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Wait...a Mermaid

Information:

• Clorox Cleaner

• 2008

• DDB Worldwide

VIDEO

Q & A:
While patiently staring at the screen looking for an interesting commercial to come on, a Clorox commercial comes on. The first thing I saw was a mermaid. Nothing I have ever seen before in a Clorox commercial before. I then went on to research the commercial on YouTube to see how popular this commercial was. This commercial is very popular there are a total of 29 comments and about 80,000 views between both of the videos on you tube of the commercial. With this many views, Clorox must have a creative ad agency behind them. I found out that their ad agency is DDB Worldwide.

I liked this ad because it was very creative and went outside of the realm that Clorox commercials usually stay in. The music that they used in the background was very calming and not annoying like some commercials. I thought the use of the mermaid was very out of the ordinary. I think the mermaid alone gets the viewers attention. It made me wonder what the commercial was about. Whenever you think of the Clorox commercial you will think of the mermaid. The element of puffery I saw was when the commercial made the Clorox cleaner seem so powerful that it would make you think you were somewhere else. Basically, that was what the mermaid in the ocean was supposed to demonstrate. I think Clorox was really actually selling their product. The commercial only consisted of a mermaid, a tub, the ocean, and a bathroom. The only thing Clorox was trying to sell was the appearance of a clean bathtub. In most commercial they are try to use sex or a perfect body in order to sell their product, however Clorox did not. One negative thing I thought when I watched the commercial was, they only mentioned their product once. In order for the consumer to remember the product the company must mention the product more than once. The placement of the ad was very good. I saw the commercial on a local station while Oprah and Dr. Phil were on. This is a great time to target stay at home moms who clean, this would be mothers and wives between the ages 28-45. Cleaning is exactly one of the several things stay at home moms do. However even though I think this is a great ad, I would never buy the product because it is not something I would need at this point and time in my life.

Web What? Web Two Point Ohhh!

Two classes ago I was assigned to write a blog about the guest speaker. However our guest speaker showed up a little late and did not get a lot of time to speak. But the one thing that professor Rift talked about that made me think is when he talked about YouTube. He talked about how much money it takes to put on a Hollywood. Then Professor Rift contrasted that to videos put on you tube with no money by everyday people like us.

But before he arrived we talked about web 2.0. At first I had a hard time grasping what Professor Falk was talking about. Then she showed us a video made by a professor from Kansas State. Web 2.0 is allowing ordinary users to create a large amount of information on the web. With such websites like Wikipedia, Digg, Reddit, and del.ici.ous ordinary users are now able to have a voice. What really grabbed my attention is when Dr. Wesch talked about YouTube. He also highlighted on what Rift said about YouTube. Dr. Wesch explained how his video along with other videos on YouTube were getting as just much views as programs on television and how many videos have been created. He also talked about how web 2.0 is changing the way videos are being tagged on YouTube.

After seeing Dr.Wesch’s video and listening to Professor Rift speak it made me think about how Hollywood and the rest of the media are probably going to end up putting their shows and commercials on YouTube. The Web is becoming more and more video dominated every day, and creating new ways to tag videos so more viewers will be able to view them. After the class I was left to think about what all web 2.0 had to offer and how it would affect the media in return. I also thought about what web 3.0 would consist of when it rolls through next. Will all producers start looking towards YouTube?

FREE DONUT.............

I personally do not read blogs ever. I rarely like to read about other people’s day online, or read about what they think. Why not just go to a website where you know the information is correct. When I think of blogs, I feel like they have low creditability. However for the second part of this blog we had to pick a blog and write about it. Therefore you could see my problem, I do not read blogs. I looked over some of the blogs my teacher put up on the class blog, but none of those caught my interest either. So I turned to what I knew best, celebrity gossip. I think you all know what I am talking about, Perez Hilton’s blogs. Perez Hilton has become so famous for his celebrity blogs. Everyone in Hollywood knows who he is, probably because each of their names has appeared on his blog at least once or twice. Most people know Perez for his humorous celebrity gossip. But I was surprised to see something else besides celebrity gossip grace his famous blog. I was a blog about going to vote. Perez wrote about how Krispy Krème is give away a free donut on Election Day to all people who vote. If you go to a Krispy Krème and show them your “I voted” sticker they will give you a free patriotic donut with red, white and blue sprinkles on it for voting. I know crispy crème probably paid Perez to do that but I just thought it was nice to see Perez encouraging people to vote and to see something besides celebrity gossip on his page. If you want to read the blog click this link below.
How to get a free donut!

