in the article. The article fails to elaborate on various things mentioned. The article is shown to be only half a page long, which already gives us an idea on how much it would lack valuable information.

2. Accurate and truthful vs. False and deceptive: This is pretty much accurate and truthful. I don’t think they would be lying on an issue like this. I personally, also believe that this article is accurate and truthful since they use a variety of different quotes and sources that are reliable. For example, : "It is unacceptable in the 21st Century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program.

3. Objective vs. Biased: This article seems pretty objective. However, it may seem biased, favoring towards the hungry people. A good example showing this bias is, “The number of hungry spiked as the global economic crisis took hold and governments pumped resources into stabilizing financial markets. The move meant smaller investments in agriculture and food distribution.”

4. Pluralistic vs. Insular Viewpoint: This is definitely pluralistic, as it’s serving a message towards many people out there. There are a lot of key messages that this article is trying to convey. The article also uses quotes that serve messages, such as, "We know what is needed to meet urgent hunger needs- we just need the resources and the international commitment do the job," Sheeran said.

5. Balanced vs. Weighted Side: I’d say this article is pretty much balanced. It talks about the hungry people and what people have done about it. For example, we can see that in the article when, “The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises.”

Eminem

Here is the song that we talked about in class, when my group presented rap and hip-hop music.

This song is by Eminem and it is called Stan. This music video and song lyrics both had many stereotypical words and tried to make women look bad. This is the all famous song, where the pregnant woman is treated badly.

Here is the link to the music video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQR6yBwFHQU

Here is the link to the lyrics of the song: http://www.lyrics007.com/Eminem%20Lyrics/Stan%20-%3E%20Feat.%20Dido%20Lyrics.html

Content Analysis- ENTOURAGE

Entourage- Character Analysis

(These are the 5 people I chose)

1. Name of program: Entourage

2. Medium: Television

3. Genre of program: Drama and comedy

4. Vincent Chase-

5. Sex: Male

6. Was this character the main character? Yes

7. Occupation: Movie star

8. Level of Education: High School

9. Race: White

10. Marital status: Single

11. Age: 26-35

12. Children: 0

13. Appearance: Attractive (he’s a movie star; all the girls are crazy after him)

14. Body Type: Thin, skinny, and tall..

15. Personal characteristics: Sexual, Emotional (laughs), abrupt, thinks on the spot, Dependent (cannot be alone- needs to have friends with him), Straight forward

16. Role of Character: Hero

17. Impact of Character: Positively affects outcome of the narrative

4. Ari Gold-

5. Sex: Male

6. Was this character the main character? Not really.

7. Occupation: Agent of the famous movie star

8. Level of Education: High School

9. Race: White

10. Marital status: Married

11. Age: 36-50

12. Children: 2

13. Appearance: Average, kind of attractive

14. Body Type: Average

15. Personal characteristics: Funny, Straightforward, Self-reliant, Emotional (yells)

16. Role of Character: Comedic character

17. Impact of Character: Positively affects outcome of the narrative

4. Eric Murphy-

5. Sex: Male

6. Was this character the main character? No

7. Occupation: Manager of movie star

8. Level of Education: High School

9. Race: White

10. Marital status: Single

11. Age: 26-35

12. Children: 0

13. Appearance: Attractive

14. Body Type: Average, a bit short.

15. Personal characteristics: Straightforward, Self-reliant, dependent, emotional (cries, laughs, yells, whines), sexual, intelligent

16. Role of Character: Supporting character

17. Impact of Character: Positively affects outcome of the narrative

4. Turtle-

5. Sex: Male

6. Was this character the main character? No

7. Occupation: Has no job. He is going back to college to do MBA.

8. Level of Education: High School; He currently is doing college

9. Race: White

10. Marital status: Single

11. Age: 26-35

12. Children: 0

13. Appearance: Attractive

14. Body Type: Just a bit fat.

15. Personal characteristics: Straightforward, flirtatious, sarcastic, dependent, emotional (cries, laughs, yells, whines), sexual, humorous,

