Journal: 2-3

Overbearing Brands

     Last week I asked a question about the different types of methods acvvertisement industries use to make people want to buy their product. I only already knew a couple of them but however through my research, i discovered that there are alot more techniques that advertisers use that I wasn't aware of. It's amazing to see how many techniques advertisement industries have been able to find. Some of the techniques include:
WEASEL WORDS
MAGIC INGREDIENTS
PATRIOTISM
DIVERSION
TRANSFERPLAIN FOLKS
SNOB APPEALBRIBERY
TESTIMONIAL
WIT AND HUMORSIMPLE SOLUTIONS
CARD STACKING
GLITTERING GENERALITIES

BANDWAGON
http://www.foothilltech.org/rgeib/english/media_literacy/advertising_techniques.htm

     From this list there were plently I did not know of before such as snob appeals, bribery and magic ingredients. It's interesting to see how these tactics really do work when it comes to attracting consumers to a certain product. Advertisement industries seem as though they will do almost anything for you to even consider buying their product.

     This past week we discussed what the definition of a brand really is and what makes us loyal to a certain product above others. We were assigned to research a particular brand of which we are very loyal to and explain why we are so loyal to it in the first place. For me, I picked my favorite tennis brand: Babolat. However, I was shocked to discover how many people picked the same exact brand of which they will never faulter from. For example, atleast six people picked apple as their brand and brands such as nike and pepsi were common as well. It got me to thinking; why do these specific brands seem to attract people more than others.

     In my opinion I think what attracts most people to certain brands these days (especially the younger generation) is how modern a cartain thing is. It seems as though if a brand were to suddenly put a modern twist on their product that they would sell more. Apple is known for its futuristic technology, nike is known for using modern technology to make your athletic performance better and pepsi has released a new ad campagin featuring messages of changing the world. I'll even admit that part of the reason why I love Babolat tennis racquets so much is because they use modern colors and technology that other companies don't. Maybe human being are drawn to these modern products in a subconcious effort to move the human race forward.

     Another example of this is the Nook which has been introduced in Barnes and Noble book stores. The Nook is an electronic device where you can read whatever book you want. To me, this product does sound cool but why not just read a regular book? It almost seems pointless. However, Americans seem to be flocking to Barnes and Noble to get themselves a Nook. This is just another example of how people want this new product because it is modern even though they could just as easily buy the book and save alot more money.

     I end my blog with a question: What other aspects about products attract consumers?

"ADVERTISING TECHNIQUES." Foothill Technology High School. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. <http://www.foothilltech.org/rgeib/english/media_literacy/advertising_techniques.htm>.

"Ancient Technology Cartoons and Comics." CartoonStock - Cartoon Pictures, Political Cartoons, Animations. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. <http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/a/ancient_technology.asp>.

"Apple IPhone 3G." Mobile Gazette - Mobile Phone News. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. <http://www.mobilegazette.com/apple-iphone-3g-08x06x09.htm>.

Journal: 2-2

Sneaky Branding

     Through my research on the internet I was unable to find any physical benefits to those who volunteer on a regular basis. However, I did find out that a main mental benefit in volunteering is a decrease in depression for those who volunteer. In my research I also found some statistics:

A Duke study found that individuals who volunteered after experiencing heart attacks reported reductions in despair and depression – two factors that that have been linked to mortality in post-coronary artery disease patients.

An analysis of longitudinal data found that individuals over 70 who volunteered approximately 100 hours had less of a decline in self-reported health and functioning levels, experienced lower levels of depression, and had more longevity.

Another study found that volunteering led to lower rates of depression in individuals 65 and older.

http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=687

     This data that I found is very convincing on why people should constantly volunteer their time. Although you may not always physically benefit unless it's doing something active, you can be sure that your mental health will definitely improve over time and you will be a happier person.

     In class these past two weeks, we have been watching and finished a documentary called "The Persuaders". This was a movie about how the advertisement industry works and how they try to reach out to the common people to buy their products. It talked about methods they use to apeal to us, product placement, and also how the advertisement industry is suffering. We discussed in class the good and negative effects of becoming a culture strictly based off of and controlled by advertising.

