Conclusion to my San Francisco Thanksgiving trip-- a Riot in Union Square 11/29/14

On the last night of my time in San Francisco this Thanksgiving break, I witnessed one of the many riots happening in response to Ferguson that occurred across the country.  Seeing as I was there, I thought I would take a look at the descriptions of the event through the eyes of the media.

Granted, I did leave just before the protesters started to get riot-y, so I cannot vouch for how the environment got after the initial protests.  When I left though, there were A LOT of police patrolling the streets and I did see people in the middle of Union Square holding signs for Ferguson.  I did not however see any commotion from the protestors as I was leaving.  

The article's title itself is already biased and negate toward the protesters.  It reads, "Black Friday Protest Over Ferguson Decision Turns Ugly, Clashes In Union Square, Mission District."  By saying, "turns ugly," the reader of this article pictures the protestors (mainly peaceful) all savagely tearing through Union Square.  By having this pretense set in the title, the reader can no longer view the protests for what they are supposed to be viewed for and must instead see them as completely negative and violent.  

The article also states that bricks were "hurled" along with listing more violent acts.  Now, I am not saying that I condone these acts.  I certainly do not appreciate the protests turning violent and causing harm to the businesses surrounding them.  But I do believe that because the article is only describing the violent acts, the audience will not understand the reasons behind the protests in the first place.  If the article is going to bash the protestors, the article must also illustrate to the readers why the protestors are protesting in the first place and should not generalize and label all of the protesters in the title of the article.  

here is the link for the article.  http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/28/activists-protest-ferguson-decision-ahead-of-union-square-black-friday-tree-lighting-san-francisco-macys-michael-brown-shooting-police-killings-embarcadero/

Need to Nurture incorporating "odd advertising"- Kitten Edition 11/26/14

This Thanksgiving, as per my family tradition, I am spending part of the week in San Francisco.  Along with the sightseeing San Francisco has to offer, the shopping, and the museums, my San Francisco adventure would not be complete without visiting the lovable kittens and puppies within the holiday displays in the Macy's store in Union Square.

For anyone unaware of what I am talking about, every year during the holidays Macy's partners with the SPCA and sets up a holiday window display with puppies and kittens in need of adoption inside of them.  The thousands of passerbys on the street will walk passed the adorable pets and some will end up adopting them, and according to the SPCA's website, provide a home for the animals which is, "The greatest gift of all."  

I love walking passed these cute animals, but is doing this helping Macy's or the SPCA in any way?  I think it is.  When people see the cats and dogs in need of a home, they feel a need to nurture the animals and possibly take in one, helping the SPCA.  This visual appeals to one of the 15 Basic Appeals according to Jib Fowles: the need to nurture.  By seeing these animals in person, it triggers a person's paternal or maternal instincts, resulting in someone bringing a dog home.  

This also helps Macy's.  Not only is the store doing a good deed by giving publicity to a good organization trying to find new homes for animals, it is also helping themselves.  When I think of Macy's during the holidays, I think of them doing this.  I think higher of Macy's because of it.  I think to myself, "does any other company do this for animals?"  Overall, the whole campaign gives me a better feeling when I shop at Macy's, and regardless of whether or not I actually like the clothes they sell more than others, I feel better about shopping there.  

This also incorporates the idea of "odd advertising" in order to break through the clutter.  Odd advertising was talked about in the documentary titled Persuaders.   It is not everyday that you see kittens and puppies in store windows.  It really captures your attention, even when you are surrounded by a lot of other advertising.  In San Francisco there is a lot to look at, but, personally, seeing the cats in the windows captures my attention because it is unique to Macy's.  

-Liv

Advertising Meets Ballet (featuring Misty Copeland) 11/23/14

This is an ad from Under Armour, a brand for sports clothing and athletic supplies.  Recently they have been having a campaign focusing on women.  They want to empower women to achieve what they want in the world.  They have been using Misty Copeland, a ballerina with American Ballet Theater in New York City, as one of the subjects for their commercials.  In New York, you can see billboards with her muscular body plastering the sides of highways.

The brand uses her inspiring story in the video ad.  The ad retells her struggles of trying to make it in the ballet world by having a voiceover of a rejection letter Copeland received when she tried to audition for a ballet school at age 13.  By having this story, Under Armour is hoping that the audience associates their brand with resilience and positive outcomes.  They may wish that when a consumer watches their commercial, the consumer believes that if they wear Under Armour products they too will be successful.  Under Armour is also hoping that by appealing to hardworking women, they will gain acceptance from that demographic so that when a women wants to get workout clothes, she will turn to Under Armour first. 