16. Role of Character: Supporting character

17. Impact of Character: Positively affects outcome of the narrative

4. Johnny Drama

5. Sex: Male

6. Was this character the main character? No

7. Occupation: Works on TV shows; He’s the brother of the famous movie star

8. Level of Education: High School

9. Race: White

10. Marital status: Single

11. Age: 26-35 maybe even older

12. Children: 0

13. Appearance: He’s okay attractive (average)

14. Body Type: Fit and Average.

15. Personal characteristics: Sarcastic, self-reliant, emotional (cries, yells), worries too much

16. Role of Character: Supporting character

17. Impact of Character: Positively affects outcome of the narrative

Overall, this assignment on Entourage helped me understand the show that I love a lot better. This show is about a movie star, and his 3 best friends who he lives with, and his amazing life as a celebrity. I’ve realized that humor is a major part and subset to this show, and is used a lot to make the show addicting and fun to watch. Along with humor, the plot is also extremely interesting and grasps its audiences’ attention quite easily. The celebrity and his 3 best friends (including his brother Johnny Drama), all have many things in common. For example, they all have similar IQ’s, they all used to be poor, they even all went to school together, etc. However, only because Vincent Chase was extremely lucky to become an actor, all four of them got an amazing lifestyle. Eric Murphy got the splendid chance to be Vincent Chase’s personal manager and best friend. Johnny Drama is Vincent Chase’s elder brother, and Turtle is another close friend that lives with them. On the other hand, Ari Gold has one of the best personalities in the whole show. He is the funniest character on the show, and the smartest out of all the characters presented. He is also extremely wealthy, and grew up being wealthy as well.

Dove Ad-Campaign

Go online to http://www.Dove.us/. Examine Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign and

write a short reaction on what you think about it.

Dove’s “real beauty” ad campaign has a lot of flaws in it that aren’t visible. When one sees one of these “real beauty” ads, we can easily visualize the ‘perfect’ face presented in the campaign. In all their campaigns, Dove has failed to show us what real beauty is. Rather, they show us a face, which has undergone Photoshop effects/techniques, tons of make-up, special lighting effects, etc. Women usually look up to these beautiful models; however do not realize that it isn’t truly them presented in front of the camera. On the actual website, when you flip through the different pictures and products presented, we see a line of pictures of beautiful women, with perfect faces (no wrinkles, no freckles, etc.) I find that extremely hard to believe. Furthermore, the first picture was one of a small girl quoting, “Now my hair is beautiful”. We can now see this image of a perfect girl has affected even the youth. All girls (old and young) want to have this ‘perfect’ image that they see in these campaigns. I’m beginning to get this feeling that Dove along with a lot of other companies aren’t advertising correctly and in the right manner.

Stereotypes

-Why do stereotypes exist? What purpose do they serve?

Stereotypes exist because media, stories, etc. have forced them to exist. Although people do not know that stereotypes aren't true and do not exist, people still judge and determine based on their interpretations. Usually, media interprets several sexes, races, etc. with stereotypes, and places several characters in reference to a typical race, gender, etc. Stereotypes usually tend to serve one sole purpose, amusement. They usually serve as humor; many comedians make jokes on generalizations. In other shows, they just serve as amusement. There are plenty of examples out there of stereotypes existing, for instance, the stereotypical big-nosed Jew always after money, the ‘hilarious’ Indian accent, the typical fat American, the dumb blond, etc.

Merchants of Cool Response

Merchants of Cool Response- Question 1

1. “The Merchants of Cool” describes the practice

of “under-the-radar” marketing, including hiring

teens to log-on to chat rooms to talk up bands

and recruiting college freshman to throw campus

parties where they distribute marketing materials.

Ironically, marketers have justified “stealth” marketing

as necessary because teens have become

more media savvy. Do you think that “stealth”

techniques are ethical? If a marketer offered you

money to log-on to chat rooms or throw a party,

would you? When you are tuned in to a concert

(like the hip hop concert feature in the program),

or reading a message in a chat room, how important

is it to know whether or not it is a commercial?

Can you identify the “storytellers” behind

the media you consume most often?