     I do believe that advertising is good and that it allows certain brands to distinguish themselves from others and promotes a good stable economy based on capitalism. However, I also believe in the issue that we are almost ceasing to become a culture due to excessive advertising. It seems as though everywhere you go, you pass by atleast 10 advertisements trying to influence your life. I feel as though we have to be careful as a generation, not to let our culture slip away from us due to advertising trying to control what we do in our lives.

     A connection to something else we have not discussed is how alcohol advertisements seem to glamourize the consumption of alcohol. There are thousands of advertisements for different types of alcohol that show people having fun and not fearing any consequences of what might happen to them. I believe that not as many people would consume alcohol if there were no advertisements for it or even advertisements against it stating how bad it is for you. This just demonstrates how powerful advertising can be.

     I end my blog today with a question: What are the specific methods advertisement industries have started to use in order to reach out to the consumers?

"Pepsi Cartoons - Offthemark.com - by Mark Parisi." 5000 off the Mark Cartoons by Mark Parisi. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. http://offthemark.com/search-results/key/pepsi/.

"Press Release: Volunteering Produces Health Benefits." Corporation for National and Community Service. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=687>.

Very Demotivational - The Demotivational Posters Blog. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/?id=9038.

Journal: 2-1

Veterans and Volunteering

     Last week I asked a question about whether or not being closer to the middle of the chart on the political compass website meant that you were going to win. I used this arguement in my prevoius blog because I believed that if you were closer to the middle, you appealed to a greater amount of people. So I went back onto the website and did some out side research on the topic.

     I soon realized that almost every party or candidate that was closest to the middle of the chart never won. Also, I noticed in alot of accounts that the people in the middle often received the least amount of votes in the elections. For example, in the 2008 Canadian elections the winning party with the most votes was the conservatives which happened to be on the far right of the political spectrum and the Green party which was right in the middle, hardly received any votes at all.

     I guess this proves that you can not predict the outcome of an election strictly based on where they are on the political spectrum. It always matters on the issues of modern day society and also the personalities of those running for election.

     In honor of Veteran's day, this past week we watched a documentary entitled "The Way We Get By" which talked about a group of veterans called the Maine Troop Greeters who helped to give support to troops flying in and out of the country. We also discussed issues that dealt with the problems veterans have in today's society and also discussed about how the elderly veteran's by supporting their troops were improving their health by volunteering.

     For me, I was really intrigued about the idea that just simply volunteering could make a big difference in your health. This concept was clearly illustrated in this documentary that we watched. The elderly veterans felt as though volunteering gave them a very important purpose in life, because they felt like they couldn't contribute much more to society in any other way. Based on this alone, I believ that volunteering can make you healthier. It can give you a will to live so you don't give up when you're down or sick.

     Since it is becoming more well known that volunteering can improve your health, maybe that's why so much volunteering legislation has been passed recently in order to make more volunteering organizations. Some examples include: Peace Corps, VISA, NCSA, Senior Corps, Ameri Corps, Learn and Sevre America, and the most recent one, The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which Obama passed in 2009. Most of these just called to expand operations that have already been established so that more people can become involved and improve their health as well as their happiness.

     I end my blog with a question. Can volunteering ever improve a person's physical health, more so than their mental health?

"2008 Canadian Election Results." SFU.ca. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/results.html>.

"Gateway Senior Services and Volunteering." Welcome to Gateway Senior Services Located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.gatewayseniorliving.com/volunteer.html>.

“Veteran’s Day Parade and Events.” Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.polkveteranscouncil.org/veteransday.html>.

Journal: 1-7

What Party Do You Attend?

     First, I will answer my question from last week. Through my research, I was unable to find out just how many cases had been brought before the supreme court on the matter of violation of free speech. However, in my research I found articles that show that the supreme court is slightly biased on the matter. They usually consider painful and hurtful acts of free speech to another person as wrong and unjust. So in the court's view, even though you have the right to say what you want, you shouldnt make a threat or say something hurtful to another person or else you might face punishment on the matter.

     This past week we finished our documentary This Divided State and also discussed results which we received from two political tests. One was only about 10 questions and the other seemed pretty close to 50. It gave you results of what side you are on the political spectrum and how you normally feel on the issues of todays society. For the first quiz, you could be a leftist authoritarian, a leftist libertarian, and rightish authoritarian or a rightest libertarian. It also gave you numbers which represented how strong your beliefs were in the category it put you in. The second quiz however just simply told you if you were a socialist, neo-liberalist, libertaian, authoritarian or centrist.

