Saturday, May 31, 2014

MissRepresentation

While watching Missrepresentation and all the ads that were used as examples, I thought that they were so ridiculous I actually had a hard time believing they were real. Then I remembered this from a few years back.

First of all this commercial is so unrealistic its frustrating. No one looks like this eating a burger. No one. No one looks like this eating anything. I'm lucky if I look like a human when I eat a burger and not a starved dinosaur. And its annoying because I'm sure even she doesn't even look like that while eating. But regardless, instead of selling Carl Junior's new whatever, all this commercial does is make women feel bad about something that doesn't exist and will never be able to control. It drives women to compete with an enigma. Just like it was mentioned in the documentary, the increasing frequency of overtly sexual advertising is making poor body image among women a cultural norm.

This form of advertising so primal and barbaric.Carl's Junior actually has to dangle a half naked woman in front of people to get them to buy their burgers. Her body is literally being used to sell meat. This ad and others like it make people think its okay to make women equivalent to huge piece of cardboard on the side of the road. Even though this ad was banned, I can't believe that it was even allowed to air with camera angles that were aimed directly at her chest and even up her dress with out even trying to show the burger.

Not only is this commercial unfair to women, but its unfair to men as well. According to this commercial, all men are capable of is drooling over boobs and being unable to respect their girlfriends enough to turn around and watch the movie.

To further add insult to possibly the worst commercial ever, it wasn't even effective. I watched the commercial a few times and I literally could not remember what company this was or what they were even advertising.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

500 Days of Ikea


This weekend, while watching one of my favorite movies of all time, 500 Days of Summer, I realized how huge the presence of Ikea was. In a movie so seemingly low budget without any other product placement, its almost a little strange how a company could be such a big part of the movie.

The most obvious presence of Ikea is the incredibly cute scene in which Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are running around, playing in the set up rooms and just being adorable.
Here's the scene for those unfamiliar with the movie:

 Even a part from this scene, there was still more Ikea influence. With some researching I found out that a lot of the props and sets from the movie were furnished by the company. For example, the plates that Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) breaks in the first scene are indeed Ikea brand plates. In Summer's (Zooey Deschanel) apartment, her wallpaper was also being sold at Ikea at the time (around 2009). The characters also name drop Ikea in a few other scenes as well.

While Googling the product placement, I discovered that the Ikea-ness of the movie spurred a whole quirky/romantic revolution. There were pictures of couples recreating the scene, in outfits similar to the characters and everything. There were even some videos of women being proposed to by their boyfriends in front of Ikea.

This is probably the most successful product placement I have ever scene. I too also love Ikea and in all honesty, part of my love probably comes from the movie. Every time I watch 500 Days of Summer I feel a passionate need to go to Ikea. I can only assume that the movie has done wonders for their business. I think it has created a whole market and brand for Ikea: the quirky-cool young adult in their late twenties/early thirties (such as Tom and Summer) who wants cute home furnishings but at a reasonable price. Even more so, people who wish they were quirky-cute and shop at Ikea in order to feel like they are (which is me).

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Godzilla vs. Fiat

At first glance, I couldn't really tell if it was a trailer for Godzilla, or a Fiat advertisement.  But as the commercial went on, the presence of the Fiat was so obvious that it became clear that is was mostly an ad for the car, only featuring Godzilla.

The colors of the Fiat really led me to this conclusion. The Fiats showcased were red, light blue, and yellow, colors that really standout against the mostly black and grey scale background of the Godzilla trailer. All the other cars shown in the street scene were also black and grey, and the Fiats were the only source of color in the whole commercial. The colors are also very upbeat and loud which would naturally draw attention to the car in any setting, especially an apocalyptic, monster infested city.

I first thought that the advertising pair of a Fiat and Godzilla was pretty random, but now I realized it was actually really strategic. The main message of the commercial is that a Fiat isn't as small as you think. The fact that Godzilla couldn't even swallow the car really shows this loud and clear. By comparing and contrasting the car to Godzilla, the Fiat seems way bigger than it actually is. The camera angles also add to this. The monster is almost always shot at a distance or from above, making it seem smaller to the viewer. The Fiat is always shown up close at eye level, making it seem bigger.

The target demographic for the two also makes the pairing seem perfect. By using fun colors and showing young people in the commercial, Fiat is trying to market to people in their early to mid twenties, the same crowd that is known to rush out to see the new summer block buster.

The technique most likely used for this ad/trailer was bandwagon. Combining Fiat and Godzilla was an attempt to get Godzilla fans to think that Fiats are super cool and vice versa. I think that the concept that Fiat is the only source of color in the black/grey commercial world goes towards the need for autonomy. The cars not only stand out against but survive Godzilla, making them unique.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Apple in California



 For Apple's new "designed in California" campaign they set out to capture the California vibe and in my opinion, they got it. 

The colors really add to the fresh new angle that apparently comes with the new iPhone. The bright greens in the background mixed with the warm brown of the cars interior make everything seem natural and California-esque.

The girl in the ad makes me think that this ad is designed for teen girls just because she looks kinda familiar, like a typical girl you could see walking past you in the hallway. Even her outfit could be pulled right out of my closet.

Because the girl and the scene looks so averagely attainable, not only does the ad make you want an iPhone but everything that seems to come with an iPhone. I feel like it I ran out and bought the exact iPhone that she has then my life will automatically be filled with one smiley road trip after another. And who doesn't want that life?
This is definitely plain folks in action.  

Even the white print on the side makes the image looks so clean and simple.
The text says: "This is it. This is what matters. The experience of a product. How it makes someone feel. "
Apple is no longer trying to sell a product, but a feeling.
Mission accomplished, Apple.