The film that we watched last class, titled, “The Merchants of Cool”, was extremely shocking and opened me to various different techniques and styles of advertising. I was surprised when they mentioned various different things that I had never heard of, such as stealth marketing. I never knew about how there was a whole other side to TV shows, concerts, etc. which involved corporations and advertisements. On the other hand, it did seem quite obvious when they presented a couple of means of advertising. For example when college freshemn are get them to throw parties (generally on campus), and distribute their marketing material. Although, one should believe on how the “stealth” marketing is horrendous and quite frustrating to what extent corporations go to advertise their products. Although these corporations may be unethical, but, I do believe that “stealth” techniques are ethical, as there is nothing stopping them from advertising and presenting their products in this way. Furthermore, they are willing to give up money and their time to advertise their product, so why shouldn’t they? On top of that, the audience is also getting paid, if asked to advertise these products (in parties, etc.) When I am tuned into a concert, for example the concert presented in the video, which was sponsored by Sprite, and made it seem “cool”. Or, if I were to be reading a message in a chat room, I don’t think its that important to know whether it is commercial, as people have their own view to these types of products; just one more commercial wont change anything. This is why I conclude that if a marketer offered me money to log-on to chat rooms or throw a party, I most definitely would. This is because, both the marketer and I am getting benefitted from this. The marketer gets his product advertised; and I get free money and products. Finally, it is up to the remaining audience of what they want to get out of the advertisement and product placement. Lastly, I am not perfectly sure on the storytellers behind the medias I consume most often. However, most of the times, I am aware on which advertisements are being placed and where. Most of the times, advertisements don’t convince me into buying products, which is why I believe that “stealth” marketing is ethical. In conclusion, I believe that the corporations have their rights to present their media and products. Although it may seem a bit unethical, but I think, corporations have a right to do whatever they want to present their media. May it be a normal commercial or hidden commercials, it doesn’t matter. Since, anyhow, the population (all of us) are consuming tons of media, which cannot be prevented.

Ads

New Bruce Willis Movie- Surrogates Ad:

This ad is placed on the streets of Tel Aviv. It has a really nice picture of Bruce Willis, looking towards his left where his hand is. We do not see the end of his hand, but he is probably holding a gun. The target audience is all people living in Israel, especially those who are fans of Bruce Willis. Surrogates especially put Bruce Willis’ picture on here, as he is probably the biggest star in the whole movie, and people might come watch the movie, just because its Bruce Willis’ movie. The product is the movie Surrogates. I think the advertisement is subtle because we do not know what Bruce Willis is doing. It makes everyone extremely curious, and would make many people watch it.

Here is the ad I saw:

TagHeur Ad in the International Herald Tribune (newspaper):

This watch ad is placed on the front page of a famous worldwide newspaper. The product is a fascinating watch, which looks exceptionally well. Tag Heur always has famous men a part of the ad. Today’s paper’s ad didn’t have anyone famous, it was a picture of the watch only. I think the advertising was explicit, it was straight forward, and showed us how beautiful the watch was. The target audience would be all men, who look up to these stars and watches. This ad would influence a good majority of people to purchase the product as it made the watch look really good. Furthermore, the fact that some of these famous stars (Brad Pitt, Tiger Woods, etc.) are seen wearing these watches, it would urge just about anyone to purchase Tag Heur watches.

Sony Vaio Ad on Facebook:

The ad is placed on Facebook, especially those who live in Israel, to inform everyone about the new Sony Vaio laptop scheme. It has an excellent picture of the vaio laptop, and just makes many people want to buy it due to its excellent presentation. It also talks about, how there is a special season going on, where you could purchase this laptop for cheaper. I think this ad is pretty much explicit, as it is straight forward, and since its pretty small, it doesn’t want to leave too many mysteries (as people don’t notice the ads on facebook that much). The target audience would definitely be all people living in Israel, using facebook. It would more particularly be towards the teenagers, as teenagers are the ones who tend to use laptops more.

Related Video and Article

While surfing the internet, I found two unique and interesting things related to what we are currently learning in class.

1) The funny Banned Pepsi Ad, which I always talk about in class. I think this ad was very funny, and effective as it proposes how Pepsi is much better than its competitor, Coca Cola:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ4UvFwFgmM

2) A nice article talking about whether the different medias we consume daily is changing or not. It was extremely interesting and worthwhile reading:

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/09/11/changing-media-consumption-habits-we-still-luv-luv-luv-our-tv/

Media Consumption Log (Week 5)

Saturday- September 26th

Morning (9:30-12:00)

My Nokia Phone

Toothpaste (Colgate)

Brush (Oral-B)

Cherios

TV-

-Advertisements (for various different products- e.g. TV, Gillete, McDonalds, etc.)

