Tyler Kemp
Professor Maulucci
Advertising in the Media
Everywhere we look today, products are being highly advertised. Advertisements pop up on everything from magazines to even video games. Companies pay top dollar in order to get their luxuries presented to as many people as possible, in as many countries as possible. The long term goal for American, and foreign companies is to sell as much of their product as possible. This leads to the argument of why not advertise wherever you can? Is there too much advertising out there, or are we socially deprived with too little? Many people may speculate and say our heads our filled with nonsense from our media world, whereas others may feel advertising is informative and necessary to understand this frequently changing world.
With America being so diverse, its limitations seem to be stretched as technology advances. What I mean is that, the sciences are an ever growing wonder, and new progressions and explorations only lead to more and more products. With the introduction of these new and improved ideas, marketing, and advertisements come into play. The video to follow shows a comical approach to the advertising and media world. It may not be the whole truth, but it gives us an idea of how we are socially inept puppets.
In a recent New York Times article, entitled “Facebook Extends a Hand to Madison Avenue,” the social networking hierarchy has started a web site where ad agencies can display their work and is hosting live events for advertisers. When we are on Facebook, we want to connect and communicate with whom we want; but now we’ll have to see these ads in what is called an “ad unit.” Ads are distracting, overwhelming, and sometimes even worthless. Big wig companies like Coca Cola, Comcast, and AT&T spend millions of dollars in revenue to broadcast and post their products, hoping it will attract more customers. Are advertisements really how people will end up purchasing your things? This is what leads me into the well-known topic of bandwagon.
When a person sees another with a product they like, normally they complement on it. Sometimes, those compliments are jealous, or envious remarks, showing one’s personal interest in the product. After the compliment is given, a question of “Where did you get that?” normally follows. Once they tell you where they purchased their stellar shirt, you either go online, or investigate where you can buy yourself one as well. This small way of communicating goes a long way in the end, because just spreading word about something is a huge marketing and advertising tool.
Nowadays, what is shown on TV and aired on the radio is almost always liked by many. People jump on what is called, the “bandwagon,” usually agreeing and liking the same thing. When commercials are shown on television, normally a gender role is selected. Craftsmen Tools would want to stand out to men, whereas Scrubbing Bubbles would want to stand out to the women, cleaning the household. In order to compete in the large marketing world today, companies need the aid of the media to help with their continuous sales.
Subliminal messaging is a huge part of the advertising and media world today. Normally, people who advertise their products, want a comedic and attention grabbing message to convey to their audience, but subliminal messaging goes above and beyond to attention grab. Subliminal messages hide the images and text so only your subconscious mind picks up on the messages. A great example of some subliminal messaging can be found in the video below.
Now, steganography is another form of hidden messaging, but has different intentions. Steganography is the art of writing hidden messages, but only enables a certain person to decipher it’s meaning through the hidden messages given. To me, this would be an easy way to sell many things to anxious buyers. People who are willing to pay top dollar for a piece could view the message themselves if they are seriously interested.
In this given Global Issues article below, many valid points are discussed about medial advertising. In the past few years, companies began making short films, videos, and radio broadcasts to advertise their products in a “subtle” but entertaining way, ways which we would want to see and hear. Also, a very important topic they covered was “product placement.” In movies and films alike, we are accustomed to seeing well-known brands throughout the film. For example, in Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell, products like Wonder Bread, Coca Cola, Old Spice, and even Applebee’s are broadly shown, without trying to hide or rename anything. Serious amounts of money were paid in order to include those products in the film, but with the revenue they earned, that money was like pocket change.
Advertisements have crazy ways of creeping up on you when you aren’t ready. Sometimes you’ll see one in a bathroom, a classroom, or even as far as a prison cell wall. Wherever they may be, they all have their own certain message. The messages we get and interpret are what will be the deciding factor of purchasing a product or not. In the article, it stated that, “Brand Contact is any planned and unplanned form of exposure to and interaction with a product or service.” A great example of this is with McDonald’s famous “I’m Lovin’ It” phrase. Whenever someone would hear this phrase, they’d almost always think of McDonald’s and even sometimes want to go right away. Now that their slogan has changed, it may have even thrown some consumers out the window. Brand Contact can be delivered from anywhere, and it’s just a matter of time before too much leads to dishevelment.
Will we ever get away from advertising? Will we ever conquer the long battle with media marketing big wigs? These questions are some we may never know the answer to. But, what we do know is that more and more money is going towards advertising, which is slowly declining our economic well-being. From the article, it pointed out that, “Newspaper publishers are investing more money in color pages, which cost advertisers twice as much," a Zenith spokesman said. Why are taxpayers dollars going to large companies in order to put ads in our daily papers? All we do is end up throwing them out, or recycling them anyway. What we see on a day to day basis changes greatly all the time.
To conclude, the below video's main purpose is to show how the internet is changing advertising. This video is very informative, and is a great look back on world history, and how we have adapted over the years.
Bibliography
Vega, Tanzina. "Facebook Extends a Hand to Madison Avenue." NYtimes.com. 26 Apr. 2011. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/business/media/27adco.html?_r=1&ref=media>.
Shah, Anup. "Media and Advertising — Global Issues." Global Issues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All — Global Issues. 26 Jan. 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/media-and-advertising>.
Li, Hairong. "Advertising Media Planning: A Primer." Advertising Media Planning and Strategy - Internet Advertising. 2007. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.admedia.org/>.
Andrews, Amanda. "GoldLogout." GaleNet. The Times, 12 Sept. 2007. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?action=interpret>.
