Analysis Custom Essay – Hope Papers

Analysis Custom Essay

Grading Scheme: (20 marks)
? Integration of course materials
? Self: categories
? Substance of response to questions: critique/insights
? Recognition of effects of pop culture: subjective
? Style (spelling, grammar, clarity, bibliography)
FYI:
Tough Guise, Dreamworlds3, Advertising and the End of the World and The Ad and the Ego are available at many university and public libraries.

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY :
The Proper Self?
Due Date: by SATURDAY NOON( OCT 26)
Value: 20%
Length: 2 pages, double spaced
Submission: electronic
What varieties of men and women prevail in this society and this period?
?the individual can understand his [sic] own experience and fate only by locating himself [sic] within his period?
(C. Wright Mills)
We must get the fish to think about the water.
(Jhally, The Ad and the Ego )
Background:
Your sex/gender, your social class and your ethnicity/race are three categories that intersect and have the most profound effects on your biography, self-image and life chances. As well, the mass media and popular culture are powerful socializers and affect your self-image and self-concept as you attempt to conform to their representations of the proper ? ideal ? self.
Auferheide contends that ?images and music are more powerful than text? and, thus, make ads more potent. Music videos are ?stories? (Jhally) that represent contemporary masculinity and femininity: do they affect YOUR sense of self, the ?proper? self?
Sut Jhally has critiqued the mass media (e.g., advertising) and popular culture (e.g., music videos, wrestling) for several years. As a commentator in The Ad and the Ego and later, in his own production, Advertising and the End of the World, he has argued that we should ask:
What are the consistent stories told by the whole range of advertising ?
and which values does advertising address?
Music videos, of course, are essentially ads for a product and, as Aufderheide points out, music is a particularly powerful medium.
Jhally has also directed his attention to gender: ?Manhood on the Mat? (2000) critiques the messages inherent in professional wrestling whileTough Guise (video) offers insights into male socialization. An important video is Jhally?s Dreamworlds3: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video. Here, Jhally asks, ?How are we men?? ?How are we women?? He also directs our attention to the racism, classism and heterosexism within music videos; the objectification of women (men, too, I would add); and the gendered ?presentation of self? (Goffman). Social analysts have expressed concerns about the socializing effects of pornography on young people; Jhally refers to aspects of music videos as pornographic.
The images in ads have been critiqued for some decades ? particularly women?s images (men?s images are increasingly standardized, however). Indeed, these images have been linked to an increase in eating disorders and there has been outrage expressed about pro-anorexia web sites. In response, some fashion houses have set weight limits on their models and Dove has instituted new ads ? yet, these changes have been found to be ineffective?the audience prefers the conventional cachectic or air-brushed model!
The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to examine how we are shaped by the mass media/popular culture ? in this case, ads and/or music videos ? and to make you conscious of their representations of the ideal/proper self. The assignment is designed to start to develop your understanding of the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that society ?gets inside you?, an opportunity to see the general in the particular (and maybe the strange in the familiar) and to perceive the ?machinery by which we have been moved? (Berger, Unit I).
Some new analyses are suggesting that there has been a recent, subtle shift in advertising: ads that are ?plugged in? to the successful self-esteem movement and have adjusted their message to the ?already perfect (and entitled) self.? These ads flatter their audience and promote their products as your entitlement to maintain your ?perfection?. You may see evidence of this new ?pitch? as you analyze your sources.

Your task:
1. Carefully read all course materials for Unit V (this includes the Aufderheide guide, to be used in your analysis). Chapter 5 is essential, of course.
2. If you have specific interests relative to videos or ads, you may wish to look at: Chapter 1 (?Seeing Sociologically: Marginality and Crisis? or Chapter 8: ?Date

Rape? or ?Sexual Orientation? or Chapter 21: ?Eating Disorders.?
3. Google Jhally’s Media Education Foundation (or particular titles [see above]).
4. View Jhally’s ?Dreamworlds: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Videos? (video: available at other libraries, Jhally’s internet site) or view at least four (4) music

videos or at least ten (10) ads (print, TV, internet). Aa an alternative, you may analyze the lyrics of eight (8) popular songs (attach lyrics). Students have also

attached print ads ? helpful, but not required.