-Watched a movie (noticed some ads within the movie)

Apple Macbook

-Surfed the Internet (Ads in the side of most pages)

-Facebook

-Youtube

-Gmail

-Blackboard

-Word

-MSN/Skype

Afternoon (12:00 - 17:00)

Shower

-Nivea soap

-Nivea shampoo

Adidas Deodrant

Gap shorts (label)

Friends came over --> Various different shirt companies (Billabong, A&F, etc.)

TV-

-Watched India's cricket game

-Advertisements in between

-Ads around the stadium

-Jerseys had logos of companies on them

Evening/Night (17:00 - 21:30)

Watched Entourage on laptop (HBO)

Coke and Nestea

Nike Shoes

Noticed Ads on the streets (Carlsberg, Lee Jeans, etc.)

This time, I chose to do my media consumption log on a weekend. This led me to see that I use different forms of media as compared to times when recording my media usage in school. I've realized that when at home, I use quite a bit of electronics which exposes me to various different advertisements. Furthermore, there are some medias that I'm exposed to every single day (soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.) I believe that some corporations might be taking advantage of this. Also, while watching television, I've realized that there are tons of ads not only in between shows, but also during shows and games. Thinking about all the media I consume whether a school day or not makes me dizzy. After doing these media logs; it has truly opened me to a whole new corporate world which I was consuming.

Counter-Ad on MasterCard (By: Saunak, Raz, Thomas, and Clay)

For our counter-ad campaign we chose a typical MasterCard ad which fully embodies the slogan "priceless". In this specific ad, we see a baby with cake smudged on its face and on the top of the page are circles listing the ingredients for a birthday cake and their respective prices. The ad speaks to the typical American family and highlights the importance of memories which can not be bought however the ingredients to forge such a situation can be (refer to top of page). Ultimately, the baby is meant to emphasize true family values and the importance of memories which were made possible by mastercard thus the aimed audience are parents of potentially Caucasian descent. In response to this mastercard ad, we took the mastercard slogan "priceless" to heart and made it our aim to counter that. Our goal was to show that mastercard did not enable the capturng of priceless moments but rather through mindless over consumption created a painstaking situation of debt for the holder. To achieve this, we designed an ad similar to the baby ad in layout by centering our ad around a frustrated man engulfed by images of expensive goods that he bought hoping to buy him happiness. In truth, the man is frustrated simply because he owes mastercard a lot of money as well as coming to terms with the fact that his overindulgence has not brought him the promised priceless moments that mastercard tries to convey in their advertising campaigns. All in all, the sole aim of our ad is to appeal to mastercard/credit card users and convey to them a reality in which nothing is priceless.

Media Consumption Log (Week 4)

Before I got to school (6:30-8:00)

Alarm clock logo

Toothpaste (Colgate)

Brush (Oral-B)

Shower

Nivea soap

Nivea shampoo

Adidas deodrant

School AIS T-Shirt and Tommy Hilfiger shorts

Nike socks and shoes

Bags (Jansport bag and Nike sportsbag)

I-Pod on the bus

Different signs both on the bus and outside (Ikea, Absolut Vodka, etc.)

In School (8:00-15:00)

Various different laptops in school

Used my macbook through most of the day in school

SmartBoard was used in 20^th Cent. History

Powerpoint, youtube, word, etc. were used for presentations in History

Noticed ads on the sides of youtube pages

In free block, at the cafeteria, noticed the big names on different products (Ben and Jerry’s, Nestea, etc.)

Surfed the internet, came across various different advertisments on internet pages

In Physics, used the textbook, my TI-83 Calc., my Faber-Castle pencil, etc.

Lunch time- noticed people buying products from cafeteria

In photography, noticed the various different camera logos (Pentax, etc.)

After School (15:00-18:30)

Mikasa volleyballs

Noticed sport company logos on shirts, shorts, shoes, etc.

