Everything is an argument. Everything.

Now, now, don’t laugh. I’m serious about this one. We spent much of last week discussing the intricacies of communication. We developed an extensive list of "texts" to hopefully make you realize that all human behavior – perceived by at least one viewer, reader, or listener – constitutes a form of communication. If all communication intends to persuade, in some form, then ultimately we reach one of the basic tenets of the course. We conclude that “everything is an argument.”

Three weeks ago, MTV presented its annual awards to contemporary and past pop music stars for their outstanding music videos. We know them as the Video Music Awards - the "VMAs" if you will. You can see a list of the winners by visiting the VMA website. Whether you like MTV music videos or not, you have to acknowledge that they are powerful forms of communication, and they definitely make an argument.

We have begun our discussion about rhetorical analysis. The most basic rhetorical analysis must consider an example of communication and then identify its major components: the speaker, audience, subject, purpose, context, and various appeals. During the year, we’ll look closely at the rhetorical strategies that a variety of American authors use in their writing. At this point, however, I want us to consider a broader spectrum of communication.

Choose one 2013 award winning music video as a “text.” If none of these videos strike your fancy, you may choose a video nominated for a VMA in 2013. You can find a list of nominated videos here. Find that video somewhere, preferably on Youtube, and watch it. You’ll probably need to watch it several times. Using between 350-450 words, craft a preliminary rhetorical analysis of the video. Although you should address the major components of communication, you need not formally structure your response. At this point, just explore how this fairly alternative “text” confirms our conclusion that “everything is an argument.”

The content of your post should be serious, but your technique can be as informal as Lady Gaga is unique.

As part of your response please embed the video into your response so we can all watch them. I have embedded one of the nominated videos at last year’s VMAs.

What is one object you can find in almost every car today? It never runs out of battery and also makes long car rides a bit more enjoyable. It’s the radio. In one sense, the radio is amazing. It plays music all day long and there are hundreds of different stations to choose from. On the other hand it is also quite obnoxious. Between all of our favorite songs come countless commercials. These commercials force us to change the station until we find another one with a song worth listening to.

Today, on this gloomy Sunday afternoon I was listening to Kiss 108, one of Bostons most popular hit-music stations, where I heard twenty-one commercials in thirty minutes. Twenty-one! Isn't that outrageous? I understand that it is a Sunday and most people have better things to do but those who don't should not be punished. During those thirty minutes, only three songs were played. Yes they were great songs but that does not change the fact that I was listening to straight commercials for over ten  minutes. The commercials varied from health insurance, car insurance, fast food etc. They were nothing special and I would have changed the station in a heart beat if I had the chance. 

Now the question you ask is an interesting one to answer. Was Kiss 108’s purpose of that wasted thirty minutes to attract me or to inform me? At this particular time, I believe it was solely to inform me. They are aware that most people have little need for up-beat pop music on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. However on a Friday or Saturday night that is not the case.  On a Saturday night for example, my thought is that they are purely entertainers. On Saturday nights their up-beat pop and techno commercial free music is greatly appreciated. Hence, on Sunday afternoon stations play more commercials then usual.

My opinion is that the radio was made to entertain us. The music on stations such as Kiss 108 or 103.3 AMP Radio does have the power to continue to attract its listeners. Songs such as "We Can't Stop", "American Girl" and "Blurred Lines" all have phenomenal beats but the messages they are portraying are not the best. These songs encourage partying, drinking and one night stands. Therefore these songs and the stations playing these songs attract their listeners by appealing to their life styles or their desired lifestyles. 

As I have mentioned, radio station's purpose is to entertain its listeners. The songs they play attract the listener to the station for entertainment. The commercials produce the station but that is all. They are not there to maintain listeners but to fund their own product or business in a place in which they know is highly populated.

What magazine has both the largest audience and the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine? People magazine.  Each week readers cannot seem to get enough of the inside scoop on the lives of this country’s hottest stars. But are the reporters writing the latest on celebrities or are they writing articles based on who is paying for advertising?