5. Write paper that de-constructs ? analyzes — the video or videos, ads or lyrics. Your paper should respond to the following questions:
a. Who ARE you?? (i.e., introduce yourself ? the categories you belong to)
b. How do your sources represent masculinity, femininity? (What is the ?proper? self?)
c. How do your sources represent relationships? What ?stories? do they tell? WHOSE stories do they tell?
d. What norms and/or values do your sources endorse?
e. Whose ?fantasies? are portrayed?
f. Can you relate to these representations/values/stories? Are they ?YOU?? OR ? is there a disjunction between the ?proper self? portrayed and your ability (or desire)

to conform?
6. Conclusions: Effects of pop culture on you, your self-image. What have you learned from this exercise?

For example:

Prof?s Notes
If you asked a group of friends about their personal attributes, you would no doubt discover that they judged themselves to be friendly or approachable, trustworthy,

loyal and sincere rather than antagonistic, untrustworthy, disloyal and insincere or hypocritical. Why, do you think? Are we humans hard-wired for these

characteristics? Are we taught that ?proper selves? have these characteristics? Or ? yet another alternative ? have your friends simply given the culturally-

appropriate answers? Your responses to the questions reflect, on a ?homely? level, the hoary nature-nurture debate: is human behavior hard-wired or culturally

constructed? Nature/Biology or Nurture/Sociocultural? As noted in Unit III, the debate about nature versus nurture has been a long-standing one and has become more

heated due to the sophistication of modern genetics (e.g., the Human Genome Projects). This may be a false, certainly simplistic, dichotomy at this time in human

history — research into the biogenetic substrates of happiness, spirituality and sexual attraction question this dichotomy. Sex-gender research is also important

here: there is some re-thinking about only two sexes and the assumption that gender (cultural) could trump sex (nature) has been weakened by failures in sex-

reassignment (cf. ?The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl?). Indeed, as late as the 1990s, the film about David Reimer was used as evidence for the cultural determinist

position. Reimer?s own life experiences ? from having his penis fried, to being reassigned as female, to reverting to male, to suicide ? revised our thinking, albeit

through his tragic life.
The nature-nurture debate ? what makes us human? — has been around for centuries. Darwin?s theory of evolution was interpreted as encompassing humans within this

broad theory of biologically based evolution ? an inherent ?human nature.? More recently, the Human Genome Projects, sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists

have advanced the notion that genetic, biochemical and biological factors determine fundamental human behaviors/characteristics (e.g., risk-taking behavior, anxiety)

and ailments (e.g., schizophrenia). There is not, however, a 1:1 correspondence between behavior and genetic make-up. The human gene pool has been relatively unchanged

for the past 10,000 years, yet human behavior has undeniably changed over this period of time.
This suggests that sociocultural forces act upon humans ? that humans are, to some extent, flexible or plastic creatures; they must be humanized or socialized (?the

lifelong experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn patterns of their culture?). Indeed, what we perceive as our ?unique? human

personality (?a person?s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling and acting?) is also rooted in the sociocultural environment, according to sociologists.

Studies of feral or ?wild"2 children (e.g., Anna, Isabelle and Genie, text) have strengthened the sociological argument that we neither become human nor develop a

personality unless we bond with other humans, and can communicate(i.e., develop a language). Chapter 3 of your text and Unit III argue for the critical importance of

language/communication.3
Human scientists perceive humans ? those ?bundles of bones and dreams,? in John Cage?s fine phrase ? as created/constructed. Socialization is an ongoing humanizing

process, we create or ?train? humans congruent with their place and time in history. In today?s western world, this humanizing process is accomplished through:
1. the family (what Erving Goffman called the ?socialization depot?)
2. schooling (including nursery and pre- and post-schools)
3. peers (particularly important for adolescents)
4. the media and popular culture4
5. the prevalent attitudes, ethics and public opinion to which we are exposed5
6. various associations: social groups, religious organizations, sports groups, occupational groups/associations
It is important to remember that socialization is:
1. SOCIAL: we only become human as we associate with other humans. Feral (?wild?) children are children who are unsocialized or have had grossly pathological

childhoods.
2. CULTURE-BOUND: we are shaped by the culture in which we exist, and we are shaped for that culture.
3. ONGOING: socialization is a lifelong process; there is no point at which socialization ceases. As we pass through life-stages (age-grades, in some cultures, and cf.

