Review of Class- 5/6/10

I decided to sign up for this class because I have never taken an advertising class, and I thought it would be a new and interesting experience. Some of the things I enjoyed most about the class was the relaxed atmosphere and how you could freely participate and speak your mind without being judged. It was always a class that I looked forward to coming too every monday and thursday, I liked how we went off on random tangents in class and did not stick to a set agenda. I am generally a hard working student and complete all my work on time and to my best. In my opinion it was really difficult to get a good grade on any of the blog assignments, and when I started editing and using citations I noticed my grade was less than I thought i deserved, especially with the work I thought I was putting into the class. Towards the end of the semester i also starting getting confused with what the blog assignments were and when we needed to have them done, I think now that it is the final week of school I feel like I finally have a better understanding of what I needed to do. I did enjoy the group final projects, they were really a lot of work though, we spent hours out of class working on the culture jams and creating the magazine. I really hope our work pays off on my final grade! I also found the class interesting and unlike some classes i have taken in the past, I do feel like I will remember and apply lots of the things I learned. Some of the topics that stand out to me are: being media literate, rhetoric, neo-aristitilean five canons, mass audience and niches. I know that these are concepts that will stick with me! I had a good time with the class and the group project really helped me make a great group of friends who i never would have met otherwise! I would definitely reccomend this class to someone else if they are interested in the content matter.

In Class Assignment: Show and Tell/Using The Five Canons

For this assignment I decided to choose the time when I first went shopping for prom dresses as a junior in high school. It was my first prom, so i wanted my dress to be something meaningful that i could treasure forever. My mom and I were in NYC for a weekend looking at colleges and we found this cute little boutique with all different kinds of sample dresses from a sample store where the dresses were being sold there first and then sold from different large department stores. I couldn't have been more excited, I was going to have a one of a kind dress for my junior prom. The second i walked into the store, this pink, long, sparkly disney princess dress caught my eye, it was SO Sophie. I just had to have it, or i wouldn't have been satisfied with anything else. At a whooping 500$ my mom was not about to pay for the dress, but the sales people made their pitch quite convinving, after calling my grandma and asking her to contribute to my cause, i ended up getting the dress I paid 250$ and my grandma paid for the rest. I used almost all the money in my piggy bank, but in the end, I honestly thought it was worth it.

Now I'm going to use the Neo-Artistitilian approach and the five cannons to explain why i ended up purchasing this item/why i was so influenced. The first of the five canons is invention, invention is when you recognize the need for a message. The people that worked at the store knew that they needed to sell this dress, and i was the perfect consumer, a young 16 year old girl who wanted/(thought i needed) that dress. The next of the classical canons is arrangement, and that is how they organized the message, they made a sales pitch of why i should buy they dress and how it would be beneficial to me in the long run. They said i could sue it for any occasion when i needed a ball gown or to go to a fancy party. The next of the canons is style, they were very persuasive since they were sales people. Their goal was to sell their product to me. They were very polite and set up a dressing room for me, the fact that they were attending to my every need made me want to purchase the dress even more. The message was delivered from the two people working at the store, they told me where the dresses were made and why they were in that specific sample store. The last of the 5 canons is memory. There was no way i could forget the message that was being relayed to me. I wanted that dress and there was nothing stopping me from getting it, they even threw in a free pair of earrings with my purchase. Language really influences the audience because without their push for me to purchase their product and all the benefits it would come with I would not be nearly as inclined to purchase the dress at such a hefty price of 500$

Challenge Blog

For the challenge blog I watched Halle Berry's acceptance speech for Best Actress at the 74th annual Academy Awards ceremony in 2002. The context of the speech was that Halle Berry had just won the award for best actress and she went up on the stage to accept her award in front of hundreds of other actors and actresses. It was a very emotional time for her, as she walked on the stage she was crying and had lots of feelings and emotions to express to the audience. This clip of her speech is available online, on youtube and on many other websites. It is easily accessible over the internet to watch for free.

The target audience for the original presentation was definitely african american women. Halle Berry felt like she opened the doors for African American women to win awards and be able to achieve that goal, she felt like the award wasn't just for her, but it was for all of the talented African American women thats voices should be heard. This was definitely her target audience for her speech, but this speech was broadcasted on national TV in 2002 and it was a very emotional speech, not just about her feelings and beliefs, but also the way she accepted the award, your attention could not be lost while watching. I think everyone who watched the show could have been impacted in some ways, the people that would have been watching are people who frequently watch movies or are interested in movies or like the actors that are nominated for the award.

