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.

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.