     Although alot of the questions from these two quizes were broad, open ended and biased, I believed that it forced you to choose an opinion on matters. I also believe that they both gave a pretty accurate account of what you trully believe in and where you fit on the political spectrum. For example, the quizes accurately both said that I was a leftist libertarian. However, I do believe that political correctness played a key role in me answering my questions. I must admit I answered a few questions based strictly on what I believed a liberal would answer it if it was a tough question that I had trouble answering.

     Something I found very interesting was the political compass results of all the candidate for presidency in 2008. Sarah Palin and John McCain are exactly where I would think they would be, far right and high on hte authoritarian scale. However, it suprised me that Barack Obama and Joe Biden technically are not a liberal according to this graph. It shows them being really close to the middle but leaning towards the right and being slightly authoritarian. Perhaps this is how a president should be in order to get elected. From all the US history and government studies I have been through, I have always been taught that being in the middle on issues appeals to the most people and therefore gives you a better chance at being elected. Perhaps this scale is good at determining who will win an election based on how close to the middle they are.

     I end my blog today with a question: Does the candidate closer to the middle always win the other political elections represented on the political compass website?

"Being Libertarian." A Look Inside... Web. 03 Nov. 2010. http://traevoli.com/libertarian.php.

First Ammendment Coalition. Word Press, 2010. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/.

"US Presidential Election 2008." The Political Compass. Web. 03 Nov. 2010. http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008.

Journal: 1-6

Diversity in a not so Divided State

     Last week, for some reason my question did not show up when I posted my blog. My question was: I wonder how negative campaigning will affect the polls of the Disctrict 7 Congress Race in a week. It's been a week and I've done my research. I was not able to find poll of the current election, however I did find past polls of Cantor winning every election since 2002 by a landslide.

Year	Election	Candidate	Votes	Percent
2008	general	Eric Cantor (R)	233,531	62.7%
		Anita Hartke (D)	138,123	37.1%
2006	general	Eric Cantor (R)	163,706	63.8%
		James Nachman (D)	88,206	34.4%
		W. Blanton (I)	4,213	1.6%
2004	general	Eric Cantor (R)	230,765	75.5%
		W. Blanton (I)	74,325	24.3%
2002	general	Eric Cantor (R)	113,658	69.4%
		Ben Jones (D)	49,854	30.5%

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-2010-VA-07

     I did some research on youtube for his past political ads and most of them have been positive instead of negative. Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe positive campaigning can be alot more effective than negative campaigning in the long run. However, maybe Floyd Bayne or Rick Waugh can shake things up this time using negative campaigning.

      This past week, we did research about Utah and the presidential race of 2004 and started to watch the movie This Divided State. This was a film made by a college student to capture the cotroversy of bringing Michael Moore to speak at a college in Utah. The reason this was so controversial was that Michael Moore has an extremly liberal point of view and the state of Utah was extremly conservative. Many believed that the youth would be corrupted by what Michael Moore had to say and didn't want him to come and share his opinion.

     In class we discussed how this relates to the freedom of speech and whether or not his freedom's are being respected. I believe his freedom of speech isn't being protected. He should be able to express his views with other people who may not agree with him. Most of the people in Utah in this movie seem to appear as hardheaded and resistent to change and associate Michael Moore with evil because he doesn't share the same conservative views. I think it's good for people to see different views on everything. It helps them to develope their own opinion of certain issues.

     An application of this to a controversial issue today is letting the Tea Party candidates speak their minds and opinions about modern issues. It seems as though somehow, the Tea Party has recently been given a bad name and anything associated with it seems to be associated with evil and anarchy. However, I believe that they shouldn't be judged by the bad name someone has given them. They should be able to give a speech without protest and be judged critically on what they have to say and where they stand on the issues rather than the political party they are associated with.

     I leave my blog today with a question: How many supreme court records are there involving the issue of Freedom of Speech and what was determined?