The Return of the Midriff


With her Clueless inspired music video, not only is Iggy Azalea bringing back the 90's, but she is also bringing back the midriff.
First of all, the video takes place at high school, yet the song mentions "champagne spillin'", "trashing hotels", "chandelier swinging" and other typical teenage things. This mature content targeted for teenagers is essentially what the midriff is all about.
 Like most music videos these days, mostly everyone in the video is scantily clad. This was meant to attract the teen female demographic, just like the midriffs in The Merchants of Cool. Everything about the video and lyrics is made to appeal to teen girls who wished that they lived and dressed like the girls in the video.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Sleep is a Beautiful Thing



Since everyone needs to sleep, this ad uses the psychological need. And because everyone needs to sleep, I think that this ad doesn't really have a specific target demographic, except maybe Katherine Heigl fans. The only thing that could contribute to a specific consumer would be that the ad was found in Good Housekeeping magazine, and therefore could be directed at new parents who don't get much sleep, or just tired housekeepers in general.

Furthermore to the Katherine Heigl aspect, the celebrity endorsement is obviously a testimonial. The ad also states that she is a "real-life user and snoozer." So people who like Katherine Heigl will be likely to buy Nyquil so that they too can snooze like Katherine Heigl.

The colors in the ad are also effective in endorsing the product. The cool blues and purples not only match the bottle but create a calm and relaxed vibe when looking at the advertisement.  Even the lighting is a little dim, which makes one think of sleepiness and bedtime. The background also has stars that further adds to the nighttime, tired feeling.

What Makes Subaru a Subaru


I think the target consumer for this commercial would be men. For one thing, the only characters focused on in the commercial were men: male police officer, tow truck driver, auto shop worker, etc. 

More specifically than men, the commercial caters to fathers. Average, middle class fathers, most likely with a wife and more than one child. Having "they lived" repeated during the commercial is designed to activate a father's paternal instinct to protect his family (need to nurture). This idea is completely captured in the last seen of the commercial, with the dad staring lovingly at his family, feeling lucky that he chose to drive a Subaru.

The phrase repeated over and over is also the repetition technique. If the consumer gets one thing out of this commercial, it's that people who get into a crash while driving a Subaru live. There are also no other words in the commercial, so that concept comes across pretty clear without any other dialogue to distract from it.

The commercial family seems pretty ordinary and because of this I think the technique most likely used was plain folks. Since the family looked so relatable, the consumer would see how similar their family is to the one in the commercial and then realize that if that family got into a car crash then so could theirs, and then making them think that they need a Subaru or else their family will die.

The other characters in the commercial also seemed like they could have been a part of a testimonial. Police officers, tow truck drivers, and auto shop workers are all professions that deal with car crashes on the daily and the fact that they seemed impressed that the family lived shows that they approve of the Subaru.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Initial Consumption of Media

I like to think that I am pretty aware of the presence of media in my life. I can point out product placement in a movie or TV show and understand that it was planted there on purpose. Even when I was little I remember noticing how there were no commercials for Easy Bake Ovens on my parents TV shows, just like there were no commercials for Bud Lite during Sponge Bob.

Even though I am aware of the media, I am definitely still susceptible to its tricks. Like every time I see the polar bear Coca Cola commercial I think it is adorable and all I can think about is how much I want a Coke (and also a polar bear). And every time I see the commercial I know that it was specifically constructed to make me want a Coke but that doesn't make it less adorable.

Because of this I still think I have a long way to go before I fully recognize all the ways that the media is present in my life.

Flight 370

Although the initial disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 was almost two month ago, the topic is still being covered by most news sources. Overall, the most recent updates found on various sites are more or less centered around either conspiracy theories or Malaysian misconducts. Both Fox News and NPR have articles mostly involving the sketchiness of the situation whereas CNN contains mostly articles criticizing Malaysian officials. On the other hand, the Huffington Post's most recent articles on the missing plane are almost all attacks on the coverage done by CNN and Fox News:

The Huffington Post on Fox News

The above article contains an unnecessarily sassy critique of a segment done by Fox News in which they connected the missing flight to Benghazi. The opening sentence of the article sets the tone: "it was only a matter of time before Fox News managed to bring the Flight 370 story back to its favorite topic of all time: Benghazi." The connotation of the phrase was obviously that of sass and sarcasm. The intention was to make the Huffington Post seem better by ragging on the commonly ragged on Fox news. But in trying to make fun of Fox News, The Huffington Post was the source that ultimately came across as unprofessional. A good news source should be professional and unbiased and actually report news rather than making fun of other news sources.

The other sources researched were much more professional. The NPR site seemed a lot more upstanding. The following is a link to one of the articles I read on what NPR most recently reported on Flight 370:

NPR on Flight 370

Contrary to the Huffington Post, NPR actually reported on the flight. It also contained interviews of relevant sources, such as the proffesor of media at the university of Beijing and also a Chinese lawyer who specializes in airplane incidents. The credible interviews made NPR seem legitimate and a news source worthy of returning.

CNN also came across pretty respectable and well informed. However, in some articles the word choice was a bit unnecessary (i.e: brevity, snafu, erroneous). The frivolous words made CNN seem like it was trying a little too hard to seem academic (issue would have been just as effective as snafu). In trying to do so the article mainly came across as being too wordy and kind of annoying.

CNN on Flight 370

Lastly, Fox News seemed to only offer articles based on rumors, gossip, and hearsay as opposed to more factual reports, sometimes focusing on stories with little relevance to Flight 370. For example, one article contained a theory that the Australian government was involved in the missing plane. Other articles were hung up on small details that didn't really need to be dissected in such lengths as they were. The articles that were on topic seemed fine and well researched but they were hard to find buried in masses of irrelevant information.