Okay to start off one interesting fact that I learned while reading this chapter is that advertising was created to make a variety of brands differentiate from each other even if the product was basically the same thing. In doing so, customers would make more demand for a specific product and manufactures could in turn demand higher prices for that products. Now I find this interesting because it makes me as consumer second guess every item that ever thought was better to get because of commercials. Like is it better to purchase any type of cranberry juice or does it have to be Oceansprays cranberry juice? Can I buy any brand of ketchup or is Hienz ketchup the best route to go? I feel like advertisers just screwed with my common sense logic (now what do I buy!).
This brings me to a new term I learned in the chapter called subliminal advertising. Now if you thought you weren’t a victim to subliminal advertising, well newsflash I’m sure you were. I bet you’re wondering what is subliminal advertising? Subliminal Advertising is a fraudulent or misleading ad that spread wild ads about what a certain product can do, when is actuality they can’t. Examples of this would be like the Butt blaster, Slim fast(tried it and it so didn’t work), Joan Rivers QVC foundation was a huge flop! I am writing to you about this so that you yourself will not be a victim to all of these supposedly accredited products. So my message is be careful with your product selections. Good luck and God bless!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Century of the Self (Torches of Freedom)
The topic that I found the most interesting in the movie Century of the Self video in class was how Edward Bernay’s got women to smoke cigarettes also known as “the torches of freedom” in public spaces. I thought this idea of Bernays was brilliant because I would have never thought that public relations could start such a big social change in society. I think what really stumps my head is the fact that his plan was so simple and yet so complex (it was simply genius). Now Before I really get into that, we first have to understand the steps that led to the women’s first puff of the lovely torch.
So back in the 1900’s it was considered very un-lady like to smoke cigarettes in public. It was to the point that’s some states passed laws just to prevent women from smoking because it was seen as defying moral privileges (in other words being very improper). Cigarettes were considered to be very masculine, and around this time America was still going through their little “patriarchal stage” making smoking a big “No no“ for women. So George Hill at the time was the head of a big tobacco company. The name of his tobacco company was Lucky Strikes, which at the time was a popular pack of cigarettes. Just like any normal business man, Hill wanted to increase his profits in his cigarette sales. He wanted to appeal more to the female demographic so, he hired Edwards Bernays (the master of starting trends and capitalizing on profits) to help him accomplish that.
Now Bernays began brainstorming on the different ways to make cigarettes appealing to women, but was coming up dry. So, he contacted a famous psychoanalyst by the name of Abraham Brill to seek advice on how to make cigarettes more marketable to women. Mr. Brill stated that women smoked because it was an oral fixation they had. Now I bet you’re wondering , what does oral sex have to do with smoking? Well, Brill looked at the masculinity of the cigarette as the male private part. So women smoking cigarettes symbolized their suppressed desire to have oral sex. Now Brill explained to Bernays that to make the cigarette marketable to women that he had to present them as the “torches of freedom because it would represent women breaking away from male domination. So Edward Bernays hired some models/ debutants to walk in the Easter parade, and have them lighting up their torches for social change. So Bernays made sure that the press and photographers were there so that this was stir up trouble or in other words get the word out. This march stirred up a talk around the nation inspiring all women to turn their flame on.
Over time Bernays plan of targeting women to smoke was a success. This march was covered in just about every paper in America. The number of lady smokers increased in the United States from a low five percent all the way to a rapid eighteen percent, which is a major jump. What puts my face in awe is how perfectly Bernays executed his plan. I think it is crazy how a simple idea like that could really start a social change to the point of inspiring other females to grab a torch too. This movement went so far that it began to be shown on television/movies. It was no longer a crime of morals for women to smoke in public, it was now a widely accepted fashion trend (in other words the new “it” thing to do). It was getting to the point that new books were being published along with different classes on the proper smoking etiquette. Sarah Gates in her article goes into how the smoking classes taught how to properly stub out a cigarette, and how women shouldn’t smoke at dinner parties (that was considered rude). An interesting section that I enjoyed reading from, “Smoking Etiquette for Women” was learning that Eleanor Roosevelt (the president’s wife of the United States) was the first lady to smoke in public.