            As I flipped through the 224 page issue of People, William & Catherine: Love Reigns! Royal Wedding Album, I counted 101 pages of advertisements. Most are full page, colored ads costing anywhere from $324,000 to $400,000 per issue. Why would a company spend so much money on one advertisement insertion? According to the magazine’s audience profile, 71% of readers are women, 62% are between the age of 18 and 49 and 63% are college graduates. People’s target market is young, smart, working women. They know their audience has a strong emotional connection with many brands and the advertising mix is seamless with all of the feature stories.

            The William & Catherine: Love Reigns! issue has 101 pages of ads, nearly half of the magazine. It is no coincidence that 39 of the 101 advertisements are related to beauty, romance and weddings. Readers bought this issue to see every aspect of the royal wedding. Along with the dress, cake and high profile guest list, readers also see advertisements for self-improvement beauty products, airline deals and relationships. There are affectionate couples in Ralph Lauren photos for “Romance” perfume, Essie ads for pretty pink nail polish and the Purina Fancy Feast cat sits in front of a wedding invitation. Women not only buy this issue to look at pictures of the lavish royal wedding, advertisers know they are dreaming about ideas for their own wedding or longing for a taste of royalty in their life.

            In my opinion, advertising in a star-studded celebrity magazine drives the focus of the articles and images throughout every issue. Advertising promotes a positive image for readers allowing them to fantasize about having a little “celebrity” in their own lives. You can wear the same leopard skirt as Kate Hudson by shopping her collection at Ann Taylor, drinking Pepsi from a straw makes you feel as exotic as Sofia Vergara and you can even wash your hair with the same shampoo used by Jennifer Aniston. Advertising not only drives the content of the magazine, it also supports the magazine financially. People, like the majority of magazines, cannot survive on subscription sales and editorial content alone. 

I believe that in terms of radio, not online radio but actual over the air frequencies, most companies are more interested in making money and getting advertisements than they are about keeping the listeners happy. However the only way these companies can keep getting advertisements is by keeping listeners happy. In this way radio stations have to worry about both keeping users entertained and getting advertisements, even though many radio stations could care less if the listeners were happy, as long as they were making money. However this is only my opinion based on my knowledge of companies in other areas of entertainment and other industries.

Different stations use different ways to attract listeners which will attract more advertisements. Newer stations have fewer advertisements and use this as an incentive to get more people to listen. For example the new radio station, Amp radio 103.3, uses the slogan “103 minutes of commercial free music” because it doesn't have a lot of commercials which is directly because not many people listen to it. As it becomes more popular and it gets saved as a preset in more and more car radios, then companies will want to buy commercial slots from Amp radio and the commercials will become longer and longer. Jam’n 94.5 is another good example, because it is competing with amp radio for listeners. They both advertise long stretches of commercial free music: amp radio 103 minutes, and Jam’n one hour. However the difference is in how long the commercials are in between those stretches of music. Jam’n 94.5 has more fans and because of this it has many more commercials, I recorded 10 minutes of straight commercials one time, while amp radio usually only has 2-3 minutes of commercials.

Radio has changed drastically since it first originated. In the past radio existed to provide entertainment for people, using different methods such as talk shows, comedy readings, and disco jockeys. However it has changed, along with most industries in entertainment, and now exists for the radio stations to make money, and providing entertainment is just how those owners are choosing to make that money. 

     Earlier this morning, I was watching videos on YouTube that were to my liking. Then while watching a video that was titled "iPhone 5S and 5C Drop Test!" I thought about this prompt about advertisements. I then proceeded to disable an add-on for my browser called Adblock Plus. This add-on makes it so I can have an ad-free experience on YouTube and other media sites that have ads plastered on their front page. Once I disabled Adblock Plus, I refreshed the page and the video opened up with an ad about T-Mobile's JUMP program. I was not surprised to see an ad from a cell phone company on a video about cell phones. Certainly, ads about topics that can relate to people will catch their attention but I on the other hand, could care less about advertisements.
     With Adblock Plus disabled, I went on another website I frequently browse, tickld.com. The website allows users to post images, quotes, comics and other mediums that according to their motto, "Spread Laughter and Cure Boredom". While scrolling down the page, I saw two ads on the right hand side of the screen, one ad placed in between two posts and another ad on the bottom of the page. I calculated that each page of tickld.com has 4 ads and if I were to go through 10 pages of tickld.com, I would be exposed to 40 advertisements. Even with the clever placement of the advertisements, I did not process or remember a single one after my time laughing at the various posts.
     I do not care for advertisements while browsing the internet but while watching a show on television, I get annoyed at the frequent commercial breaks during a 1 hour show. The placement of the advertisements during a one hour show is what really annoys me, not the content of the advertisements. Usually, an episode has a climax that is followed by a 3-5 minute commercial break. For some, this commercial break lets the viewer wait anxiously for the aftermath of the climax. For me, the commercial break is there to make me mad and wonder when the show will continue. 
     I believe that the media is there to entertain the audience. I understand that for a media source to be free to the consumer, advertisements are placed so that the source can make money from the audience.