This ad doesn't touch on the subject that it was not just the clothes that made Misty Copeland achieve greatness.  In fact, Copeland most likely never wore Under Armour when she was trying to make it in the ballet world.  She probably wore tights and a leotard made by a dance company instead.  The ad is trying to get people to believe that if they wear these pieces of clothing they will be like Copeland, even though she didn't get to where she is today by wearing the clothing.  

I personally like this ad.  It features ballet and it tells an uplifting story.  Even though the ad wouldn't necessarily convince me to buy Under Armour all the time, it does make me think higher of the company that other stores.  Though the ad certainly has flaws, like omitting the fact that Copeland got to where she is by hard work and not wearing a certain brand, I think that it was a good ad.  

-Liv

Spotted: Vitamin Water Uses Product Placement in Gossip Girl 11/23/14

It is no secret that the Gossip Girl series on TV was wildly popular.  It reached out to millions of fans during the duration of the 6 season show, and even today is watched by many over sites like Netflix and Hulu.  Gossip Girl is and was a big influence on (especially) teenage girls.  Gossip Girl, as summarized by Netflix, is a series in which "rich, unreasonably attractive private school students do horrible, scandalous things to each other.  Repeatedly."  Along with spouting unrealistic expectations for teens, Gossip Girl also conspicuously markets to them.  Vitamin Water is one example.

Vitamin Water is seen multiple times throughout the series.  The above example is when Vitamin Water is being served at a "Black and White Party," where the guests wear either black or white.  One of the really attractive men in the show, Chuck Bass, is seen drinking Vitamin Water in this seen.  By including Vitamin Water in the scene, it is marketing it in a way that is desirable for teens.  Teenage girls may see Chuck Bass drinking Vitamin Water and believe that if they too drink it, their life may be as wonderful as his.  Or they might get the impressions that Vitamin Water is drunk only by rich, good looking people with exciting lives.  Either way, it is clear that seeing Vitamin Water many times during the duration of the show will leave the viewers with a good impression of the product.  

Also in the party scene, this photo shows attractive people drinking Vitamin Water, again demonstrating the idea that only rich, good looking people drink Vitamin Water, and if the viewers too drinks it, surely they will live this kind of life.  People in the audience will project what they like about the show onto the product.  For example, if they love the show because it romantic, they may associate romance with Vitamin Water if it was drunk in a romantic scene.  

However, nowhere in Gossip Girl does in actually say how good or bad Vitamin Water is for you.  No warning is given to the amount of sugar or calories that are in these drinks.  The marketers for the product rely solely on the viewers' perception of the show to influence purchase of the product, and do not give any facts of the product itself.  

This is an ad for both Vitamin Water and Gossip Girl.  This ad directly ties Gossip Girl with Vitamin Water, and even though it is not as discrete as the product placement, it still encourages teens to buy Vitamin Water to be like the characters on Gossip Girl.  

-Liv

Relationship Status with Media 11/16/14

"What is my relationship with media?"  When I first hear this question, I feel that my relationship is pretty limited.  I mean, I dance for hours everyday, so the amount of free time I have to be exposed to media is pretty nominal, right?  But then I really thought about it and realized that I unintentionally absorbed media like a sponge, and the scary part is that I didn't even realize what I was taking in; I was doing it unconsciously.  When I walk down the halls at school, people have brand names and icons plastered to their shirts and sweatshirts.  When I ride in the car, the radio advertises to me to buy a certain type of car.  The songs on the radio also tell me how I should act in response to certain situations.  When I pick up and read a book at night,  it is telling me information and subconsciously  influencing my perspectives.  When I think about it, I am surrounded by media that I don't even intend to be surrounded by.  "What is my relationship with media?"  I would have to say that it is a big part of my life, even though I haven't even try to incorporate it.  

Now, some people may wonder what the big deal is.  Why should it matter that media is around us? They might think that they can just tune it out or ignore it.  But I believe that media does influence people:  it dictates what our standards of beauty are, it tells us what to buy, it shows us what our lives would supposedly look like if we followed the advertisements, it tells us opinions that we will at times mistake for our own.  

Take almost every Disney movie ever made.  They usually have an old, ugly, or fat woman being the cause of some unjust crime toward the princess.  This can cause children to have unreasonable fears toward less-than-beutiful women.  I know that when I was young, I was a little bit uncomfortable sitting next to people that matched the above description.  

I hope that my blog gets you to think about what messages media is telling you so you can be armed with the tools to decipher if it is true or not.  

-Liv