To fast forward to this day an age, smoking cigarettes isn’t as open as it used to be back then in Bernays time. Now it seems that society is trying to limit/stop public smoking all together in public places for both genders. A good example of this is city councils attempt to ban smoking in 42nd street Times Square located in New York City. Now, I could understand the councils ruling in 2002 from banning smoking in restaurants and bars, but Times Square (they’re crazy if they think that plots going to work). Plus to add on to the madness if you are caught smoking a cigarette in the park, restaurants/bars, and pedestrian areas such as Times Square, you will be fined fifty dollars. If you ask me I think this is just another sneaky attempt for the city cheat people out of their money. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t smoke personally, but I feel that it should be acceptable for people to smoke in a public place. It’s their rights. The government might as well erase the bill of rights while their at it just to seal the deal.
In conclusion at the end of Edward Bernays experiment it was considered sexy, independent and empowering for women to smoke cigarettes in public. According to Wikipedia about 33% of American women were still smoking by the year of 1977, so you can only imagine where the numbers reach into in the year 2011. Granted because of his little plot women now have to suffer the same fate men do with lung cancer, but Bernays will remain one of my heroes. I know that is crazy to say, but I am still shocked about how easy it is to manipulate the mind to make such a big change. Its one of those things you hear about, but don’t believe until you see it (and Bernays helped me see). So to conclude I think Bernays is amazing and I am only talking about one of his many contributions to public relations. You yourself should look him up on Google because you’ll be so amazed at what you find.
So back in the 1900’s it was considered very un-lady like to smoke cigarettes in public. It was to the point that’s some states passed laws just to prevent women from smoking because it was seen as defying moral privileges (in other words being very improper). Cigarettes were considered to be very masculine, and around this time America was still going through their little “patriarchal stage” making smoking a big “No no“ for women. So George Hill at the time was the head of a big tobacco company. The name of his tobacco company was Lucky Strikes, which at the time was a popular pack of cigarettes. Just like any normal business man, Hill wanted to increase his profits in his cigarette sales. He wanted to appeal more to the female demographic so, he hired Edwards Bernays (the master of starting trends and capitalizing on profits) to help him accomplish that.
Now Bernays began brainstorming on the different ways to make cigarettes appealing to women, but was coming up dry. So, he contacted a famous psychoanalyst by the name of Abraham Brill to seek advice on how to make cigarettes more marketable to women. Mr. Brill stated that women smoked because it was an oral fixation they had. Now I bet you’re wondering , what does oral sex have to do with smoking? Well, Brill looked at the masculinity of the cigarette as the male private part. So women smoking cigarettes symbolized their suppressed desire to have oral sex. Now Brill explained to Bernays that to make the cigarette marketable to women that he had to present them as the “torches of freedom because it would represent women breaking away from male domination. So Edward Bernays hired some models/ debutants to walk in the Easter parade, and have them lighting up their torches for social change. So Bernays made sure that the press and photographers were there so that this was stir up trouble or in other words get the word out. This march stirred up a talk around the nation inspiring all women to turn their flame on.
Over time Bernays plan of targeting women to smoke was a success. This march was covered in just about every paper in America. The number of lady smokers increased in the United States from a low five percent all the way to a rapid eighteen percent, which is a major jump. What puts my face in awe is how perfectly Bernays executed his plan. I think it is crazy how a simple idea like that could really start a social change to the point of inspiring other females to grab a torch too. This movement went so far that it began to be shown on television/movies. It was no longer a crime of morals for women to smoke in public, it was now a widely accepted fashion trend (in other words the new “it” thing to do). It was getting to the point that new books were being published along with different classes on the proper smoking etiquette. Sarah Gates in her article goes into how the smoking classes taught how to properly stub out a cigarette, and how women shouldn’t smoke at dinner parties (that was considered rude). An interesting section that I enjoyed reading from, “Smoking Etiquette for Women” was learning that Eleanor Roosevelt (the president’s wife of the United States) was the first lady to smoke in public.