Erikson?s stages) and experience new situations, we are continuously learning how to be a proper person in each context. In short, our socialization is until further

notice…
4. DIALECTICAL: As we are shaped, we shape the society in which we live; socialization is a two-way process.
There are several models of socialization discussed in your text.
The importance of Freud?s psychoanalytic model is that Freud incorporated both biological and social factors into his theory of personality. (While Freud focused on

the family constellation as the primary formative factor, neo-Freudians attend to broader social environmental factors.) Freud argued that the id (?pleasure

principle?) is the biological base of personality: this is the self-centered drive for satisfaction. Thesuperego (?conscience?) is the internalization of society

(norms, morality) that puts the brakes on the id. The ego (?reality principle?) mediates between the id and the superego aspects ? a balancing act. The sex drive

figured prominently in Freud?s model (shockingly for his Victorian period) and the interplay of the three components of personality reflects this emphasis:
1. the id: unbridled sex, anyone, any time
2. the superego: no (repress)
3. the ego: appropriate partners, age (culturally-constituted sublimation)
Freud?s model has generated controversy; however, his argument that childhood experience is fundamental to one?s lifelong adaptation to the world and that one must

internalize social norms in order to negotiate the social world influenced the social behaviorism of Charles Cooley and George Herbert Mead.
While Piaget?s and Kohlberg?s models (and Gilligan?s critique of Kohlberg) are important components of our cultural dialogue about human development, the sociological,

symbolic interactionist model of the development of a ?self? (or Erikson?s term, ?identity?) is grounded in the theories of Cooley and Mead.
?Self and Society are twinborn.? (Cooley)
This quotation expresses the dialectical nature of the socialization process: humans interact, thereby shaping themselves as humans while they create their human

societies. We cannot become human outside of social interaction. Our sense of self, then, is what Cooley called the ?looking-glass self?: we see ourselves as we think

others see us, our self-concepts are shaped by our perceptions of others? evaluations of us ? humans are self-reflective.
?We think to act.? (Mead)
Mead argued that the self (?the part of an individual?s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image?) is both individual and social, the ?I? and the ?

Me".6 Meanings are central to the socialization process, the self emerges from the social experience of exchanging symbols and gestures. Again, the critical

importance of language and symbolic culture are apparent: words, gestures (including facial expressions) ?meanings. Ultimately, we internalize the general attitudes,

norms and values (the ?generalized other?, society), we can take the role of the otherand thus we can anticipate and understand the actions of others, as they can

anticipate/understand our actions. Again, we see that humans are characterized by self-reflexivity (i.e., we can look at ourselves as ?objects?).
?It is the social process itself that is responsible for the appearance of the self.? (Mead)
Mead contended that there are four stages in the socialization process:
1. Imitation or mimicking (make a face at a baby, watch the response).
2. Play. This stage entails taking (or imitating) the roles of others, particularly significant others (e.g., playing house, playing school, acting out media heroes).

Here children manipulate language and symbols as they imagine being another person.
3. Games. This is more complicated role play; children not only imagine others? roles but internalize the rules of the game and anticipate the actions of multiple

others relative to the rules. (Remember when someone would call out, ?cheater, cheater!?? Or ?rules are rules??)
4. The final stage is the internalization of the ?generalized other?; that is, we internalize the rules of the larger ?game? ? the ground rules of social intercourse,

the game of life ? in short, we have learned to conform to the values and norms of the group (cf. Freud?s superego).
Keep in mind:
1. internalizing the rules does not always mean mindlessly following the rules. The ?Me? knows the rules, but the ?I? may manipulate, reject or follow those rules.
2. socialization is ongoing throughout one?s life and one?s identity changes with age, life changes and experiences. Some of these changes may be abrupt (e.g.,

conversion to a new religion) or may be imposed (e.g., the purpose of confinement in a ?total institution"8is to re-socialize an individual).
To summarize…
The ME [YOU]/I that you uniquely experience bears a strange similarity to the other MEs who surround you! Indeed, recent evidence has determined that even our

