Though these commercials are pesky at times, I fully believe that the purpose of the commercials and advertisements are to pay for whatever source of media they are on. MTV does not get money from people watching their show, so how are they supposed to pay their actors, producers, makeup artists and so on ? They get this money from advertisers who pay to have their ads featured on places like MTV.com. I do not believe that the sole purpose of shows are to bring in viewers to watch ads, I think ads are a necessary evil. In order for my favorite show like Girl Code to keep being produced there has to be ads and I'm fine with that.
In Shannon's blog post she talks about how doesn't mind ads that much and I would have to agree with her. I have never been bothered by them because I know that they are keeping my source of media free. With advertisements I do not have to pay to watch Girl Code online or to listen to Pandora. I also am not bothered by them because they do not effect me. I can honestly say, with the exception of a few occasions, that commercials do not make me run out and buy the advertised product. Because I feel that commercials are not trying to get me to purchase something they do not really bother me. But I can't help but think that maybe I feel this way because I am so brainwashed by the constant stream of ads that I do not even realize that the ads and commercials are making me buy things, just like hypnopedia. Maybe ads are conditioning me to act like characters from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, unaware that thoughts are put into their heads for them to do certain things such as buy expensive products. Maybe I am playing right into the idea of Huxley's Brave New World. "Straight from the horses mouth.."(4)
Citations:
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World,. New York: Harper & Bros., 1946. Print.
In Shannon's blog post she talks about how doesn't mind ads that much and I would have to agree with her. I have never been bothered by them because I know that they are keeping my source of media free. With advertisements I do not have to pay to watch Girl Code online or to listen to Pandora. I also am not bothered by them because they do not effect me. I can honestly say, with the exception of a few occasions, that commercials do not make me run out and buy the advertised product. Because I feel that commercials are not trying to get me to purchase something they do not really bother me. But I can't help but think that maybe I feel this way because I am so brainwashed by the constant stream of ads that I do not even realize that the ads and commercials are making me buy things, just like hypnopedia. Maybe ads are conditioning me to act like characters from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, unaware that thoughts are put into their heads for them to do certain things such as buy expensive products. Maybe I am playing right into the idea of Huxley's Brave New World. "Straight from the horses mouth.."(4)
Citations:
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World,. New York: Harper & Bros., 1946. Print.
Ok, Chrissy, this is a really good post. Let me get to the technical stuff first. This post is well written, but there are a few very minor issues. The one I want to draw your attention to comes at the transition between your first and second paragraphs. You write two sentences that essentially say the same thing. You even start them the same. As a general rule, you should not conclude a paragraph the same way you will start the next one. The topic sentence of a paragraph should be enough of an indicator to your reader that you are going to transition into a new topic. Experienced writers do not use "transition sentences" to conclude paragraphs. Anyway, I just wanted to point this out. It really isn't a problem (at all), but I have heard that students learn in middle school to write "transition sentences." These are unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, now to the good stuff. First, I thank you for your quantitative analysis. Very interesting. Second, I absolutely love your final paragraph. I think you are the first student to actually engage another student's post as part of your own. This is great. I wish students would do this more, especially if they are short on their own ideas. However, what I really like about your analysis is that you attempt to explore the nature of your indifference to ads. This is what I think is missing in some of your classmates' posts. Several people, in addition to Shannon, have written that they don't mind the ads. They claim that they are not influenced by them. Perhaps I am more frustrated by the ubiquitous ads because I remember a time when there weren't so many of them. You guys have grown up in a generation that accepts the advertising blitz as a reality. This might not be a problem. Regardless, it is worth thinking about. I also like how you relate the constant ads to hypnopaedia. I was thinking the same thing. I often think that ads do not affect me either, but I think they do. This is especially (and sadly) true of political ads. I might think that that ads I see for candidates do not influence me, but when I step into the ballot box, I end up voting for the candidate that I have heard the most about. How did I hear about him/her? Ads. I bet the same is true for the products we purchase. What do we purchase? Those things we have heard the most about. This means that the businesses that can buy the most ad space in our entertainment gets to influence us the most. This, of course, leads to a longer discussion about the relationship between money and language. However, that is a topic for another day.
All this said, your post is great. Thanks.