After analyzing her speech by using the neo-Aristotelian approach and the five canons, Halle Berry definitely used her language persuasively and appropriately to get her point across. SHe used invention or recognizing a need for a message stating that she was the first African American women to receive that exact award and she feels like she reached a new level for African American women, and that itself is a message she was trying to get across. She also carefully arranged the way she put her speech together. Before she even started to get her point across through her speech, she was crying, out of breath and emotional and the audiences attention was completely focused on her. Once she had the audiences attention she made her main point first, then moved off into thanking other people that helped her achieve this award. What was important about the organizational structure was that she explained that she made her point and stood her ground firmly throughout the entire speech. The language she used in the speech was somewhat simple, she didn't use complex words but she said 'this award isn't just for me, its for all the women out there' and she name some names like Jada Pinkett Smith and others who she felt were worthy of the award. Berry also had very intense facial expressions and actions which compelled the audience to listen to her more and this added to the language she used while speaking. She delivered the message on public television that everyone could see, so this message was delivered all across the united states, and after i was put on you tube and other online video sites. This message is very memorable because of its content as well as her emotional expressions, at least that was what caught my attention the most. We also remember this because it has cultural significance, it was a landmark for Halle Berry as well as other women and african american women in the world that strive to do something.

In my opinion, I though the speech was a little over the top, especially concerning her crying and emotional part. But i do think she made a very good point and got it across to the audience. As the camera was being flashed around the audience during her speech, there weren't many dry eyes in the theater.

In Class Blog 4/5/10- Use 5 phases and pick cultural topic!

For my cultural topic, I chose Twitter. Twitter is an outlet for people to tell everyone what they are doing at any point in the day, you can find news on twitter, you can follow your favorite restaurants, celebrities, newspapers or even president obama. It is a quick and easy way to be constantly updated on what is happening with your friends as well as around the world. Twitter was created for people to be connected in a simple and efficient way, a quote from twitters main website is "Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what is happening now." Twitter truly became a huge company when major corporations became involved in 'tweeting'. After breaking down the use of twitter by using the neo-aristotelian rhetoric, It was interesting to see what twitter was really getting at and what the huge appeal is.

The first classical canon of the neo-Aristotelean rhetoric is invention, and invention is recognizing the need for a message. Twitter is really one of the first organizations/companies to create an outlet for people to constantly express what is happening them whenever with 160 characters or less or re-tweet someone else's idea that they liked or thought was cool, or even create a trending topic. There was really no largely known organization like twitter prior to Twitters creation in 2006. Now there is really a system that can keep people connected around the world at all times, people are able to see the messages conveyed by other people with ease, its even possible to have twitter on any kind of cellular device, computer, pda anything. Twitter is also a faster and more accessible way to read the news. If your looking for a quick world update, just check the new york times twitter page, It is constantly being updated.

The second canon is organizational structure. The way twitter is set up is everyone has a homepage where all they put is their name, a few words about themselves and a picture. It is not very detailed, just a simple description. Then there is a wall where you can see your most recent tweets and everyone else's tweets that are being updated constantly. There is also a list of people that you follow and people that follow you, you can also use the simple 'search' button to look for more people. These people are allowed to see your updates (tweets) and you are allowed to see theirs (unless your profile is private). This structure is very simple, its not hard to use at all, even a five year old would be able to manage their own twitter account. The simplicity of the site also makes it more enticing to new users.

The third canon is style and style is the language used by the speaker. On twitter, everyone is their own speaker, but they can also read and interpret what other people said on their tweets. Every type of twitter is different, someone may use their twitter strictly for business and may only tweet information and updates to fellow employees, whereas some people may use their twitter just to tweet their everyday activities or their plans for the evening. There are also restaurants like Starbucks that are always tweeting about free drinks or new drinks being created, each twitter account or tweeter tweets for a different reason.

The fourth canon is delivery, this is how the message gets disseminated to the public. With twitter its easy, all you do is click a button and the message is posted to your wall and your followers walls. The update is instantly, there is no delay with the news, like getting the newspaper delivered to your house. The news is immediate as well as the feedback. If someone wishes to make your tweet a trending topic or re-tweet it for other people to see that is always a possibility. This is how the messages become more widespread and reach over thousands of followers. It is also possible to receive these messages on your cell phone and it will ring immediately when your twitter is being updated.

The fifth canon is memory, which is obviously how we remember and process the message. On twitter you are usually just checking out to see what your friends are doing, or what is going on with your favorite celebrity that day. Its like you are connected with your friends constantly even if they aren't contacting you directly. If you see your favorite celebrity just tweeted they have a new girlfriend or boyfriend, the first thing you are going to do is remember the name of that person then google it. It becomes very routine when it comes to checking your twitter, its part of your daily routine form memory. While you are on twitter, messages are constantly being sent to you whether you want to read it or not, but it is you that gets to pick whether you want to remember what you saw or just go on to something else.

As far as twitter achieving its goal, I would definitely say that it did.

Culture Jamming of Manhattanville

the culture jammed picture is not appearing for some reason...I'm going to email you the picture, or attempt to email it!