fingerprints are less unique than once accepted. The selves attached to those whorls and lines certainly have distinctive characteristics (your ?I?) but your ?MEs? are

contingent on multiple, ongoing social forces, from primary socializers (e.g., family) to other institutional forces (e.g., schooling), to the groups with which we

associate and sudden changes in direction (e.g., conversion). As you examine your additional text references, you will be able to understand how your categories of

personhood (sex/gender, ethnicity, social class) impact on your sense of self and how you negotiate the world. However distinctively we may act out our roles, these

roles are structured by cultural rules. Yet, as we follow the rules of the game, we subtly try to manipulate these rules to our advantage even as we try to present

ourselves as ?proper selves.?
This is a social constructivist approach to the development of ?self?: our interactions with others create ? construct ? us as humans: ?our nature is our nurture,? as

your text points out. The underlying notion is that humans are not only premature at birth (i.e., need care) but that they are unformed, plastic, malleable. It is not

that we are complete tabula rasas (?blank slates?), we realize today, but becoming human is a very complex process involving the interaction of biological limitations

and propensities within cultural and historical contexts/milieux:
CULTURE (NORMS, VALUES, SANCTIONS)
+
HISTORY/TRADITION
+
UNIQUE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES/BIOGRAPHY
+
BIOLOGY/GENETIC INHERITANCE
+
ONGOING SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
=
THE SELF
Society, as noted above, is the ?only game in town? and we must learn to play it! An increasingly significant part of learning the game is the mass media and popular

culture. Therefore, before you begin your assignment, let?s spend some time examining the media.
The Mass Media
Neither Mills nor Berger defined our worlds as the best of all possible worlds; both analysts argued that we could make our world better by understanding it. We ?

understand? much of our everyday world through what we read (newspapers, magazines, Internet, books), see (TV, ads, commercials, billboards, performances) and hear

(commercials [again], music, radio, urban myths). If we understand what we are reading, seeing and hearing, if we recognize the themes, concepts and ideologies being

conveyed, we will be less vulnerable to those messages ? empowered. This is particularly significant during our current information/communications technology

revolution.
From the beginning of the wide dispersion of print in the fourteenth century to the infinitely expanding technology of today, the media10 and then telecommunications

have become powerful forces in our society, and the world. ?Mass media?: mass (?a quantity of matter [in this case, people] cohering together to make one body?), media

(?middle?); thus, the notion of media communicating to a large number of people (?impersonal communications directed to a vast audience?). Unlike two-way

telecommunications (e.g., telephone, email, even chat rooms) with (usually) known sources, mass media communication is one-way communication through an identifiable

medium (e.g., TV, radio [and spam?]). We will focus on the mass media (including popular culture).
Query: The mass media are becoming institutionalized to some extent ? do they perform specific functions for integrating and maintaining society? ?Functions?

presupposes ?needs?: what needs do you think are fulfilled by the mass media?
Did you think of entertainment, information? What about socialization, social control? Values and norms are transmitted by your favorite TV shows, sometimes subtly

(e.g., gender norms, appearance norms [the predominant ?Look?], reiteration of good/bad [crime shows are hugely popular and ubiquitous]).
Graham Knight11 argues that the mass media fulfill four primary functions:
1. Entertainment
2. Dissemination of information
3. Socialization
4. Social control

Television…a source of comfort and pleasure to the elderly, the infirm and, indeed, all people who find themselves in motel rooms…for creating a theater for the

masses…its emotional power is so great that it could arouse sentiment against the Vietnam war or against more virulent forms of racism…(Postman)
Neil Postman12 is very uneasy about the power of TV to influence ? and television viewing and ownership have swelled since he wrote his critique and since your text?s

data were collected (Figure 5-2). Critical analysts fault the mass media for trivializing our social world and world events (thus, the news is sometimes referred to as