Wore my adidas sport shoes, nike kneepads

Saw how Derby sponsored our uniform (I wore my last years uniform)

Many people consumed drinking products (Gatorade, Neviot water, etc.

After performing this media consumption log, it helps me prove myself stating that depending on what classes, and activities I have, I am exposed to medias relating to that. For example, if there are presentations in a class, I would be exposed to Powerpoint, and videos shown on youtube. If I surf the internet, I’m bound to run into ads on different pages. Whilst playing a sport, it is bound to expose to media relating sports, such as sport companies, and various different drinking products. I think that all corporations and major companies should take this information into consideration.

"The Corporation" vs. "The Ad and the Ego"

“The Ad and the Ego goes beyond deconstructing individual advertisements to reveal the economic and political dimensions of living in an advertising infused environment. In our “new world order” of diminishing resources and devastating pollution, this film makes the critical connections between the rise of consumerism, environmental degradation and our blind commitment to economic growth at any cost. It forcefully demonstrates the link between our debased public discourse and a media culture that defines freedom as consumer choice rather than democratic participation.” – The Ad and the Ego web site

Question: What do you think is the impact of consumerism on our /your media environment and the public’s ability (or lack thereof) to remain informed?

After watching two influential films, the documentary titled “The Corporation” and “The Ad and the Ego”, I was opened to a wide range of shocking information. It led me to spot the impact of consumerism on our media environment. To start with, consumerism is an important ideology used by most corporations and businesses. Whether we realize it or not, almost all media is owned by some corporation, who misuse this media to the benefit of their marketing. Its as if we are consuming, not what we want, but rather what we are given. After watching the Corporation documentary, it made it much easier to understand how Corporations are greedy, who seek extra benefits and profits for themselves. Furthermore, “the Ad and the Ego” was another appalling video, which helped me understand that we absorb information through some advertisements and less to others; most of the time, this information is absolutely useless.

To start with, “the Corporation” documentary was a powerful way of showing us that most corporations are only interested about the extent of profits and money that are made. Most corporations disguise themselves to look friendly and family-like, however most people fail to understand the gloomy side of these major corporations. Some of these corporations have increased in size and power to such an extent that they even disobey the law and governments. In addition, most of these companies are extremely careless for their surroundings, and are extremely harmful, especially poor countries. People from such nations usually consider these corporations ‘god-like’ and many corporations take advantage of these poor countries. For example, Nike is a company that forces people to make shirts in a small and certain time frame. The workers usually end up getting less than 1% of the total income of that shirt. Lastly, this documentary addressed the fact to how many corporations only present information that is positive and good for them. Most people do not realize this, however this is when the public looses the ability to remain informed on everything.

Moreover, “the Ad and the Ego” was another breathtaking documentary showing us the true meaning of advertisements. The main part of this film that caught my attention was when, they pinpointed how we usually find most advertisements stupid and boring, however, there is a huge industry analyzing and researching for these advertisements. Above all, these corporations are pretty much satisfied when consumers and/or the public have accessed the information. Also, this film emphasized on the revolution of advertisements. Starting in the 17^th century, advertisements were only used to give information about the product. Over a gradual process, this began to change, as there was a mismatch between the consumers and the quantity and variability of the products. Lastly, in order to convince consumers and the public into buying the products of these companies/corporations, they produce many eye-catching, interesting, and humorous commercials. These commercials usually help make people believe that only if they acquired this product, their life will be ‘perfect’. Most of the time, the product fails to do so, as most human beings are greedy, it forces them to buy more products.

In conclusion, after watching both these documentaries, “The Corporations” and “The Ad and the Ego”, I’ve managed to learn a lot about these major corporations and companies and how they are ‘fooling’ their public. There is a wide impact of consumerism on our media environment as it is mainly owned and regulated by these massive corporations. Due to this, the public looses its ability to remain informed about the ‘actual’ information. With the help of both these documentaries we can see that corporations aren’t really what they seem, take advantages of many different weak nations, people, etc., are extremely greedy, and only look for their profits, market ads and commercials ‘forcing’ customers to buy their products, and how they are in a serious competition with one another. This leads to the idea of social Darwinism, and how the fittest and most adaptable will be the one to survive.