"CQ Politics | District Detail: VA-07." CQ Politics | Congressional, Presidential and Political News, Blogs, Member Profiles. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-2010-VA-07>.

"Free-speech Dialogue « Mission Europa Netzwerk Karl Martell." Mission Europa Netzwerk Karl Martell. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://missioneuropakmartell.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/political-cartoons/free-speech-dialogue/>.

Kurtzman, Daniel. "Alice on Wonderland Tea Party Cartoon - Political Cartoon." Political Humor - Jokes Satire and Political Cartoons. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Tea-Party-Cartoons/Stupidest-Tea-Party.1-4w.htm>.

Journal: 1-5

Politics Today

     Last week I asked the question: Should politicians be accounted for what they have done in their past 100%? After extensive research on the internet trying to find what people think about the matter, I was unable to find any substantial evidence for my question. However I did find a question website on which someone had asked: "What Kind of Background Makes a Good Politician?", and many of everyday people responded which interesting views on the matter. A few responses from this website include:

"A man or woman who is an expert in economics, finances, stocks, etc; who is compassionate to the plight of the many, who takes care of this country, not foreign aid; who is humble."

- To me, this person represents the people who care about how the political candidate is actually going to do his or her job based on their background of knowledge. 

"A compassionate, honest, altruistic person. Not one who (like most nowadays) put his/her interests first, is corrupt and is in it mostly as a stepping stone to riches and fame."

- This person seems to represent those who care about their polictician having a reputation of being honest and not corrupted. 

"Respectfully, your question is flawed, because you assume that there is such a thing as a good politician.

There are indeed, and the one thing they all have in common, Mate, is that they are DEAD. "

- This person represents the people who don't believe there could be such a politician that has a clean background and is flawless.

     There are many conflicting views about this matter, much more than is represented here. It is because there are so many views that there is no one right answer and that is why my question wasn't able to be answered fully. However, through me asking this question I came upon interesting research which opened my eyes up to the opinions of the American people about the kind of candidate they would like to see in office.

     This past week in class we finished the documentary "The Perfect Candidate" about the candidates Oliver North and Chuck Robb. From this documentary we discussed tactics used by political campagins of propaganda such as special appeals, fear appeals and logical fallacies. We also discussed tactics of positive and negative campaigning which really caught my attention in class. In the video it stated that negative campaigning is more effective than positive campaigning in regards to getting a political candidate elected.

     In my opinion, I believe negative campaigning is more effective in the long run than positive campaigning. Even though sometimes when a politician puts out a negative ad bashing his opponent it can backfire, I believe that people mostly care about what was actually said in the ad than where it came from. They become infuriated about the allagations against that particular opponent and will thus vote for anyone on the ballot except the candidate the ad was made about because they believe everything the ad says and don't want that person in office. I believe if a candidate only puts out positive views, he won't get any attention in the race.

     This discussion in class led me to think about how the current race for congress in the 7th district of Virginia is being run. It is split between three candidates: Republican Eric Cantor, Democrat Rick Waugh and the Independent Tea Party Candidate Floyd Bayne. Curious about this election, I researched on the websites of all three candidates. I noticed that Eric Cantor didnt have anything bad to say about his candidates. However Rick Waugh and Floyd Bayne show discontent over the way Eric Cantor has been doing in his job. Floyd Bayne seems to be doing the best at negative campagining in this election and in my opinion I believe he will thus cause a major upset in this election against Eric Cantor and Rick Waugh. Here's one of the videos featured on Floyd Bayne's website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSr_etsm9eY&feature=player_embedded

 

Bayne, Floyd. Floyd Bayne - The Conservative Tea Party Candidate - Virginia's Seventh District Floyd Bayne for Congress - Home Page. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://www.floydbayne.com/.

"United States House of Representatives Elections in Virginia, 2010." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Virginia,_2010#District_7.

"What Kind Of Background Makes A Good Politician?" Ask Questions, Get Free Answers - Blurtit. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://www.blurtit.com/q8989942.html.

Journal: 1-4

Politics and Good Judgement

    From my research of last week's question, I was able to come up with a list of even more tactics the media uses in order to make it seem like they are telling the whole truth but they are really deceving. These tactics include:

-Pre-interviewing to make sure you only get people who believe what you are trying to convey.
-Applying peer pressure on a person while interviewing.
-Only telling the half-truth of the subject, lying by elimination of want you don't want to include in your story.
-Only publishing facts they believe should be right instead of facts that go against their point but have sufficient evidence.

