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.).

Corporation Documentary Reaction

"Corporations have invested billions to shape public and political opinion. When they own everything, who will stand up for the public good?" - The Corporation Web Site

In a greedy and ravenous world we live in, most, if not all corporations look for the benefit of themselves. All corporations, basically, want to earn as much money as they can. For example, advantages are taken over citizens from poor countries, which are treated dreadfully and aren’t taken into consideration against the big revenues and profits made by the big company. However, if corporations who have invested billions, will own everything, I believe that the people not involved in these corporations would stand up for the public good. When such a site will occur, I believe that most people will be involved in corporations and looking after their own wealth and finance, whilst the people not involved in these corporations will be the saviors, and fight and stand up for the public good. That is why, I believe it is extremely important to realize what horrible things these corporations are performing, and how it harms a lot of poor and needy people around the globe. For example, in our world today, one major cause of pollution is these major corporations (e.g. paper mills are released into a river in Burma, pig farms are polluting rivers, Shell Oil Company in Nigeria is one of the most polluting institutions in the world, etc.) Furthermore, this movie caught my eye when the mentioned that many brokers, involved in corporations, profited from drastic problems. For instance, after the twin tower attacks on 9/11, many people doubled their money; when Americans bombed Iraq in 1991, oil prices shot up. In conclusion, I think that in our world today, it is the people, who are against these massive corporations will stand up for the public good, which is why it is important to educate people today of the horrendous actions these huge corporations are performing in order to have a safe and peaceful future without the fear of big corporations owning everything.

Media Consumption Log (Week 2)

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

- My Jansport bag

- I-Pod on the bus

- 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, Toshiba, Acer, etc.)

- -Used SmartBoard in 20th Century History

- -Used Microsoft Word/Powerpoint in classes

- - In free block, used my apple macbook.

· Surfed the internet using Safari

§ Checked squirrel mail, Gmail, etc.

· Used Microsoft Word and Powerpoint

- - Used textbook for Physics

- - Used TI-83 Calculator during Physics

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

- -Ate a Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream

- - Black and White Photography cameras (Canon, etc.)

After School (15:00- 18:30)

- Saw different sports brands during varsity sports (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, etc.)

- -Wore my Adidas sport shoes

- -Mikasa Volleyball

- -After sports, many people drank Gatorade