T.V on the Internet???

The internet and convergence have impacted the television in many ways. First the internet is now full of the episodes and commercials on the television. Therefore if a viewer has missed something on television they can now easy go back and view it on the internet. Another impact is YouTube. Instead of watching things on television teenagers are now surfing you tube for their entertainment in their spare time. Usually if something funny happens in television, it will show up on YouTube the next day. I used to be you had to catch that funny moment on television when it happened. But now because of internet convergence you can catch all those moments on television on the internet. A third impact is that with television on the internet there are fewer commercials and viewers like less commercials. I think this convergence could be a good thing and a bad thing. It is a good thing because it is allowing the viewers to be able to vie their favorite shows on television anytime they won’t. Also it is also keeping up with our ever changing community. However there is a negative side to the convergence. With shows showing over the internet, there are now fewer ways for advertisers to get their products out to the consumers. In the end it can be looked at as a negative and as a positive. But it makes you wonder how far the media will take convergence with the internet. What else will we be able to do on the internet in the future?

It’s Not over Till the Third Debate

For this blog I was assigned to watch one of the three debates. Well I actually watched all three. But the question is why did I decide to write about the third debate? Well the first two debates I kept getting distracted and could not really remember much about them. Not to mention that the first two debates were kind of boring. So there I was on Wednesday night, I sat in front of the television in my dorm room with my chips and my salsa at hand and concentrated. I turned off my phone, told my friends I was busy, and focused on the debate.

I really liked the way this debate was set up, it was more personal. The theme of this debate was suppose to be foreign policy I thought, but it was more about the country’s economic problems. Obama talked about his plan for change and his tax cuts for the middle class while McCain replied saying that Obama’s plan would only make middle class and small businesses pay more taxes. This part of the debate confused me because McCain kept saying that Obama’s plan was to tax the middle class, when Obama clearly said that wasn’t part of his plan. This part of the debate is also where the character “the plumber” came in. At first I was confused on whether that was a real person, but in fact it was. I like how they used a real person to use as an example to describe each of their plans.

The second part of the debate that caught my attention was when the two candidates talked about negative attacks in each others campaigns. Both candidates argued that each other had negative attacks in their campaign. But finally Obama said “the voters don’t care about our hurt feelings, they want to know how we are going to get through this economic crisis”. I thought that was well said. Although it really does scare me how negative this election has become. When I hear people in the background of McCain and Palin’s rally saying “kill him”, it really scares me. Has our country still held on to racial bias? Have we not come to accept all races yet? A threat of killing someone is definitely taking it way too far in my opinion.

However after watching the debate, I thought it was more interesting than others. But at the end of the day McCain has some ground to make up. Right now he is down in the polls by double digits. I do not think this debate really helped any of the undecided voters. I think the people who went in for either Obama or McCain, came back out feeling the same way. So McCain is still in the same trouble he was before. I think McCain wasted time talking about issues that the voters did not want to hear. Each candidate had their strong points and weak points, but we will not know what to expect till the very last moment of this election. Not too long from now we will all be sitting in front of the television, waiting to hear the results of the election, and that is when we will know exactly who won the debates, right?

M.I.A Guest Speaker

My first class on Monday started off how it normally did. Me walking in tired; still wondering why I feel like I have been run over by a truck and wondering why this class is at 8 o’clock in the morning. I sat down and remembered we had a guest speaker. Then I began to get excited. Minutes went on till professor Falk announced that the guest speaker was not coming. I was let down at first but eventually we got into an interesting discussion like we always do. While listening in on the discussion in class about having diversity in the newsroom a lot of thoughts came to mind. I do agree there should be diversity in the newsroom. It first attracts listeners of different backgrounds. If you only have one kind of race represented, then other races will not be able to relate. Also by having a diverse newsroom, it shows all listeners that you accept everyone, and you care about them too.