     I believe that the media uses these tactics to make the news more exciting because although there are many fallacies in the news today, the media is almost never held accountable for what they do.

     This past week we finished the documentary Michael Moore Hates America but started a new documentary titled: The Perfect Candidate. This is a movie documenting a race for congress in Virginia with emphasis on Oliver North and Chuck Robb. Both of these candidates have their own problems in their past that have left a long lasting mark on their poltical future that no one will forget. Oliver North helped President Reagan trade hostages in Lebanon in exchange for U.S. weapeons and Chuck Robb was accused of having an affair with a playboy model and going to parties with cocaine being used.

     Although some people believe that political condidates should only be accountable for what they're doing now and their political actions, I believe that politicians should be held accountable for what they have done in their past. No matter how great a political leader may be, you can always tell their true character by what they have done in their past regardless of whether they have changed their ways or not. I believe it's always ethical to judge people on what they have done in their past just as much as what they do in the present.

     Something this issue prompeted me to think about was how tolerate American people can sometimes be. For example, when President Obama was asked the question of whether he had smoked marijuana before he said that he had when he was younger but that he was a confused teenage boy at the time. It makes me wonder that if American's 100% cared about the President's past as much as they cared about what he was doing now, if he might not have gotten elected becase of something he had done in his past that he was ashamed about.

     This can apply to many politicians in today's society such as John Edwards having a baby with another woman other than his wife who is dying of cancer. Although this is still really shocking to the American people, he might still have a career in the future after all the hysteria and hype about this scadal has settled.

     Some may say that that is a great thing about our country; that we can do something in our past and not stand judgement for it in the future after we've changed. However I overall disagree. Being too forgiving cause us to overlook major chracter flaws in our political candidiates. It is their character that plays a big part in how they can be trusted to be responsible and reliable to the American people without becoming an embarassment. I've noticed in life that if a politician is held accountable for their actions in their past, the right choice will almost always be made by the American people.

     I leave today with a question: SHould politicians be accounted for what they have done in their past 100%?

"Primer on Media Tactics to Deceive." JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. http://www.junkscience.com/news3/singer55.html.

 

"State Department Backs Muslim Cartoon Protests." Sweetness & Light. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. http://sweetness-light.com/archive/state-department-backs-moslems-on-cartoons.

 

Journal: 1-3

Documentaries: Fiction?

     I'll start this post today by answering the question I asked in my last post about gun control. While doing research, I came up with the folliwing statistics of how many people get killed in major countries by guns whether by suicide, sccidental or homicide.

"gun-related deaths per 100,000 people in the world's 36 richest countries in 1994: United States 14.24; Brazil 12.95; Mexico 12.69; Estonia 12.26; Argentina 8.93; Northern Ireland 6.63; Finland 6.46; Switzerland 5.31; France 5.15; Canada 4.31; Norway 3.82; Austria 3.70; Portugal 3.20; Israel 2.91; Belgium 2.90; Australia 2.65; Slovenia 2.60; Italy 2.44; New Zealand 2.38; Denmark 2.09; Sweden 1.92; Kuwait 1.84; Greece 1.29; Germany 1.24; Hungary 1.11; Republic of Ireland 0.97; Spain 0.78; Netherlands 0.70; Scotland 0.54; England and Wales 0.41; Taiwan 0.37; Singapore 0.21; Mauritius 0.19; Hong Kong 0.14; South Korea 0.12; Japan 0.05. " http://www.guncite.com/cnngunde.html 

     It turns out that America does in fact has more deaths per capita than any other country in the world with Brazil trailing behind us. What does this mean? Are we just natural violent? No one can know for sure but with these statistics, we could sure afford to have better gun control in our country. Perhaps if we did, this number would decrease.

     This past week we finished up Bowling for Columbine and even though it made some excellent points about gun control, we learned that he made some of these points unethically. In Michael Moore's documentary he used many clever techniques to make people look bad and make it seem like things were happening that actually weren't. At first I didn't notice it or pay much attention to it, but after a while I started to notice some of the tricky editing techniques he used to twist the reality of a situation instead of presenting the true straight facts.