 

Advertising is all around us - there is no avoiding it. One might begin to believe that this system of advertising has developed into a nuisance. However, they are necessary. Advertisements help to fuel our country economically. Funding is needed in order to enjoy the luxuries that we do.

Milton High School puts on one musical production every year. Most people assume that these shows are funded by the previous years profits. Despite the sold out shows and the successful bake sales, there still is not enough money. The directors ask each member of the cast, and crew of the production to go out, and sell $50 worth of advertisements. The students are expected to get companies and businesses to buy ads from them that will be put in the show's program. This is mandatory of everyone. With over 50 students involved, almost $3,000 dollars are raised from this fundraiser. When I am unable to find enough businesses that want to pay for an ad, I am forced to ask my parents to pool in to meet the required payment. The sole purpose of these ads are to fund the show regardless of how meaningless the content of these ads are.

In this case, the Milton High School music department is genuinely only concerned with pleasing the audience, and the students. Although these advertisements are a nuisance, they're necessary in creating an amazing production for all to enjoy.

In many cases, I do believe that entertainers have become more focused on the income they are receiving from advertisers compared to the quality of the material that they are producing. Somewhere along the way, they have lost sight of why they became entertainers in the first place. Wealth and power became more important than the audience's happiness.

Although rare, it is possible to find entertainers that are not concerned with ad revenue. Every year, Milton High School continues to put on a fall musical. Although advertising has become apart of this, all the money earned is used to benefit those involved in the production. Resulting in a quality show to please their audience, and the performers themselves.

After making dinner on Thursday night, I sat down to watch an episode of “The Big Bang Theory”.  The “Big Bang Theory is a comedy show on TV 38.  I had a lot of homework that night so I was only going to watch one episode which is approximately thirty minutes long with commercials.  Overall approximately nine minutes was commercials and twenty one minutes was the actual show.  Approximately one third of my leisure time was wasted by Dunkin Donuts commercials, tissue commercials and car commercials.  Many of these commercials are always on TV and sometimes even on back to back.  The amount of commercials on TV channels is outrageous. Usually I switch channels when the commercials are on but other TV channels are also on a commercial break.  The amount of time wasted by advertisements is ridiculous. 

The “Big Bang Theory” started at exactly 7:00. The first commercial break started at 7:12 and ended at 7:17.  A few commercials were an Angus Steak sandwich commercial, a Scotties tissues commercial, a pumpkin latte commercial, a Hyundai car commercial, a L'Oreal hair commercial and a Viva towel commercial.  Both the Angus Steak sandwich commercial and the pumpkin latte commercial was from Dunkin Donuts and were played multiple times.  There was another commercial break from 7:24 to 7:28 and this break had a Ford truck commercial, a Marshall Store commercial, an Arnold bread commercial and a Honda CR-V car commercial.   I only listed a few commercials but there was a lot more. Each commercial was around 15 to 30 seconds long. 

I noticed that the amount of advertisements on TV has increased a lot in the past few years and I am not surprised that these commercials wasted 10 minutes of my time.  I believe that TV channels are supported by advertisements.  I also believe that TV channels profit from advertisements only if that channel attracts many viewers.  Companies will pay more to advertise their products on channels with higher ratings and a bigger audience.  When TV channels attract a lot viewers companies will pay more money to advertise their product on that particular channel. This is how I think television channels make money.  These channels put on shows with high ratings to attract viewers so companies will pay more money advertise on that channel.  I think that TV channels are trying to entertain us and by doing so these channels profit from advertisements.    