In my culture jamming of Manhattanville, I took a picture of Manhattanville's Reid Castle with some students on the quad that said "Manhattanville College" on the bottom. This picture/advertisement that has been shown on the website is to make the school appealing, especially having the castle being the center of attention, the weather and trees looking beautiful and students frolicking on the quad; what could be better than that when looking for a college to attend? But that picture can be deceiving, full tuition to this school costs about 46,000$ a year, which is a hefty sum of money, especially in these dire economic circumstances our country is in. The "school" and living parts of Manhattanville don't even involve the castle either. Recently, all student events have been banned from being in the castle, so in fact, the picture is actually very deceiving. In my short time here at Manhattanville, I have seen people relaxing on the quad a total of 3 times! Looking at that picture Manhattanville looks like a friendly environment where people can relax and hang out, but that is not the case at all. So in my 'culture jamming' of this photo I wrote, instead of Manhattanville College on the bottom, i wrote "High School" because going to this school feels like you are at a high school. It is so clicky, jocks hang out with only the jocks, dancers with the dancers, theater kids with theater kids and so on. I feel like i stepped out of high school at the end of 2009 and stepped into another high school. I also included a little blurb on the top that says "pay thousands of dollars for education in a castle". I wrote this keeping in mind that i have been in the castle a total of 6 times since I've been at Manhattanville, and 2 times were because part of my tuition wasn't payed properly. This is misrepresentation of Manhattanville's campus and what it is actually about.

In Class Assignment- Week 6 Discuss Reactive Measure of the Media

In chapter 6 of the textbook Media Literacy, we learn that "we need to be proactive-rather than reactive-in understanding how the media affect us" (Media Literacy 73). In order to become media literate, it is necessary to understand how to control the effects the media has on us, and how we can change the way we perceive things and react to them. If we are proactive instead of reactive, it will be much easier to become a more media literate individual.

There are constantly reactive measures occurring in media, once one witnesses these reactive pieces of media, they need to comprehend it and know how to react appropriately. An example from the textbook describes a scene from a movie where two characters are playing Russian Roulette, a game that involves shooting guns at peoples heads and in hope that the gun is not loaded. Two young boys watched this movie and decided to play out or react on the scene of Russian roulette, one of the young boys died from this. In this example from the Media Literacy text, These boys reacted to what they saw instead of being proactive and thinking about the ramifications and damage that could occur if they play the game. These boys did not have the experiences or maturity to prevent them from acting on what they saw in the movie.

There is always media surrounding us, we are constantly being emotionally and physically affected by media. The effects that we easily notice are called manifested effects, these effects are visibly noticeable on a person (Media Literacy 74). But when it comes to being media literate, one must go above and beyond the manifested effects. Another reactive measure of the media is when you see a political commercial or campaign on television, you don't just say oh I'm a democrat or republican or sure I like this person, you need to dig deeper and not just look at how perfect that person is portrayed in the commercial and do research about who they are, what their opinions are and what they are about. You need to make your own decisions when viewing things and opinions about people in the media. If you aren't forming your own opinions then you are not fully media literate.

Everyone has a baseline, which is what is socially acceptable in society and what developmental maturity level one is at. People who have lower developmental maturities, like young children, they won't be able to comprehend and thoughtfully analyze a commercial for a fast food chain, they would just enjoy watching the commercial because it is about food. They aren't able to comprehend the message that the commercial is giving at a more matured level, but once children mature "they are less influenced by a central, salient feature of a message and can process many elements in that message" (Media literacy 77). That is just one aspect that can fluctuate a persons baseline.

Once one is media literate, they are able to fully have and create their own baseline, of course there are things that can make their baseline fluctuate. But once one is able to think more critically and create their own opinions and beliefs they will become more media literate and knowledgeable and then in turn be able to control their reactionary and proactive responses.

Potter, W. James. Media Literacy. 4th ed. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2007. Print.

In Class Assignment Week 5- Unfair Advertising Practices

Unfair advertising practices are advertisements that aren't adjusted correctly for different niche audiences with different demographics. One type of a special audience that needs advertising directly focused on their niche is children. Children need this special type of advertising because they are not matured and have a lack of maturation; maturation is predicated on knowing what something is and having experienced that thing. "Think of maturation as a series of gates along the path to higher media literacy" (Media Literacy 57). Once one reaches a more developed level of maturation, they are able to break down and process media in a more effective and coherant manner, once they have reached a higher level of maturation they will also have experienced more and be able to relate to what they are seeing in the media. An unfair advertising practice for this niche audience would be something about a serious relationship, they are not going to relate to the relationship that is occuring in the commercial, they are going to want to see a commercial that is appropriate and applies to their age group, it needs to be something relateable. This special audience needs to be protected from harmful or confusing advertising. Children need to be able to see the difference between program content and commercial content. "Young children are fuzzy about the difference between program content and communication content" (Media Literacy 62). Now there are new laws in place that require this separation to occur, childrens minds can be clouded very easily with the programming they see on television. Now there is a clear line where advertising practices can become unfair and unjust toward certain special niche audiences.

Potter, W. James. Media Literacy. 4th ed. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2007. Print.