Demonstrable demographics

When it comes to advertising to my particular demographic, a 20 year old female, you are basically guaranteed to see one thing that all advertisements have in common, a well known celebrity or attractive female who has something we want. Now, this can range from clothes, body, significant other, house, the list is endless, but it is always something that we want to attain. 

“Not only is the media influencing our self image, but it is also enforcing our gender roles.”

 

Take Cosmopolitan magazine for example. Anyone who has seen the cover knows that it entices girls to buy it with the promise of “getting this body in 2 weeks” or “how to talk to a guy”. I mean, I’m really not complaining, I buy these magazines religiously, but is this really the type of advertisement I want representing my demographic? Not really. I want women my age to feel comfortable with who they are, and let’s face it, all the advertisements like Cosmo are certainly not helping with that. 

 

“I feel that if I identify with Best Buy, i could possibly become more funny and interesting.”

 

Not all advertisements scream “THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD LOOK LIKE” though. Some commercials are smart and try to relate to what girls think they should be like personality wise, without flat out telling them so. Commercials with famous actresses for example, who are funny and confident, something every girl wants to be. Females might feel like if they buy into the product the commercial is advertising, they will be more like that actress. 

 

“This woman is the ‘typical’ lady who wants to settle down, and is waiting for ‘Mr. Right’.”

 

So while certain commercials and advertisements use things like body image to lure females, and others use personality traits, another advertising tick used for my demographic is the thought of the perfect family, a happy ending, and any girl who says she hasn’t thought about that perfect someone is lying. Every girl wants it, to be happy, so when a commercial or advertisement pops up saying “Buy this and you will find your happily ever after,” it is quite enticing. 

 

Personally, I don’t think that the advertisement used for my demographic portrays us correctly. I believe that advertisements should use people who really exist, not those extremely edited magazine cover girls. I think there should be more advertisements like the Dove commercials. Show girls how they really are, not how society thinks they should be. 

 

http://jd11ow.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/what-the-hail/

http://cpcframblings.blogspot.ca/2013/11/what-hail.html

http://whatthehailblog3.blogspot.ca

 

1F25 Response 2: Is the media we want the media we need?

Is the media we want the media we need? Does it inform us about the important everyday happenings around the world? I think that the media does a pretty good job of giving us the details of the important stuff that happens around the world, and keeping the people informed. 

 

“The Olympics, the 6 o’clock news, your favourite TV show. All of these things are catered to the audiences preferred viewing time.”

 

While most of my media choices do not help me to learn about what is going on around the world, the joy of there being so many different times when news is on, is that I can turn it on when I’m doing something else and listen to it in the back ground. I may not actually be watching it, but occasionally I will catch a glimpse of something.  

 

“The news is always pressed to come up with the newest and latest developing stories while companies such as Apple, Cover girl and Johnson& Johnson are always pressed to develop and improve their products in order to keep hold of the public’s attention and keep their customers happy.” 

 

My phone also really helps with keeping me up to date on what happens around the world. With apps such as Facebook and Twitter, I can see when something big happens because it is all over the social media sites, and if I want to learn more about it, I can simply Google it and I can read articles on top of articles about the subject. That is a big help, because I can do it in my spare time when I’m not busy and have the time to actually look up what it is all about. 

 

“We wanted fast passed lives, and like always, the guys upstairs delivered by coming up with a better, faster, longer lasting phone, quicker internet connections, and live events are being streamed in better quality straight to our homes.”

 

With all the technology that I have at my fingertips these days, it is almost impossible to not be able to know what is going on around the world, between Twitter, news networks, and talk to friends, I think I’m pretty well informed.

 

http://itsalanalutz.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/the-media-we-want/

http://cacpcf.blogspot.ca/2013/10/entry-2-getting-media-we-want.html

http://khough2.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/cpcf-blog-post-2/

1F25 Post 2: We want what we get.

When it comes to picking a side for do we get the media we want, or do we want the media we get, I think the latter is more true. I think that the media started out giving the people what they thought the people wanted, and over a long period of time, the people started to believe that they wanted the media that they were given. 