                I use Google for absolutely everything. From looking up colleges, to looking up information, or finding games to play, Google search puts the whole world at your fingertips. If you know how to use it, you can find almost anything on the Internet. In class, we discussed how Google personalizes their ads based on your searches. For example, I searched "shoes" on Google, and instantly I got hit with 10 ads that say "15% off shoes" or "free shipping ." But is that really a bad thing? First we have to take a look at the word advertising. James Laver, a British historian during the 19th century, broadly described advertising as "any device which first arrests the attention of the passer-by and then induces him to accept a mutually advantageous exchange."

                Advertising is inevitably a part of the United States' largely free-market economy. We idolize making money and consumption. As a result, companies and corporations are always looking for ways to get new customers, compete against other companies, and to make more sales. But all of us only have limited amounts of money; we can't always buy the things that we want.  Advertisements improve the efficiency of our economy by letting us maximize the use of our dollars.  Advertisements for sales and promotions benefit both you as a consumer, who is buying a product or service at a lower price, and the seller, who gets mores sales and traffic. Then there are advertisements for products (such as sandwiches from D'Angelos) that show you products and services that you may want to take a look at.

                I think Google is taking a step forward in advertising. Instead of trying to sell to the general public and just get their product out there, the ads are personalized and relevant to what you are interested in.  You won't get ads about sandwiches if you don't want them. Instead, it's kind of like having your own personal assistant that help you find the goods you want, not unlike sales assistants in clothing stores.  Of course, there are people who rather be left alone to shop for themselves, and Google has an option for that too. If you didn't know this, you can actually block interest-based ads that are relevant to what you searched. You'll still get ads, but they won't be personalized to you. Now the question is: would you rather get ads that are relevant to you, or just ads on things that you will never buy?

Works Cited

"History and Origins of Advertising." : Defining Advertising…historically. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.

I spend a lot of my time on the Internet. Whether I’m researching something for History homework, nerding out at how awesome science is, or just relaxing, there always seems to be something to do on the World Wide Web. YouTube in particular is one of my favorite destinations for killing a few minutes or procrastinating. YouTube has such a variety of content and is constantly evolving. Most importantly, it’s free. To pay for the website, Google has opened YouTube to advertising.

            In fifteen minutes of browsing YouTube, I was exposed to 13 advertisements: 7 off-video ads, 4 on-video banners and 2 pre-video full motion adds. This amount of advertising doesn’t really bother me that much as it means I don’t have to pay for use of the website. The only times advertising actually angers me is when it detracts from content quality.

            For a very long time, I had never thought that advertising had much of an impact on YouTube videos’ content quality. This was because I only saw the situation from the consumers’ point of view. My whole opinion on the topic changed when I watched a video by one of my favorite YouTubers, CGP Grey. In the video, the mysterious Mr. Grey explains how advertising stifles the creativity of YouTubers by demanding videos that will gain the most views, instead of the ones that are the most enjoyable to make. I highly recommend his video (http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=sX7qxCCG3oU&feature=c4-overview&list=UU2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w) especially 1:43-2:45. It was really enlightening for me to see how much of an influence advertising has on the actual content creators.

            There is, however, one other way that YouTubers’ content is negatively influenced by advertising, one that I as a consumer find far more annoying than the stifling of creativity. The one advertising attempt that can significantly detract from a video is product placement. For example, Mental Floss’s YouTube channel has a series of videos titled “Be More Interesting,” where one of the show’s hosts learns a number of skills, such as ripping a phonebook in half and breaking a board with his bare hands. This series would be entertaining and interesting if not for its aggravating Dos Equis product placement at the end of each video. This has become so annoying in fact, that I have stopped watching the “Be More Interesting” videos entirely.

            Again, I am not against advertising as a whole in the entertainment industry. I really appreciate it when I don’t have to pay for a service as a result of advertising. The problem occurs once advertising starts getting in the way of the video.

Works Cited

Help CGP Grey on Subbable. Perf. CGP Grey. YouTube. YouTube, 30 July 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.

How to Rip a Phonebook in Half. Perf. Max Silvestri. YouTube. Mental Floss, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=fYUu5twTT2s&list=PLYT7t0pcxEIO9eSA_av5UYBQoe--g0S-U&index=2

Advertisements have become a big part of our lives without us noticing. When you start to pay attention. A major source of advertising is on iPhone apps. 