Referring back to what was said in class; now in our generation we do not look at race or skin color anymore. While that is true, I do not think that crosses over to television. I agree our generation does not look at color, however I feel when someone of the same race is on television you can relate better. Also maybe a news story would be better covered by another race.

Another thing that came to mind while reflecting on the previous class was the issue about how news channels go about hiring the news reporters of different races. Will they hire a news reporter of a different race over a white person who is better qualified? I agree a news reporter should be hired on their capability not their skin color. I am very interested on reading other students blogs who decide to blog about this same topic. I want to hear the opinions from people on the other side of the discussion. I got the impression that the other students in the class had a strong opinion about this subject.

But in my opinion, speaking from a person of a minority, I do not think or feel that people of different races get special treatment or should get a job over a white person. I feel that minorities actually have to try twice as hard to get jobs or to prove themselves. While listening to other students opinions in class I felt like they thought minorities were getting unfair treatment, but I disagree.

Leaving from this discussion I still had lots to say so I decided to write a blog about it. Until this topic came up I never thought twice about it. When I watch the news on television I never think to myself that the newsroom is not diverse enough. But now thinking about it all I really see is mainly to different races shown, white and black. Now that we have had this discussion in class I think I will be more aware of it.

Violence in the Media for 200 Please

In America there is a big controversy over violence in the media, and whether it affects people and their actions. Some say it is the media’s fault for putting violence out. Others say it’s the consumers fault for watching it. I think it could be argued either way personally. Violence is everywhere now. It’s in cartoons children watch, movies, daytime television, and video games. But as the consumers, we do have control over what we look at, watch, and buy. Is it okay to blame the media for what our children watch and is it really fair to fault someone else? Maybe we are making the media the scapegoat. I think this topic of violence will forever be a hot topic, but I wish people would realize that if we (the consumers) keep watching it the media will create it. I definitely believe the consumers are part of the “circle of violence”, as long as we are watching it there will be violence in the media.

Illustration by Christopher Hinton.


With all this violence in the media you can not help to think that the consumers in America have been desensitized. According to Mass Media in a Changing World by George Rodman, desensitization is “a process by which viewers of media violence develop callousness or emotional neutrality in the face of a real life act of violence”. Can this be the reason why violence is overlooked many times, or why onlookers do not help people in need when they are in a violent situation? “Desensitization became a popular explanation for the failure of onlookers to come to the aid of mugging victims in major cities,” according to Rodman.




Personally, I feel like I am desensitized by the violence in the media because when I hear about violence on the news it does not even strike a cord with me. I think that goes for a lot of people. We hear about people dying and getting shot in the news all the time. It is sad to say but now we are numb to it. The only time it affects us is when it has something to do with us. For example if someone got killed in our town we would then pay attention. The topic of desensitization brings the question, is this why America is so violent? Television is not real, so it does not show all the repercussions of violence. So viewers are desensitized from all of the effects of violence. Viewers do not get a true representation of violence. So is this why people behave so violent?




I am not sure who is to blame for all the violence in the media. But I do think everyone is part at fault. I also think desensitization also plays a big part. I am unsure what part it plays, but I know it definitely plays a part. But the big question is how are we going to stop the violence? However these are questions I wonder about. Are people acting violent because they do not realize the effects of violence? Or is it because they believe they can get away with violent behavior? Also when do people first start acting violent?



After writing this blog I decided to look around the web for other people's thoughts on violence in the media. I then came across this video that a student made for their class project on violence in the media, and whether it effects people. There is a clip in the video from the Dave Chappel show mocking the video game talked about at the begining of chapter two in our book. I thought the creator did a good job, and wish Icould make a video like that.