     Some agree and dissagree on Michael Moore's documentary being unethically made. As for me, I agree 100% that it was made unethically. He used guerilla interviews where he would randomly come announced to speak to a person on the spot and sometimes in his documentaries only shot their answers to the supposed "question" even when the question wasn't shown. One of the most unethical things he did in this documentary was editing and piecing together different parts of Charleton Heston's speeches to the people of the NRA. Michael Moore made it seem as thought Charleton didn't care about speaking 10 days after the Columbine shooting but really he did and Moore conveiniently left that part of the speech out and instead replaced parts of his speech after Columbine with a clip from an earlier meeting Charleton had. He also used misleading statistics in his movie as well as asking rhetorical questions to others in an effort to make them look bad.

     Class this week prompted me to think about all the bias and unethical methods the media uses in modern day society. Do we see it as much anymore? Ofcourse. Almost every news show has some sort of it. Lots of radio shows and TV shows about celebrities have it as well. And now, more and more documentaries are starting to show unethical principles. We as American citizens who just want to ear the straight facts have to learn how to sort through the bias and editing techniques used.

     For example, on the Tv show TMZ which deals with filming celebrities doing crazy or unexpected things. They never seem to be showing the whole story of what really was going on at the time the incident happened. They often use music to provoke a certain type of mood from the viewer and also edit sounds bits and throw in many fallacies to make the celebrities look even worse than they already do from the film that the got.

     The main observation I've had this week is how gullable some people are when it comes to sources being bias. No one would believe bias anymore if they were educated properly on how to seperate bias from reality. People need to take notice of selective editing, false headlines, photos and video that don't seem to be 100% real, bogus statistics, random sources and word choice. Just imagine, if every person in the United States had the ability to take notice of these things, would there be anymore reason for news and other media to even put out biased news?

     I'll end this post today with a question about editing and bias in regards to the media: What other tactics does the media use to make news sound more fascinating or more untrue than it actually is?

GunCite: Gun Control and Second Amendment Issues. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. http://www.guncite.com/cnngunde.html.

"Pro Gun Political Cartoons Thread...." DOWN RANGE TELEVISION with Michael Bane - DOWN RANGE TV - DRTV. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=1975.0.

"Media Bias Against Israel." Welcome to Palestine Facts. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_media_anti_israel_bias.php.

 

Journal: 1-2

Ethical Gun Control

     While researching the question from my last blog entry I found a couple of interesting statistics on the internet:

Most consumers say they prefer to receive information about advertisements or promotions via snail mail. How would thye prefer marketers communicate? 51% say mail, 19% say bill inserts, 17% request no communication, 5% say e-mail, and 1% say telephone.
--Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, September 2005

52% of consumers would be much more or somewhat more likely to purchase a product seen in a commercial versus one featured in a product placement (23%).
--FIND/SVP, August 2005

Consumers are 50% more likely to be influenced by blogs and e-mails than radio or TV advertising.
--EPM Communications

     Although my research showed results of how consumers react to different medias of advertisement, it didn't quite show how they reacted to different styles of advertising. It is from this that I can conclude from the research that American's are really in to impulse buying and the advertising companies are taking advantage of this. Whether they advertise by email, tv, radio or whatever else. My research shows that the advertising business is rapidly growing. Sadly, I was not able to find the exact answer to my question from my last blog but atleast I found out more about the advertisement business and how they work.

     This past week we have been watching a documentary titled "Bowling for Columbine". The main theme about this documentary has been about how Americans are out of control when it comes to guns. Although I know that this is very biased, I can't help but partially agree. My opinion from this documentary is that America should have some form of better gun control than we already do. I believe that only people with hunting licenses should own a gun and that's after having a background check to make sure they aren't a criminal. I just think that it's just strange that we have such bad crime records in regards to guns as opposed to places like Canada and England. Are American's just naturally more violent in nature?