To fast forward to this day an age, smoking cigarettes isn’t as open as it used to be back then in Bernays time. Now it seems that society is trying to limit/stop public smoking all together in public places for both genders. A good example of this is city councils attempt to ban smoking in 42nd street Times Square located in New York City. Now, I could understand the councils ruling in 2002 from banning smoking in restaurants and bars, but Times Square (they’re crazy if they think that plots going to work). Plus to add on to the madness if you are caught smoking a cigarette in the park, restaurants/bars, and pedestrian areas such as Times Square, you will be fined fifty dollars. If you ask me I think this is just another sneaky attempt for the city cheat people out of their money. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t smoke personally, but I feel that it should be acceptable for people to smoke in a public place. It’s their rights. The government might as well erase the bill of rights while their at it just to seal the deal.
In conclusion at the end of Edward Bernays experiment it was considered sexy, independent and empowering for women to smoke cigarettes in public. According to Wikipedia about 33% of American women were still smoking by the year of 1977, so you can only imagine where the numbers reach into in the year 2011. Granted because of his little plot women now have to suffer the same fate men do with lung cancer, but Bernays will remain one of my heroes. I know that is crazy to say, but I am still shocked about how easy it is to manipulate the mind to make such a big change. Its one of those things you hear about, but don’t believe until you see it (and Bernays helped me see). So to conclude I think Bernays is amazing and I am only talking about one of his many contributions to public relations. You yourself should look him up on Google because you’ll be so amazed at what you find.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Legal Control & Freedom of Expression
The first point I would like to start with is the fact that Americans take for granted their fine liberty of freedom. What kind of Freedom am I talking about? Well freedom of speech of course! Americans can talk about government, have many religions practices, make our unions to increase our employment pay, and basically stir up trouble in our society (and never get penalized for it). Can we say the same for other countries in the world? No! In other countries if you dare talk about government practices you would probably (and I'm being nice here) receive a life sentence in prison. And religion please, I personally dare you to take a flight to Jamaica and try to preach about the non-existence of God. When I say you're dead I mean chopped up with a machete and rotting in a pit somewhere kind of dead (Jamaicans play no games). However, before you get all sentimental on how proud you feel to be Americans, let’s not forget our government kind of sucks too.
We may have looser laws on the freedom of speech, but our conniving government secretly imposing on that too (you just weren't paying attention). A good example of this is what the book mentions about with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy did his own little of version of a witch hunt in making accusations that over 150 musicians and actors were communist. Because of his serious allegations these 150 people were blacklisted from performing their craft. Now, that is just one example. Another example of this is the government trying to control what they believe is misleading advertisements. Now this may not sound like a big deal to you now, but think of this as the beginning of a group of Hitler (okay maybe I'm being a little dramatic). All I'm saying is keep your open on the little government changes and don't play dumb when you notice we have no more bill of rights.
We may have looser laws on the freedom of speech, but our conniving government secretly imposing on that too (you just weren't paying attention). A good example of this is what the book mentions about with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy did his own little of version of a witch hunt in making accusations that over 150 musicians and actors were communist. Because of his serious allegations these 150 people were blacklisted from performing their craft. Now, that is just one example. Another example of this is the government trying to control what they believe is misleading advertisements. Now this may not sound like a big deal to you now, but think of this as the beginning of a group of Hitler (okay maybe I'm being a little dramatic). All I'm saying is keep your open on the little government changes and don't play dumb when you notice we have no more bill of rights.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Newspaper
What I feel is a very important fact to know in this chapter is the beginnignand definitions of yellow journalism. What is yellow Journalism you may say? Yellow Journalism were the papers that focused on writing about scandals and crimes (basically all the juicyy stuff I love to read). The men who created this paper on my kind of news were William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Now if you're wondering if the last name Pulitzer sounds so familar its because it is. Joseph Pulitzer created the Pulitzer prizes that are still around today! Now to get back to the point because of Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Hearst we now today have investigative journalism.
Now todays papers have been suffering for the past thirty years with its customers. Why you may say? I believe it's because newspapers have gotten so expensive! In addtion to that the recession wasn't a big help and then theres the fact that most newspaper have their news online. Why would I spend money for a paper newspaper when I can go on my handy dandy computer, and look up the news when I want for free. I don't know how long paper newspapers will still be around for, but at the rate their declining readership have gone, I'll give it about 10 years(and I'm being generous).
