Advertising!

Hey guys! I had a great birthday weekend!!! :) Now I have to get straight on to finishing this blog/project! I only have a few entries left to finish my ten hours and I am kind of sad its almost over. I really enjoy talking about the media and its effects on women. I really have learned a lot because once you do an assignment like this, you realize how much we are persuaded by the media and how the media TRULY represents women. So what I want to do is today is talk about advertising. I am taking a Persuasion Methods class right now and it really hits this "how women are portrayed in the media" topic because it is true, right? Media DOES persuade us in many many ways. Most of the time, we may not even realize we are being persuaded. That's pretty crazy! So for my third text reference I will be using my text book from my persuasion class. It is called Persuasion in the Media Age, Second Edition by Timothy A. Borchers.

First off. What is advertising? Advertising is a constant stream of persuasive messages that are transmitted through media to audience members to sale a product. In our text, James B. Twitchell states that advertising is ubiquitous, symbiotic, profane and magical. Twitchell is describing the qualities of advertising here. Let's look at this a little closer.

Advertising is ubiquitous. 

This means that advertising is all around us. Also, we can escape it because ads are everywhere.

Advertising is symbiotic. 

This means that we recognize ads through cultural organisms. The book gives the example of Nike and Tiger Woods. They are correlated with each other because Woods is a spokesperson for Nike.

Advertising is profane.

This means that ads can be shocking and repetitious. Many ads use shocking ads to get an audience to react to it. In addition, ads are played over and over to get them into the audiences' minds. 

Advertising is magical. 

It is. This means that when an item is purchased, it is going to make us feel more important. For instance, if I buy a new designer purse, I may walk a little straighter because I am proud of what I have on my shoulder.

I like what Twitchell has stated here. These are true qualities of advertising. But before advertisements go on the TV though, agencies have to find out what audience a specific product is targeting. After the audience is found, they have to measure the audience by figuring out how many audience members there will be and how frequent they would see this advertisement. Now the important part...figuring out what media should be used for this product. The book states 7 types of media that can be used. They are...

Television Newspapers Radio Magazines 

Out-Of-Home Advertising Internet Direct Mail

Now that we can see some features about advertising, let's look at the effects of advertising. Twitchell says that ads today really don't result in an audiences buying a product, it more or less now, creates our culture. I have to agree with this. As each decade goes by, you can see how advertising changes and progresses to other subjects. Now, there are more sexual ads on TV and other media outlets, then there was in the 1980's. Advertising now creates a culture that values the pursuit of certain lifestyles. This can't be more accurate on the women front. Women see ads with skinny women and expensive clothes, and women at home seeing this ad, want that lifestyle or something similar. A cool statistic in my book that Twitchell explained is:

We see 3,000 advertisements a day.

We notice 8 advertisements a day.

We react to 12 advertisements a day. 

That is crazy. We see 3,000 ads a day? Who knew! And we only react to 12 of these ads? Wow. As I read further in my book, it says that other researchers such as White, 1999, say that advertising plays a strong role in creating awareness about a product. I have to agree with White. I never really think about ads after I hear or see them, but if I hear or see an ad a million times, I am aware of the product and then come to my own conclusion about whether or not I like, dislike, want, or don't want that product. Makes sense, right? Moving on, Twitchell says that the major impact of advertising is the value that it gives our lives. He says we consume the ads more then the goods they advertise. To expand on this, he says that a good example is that we call products "goods" instead of "bads." I have to admit that I think that Twitchell may be a little off on this because I do not see myself thinking about an ad when I buy a product. For example, when I buy mascara or eye liner, I am not thinking about the ad, I am thinking about the way I like them for my own reasons, not because the ad is cool. 

David Slayden, 1999, says that advertising has changed from being about the product to the users of the product. I like and agree with this theory. This goes back to me buying a designer purse. If I buy a designer purse, then I may look like I am at a higher upper class than I really am, and therefor I feel like I am someone who is upper class. I think Slayden hit this right on. Ads do go towards the users way more than the product!!!! 

So, that is my lesson regarding advertising! It may have been a little boring, but I think it is important to get background information on things like advertising. Advertising can have a huge effect on audiences and I like having knowledge about the advertising industry.  I mean really, advertisements are EVERYWHERE!!!!! Why wouldn't you want to know a little about that industry? So, for my next blog, I am going to demonstrate how women are portrayed in advertisements in three different ways! I look forward to it! It will fun like the google searches :) See you later!