If you go on the app store, there are plenty of free apps that are very tempting to download because they’re free. Most of these are small games that get old quick or they’re the free version of another app. The thing about advertisements on free apps is most of the advertisements are advertisements for other apps. If it’s just a small free game, chances are it will get boring very quickly. The goal of the advertisements is to get you to download one of their other apps. 

If it is the free version of another app, there will be an excessive amount of advertisements. The goal is to get you hooked on their game, but then ruin your fun with constant advertisements popping up. All these advertisements popping up say something like, “Having fun? Play ad-free with our full version.” These will pop up after you lose the game, finish a level, etc. The makers of the game want you to get so fed up with these advertisements that you break down and buy the full version of the game.

I can see exactly how this style of advertising can be profitable. Now that so many younger kids have their own iPod Touch or use their parents’ iPhones or iPads, they have access to these apps. A lot of the games are geared towards kids. When a little kid is having fun playing a game and they see a brightly colored pop-up telling them that they can play ad-free or to check out their other game, they’ll probably click on and maybe end up buying it.

One game that’s been very popular lately is Candy Crush. In this game, you have to match up groups of the same color candy with a certain number of moves. It’s more fun than it sounds and it’s extremely addicting. A tactic that the advertisers use on Candy Crush is that you get a maximum of five lives. Every time you lose a level, you lose a life and you have to wait a half an hour to get a new one. . . unless you pay in the app store. They also have a pop up ad every time you finish a level telling you to buy their other game in the app store.

App creators have created a big web of apps and advertisements all in an attempt to get you to pay them. Which makes me realize that they don’t care about entertaining their audience at all, just getting their money.

As many of my peers can tell you, I turn my head quicker at the name “Demi Lovato” than my own. So when I heard there would be a free concert and potential “meet-and-greet” with her at the Burlington Mall on September 21^st, I had to be there. But as I sat in line for 13 hours to acquire these tickets, all I could think about was this prompt. There had to be a catch, right? How else would the concert be free?

“This concert was brought to you by Microsoft,” celebrating its new store opening at the Burlington Mall. Microsoft’s goal, like many businesses’, was to make its opening look absolutely amazing. They wanted to show all outsiders how many people showed up to their opening, hoping to attract curious customers. And they used about 1,500 teenage girls to help them do it. Being rather naive and having a huge weakness for anything "Demi-Lovato-related", I fell victim to their plan, and was one of those 1,500 teenage girls. Although no harm was actually done in this, Microsoft made me realize how everything nowadays is all for making money and advertising. 

Microsoft cleverly chose a huge celebrity with a giant fan base--almost 19 million according to Twitter-- to reel in its crowd. The exclusive meet-and-greet tickets were only given out to a lucky 200 fans, while another 1000 concert-only tickets would be given to those who would stay all night for them. Knowing that the die-hard fans would comply, Microsoft passed out the tickets after the opening and the 9 pm to 11 am camp-out. The last 5 hours spent in the mall were when fans were bombarded the most with promotion—in some cases, actually bombarded. Beach balls with the Microsoft logo were hurled around as purple Microsoft T-shirts and water bottles were distributed. The Microsoft team basically begged us to follow their Twitter handle, and use the hash tag “#MicrosoftMa” in hopes of trending on Twitter to attract more attention in exchange for prizes including autographed Demi Lovato guitars. Any time announcements were made, they were promptly followed by “this was brought to you by Microsoft” or “be sure to check out our new store”.

As 11 am rounded the corner, the opening of the store was near, and Microsoft was smart to have news stations videotaping the crowd, who was “eager to check out the new store”. But the promotion didn't stop there. In order to receive our much-deserved tickets, we had to snake through the entire store, as workers shoved electronic devices and coupons in our faces, hoping to make a sale.  The 1,500 teenage girls did a better job of promoting the new store than any of the team could have. To anyone oblivious to the actual reason of the gathered crowd, we really did make Microsoft look good. This was their intent all along. Microsoft’s strategy worked, and I give them props for pulling this all off. Had this prompt not been assigned, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about all the promotion I was being brainwashed with, unlike most of the people there. We were all there for Demi Lovato, and most people expected she just needed a reason and venue for the concert. However, Microsoft needed the hype and Demi's fame was the reason for the crowd gathering in the first place. In the process of getting 2 free tickets, I witnessed and was actually a part of a 13-hour-long "live commercial" for Microsoft.  