Super Size Me (Article Comparison)

The Documentary on Super Size Me truly opened my eyes to various different things and aspects of food that I never realized. It caused me to be more alert of what I am eating, what it is doing to my body, and how it will affect me in the future. After watching the documentary, every time I would eat something, I’d examine it first, to see what it might do to my body. This documentary truly opened me to the reality of fast food restaurants. Both these articles, the New York Times review, and the TCS Daily review had different views towards this documentary.

To start with, the New York Times review, basically agreed with the documentary by Morgan Spurlock. This article also emphasizes on how dangerous eating fast foods is and compares it to tobacco. This article basically summarizes the whole documentary, and focuses on the conclusion of the documentary, and how one can relate to this documentary in real life. The main conclusion that the article wants to make and urge is to “kill McDonald's before McDonald's kills us”; where McDonald’s can be applied to most fast food restaurants. Although, our world today is dependant on this quick and easy way of food service, this article is willing to re-emphasize the points made by Spurlock, and “is certainly worth the loss of your appetite”.

Furthermore, the other article by, TSC, titled A Supersized Distortion, has a completely different view point as compared to both Spurlock and the New York Times article. This article, criticizes Spurlock to a great extent, and starts off by saying that he proved that eating makes you fat, rather than only fast foods. The article also talks about how the movie isn’t original and applicable at all. This is because the article says that no one would eat so much McDonald’s, which is why it doesn’t really apply to most people who eat at fast food places. The article also says that Spurlock blames “McDonald's for his own foray into gluttony”, meaning he blames McDonalds for his bad eating habits. Then the article continues stating various different relevant examples, relating to weight loss.

In conclusion, both of these articles were two different, opposite point of views to the documentary by Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me. The article from New York Times had a view, which agreed with Spurlock’s documentary, and view. This article was more general and talked about the cons of eating fast food. On the other hand, the TSC article was extremely contrastive, and criticized Spurlock’s masterpiece immensely. After reading both articles, and watching the movie, I definitely believe that I used to have a view similar to the one given by the TSC article, and ignored all the cons of eating fast food and unhealthy. However, watching this documentary and reading the article by New York Times has really waken me up, and now I am more aware of my food; and know that I should consider other options other than fast food.

Media Consumption Log (Week 3)

Before I got to School (6:30- 8:00)

- Alarm clock logo

- Toothpaste (Colgate)

- Brush (Oral-B)

- Shower

o Nivea soap

o Nivea shampoo

- Adidas deodrant

- School AIS T-shirt and Fox Men Jeans

- Nike socks and shoes

- My Jansport bag

-Nike sports bag

- I-Pod on the bus

- Various different signs both on the bus and outside (No Smoking sign, Ikea sign, etc.)

In School (8:00 – 15:00)

- Various different laptops in school (Dell, HP, Macbooks, Toshiba, Acer, etc.)

-Used my Macbook in Stats

-SmartBoard was used in Stats

-Watched Super Size Me in English

-Ms. Ben-Ozilio showed us a new drink available in the cafeteria

-Used Texas Instruments Calculator + Physics Textbook in Physics

- Lunchtime, noticed some drinks (Neviot water, Kinley soda, etc.)

- In free block, used my apple macbook.

o Surfed the internet using Safari

§ Checked squirrel mail, Gmail, etc.

o Used Microsoft Word

After School (15:00- 18:30)

-Came home on the bus, and saw different advertisements on the way home

-At home, watched TV (noticed Sony written on the TV)

-Various different commercials on TV

-Various different products whilst watching TV

-Went to play Tennis

-Used my Head racket

-Noticed Wilson written on the Tennis balls

-Drank Gatorade whilst playing

Seeing all three media logs so far, I’ve come to the conclusion that depending on what classes I have on a particular day definitely depends on my media consumption. Furthermore, I believe that depending on which activities I perform, also is taken under consideration for my media consumption. As, the days I would play volleyball, would have me consume different medias than when I’d just come home, or go play tennis. Lastly, I can see many similarities between all three logs, which leads me to conclude that most media is repetitive, whatever we do everyday (brush, shower, clothes, etc.).