Blog 3

            Influence of how one should act, look, and be has been around ever since great civilizations began to develop. Over time, the creation of better and better technology has made this influence stronger. Fast forwarding to today’s technologically driven society, the influence that mass media has had on their viewers has taken away the identity of the individual. This influence in mass media is advertising. Advertisements today tell us what classifies us as hot or ugly, smart or dumb, or socially significant or invisible. We are told that there is a particular body type and clothing we must wear in order to be attractive. But who is to say that someone that doesn’t fit the criteria should be rejected? While everyone attempts to achieve this social status of perfection, it is never obtainable. We strive for a goal that only few can reach, but this perfection acts as a standard for what we consider normal. Targeting this insecurity of being ‘abnormal’ is used by advertisers, and is what continues our drive toward perfection.

            In a commercial by Weight Watchers, a company that guarantees weight loss shows before and after images of those who have used their products. The before pictures show the user as overweight and unhappy. The advertisers tell the audience that they need to believe that this person is ugly. The after photos always show the user much thinner, happier, tanner, and also having received a makeover. Weight Watchers tells its audience that you probably look like the people in the before photos, and the only way you can look better is by using their product. Audiences now feel insecure about their weight and begin to doubt themselves and how they look to others.

            The claim in this blog addresses learning outcome three by showing the way mass media uses image to inform and persuade. Mass media’s advertising today uses unrealistic images to target the insecurities of its viewers into buying their products. The use of photo-shop and before-and-after photos make the viewer feel as though they are ugly compared to these photos, and in order to gain normalcy, they must then remove their personal identity. We are then told what is considered ‘in’ or ‘out’, which causes us to subconsciously strive to become part of the in crowd. We wish to be desired in all aspect of life simply because advertising tells us to do so. We have become robots in this day and age to the controller that is media.

Blog 2 - "Are We Headed for a Matrix?"

Today’s technology has pushed the limits of how far we have believed that man could go. We live in a world where our life can be displayed on a screen and our lives can change with just a touch of a button. Such dependence on devices like cell phones, iPods, social networking sites, and the internet have masked our true identity and made us literally two dimensional figures. But why do we do this? In Bob Mondello’s Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed for a Matrix? he proposes the argument: “Once you’ve felt the comfort of society, you worry about losing it. So to remind yourself of how you’re connected, you gather things around. And you cling to them, not so you won’t lose them, or lose what makes you, but so you won’t lose the connecting they represent. The fear is of emptiness – but emptiness inside us, not empty rooms.” We truly are afraid of being empty inside, and updating a status, tweeting, or posting a picture seems to make us feel like we matter. The amount of information that can be placed on one’s iPhone is exponential, yet its size remains compact. As we begin to have less and less personal belongings surrounding us, the amount of ourselves begins to show up on our computer screens and phones. If we were to lose the connections on these devices, we would feel empty and alone on the inside.

E.M. Forster’s short story, The Machine Stops, portrays life in the far future as completely dystopian. Their society is dominated by a technology called the Machine, and it is the basis of everyone’s survival. Citizens lived in their own separate and empty cell-like rooms. With the Machine, anything could be brought to them at a flip of a switch. The main character becomes distressed and Forster writes, “Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere – buttons to call for food, for music, for clothing. And there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends.” The buttons and switches did not comfort her, but it was the thought that she could use them to connect and identify herself through them. The society eventually dies since the Machine breaks. “We have come back to our own. We die, but we have recaptured life.” The people in this dystopian world were surrounded by each other, struggling with the same problem. They weren’t using the Machine anymore, bringing them back to their natural way of living. However, the idea of not being connected via the Machine killed everyone. The Machine Stops exposes our inner insecurities that tell us that we cannot survive without the technology we have access to today. We would be totally capable of doing so, yet once the idea of this advanced technology has been presented, we believe that going back would mean death.

Some would argue that Mendello’s claims are unrealistic and are too exaggerated. Sure, we use technology more than we ever have, but humans still have an evolutionary drive to interact and build relationships together. We are filled with strong emotions of love, happiness, sadness, and hate, which eventually brings us together. Our curiosity drives us to dig deeper and inquire more about the world surrounding us and the people that are in it. Though Mendello may be on the right track, the extent to which he is claiming may seem a little bit ahead of what’s realistic. Regardless, society today is beginning to believe that in order to maintain a connection to society, we must let go of simple objects and translate them to a screen. Once on a screen, we feel as though we are represented and heard in this big world.

"Christmas morning she'll be happier with a Hoover" - Image 3

"Christmas morning she’ll be happier with a Hoover" reads Hoover’s advertisement for their newest vacuum. The advertisement shows a woman dressed in a fine green and white dress lying on the ground next to her new gift. The woman has delicately placed her hand over the vacuum, an action that can be compared the comforting and compassionate body language one displays toward a child. Her special Christmas present is similar to a child. Her green dress corresponds with the red vacuum and red font, tying together the Christmas theme. Red is associated with passion, which conveys the message that the woman shown here is extremely happy and passionate about the Hoover. The text is written in cursive font, eliciting an elegant and sophisticated feel toward the advertisement. This also gives the advertisement an older feel, as if it’s from the 1950-1960’s.

Although a woman is shown in the ad, the audience is directed toward men because it refers to the woman as "she", rather than "I" or "you". Under "morning" in the main text reads "and forever after", which shows that Hoover is timeless and irreplaceable – just like your wife should be. In smaller font, a rhetorical question states, "If you really care about her… Wouldn’t it be a good idea to consider a Hoover for Christmas?" This creates a sense of guilt toward the husband, who now feels inclined to return the favor to his wife. Women may also see this ad and show it to their significantly other. Regardless of the viewer, the directed audience is still the male. Those who read this ad are most likely in the middle or upper class due to the elegance of the ad as well as the price of the vacuum, being listed in very small font as $99.95. Placing the price in the bottom corner in a very small font makes it almost unnoticeable to the reader and says that the price doesn’t matter when it comes to satisfying your wife.

Explicitly, the advertisement is stating that your wife would be happier if you bought this product. However, implicitly, Hoover Company is really conveying society’s stereotype of male dominance. By directing this ad toward men, it is showing that men in a relationship are responsible for making money and taking care of the family. Women are therefore totally dependent on the man in their life and would otherwise not be able to afford this on their own. In a marriage, the woman is also only good for her cleaning and maintaining the home, and it is the only thing they enjoy doing as well. Even though the Hoover vacuum is a present for the house, it is a present for her, which can be directly shown in the excited expression on her face. In a man’s mind, the idea of staying home every day is terribly boring, so deep down they must know that their woman must sometimes have similar feelings. Hoover’s tactic of targeting the man’s guilt through rhetorical questioning is what makes this advertisement so powerful and the male audience so inclined to purchase this timeless product.