I have long accepted the fact that commercials are necessary for television networks to support their programs. If TV networks want to entertain the public, they need revenue to produce TV shows. In the past few months, however, I have wondered if advertisements are being used for more than just supporting the cost of creating TV shows. Perhaps the main goal is not to entertain us, but to make profit off of advertisers.

I recently watched Season 4 Episode 21 of The CW’s The Vampire Diaries. In this hour-long airing, there were five commercial breaks totaling in 15 minutes and 14 seconds. That means the other 44 minutes and 46 seconds should be dedicated to the actual content of the TV show, right? Wrong.  In the middle of the episode, Matt Donovan’s character is shown doing his homework. He pulls out his cell phone and the shot zooms in on his phone screen, which reads, “AT&T Translator.” Matt utters a sentence in English into his phone and then the AT&T Translator app reads the sentence back to him in Italian. Did I miss something here? I thought I was watching an action-packed show about vampires. What does this random scene where Matt is using an app to do his Italian homework have to do with the plot of the TV show? Absolutely nothing. The writers of the show sloppily wrote a scene around the AT&T Translator app as an afterthought.

Another TV show I watched recently was ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars. The particular episode I was watching was Season 3 Episode 11. In this episode Hanna and Spencer were helping Cece organize a trunk show. The three girls were in the costume room when Cece looks at Hanna and notes that her hair could “use the dry shampoo” since Hanna didn’t wash her hair that morning. The shot zooms in on a bottle of TreSemme dry shampoo. Just like in The Vampire Diaries, this short scene was completely irrelevant to the plotline.

In The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars, advertisements were blatantly included into the program, whether it be the AT&T Translator app or the TreSemme dry shampoo. In both cases scenes were added for the sole purpose of incorporating advertisements, not to advance the plotline or increase the quality of the TV show. This leads me to believe that the producers of The CW and ABC Family are more concerned about generating additional revenue than creating quality TV shows for the purpose of entertainment. 




Works Cited:

Narducci, Michael, and Rebecca Sonnenshine. "She's Come Undone." The Vampire Diaries. Dir. Darnell Martin. The CW. 2 May 2013. Television.

Goldstick, Oliver, and Maya Goldsmith. "Single Fright Female." Pretty Little Liars. Dir. Joanna Kerns. ABC Family. 21 Aug. 2012. Television.

Sometimes they take the form of a small pop-up at the bottom of a video. Sometimes they are on the side where suggestions for other videos would be. Other times they are a full-scale, thirty-second commercial that you are forced to watch before the video can even begin. Either way, it’s no secret that Youtube is drenched in advertisements. These ads can range from one or two per video, to four or five on music video pages (not to mention the ads within the music video, or the fact that the music video itself is also an advertisement). But those ads are easily avoidable right? A simple click of the mouse and it’s gone. Well, until the next video that is. In which case you repeat the process, over and over again, until clicking that little x is almost instinctual. 

Some might argue that this procedure is simply a nuisance we have to go through in order to enjoy entertainment nowadays. And we’re obviously not clicking on every advertisement we see. Being the cheapskate I am, I know I wouldn’t buy those cute jeans from my favorite store if they were too expensive, much less an item being hawked to me on the internet by companies that have deduced my “interests” from my Google searches (just because I looked up “kayaks” that one time, it does not mean I am an avid kayaking fanatic). But is that actually what these companies are after? Are we really cheating them out of a profit by ignoring their ads every time? I think they are too smart for that. Obviously, all these big corporations have advertising departments filled with experts who know the best way to get people to consume. They know people will close those ads, but what’s more important to these advertisers is that we still managed to see the ads, even if it was only briefly. Our brains will take that information and store it away, only to bring it back up when we see the product again. The more times we see an advertisement, the more likely we are to remember a product. You may not even want to buy the product, but you could mention it to friends or family (even through an “Ugh, I never want to see another commercial for that new Honda Accord ever again!”) and they are valid consumers as well. 

I love watching videos on Youtube, and I know that, as a free website, it needs advertisements to sponsor it. But the amount of subliminal advertising that has taken over it lately concerns me, and at the rate Youtube is allowing ads, who knows how far it will go?