?infotainment?). Social conflict analysts argue that the media reproduce the dominant ideology (i.e., the ideas and values of the dominant class) and, since the media

are monopolized by a few large corporations/conglomerates (e.g., AOL-Time Warner), the control of the media endows the owners with significant power. And, the media

are pervasive.
The media do not simply entertain and inform us. They shape our values and basic orientations to our world ? they do indeed socialize us. The media represent us to

ourselves. Television both reflects and shapes our social reality and it is a primary source of self-knowledge today.
Television remains the dominant medium today (but internet increasingly potent). According to Postman, television is fundamentally show business, and programming must

be accommodated to visuals and the show business genre. Therefore, educational programming, religious programming and national and international news programming must

be presented in the idiom of entertainment. Postman studied under Marshall McLuhan (a Canadian, see chapter 1) who argued that the ?medium is the message? and that the

telecommunications revolution would shape a ?global village.? The revolution was in its formative stages when McLuhan wrote; today, Postman asserts that the ?medium is

the metaphor.? Why metaphor? Because messages are concrete statements while media symbols provide ?like? or ?as if? implications to define the world ? framed,

sequenced, enlarged or reduced. Postman argues that the media are an epistemology13 that has reduced public discourse to ?dangerous nonsense.? In short, the media

(Postman emphasizes television) reduce the ability to exchange ideas or enter into reasoned dialogues.
Is what is diffused from the west into the global village banal? The western dominant ideology? This is the concern of critics who label the transmission of western

culture into non-western cultures electronic ?colonialism? or ?imperialism.? This is the intrusion of western values and a marketplace mentality into cultures with

very different values and approaches. Indeed, as you watch the news here in Canada, analyze what is depicted about other (particularly developing) countries…is it

the sensational, the catastrophic, the crises? Does this enhance our understanding of these peoples, or are we encouraged to stereotype ?the other??
Gossip: ?the chance for the coyote to nip at the heels of the wolf?
Our news programs/media present even the big news in easily digested, brief facts (or factoids). It is difficult to see beyond the talking heads, the spin doctors and

the optics to gain an understanding of the world we inhabit. Breaking news (?if it bleeds, it leads?) is the life blood of daily/weekly news programming, newspapers

and comedy routines. Yet, even here, critics have argued that the speed of transmission has generated ?personality-driven stories? and a journalistic desire to know ?

hidden? things.14 In short, journalism has increasingly become gossip; gossip has become central to our information-centered society, a form of cultural narrative. ?

Trash-talk? shows may be denigrated, but they command huge audiences and the viewers relate to these morality plays/players, however distorted, sensationalized or

reductionistic they may be.
Urban myths are a form of gossip that is less personalistic, even though couched in personal terms (the typical ?a friend of a friend? opening). Urban myths allow us

to share15 ? gossip about ? our fears and our contemporary concerns and they can function as cautionary tales. While urban myths have been embarrassingly printed as ?

truth? (e.g., Ann Landers) and are sent as such over thousands of e-mails, the largest consumers of gossip are attracted to TV shows that feature gossip about a famous

personality (e.g., Britney Spears). Indeed, during the very serious United Nations debate on Iraq (14 February 2003), the commentator pointed out that Colin Powell was

?angry,? ?sarcastic? and ?insulted? by the other speakers before commenting on the substance of his speech. Similarly, both Hillary Clinton?s and Sarah Palin?s clothes

were a focus during the 2008 American presidential campaign.
The media, even their gossip (Collins) and trivialization (Postman), send us messages and we must ponder those messages. A message has three components:
1. The message, which consists of both manifest (obvious) and latent (not so obvious) content.
2. The sender: who is sending the message? Who benefits? What is excluded or edited out?
3. The audience.
We must become a more aware ? critical ? audience. The messages we receive may tell us what to think; more importantly, they tell us what to think about.
Violence:
There are ongoing discussions and research about the direct effects of television. Violence is often the topic of interest: is aggressive behavior a consequence of

watching violence? Your text documents some of the research and concerns in this area and the violence that is a component of video games is attracting research

attention. We may assume that exposure to media violence may either generate violence or desensitize us to violence; however, Knight (1995: 8?19) argues that this

assumption:
…highlights the fact that concerns about the effects of media violence overshadow concerns about its causes. Focusing on effects suggests the need for social control

to resolve the problem, by limiting or eliminating the supply of violent imagery, and overlooks the need to understand what creates the demand for it.
Crime shows are a popular ? and expanding ? genre. We have little discourse on what creates the demand for violence; Knight clearly suggests that we must look to the