     Thinking of gun control made me wonder just where are issues with this subject stemmed from? I'm sure it's no mistake that some think its socially acceptable to own and use a gun how they wish because they see the government doing the same thing over in Iraq. Also, movies and TV shows especially about the mid-west give off the impression that it's cool to own a gun and makes you look better and seem more powerful. And perhaps all those violent video games kids play now in today's society also make it seem like killing someone isn't a big deal. Maybe its a combination of all these factors or maybe it comes from the fact that American's really pride themselves on the 2nd ammendment and want to have a way to protect their family if their family is under attack.

     This applies to outside of the classrom because you can't turn on the news anymore on the tv without hearing something about casualities in a neighborhood from shootings, a bank robbery that happened in your state or how someone went crazy and decided to kill their wife and kids. One has to admit that there is always coverage of something that has to do with a gun in the news almost every night. It makes me feel as though we all hear it so much that we have somehow become extremly desensitized to all the violence we hear in the news and maybe perhaps that is yet another reason of how gun control is mostly ignored in America.

     Every since we have been talking about gun control in class it has really opened my eyes to how many problems there are with our gun control laws in America. It doesn't seem right that a simple murder involving a gun barely gets national news coverage over half of the time. I have really noticed that Americans harly ever consider it interesting any more to hear about a homicide involving and gun because it seems so commonplace.

     So I conclude this blog entry with a question I would like to know about gun control. How many people exactly were killed in major countries around the world alone in the year 2009 by the use of a gun whether it be accidental, suicide or homicide?

 

"Online Advertising, Marketing - Online Consumer Statistics." Business & Small Business. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/businessstatistics/article82676.html.

"Pro-Life or Anti-Sex?" Experimental Theology. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/05/pro-life-or-anti-sex.html.



, April 2006

Journal: 1-1

The Media's Lies

     One of the things that I found interesting in class was the discussion of the use of fallacies, euphamisms and loaded language in everyday media. Talking about this in class made me realize just how much lies there are in the media and since the discussion I've noticed it in almost every ad I see on TV, in magazines and on the radio. I can see however that there are positive and negative sides to this issue. On the positive side I suppose one could argue about how tricks used in the media help encourage consumers to buy products and boost the economy. On the negative side however, one could argue on how the media never gives the straight turth about a certain product. Most of the time they use fallacies about their product to make it sound like their product is better than anything else out there. They also use euphamisms and loaded language to help stir up some emotion within the consumer to encourage them to by the product. So this issue could really be taken either way.

    The discussion about the media this past week really made me wonder how we actually can know what products are the best for us out there if the details are so clouded from the media. I know I am guilty of seeing an ad on TV for a new mascara on the market or an ad in a magazine about the latest style of shoes and going out to buy them just because of the way they were presented in the advertisement made them seem great. It also makes me wonder how many times I fell under the spell of an advertisment and became obsessed with wanting to having that product. It's way too many for me to count or even remember. It makes one think about how many people are also guilty of buying into unclear advertisements.

    As I have stated before this lesson can deffinately apply to beyond the classroom. Everytime there is an advertisement it is almost gauranteed that there will be a fallacy in there trying to get consumers to buy their products. I think all of my fellow classmates from now on will be more aware of what the media is really trying to say through it's unclear subliminal messages. I think this is really a valuable skill to have as an everyday consumer.

    It occured to me in class that not only do fallicies show up in advertisements but they really show up in politics as well. It seems as though politics is almost just about trying to make your opponent looks bad and make yourself look like the only choice. But also, fallicies in politics also occur on political shows as well. This is because most political sources of information have some sort of biased to republicans or denocrats. One can really tell this by turning on the TV to a political show where it is clear that they only endorse democrats and are constantly putting down the republics and the same can also be said for shows endorsing republicans and putting down democrats. These two different points of view can leave a citizen feeling uncertain about what really is the truth about politics.

    After this week's discussion about the media, I wonder what really matters in an advertisement or political ad to the viewer. Is it the fallicies which matters most? Or do we crave to have the truth? Maybe it's neither. Maybe we just mindlessly watch advertisements and never realize how things can be made to look different than they actually are.

Rachel. "Dissent." Thoughts From A Conservative Mom. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. http://www.thoughtsfromaconservativemom.com/?tag=dissent.

Bluedorn, Nathanial. "The Fallacy Detective." Fallacy Detective. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. http://www.fallacydetective.com/products/item/the-fallacy-detective.