After a lousy day on the golf course that was filled with poor chip shots, I came home and decided to find tips on chipping. After wasting about fifteen minutes on the computer looking for helpful hints, I remembered that my dad has a subscription to GOLF Magazine. I went into the living room to grab the magazine and see if it had any instruction on chipping skills. Sure enough, on the front cover in big green letters was “Wedge It Close: Instant Keys to Pin-Rattling Chips”. I was intrigued, so I opened the magazine to find the table of contents to see what page the so called “New Short- Game System” was on. I had trouble finding this table of contents because the magazine was littered with advertisements. There were eight pages of advertisements between the cover page and the table of contents. The advertisements ranged from golf clubs to Advil and nearly everything in between. After searching for the table of contents while being distracted by ads, I found out that the chipping story was on page 109. I could finally learn about what I was doing wrong on the golf course.

I went on to look for page 109 but struggled because only half the pages were numbered. The pages with advertisements did not have numbers on them which made it difficult to find Page 109. When I found “Wedge It Close: Instant Keys to Pin-Rattling Chips” I was relieved that my search was over and proceeded to read the article. The first page of the story was enticing but I could not help but notice a large image of Nick Watney head to toe in Nike golf apparel. I realized that this was like a secret form of advertising by Nike. I started to wonder if Nike was paying both Nick Watney and GOLF Magazine to have Nick standing there with six visible Nike logos. I finished reading the story with more knowledge on how to hit a chip shot so I continued to read other stories in the magazine.

As I was browsing, I noticed the magazine was filled with advertisements, one on every other page. I counted 67 pages of advertisements out of the 150 pages there was in the magazine. This calculates to 1 page of ads for every 2.2 pages of golf stories and tips. After exploring this subject, I still believe that GOLF Magazine is trying to entertain its readers but the company is definitely concerned with maintaining advertisers to maximize profits. As Andy Warhol once said “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art”.

Works Cited

"Andy Warhol Quotes." Andy Warhol Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.

DeNunzio, David. "The New Way to Hit Your Wedges." Editorial. Golf Magazine June-July 2013: 109-15. Print.

       15 commercials. That is how many commercials I watched during Girl Code on MTV.com. I spent a total of 5 minutes and 25 seconds watching commercials when the show I was watching was only 20 minutes and 23 seconds long. As if the 5 minutes of commercial watching wasn't enough, I was then bombarded with ads all around my video for various brands. The ads are everywhere you look on MTV's website. Though I do agree that the number of advertisements can be annoying at times I think there is a purpose for them.

       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.

On Thursday night I sat in front of my TV and turned on my Xbox to play NCAA Football 14.  Within 8 minutes of turning it on I had already seen 5 advertisements.  To me, putting these kinds of advertisements in the games does make it more realistic, but the advertisements don’t actually catch my eye.  I found myself searching for the advertisements when trying to come up with some type of stat.  Finding this stat made me realize how desensitized I am to advertisements.  Another stat I looked for was how many minutes of commercials I saw during The Ultimate Fighter, which turned out to be 17 minutes for a one hour show.  If you asked me now to name the product for one commercial, I couldn’t name any.  Commercials just go in one ear and out the other.  This may have to do with the fact that the advertising on my most viewed TV network, ESPN, doesn’t relate to me.  On ESPN, the commercials are for new trucks, insurance, and beer.  And since none relate to me because I either don’t have the money or am not old enough I zone out.  So now with all advertisement I seem to do the same.  Which is why finding the commercials in my video game was actually very difficult to do.  I am so desensitized that I couldn’t find something right in front of me. 

 Advertising also does not affect which product or company I end up buying from.  In fact, advertising sometimes makes me not want to buy their product.  One example was a summer jingle that Burger King created about frozen ice cream.  The commercial annoyed me so much I had to mute the TV every time I saw it.  The commercial also didn’t change that I go to Burger King once or twice per year and that I prefer Chipotle.  Advertising simply doesn’t have a huge effect on me. 