roots of the ?problem.? In the past, both the movies and radio were defined as negative forces and reduction/control were the proposed solutions during these earlier

historical eras.
We do know that the visual media encourage young men to be ?tough? and ?cool.? Even young boys will mimic the swagger of the ?tough guys.? A video available in schools

and libraries (Tough Guise) documents the negative effects of the tough image; male students have discussed the personal reality of this effect in the classroom, the

need to be cool and detached that is engendered by visual images.
Minorities and other categories:
The media?s depiction of minority groups, women and the social classes has also been criticized. You may want to review your assignment readings here and the ?Social

Diversity? inset (?How Do the Media Portray Minorities??) of your text.
The media have been accused of rendering minorities invisible, stereotyping minority groups or simply exploiting minorities as ?tokens.? The Latinos have recently

(2003) become a larger minority group in the United States than the African-Americans. What proportion of American television characters are Latino? And, how are they

portrayed? Since 2001 (the World Trade Center tragedy), racial profiling has become a part of public discourse (e.g., both the Toronto and western police departments

have been investigated). This has made us very conscious of how stereotypically we may regard other groups. Try to imagine how it would feel to be a member of a

minority group trying to attain ?proper? personhood as depicted in the media (and ads) ? depictions in which the images are white, able-bodied… However, recent ads

have been more diverse; this is particularly apparent in TV car ads, medical health insurance ads, and erectile dysfunction ads on American television (CNN, for

example). In Canada, however, our First Nations? peoples are increasingly represented through their own programming (e.g., ?Dead Dog Caf?), as well as well-received

novels, comedy routines (see Unit VI) and plays. But, ads?
Think: is the ?bad guy/gal? portrayed as having lower or upper social class origins? Again, imagine the impact on self-concept of the social class depictions presented

to us.
Finally, an enormous amount of research has been directed to how women are portrayed in the media. While there have been improvements in this area, ageism and sexism

(and heterosexism) remain common criticisms (including criticisms by actors/entertainers themselves). Remember, sex is innate (nature) but gender is the cultural

overlay on sex (nurture): the media (and, again, ads) instill the notions of propermasculinity and femininity.
While a critical approach has been taken to television and other media, your text also points out some of its benefits. Becoming ?media-savvy? allows us to derive

those benefits from the media.
Popular Culture:
The mass media represent our popular culture to us. Popular culture includes all those cultural forms that are accepted or widespread within a group or society. As

your text notes, sociologists do not distinguish ?high? culture (e.g., violin concertos) from popular culture (e.g., fiddling) ? they are the same phenomenon and the

same instrument. Examples of popular culture are music, novels, plays and movies and video games. Sports, jokes and urban myths are part of popular culture. The

content of popular culture is dependent on the context and milieu, we createpopular culture for this time, this place.
Students have indicated that music is one of the three most important influences in their lives.16 Rap music is currently a hugely popular genre, a genre which

originated in the American ghettoes. What meanings are conveyed by rap ?music?? Do these meanings shape and/or reflect your worldview? The messages conveyed by rapping

clearly differ from the messages of ?grunge,? ?country and western,? the ?swing? era or the ?jazz age.? Indeed, they are similar to the protest songs of the nineteen-

sixties, albeit more personal. What is significant about this inward-looking rap, the angst expressed and the focus on material goods?
In neurologist Oliver Sacks? latest book, Musicophilia (2008), he claims that, ?For virtually all of us, music has great power. It is manifest and central in every

culture, and lies so deep in human nature that one must think of it as innate.? (So?humans are the joking and musical species?) Indeed, Hawkesbury Hospital is

experimenting with harp music as a treatment for chronic pain. In ?Dreamworlds 3, Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video,? Sut Jhally critically examines how masculinity

and femininity are portrayed in various genres of music ? this is a powerful video. (Note: Sut Jhally also produced Tough Guise and has critiqued the cultures of both

professional wrestling and advertising.)
Advertising: The Life-Blood of the Media
A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection ? not an invitation to hypnosis. (Umberto