Now todays papers have been suffering for the past thirty years with its customers. Why you may say? I believe it's because newspapers have gotten so expensive! In addtion to that the recession wasn't a big help and then theres the fact that most newspaper have their news online. Why would I spend money for a paper newspaper when I can go on my handy dandy computer, and look up the news when I want for free. I don't know how long paper newspapers will still be around for, but at the rate their declining readership have gone, I'll give it about 10 years(and I'm being generous).
Film
To kick this off I would have never imagined Thomas Edison to have anything to do with film. When I think of Edison I think of light bulbs, but thats beside the point. Mr. Edison produced the first large screen system called the vitascope. This new invention helped to show longer films at better quality. So let us give kudos to Mr. Edison for improving our film quality.
Another point that stuck out in the chapter was the creation of Nickelodeon. When I was a child I watched Nickelodeon everyday. It was the network to find legendary cartoons such as Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog and so much more. I find it very interesting that Nickelodeons in this time period were considered movie theaters for silent films. One of th e first people to create and direct a narrative film was Georges Melies. He was the begining of films actually telling a story instead of showing repetitive action (an example of this was horses galloping, no real plot).
In conclusion these two point were the most interesting details to know in film (well for me anyway). Learning about George makes me even more thankful of the films we have today because Lord knows I couldn't sit through any movie with no plot line.
Another point that stuck out in the chapter was the creation of Nickelodeon. When I was a child I watched Nickelodeon everyday. It was the network to find legendary cartoons such as Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog and so much more. I find it very interesting that Nickelodeons in this time period were considered movie theaters for silent films. One of th e first people to create and direct a narrative film was Georges Melies. He was the begining of films actually telling a story instead of showing repetitive action (an example of this was horses galloping, no real plot).
In conclusion these two point were the most interesting details to know in film (well for me anyway). Learning about George makes me even more thankful of the films we have today because Lord knows I couldn't sit through any movie with no plot line.
Magazines
Ok the first point that my interest when I read this chapter was the term magazine. I had no idea that the term magazine in french means "storehouse". This name suits the name magazine because it is a compiled storehouse of stories, article, and a variety of advertisements. However that definition I just gave suits the updated version of what the magazine became, but back in the day magazines were mostly used for politics and social reform.
Speaking of social reform the chapter mentions one group by the name of the Muckrackers. The muckrackers were a group that exposed the unfair practices of businesses and the corruption of the government (an example of govt corruption was at the time Great Britain). The book goes on to say that the age of muckrackness(my funny term) came to an end and started the beginning of photojournalism. The rise of photojournalism doesn't surprise me because honestly sometimes when I buy a magazine I don't read it, I just look at the pictures (because you know what they say a picture can speak a thousand words).
Speaking of social reform the chapter mentions one group by the name of the Muckrackers. The muckrackers were a group that exposed the unfair practices of businesses and the corruption of the government (an example of govt corruption was at the time Great Britain). The book goes on to say that the age of muckrackness(my funny term) came to an end and started the beginning of photojournalism. The rise of photojournalism doesn't surprise me because honestly sometimes when I buy a magazine I don't read it, I just look at the pictures (because you know what they say a picture can speak a thousand words).
Televison
What I found very interesting in this chapter is the creation of cable and how it all it all came about. The chapter talks about how CATV, which stands for Commnity Antenna Television was one of the first small cable vision system. These systems were set up in places that were remote or near tall buildings that blocked boradcasting systems. I found that to be an interesting point because I've heard of the term CATV, but I did not know that that was one of the first cable systems (thats kind of cool).
What I found hilarious to read in the chapter was when television programming only having two distinct genres on tv. These genres were entertainment and information channels. This is interesting to me because todays television is the same way with the added bonus of a lot of reality tv shows. Television is constantly changing and adapting to new technology. It makes me curious to know how television will be ten years from now!
What I found hilarious to read in the chapter was when television programming only having two distinct genres on tv. These genres were entertainment and information channels. This is interesting to me because todays television is the same way with the added bonus of a lot of reality tv shows. Television is constantly changing and adapting to new technology. It makes me curious to know how television will be ten years from now!
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