Advertisement has become such a huge part of our daily lives.  But for some, advertising has been blasted at them so much they become desensitized to it.  I believe that most media outlets are still more concerned with entertaining us.  My video game was very subtle with advertising and The Ultimate Fighter was below the national average for air time to commercial ratio (1/3 of the time being commercials), according to waynesthisandthat.com.  So, there is still hope that our world will not be overrun by advertisements.    

   

Before starting the research on how many commercial breaks are in one episode of a TV show, I wanted to "survey" three of my friends and ask them one question. I asked, "Do you think the purpose of advertisements on TV shows is to attract advertisers or entertain us?" All three responses were, "Money and attraction." I disagreed.

Every Thursday I watch the season premiere of The Vampire Diaries, on CWTV. I noticed that the commercial break usually occur during the rising action and climax of the plot. I strongly believed that the purpose of commercial breaks is to make viewers feel anxious about what is going to happen next. The "breaks" make viewers wait. But since we are given a prompt about whether or not the purpose of advertisements on TV shows is to attract advertisers or to entertain, I decided to set a time limit of 10 minutes. If the commercial breaks take more than 10 minutes total, I will most certainly agree with the fact that the intention of advertisements is to maintain advertisers.

The results shocked me. The 42 minute and 34 second TV show contained over 6 commercial breaks, and 28 advertisements consisting of Texting and Driving, motor vehicles KIA, phone company AT&T, Wendy's, Lowe's, Venus shaving brand, Marshalls, Kohl's, Target, Old Navy, eHarmony, One Smart Blend (dog food), and even 7News. Many of the ads were repetitive. I totaled up the times of 6 commercial breaks which resulted in 11 minutes and 55 seconds. The results were approximately 2 minutes over my time limit of 10 minutes. For that reason, I decided to change my mind. I now agree that the intent of ads on TV shows is to achieve support from advertisement companies. Without the financial support from advertisement companies, there will not be TV shows to broadcast. And without the support of TV networks, advertisement companies will not be able to attract viewers to buy their products. These two factors correlate with each other.

At one point while re-watching one episode from The Vampire Diaries, I realized that the commercial breaks are time consuming. There was even a commercial break of 3 minutes and 40 seconds. That is ridiculously too long. I could probably be studying for a chemistry test during the 11 minute and 55 second advertisements. Also, there was an ad on 7News. I wondered to myself, "Why would a news station need to advertise? It's the news." That is when it "clicked" to me that the TV networks are not trying to benefit us, but solely to benefit their sponsors.

        In three minutes on YouTube, I counted seven advertisements.  In 15 minutes of television, I counted six commercials. Is this really a bad thing? I'm not sure. Television commercials,as well as radio and newspaper ads, have existed or as long as the media has.  There is a simple reason for this, in order for the media to exist, it must be able to survive as a business.  That means that the business must make money. Viewers and listeners didn't historically pay to listen or view, and how could a newspaper survive when the cost of the newspaper to the consumer is less than the actual cost of printing each paper.  There is only one way for the necessary revenue to be generated, advertisements.  In exchange for being entertained, informed and enlightened we materially agree to participate in the process by watching, listening and reading advertisements.
         In the age of the internet, the targeting of advertisements to the consumer has reached dizzying accuracy because of the ability to track a consumers online history. It's unnerving to go on to Facebook and see ads about paintball gear and wrestling shoes, while my mom sees ads about Home Depot and Pottery Barn.. It feels like you are being watched. While this seems frightening, intuitive advertisements can actually help you find what you need online. So at what point do we say that the benefit of the advertisement outweighs the invasion of privacy?  In my opinion, as long as a consumer is capable of making an informed purchase decision, there is limited danger.
          Of the seven advertisements, I was able to skip four of them and opted not to click the other three.  I was on YouTube to watch specific videos and that's what I did.  The proliferation of online ads and even targeted ones, makes them less powerful. They're everywhere, therefore they are easy to tune out.  Also we each have our own mind and the freedom to use it. There may be advertisements for every product imaginable but the internet also gives us the power to research our purchases.  Its equally as simple to find an honest product review online as it is to find the presence of advertisement for the same product.
          Advertisements are a fact of life in the information and media age like death and taxes. We have a choice, be irresponsibly influenced by them, or use them.  An informed consumer can use the targeted ads as a shortcut to our purchasing needs and make an educated choice or we can become mindless buying machines. I choose to be the informed consumer.