Eco, The Ad and the Ego )
Ads are the life-blood of the media. The media are humongous commercial enterprises and, while they must appeal to us, they must also cater to their financial

supporters ? advertisers. Withdrawal of advertising revenue sounds the death knell for a newspaper, magazine or TV show.
What is advertising all about? First and foremost, it is a way to subtly (sometimes not so subtly) manipulate your desires, your wants. Evidence that advertisers

consider ads a successful way to manipulate your wants is the fact that corporations were willing to pay $2,400,000 for 30 seconds of advertising at the 2005 Super

Bowl (which a considerable proportion of the audience watches for the ads). Ads are pervasive: we will spend approximately one and one-half years of our lives just

viewing ads (approximately 600 to 2000 ads daily), the effects of those ads (beyond stimulating spending) are of interest to sociologists (see footnote re: TV, music

videos).
Here, stop and pick up any handy publication or turn on the television. Attend to the advertising. What are the ads saying? What is the language of their images? Do

they say ?you are great?? Or ? do they say ?You need improvement, you can become this ideal person by buying…a new look, a new attitude, new things??
The effects of ads (and music) that you will be exploring in your essay are manifold. The Principles and Guide (end of unit) demonstrate just how effective the popular

media can be for shaping/representing self-perception (and self dissatisfaction). Ads are seductive (the ?dream-life of our culture,? Sut Jhally): they must generate

our emotional engagement and provide images that resonate with us in order to manipulate our desires. Indeed, they must be credible enough to neutralize our doubts as

they play upon our insecurities and offer their solutions. The evolution of cigarette ads demonstrates how hard advertisers work at making even a dangerous substance

credible and attractive by catering to our fantasies. (Ads for cigarettes are only found in American publications.)
A new concern of media critics is not ?subliminal? advertising but ?covert? advertising. Covert advertising18 is not just the expanding placement of products in a film

or video or TV show, but the hiring of shills posing as tourists who approach unwary actual tourists, for example, and ask them to take their picture with their

incredible camera X ? all the while, of course, expounding on the virtues of camera X. Similarly, shills will buy free rounds of brand Y in a bar, again lauding

(scripted lauding) the product. The editor of Advertising Age is quoted as saying: ?It is impossible to be too cynical about marketing right now? (Skenazy, 2002: A9).

Ads attempt to appeal to target markets, and ?cyber tots? are a lucrative market that is being tapped as children play their video games and surf the Net.19 These are

not just ads but games (e.g., ?NeoPets?) that are, in essence, 20 minutes of ?immersive advertising,? and the children are encouraged to sign up friends and complete

surveys, or enter contests, and thereby win points or product samples. Concerns about kiddie-marketing are sufficiently serious that there is a United States law ?

protecting the privacy of children under the age of 13? (Snider, 2002: 37). Indeed, scanning the brain to discern responses to products – ?neuromarketing? – is a new

development in how to appeal/sell.
Should we be concerned about the increasingly blurred line between entertainment and marketing? About the fake interactions with hired shills posing as bon vivants?

About the product placements in films/TV shows? Psychologists and marketers themselves are concerned (Snider, 2002; Skenazy, 2002; Eisenberg, 2002) ? ?branding? is big

business and your generation has been a prime ?beneficiary? of the new market tactics. Your assignment will help you develop a healthy dose of skepticism.

Place your order
(550 words)

Approximate price: $22

Calculate the price of your order

550 words
We'll send you the first draft for approval by September 11, 2018 at 10:52 AM
Total price:
$26
The price is based on these factors:
Academic level
Number of pages
Urgency
Basic features
  • Free title page and bibliography
  • Unlimited revisions
  • Plagiarism-free guarantee
  • Money-back guarantee
  • 24/7 support
On-demand options
  • Writer’s samples
  • Part-by-part delivery
  • Overnight delivery
  • Copies of used sources
  • Expert Proofreading
Paper format
  • 275 words per page
  • 12 pt Arial/Times New Roman
  • Double line spacing
  • Any citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard)

Our guarantees

Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.

Money-back guarantee

You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.

Read more

Zero-plagiarism guarantee

Each paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.

Read more

Free-revision policy

Thanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.

Read more

Privacy policy

Your email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.

Read more

Fair-cooperation guarantee

By sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.

Read more
Uncategorized