Blog – While I think this article is interesting and valuable, Martha Stewart has fallen out of vogue a bit. Name and explain a more contemporary media icon that people are now striving to follow.
It seems that the contemporary media icons change every couple of years. Up until December I would have said Tiger Woods is the clear example. Similarly to Martha Stewart, though, Tiger has fallen from the pedestal he was once on. I read an article the other day online, though, that said Tiger's products are selling as well as ever - so maybe he still belongs on the list. A year ago at this time I would have said Barack Obama, and while he still remains vastly popular as a person, many have been disappointed with his politics so far. Michael Jordan is still an media icon, though nowhere near the one he was in the 90's. Michael Jordan is still seen as the ultimate athlete - a feisty competitor who willed his team to win and could sell shoes just by his name. Over the last five years, Lebron James has taken some of that iconship - especially when he stood up against Darfur. Another athlete who is extremely popular and many try to emulate, especially locally, is Peyton Manning. To many people Peyton is the indestructible quarterback who donated so much money that he got a children's hospital named after him. It is actually quite amazing how many people try to emulate athletes. Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus (especially amongst the younger population), Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Obama, Rich Warren, George Clooney, Sarah Palin, George Clooney, Zac Efron, Jay Leno, Hillary Clinton, and Jay-Z are more people that come to my mind, although they all have a strong crowd of enemies as well. Compare that list to 5 years ago and it's amazing how much has changed - media icons come and go pretty quickly.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Kilbourne
According to Kilbourne, it is dangerous to depict women and men as sex objects because it can degrade members of society (consciously or sub-consciously). Kilbourne hypothesizes that people see commercials that are objectifying and it sub-consciously affects them. I agree that this is a problem for some people. I think that a large part of this goes back to education. Educated people are less likely to be manipulated by these ads. Kilbourne thinks that the objectification of women is more troubling because they already have a lesser role in society. Commercials further push women back in society by making it seem like they are sex objects. I agree, although it's important to realize that women willingly agree to appear in the ads. Either they don't think it is being objectifying or they don't care about morals. I think the former is more likely.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Grammy Awards on CBS
Watch another 30-minutes of television. Blog – Note the time, program and audience of whatever you watched. What did you notice about the ads? How were they catering to a given audience?
It is 8:00 P.M. Sunday night, but I'm starting whenever Lady Gaga quits singing. Putting the TV on mute enables me to notice the audience. There are two different audiences, anyone in the American public (ages 10-50) who listens to music and the live audience (ditto). It looks as if there may be over 10,000 people there. Lady Gaga quit singing, thank goodness, so I can turn the mute off. The host is making very simple jokes - clearly targeted to people who are really into seeing Lady Gaga perform in her 13450981034 costumes, because they would be the only ones deep enough into it already to laugh. Now the host is making some joke to his daughter about guitar hero and some old rocker dude having the high score in it even though he's never played it, and his daughter is playing along. More simple humor but they are effectively bringing together different generations. Useful for keeping the attention of families watching the Grammy Awards together. The host announced that Beyonce won the best song of the year award. This isn't just an observation of THIS award show, but the short speeches remind you who the audience is. Nobody wants to hear Beyonce's posse thank 5 million people. They keep the acceptance speeches short because people would rather see the presentations, performances, various celebrities, and more awards. It's all about keeping the audience focused, and that is why they move along at such a fast pace. The longest segments are the performances, and besides the fact that they are the most popular singers, they also use tons of different camera angles and lighting effects and dancers to create a mass chaos of movement. The noise of the live audience adds a subtle yet effective effect. The thousands of cheering people sends a message to the viewer that they should be watching it because all those people are so excited and enjoying it so much. The first ad is for some Lincoln car. Sure enough, they use a song, Major Tom, as the key part of their advertisement. Shots alter between the singers singing the song and video of the car driving in infinity. The next ad is a contacts ad, a very normal ad there. McDonald's showed an ad next for some burrito looking thing. There were three girls in the ad and a guy eating the food. As the guy walked by all the girls eyed him and they were all smiley and so was he. The message was clearly that McDonald's gets you the girls. Beyonce is now about to perform "If I were a Boy" and it's 8:30. Perfect timing.
It is 8:00 P.M. Sunday night, but I'm starting whenever Lady Gaga quits singing. Putting the TV on mute enables me to notice the audience. There are two different audiences, anyone in the American public (ages 10-50) who listens to music and the live audience (ditto). It looks as if there may be over 10,000 people there. Lady Gaga quit singing, thank goodness, so I can turn the mute off. The host is making very simple jokes - clearly targeted to people who are really into seeing Lady Gaga perform in her 13450981034 costumes, because they would be the only ones deep enough into it already to laugh. Now the host is making some joke to his daughter about guitar hero and some old rocker dude having the high score in it even though he's never played it, and his daughter is playing along. More simple humor but they are effectively bringing together different generations. Useful for keeping the attention of families watching the Grammy Awards together. The host announced that Beyonce won the best song of the year award. This isn't just an observation of THIS award show, but the short speeches remind you who the audience is. Nobody wants to hear Beyonce's posse thank 5 million people. They keep the acceptance speeches short because people would rather see the presentations, performances, various celebrities, and more awards. It's all about keeping the audience focused, and that is why they move along at such a fast pace. The longest segments are the performances, and besides the fact that they are the most popular singers, they also use tons of different camera angles and lighting effects and dancers to create a mass chaos of movement. The noise of the live audience adds a subtle yet effective effect. The thousands of cheering people sends a message to the viewer that they should be watching it because all those people are so excited and enjoying it so much. The first ad is for some Lincoln car. Sure enough, they use a song, Major Tom, as the key part of their advertisement. Shots alter between the singers singing the song and video of the car driving in infinity. The next ad is a contacts ad, a very normal ad there. McDonald's showed an ad next for some burrito looking thing. There were three girls in the ad and a guy eating the food. As the guy walked by all the girls eyed him and they were all smiley and so was he. The message was clearly that McDonald's gets you the girls. Beyonce is now about to perform "If I were a Boy" and it's 8:30. Perfect timing.
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