United States Travels to England

For my interview I interviewed my friend Sam Howarth, from Liverpool, England. He has lived in Liverpool for 21 years. Sam described the media in England as very mild compared to the media in United States. He said the media that the United States presents to the consumers is an overload. He also thought that the majority of the media that the United States creates is negative. He stated too that he thought the United States media affects children and makes them vulnerable to picking up bad behavior they see in the media. Sam believes media is less of a big deal in England because some of their laws are different. Their drinking age is eighteen, and fourteen with parent permission. Also their smoking age is lower. So these activities are not that big of a deal in England. The similarities of both United States and England media are they both have a lot legal commercials, both advertise with billboards, radio, and television. The differences between media in the U.S and England is that media on television appears a lot less. In England commercials only come on once during a whole show. Unlike in the United States they come on several times and 30 minute shows are really only 15 minutes. Sam also explained that England is very Americanized, especially Europe. When I asked him what his favorite show was back in England, he answered with an American show, Rob and Big. According to Sam, a large amount of the media here in the United States gets to other countries such as England.

After doing this interview with Sam, most of the things I thought were confirmed. The amount of media that the United States puts out is too much. I know that the United States is a big country; however, I think it is out of control. Media in the United States is more to control people, rather than inform people like in England.

Generation Y in the Workplace

Theses days I have noticed how my generation seems to move up the business latter much faster than other generations did. Before my generation everyone had to put in their fair share of time or years in order to get promotions. However, now my generation is moving faster up the latter. I think my generation’s fast pace life has a lot to do with it. With technology speeding up our everyday life, we also expect our careers to go that way. We are used to getting everything in an instant, instant messages, text messages, email, ect. If we can’t get it instantly, we move on to the next thing.

I also think our parents praise and encouragement affected my generation’s ideas about the work place. When my generation was young, our parents always told us we could do whatever we wanted and be whoever we wanted. These words of encouragement stuck with us. Although, the generation before us does not look at these words as encouragement, they look at them as a curse. According to the video we watched in class, the words of encouragement turned us into spoiled brats in the minds of the generation before us, if we do not get what we want we leave. However I do not agree, I think our parents just gave us confidence. With these words from our parents in our mind, the workplace seemed like something we could easily take charge of, if we put our mind to it.

In general, I think these characteristics about generation Y are good qualities. The fast pace of my generation may be exactly what the workplace needs. This fast pace includes being more technology savvy than the previous generation, and being able to multi task. I also believe these qualities are what employers are looking for, which allows my generation to move up the latter so easily.

While researching about Gen Y I found this interesting video.

This video is a great short insight into what Gen Y is all about.

Click here

What is my passion?

Out of all the activities I do, the one activity that

I enjoy the most is tennis. I started playing tennis about five yearsago. Ever since then, tennis has been something that I have always wanted to improve on, play, and watch. I think however old I get, I will still continue to play, whether I play just for fun, or competitive. I can truly say I am passionate about tennis.

When I started tennis five years ago I was actually really horrible. I started off going to a couple camps, and playing with a couple of friends. After a while I think my parents saw that tennis was actually something I was going to stick with and they quickly signed me up for classes at Creve Cour Racquet Club. I soon improved on my technique and grew as a tennis player. I am very glad my parents saw my eagerness to play and signed me up, it greatly improved me as a tennis player.

After taking lessons at Creve Cour Racquet Club my confidence grew and I decided to try out for my high school tennis team. I had never been so nervous in my life before. I knew the rest of the girls trying out had probably been playing tennis longer than I had, and I immediately doubted myself. The day finally came; I buckled down and gave it my best. At the end of the day I thought I did a good job. But I knew my opinion did not matter, it was the coaches. The coaches told us if we did not recieve a phone call that day that meant we made the team. So I went hope and waited and waited and I did not receive the awful phone call. I thought to myself, I actually did it! I went back the next day and they announced that we had made the team; I could not believe I was on the tennis team.

Aside from playing tennis, I enjoy watching it too.

Tennis is a sport filled with technique, and it is amazing to watch the professionals play.

They play with such skill, and very few errors.

Some of my favorite players are Venus Williams, Serena Williams,
Rafael Nadal, Rodger Federer, James Blake, and Andy Roddick. Although I know I will never be as good as the professionals, I like to think maybe one day I will be that good.

I think that tennis is an activity that everyone

can enjoy and play, it definitely requires a lot of practice,

but so does everything. If you want to find further information

on tennis click on this link: The United States Tennis Association.