 

In the text book, it said “In so doing, they consistently privilege some issues and identities while devaluing others, thus giving an evaluative framework, a judgmental view of the information about the world that we receive.” (O’Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2012, pg.35). This is an excellent example of how the media decides what is more important and in so, decides what to inform the people on. People then read, watch, or are informed about said issues, and they think they wanted to know about it. 

 

Another example about how we want the media we are given is on page 17. “It is argued that people’s values can be corrupted by the media they consume. This has led to moral panics and campaigns against too much sex and violence on television.” (O’Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2012). While this shows that people are fighting back against the media they get, when some of the top TV shows are CSI, Criminal Minds, shows that promote violence, or even action movies that do very well in the box office, it seems that people have learned to want the action and violence they speak against so much. 

 

I believe that all this shows that while the people think they are in control of the media and what they get from it, it is actually the other way around. The media is tricking people into thinking that they are getting what they want, when really it is the media that makes all the decisions.

1F25 Post 2: Response to Media Impact

In my previous post, I claimed that I valued mass media and that was a good thing, and while part of me still believes that, after reading other people’s posts about how they saw mass media, I can understand why it would be a bad thing, but I still believe it is beneficial as a whole.

I still believe that media has its upside, and it is good to know that other people believe that too. “The news is a very beneficial aspect of media as it allows us to warn people of natural disasters, record historical events and inform the world what is going on outside of your little bubble. Without media I would not know half of the details about the world that I know today. It allows people to prepare and recover from certain events.” (http://tykeca.wordpress.com)

However, the downside of mass media is also there. “Media can cause much confusion on people as the news reports are not checked over to see if the information is a fact or if it is nearly a made up story.  There are so many cases where the media reports a story but different sources all have different reports.” (http://cassiemajor.wordpress.com)

It is easy to forget though, that this is not all the media’s fault, as Linda points out. “It is very easy to make the mass media look like the great big bad wolf and abdicate humans from all blame but that would not be accurate as this has all been made possible through for instance what we as people ask for as people;” (http://lt09mj.wordpress.com) Media only survives because we as the people continue to demand the things media gives us, and media knows this. “In a marketing perspective, strategies have changed dramatically, opening up a whole new target market. Today’s youth is one primary target, as they are very impressionable and exposed to more than ever at a rate that’s growing daily.” (http://expiredtransfer.wordpress.com)

I still continue to believe that mass media is not all bad, but after reading some other people’s blogs, I can understand where they come from.

1F25 Post 1: Media Impact

As a second year university student, I rely heavily on media to keep me up to date and connected, which makes it a pretty big influence on my worldview. I basically grew up with the internet, learning how it worked at a young age, playing games on the computer, watching TV at night, reading magazines in my spare time, and while my parents protected me from some kinds of media, that didn’t stop other kinds from influencing how I saw the world. 

I am the first to admit how attached I am to my laptop and my iPhone. I tweet like it’s my day job and text people all the time. Yes, it is a problem, but my electronics help me connect. While my world right now is mainly St. Catherines, the media helps me connect to the entire world. I could read a magazine from Egypt right now if I wanted to. Without the media, like Twitter or Facebook, some people wouldn’t know what is going on in the world. Even something as simple as Pintrest, which I visit daily, connects people through pictures of ideas, recopies, crafting, places, and so on. 

Understandably, the media does have its downfalls and shortcomings. Censorship happens all around the world, with people deciding what they do and what they do not want us to know. I agree that this should not be done, because it results in lies to the public. Then there is just the flat out stupid media, like Miley Cyrus. Do not even let me get started on “Wreaking Ball”… I mean if you are going to censor anything, censor that mess. The media tends to take little things and run with them, creating big stories out of little things, like after the towers fell down on 9/11, and there were four or five cases of anthrax after. A magazine published something along the line of “War against anthrax”, putting everyone into a nation wide panic. Hundreds of thousands of people were scared and panicked, when in reality, only a handful of people were ill.  

I however value the media because it keeps me connected to things and people, and I can live with it influencing my worldview.