Blog #6

While it would seem like product placement in television and movies would be the sneakiest and therefore the most effective, I haven't found this to be especially true. I think that when the product placement is subtle enough, I believe the technique can be extremely effective. However, when using a specific brand name in the product placement, it can be apparent to the viewer. I recently just watched the movie Eagle Eye. They constantly said verbatim "Porsche Cayene," which was the kind of car that the main characters were riding in. Rather than saying something more generic such as, "black SUV" they used the specific brand name. This leads me to think that Porsche had some major benefit from the movie. It just makes me feel insulted as a consumer when the supposedly subtle techniques are unmasked. I feel like the media is trying to baby the viewer into realizing the movie is an ad. The video from Thirty Rock exagerates the idea, but it's not really that much of a stretch. It's pretty similar to a lot of product placement, which can be quite blatant.
In conclusion, I think that while product placement can be effective, I would also say that it's difficult to be tactful and disguise their attempts to influence the consumer.

Blog #4

I think that the media plays a huge role in the way people are viewed as professionals. The media portrays women as being caretakers of children and their households. Women have a harder time gaining respect in the workplace and are often seen as less important as men in the workforce.

In almost every commercial for household cleaning products, there is woman featured as a mother, doing her motherly duty: cleaning. These portrayals of women have been set and people view them as being a mother who should be staying home to tend to the house. Even when women are in the workplace, they are considered the "supporting" income, rather than the breadwinner.

It seems to be that men are seen as the breadwinners in the workplace, assuming that they are all fathers that have to support an entire household. Women on the other hand are seen as the keepers of the house, or possibly secondary income earners. With this point of view in mind, it would seem that men would be favored for jobs, promotions, etct. merely based on their gender. It seems like women have an unfair advantage. Women have to prove that they deserve promotions and jobs, fighting against the "breadwinners."

Blog #3

I unfortunately don't have time to watch TV shows, so this might be a stretch compared to what is actually happening on Gossip Girl nowadays. I used to watch Gossip Girl religiously, but now have fallen behind, so we'll go with past information, I suppose.

Quite obviously, for anyone who has ever watched the show, it represents America's value on material comfort. Almost every one of the main characters live the "good life." They are disgustingly rich and are able to do whatever they want. They live pretty happy lives, being able to run around doing crazy things and never getting into trouble. The less well-to-do characters on the show, specifically the character of Jenny Humphrey, are often jealous of the elite's material wealth. Jenny at parts in the show becomes obsessed with the wealthy "cool" crowd. She represents the misguided idea that she has that having large amounts of money can create happiness for her.

Another value that is represented in the show is progress. Jenny's older brother, Dan is a perfect demonstration of this. He is one of the brightest students in his class at the private school all the characters attend. He desperately wants to be accepted to and attend Dartmouth College. He has all the qualities to attend, but he gets pushed aside by one of the "brainless, rich kids." He has to prove himself by getting ahead as much as he can academically and in the end he is able to reach his goal. Dan is constantly trying to improve himself, which is a good example to be setting on show in the midst of pampered, babied wealthy adolescents.

Blog #2

When I think about how much the media saturates our society and shapes our culture, it makes me a little sick. I wish that our culture would encourage individuality rather than conformity. The mass media has such an overwhelming amount of control on us as consumers. Even if as an individual you try to block out messages that the media sends out, there still is a enormous number of people who receive the messages, even if you aren't.

This video really shines light on the fact that the media isn't afraid to cross boundaries. You would think that exploiting children with messages from the media should be unacceptable. However, the media is still ruthless. They don't care about the negative impact that they have on children, they only want to make profits. These children grow up to be "super-consumers," who are completely dependent on the messages they get, starting at this young age. This exactly what the media wants. The young age of the children allows them to be shaped for life. These children truly have no choice about this matter. They are simply too young to realize what the messages are, and from there they become used to the messages and become unaware of them.

I think our society needs to take a preventive and protective step to halt the media's impact. We need to protect ourselves, and, even more importantly, our children.

Blog #1

In the note card interview I conducted about media, I got some varied answers. I interviewed my mom, my dad, my friend Emily (who is a junior), and my brother Will (who is a freshman in college). All of the answers to the first question, "What is 'media'?" were all quite similar. They all agreed that media was an outlet that was able to reach mass numbers of people. When asked about what types of media sources they used regularly I got a more differed set of answers. Almost all of them used the internet to read the news, but Will also added that he used the internet to read blogs. Both Emily and my mom rely on magazines for some of their news that they receive from the media. Both my parents added that they both watch the news nearly every night. My dad was the one who relied on media most often, for news and such, then my brother and mom, and then Emily. I think I could have guessed that prior to the interview because it always seems like my dad is up-to-date with current events. The interviewees all felt that the media was helpful in keeping them informed and knowledgeable about current events. My mom and Emily both thought it had entertainment value as well. This interview gave me a sense of how these people I knew all used the power of media in their own individual ways.