Roles of Women in Ads

Advertisements always have some sort of stereotypical, gender bias underlying tone of how things should be. In today’s advertisements a man is most likely drinking beer and watching the game after a long day of work, where as the woman is portrayed as the house keeper and the one that takes care of the family. This tradition of the woman being a mother and wife and the father bringing home the bacon started long ago and as one can see is still around today. This has cause many controversies and although the amount of gender biased advertisements has lessened over the years, people, mainly women, still question why these ads are the way they are. Where did it all begin? Why were women solely portrayed as the caregiver when they did so much more? What progressions have advertisements made since the first stereotypical ad was produced and why?
  Since the 1950’s advertisements have always portrayed women in the same way: the ideal woman. The ideal woman is one that has a hot meal ready for the husband when getting off of work, a caregiver to the children, and someone that cleans the house and keeps it clean. This image of the ideal woman came upon the United States after the Cold War ended and most male figures in women’s lives came home. This was because The United States wanted let everyone know that America is a family nation and that there is no greater thing than family. 
Upon seeing these advertisements people would then mimic how the family in the ads would act. The woman would now know that it is the social norm to clean the house, cook the meals, and take care of her children and husband. These social norms was primarily women’s roles and not only would one do that, but would also do that before doing anything else they would need to do. This is where real stereotypical tones started to play into advertisements. It wasn’t until the 1960s when feminism started arising that women started to question why the women in advertisements are the “ideal woman.” Soon other women started to realize that they do a lot more activities than solely being a wife or mother and why don’t these ads show this woman as well?  It brought up questions as to whether or not women should really act the same as they have all these years before and why they haven’t questioned this before. 
Today, advertisements don’t solely characterize women as domestic, women are not only the ones taking care of the kids. This may be because more women are working now and times are changing. One will see advertisements of a woman at the office or going out for drinks with friends. However, no matter how many advertisements there are like these, there are still gender biased, “old fashion”, “ideal woman” ones being portrayed. Is that just America hanging on to old traditions or is it just the way women are meant to be characterized?

Politics As We Know It (Rough Draft)

I’m Jessica Crosby and I approve of this message. For the past year or so, we have all been bombarded by the campaign ads sponsored by our main presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. These ads usually shed light negatively on what their opponent has said or what they stand for. Whereas some ads may be truthful, others twist what their opponent has said so they sound like a horrible person. We, as a society, feed off of these ads because it’s entertaining and we love gossip. For some reason we like twisting people’s words and playing it off in a comical way.  However, this may not be the best thing because once you see these ads you start to develop an opinion of someone that may not be true. The perfect example of this is an ad Obama took out against Romney about the “Big Bird” debacle.

We all know who big bird is: the big yellow bird on Sesame Street. Romney stated during the first presidential debate that he wanted to stop funding PBS and Big Bird. In the commercial Obama distributed he starts off with flashing pictures of convicted "gluttons of greed” then in an effort to twist what Romney said the narrator say, "One man has the guts" to speak the name of "evil genius who towered over" them: Big Bird.” The ad goes on to say jokingly, "Big, yellow, a menace to our economy, Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you have to worry about, it's Sesame Street." This is where the uninformed viewer will say, “What?! Romney is crazy! I’m not voting for him!” After that is said, the ad  plays a clip from the presidential debate of Romney saying, “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS” and coincidentally cuts off his reason why, which is because the government spends millions of dollars every year on this show with taxpayers money. Seeing as how the viewer doesn’t get the full message, I would see how they might think that Romney is just a horrible person that wants to get rid off a show that’s been on forever. However, when you really think about it, our nation is so in debt and is now having to borrow money from China because we’re spending money on things that the government doesn’t have to necessarily pay for. The final statement of the commercial is “Mitt Romney, taking on our enemies no matter where they nest."  This quote is referring to the people that committed fraud shown at the beginning of the commercial and last time I checked, Big Bird never unethically pocketed illegal earnings so in comparing him to these convicted felons, Obama has no case or point to this whole campaign ad. In fact, it reflects negatively upon Obama because these “gluttons of greeds” weren’t caught by his current Justice Department. 

I’m sure by just reading that last paragraph, one would be a little confused as to who these ads are helping. They are certainly not helping our society decide who to vote for. On one hand, if one watches the presidential debates they know what’s going on and even though they may still have the candidate that they’ll vote for no matter what, they still have to listen to the other one speak. These people are informed and I bet anything that these people aren’t the ones that believe these ads; it’s the people that are uninformed that do. Saying that, I believe that the candidates focus these ads towards the indecisive and uninformed people because those are the ones that are going to make all the difference in who is going to win. 

Winning is what it is all about right? I feel like in today’s day and age, people will do whatever it takes to get a leg up in the competition. Don’t get me wrong, we have been doing this for years, but especially now in this campaign. It may show that the american society is determined and dedicated but it also shows that we’ve completely moved the line that we weren’t suppose to cross just so we could win and maybe get a laugh or two about it. What does that teach us? That it’s okay to put people down and be tacky if we win in the end? I personally feel like that’s not something to look up to or forward to. If this is how it is today, what is it going to be like in the next campaign? I would be ashamed to be the person that acts like that. 

These ads reveal negative beliefs and values of the American society. It says everything from, we’re going to go for the people that aren’t completely one way or the other and push twisted stories down there throats to it’s okay to be mean if it’s for our own benefit. It shows other countries that we aren’t really united as a whole and it kind of weakens the allusion of the United States. It says we don’t care that we’re not telling the whole story because it makes you vote for us. There is no integrity behind these ads and most Americans don’t care that there isn’t. Most of us just like a good fight for the entertainment, the laughter we get out of it, or the validity of opinions just because you like being right. Instead of an honest fight, facts, and the truth about what each stands for. Everything that our country was built upon has gone out the window and now politics as we knew it is completely gone. 

Rough Draft of "Linkedin to a Professional World"

Linkedin to a Professional World

     The phrase “The medium is the message” first coined by Marshall McLuhan has brought on a huge controversy in what it truly means. Personally, I believe that by saying this he meant that how we say something holds more value than what we say. We can use this phrase to explain many types of new media. One that I would like to focus on is a social network called LinkedIn. 

     LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network. Within this network you can stay in touch with colleagues and friends, explore career opportunities, find experts and ideas, and establish your professional profile. It sounds a little familiar doesn’t it? Don’t we have websites like Facebook and Myspace that can do the same things? This is where the saying “the medium is the message” comes in. Sure, like I said, you can do all of those things on Myspace or Facebook, but it’s the website itself that makes others view you as a professional, business-oriented person. You can write exactly the same things you do on Linkedin as you do on Facebook, yet you’re still able to be viewed as an a professional. What makes Linkedin more professional than Facebook or Tumblr though is the way you’re able to use it.  

Have you ever “Googled” yourself? Chances are, yes. In most cases you never know what may come up. However, if you have a Linkedin account your profile will automatically rise to the top of your search results. This is return, lets you control the first impression people see of you. Not only can you kind of cheat the system to make sure people are getting a good impression, you can also stay in touch with colleagues and friends. Do you ever wonder what happened to your old college buddy or that one small town business you used to work for? With Linkedin being the most popular social network for, you’ll be able to find everyone you used to know. Sure, you can once again find most of that stuff on Facebook and Myspace, but with this website you can also find out their business information, they’re latest projects, and contact info on a more professional level. Search engines can lead you to a million different opportunities, but Linkedin narrows down that list by showing opportunities that apply most to you. It connects you to jobs, sales leads, and ideal business partners. They get this information by looking at who you’re connected with and things you have asked in the past on their Answers and Groups Forums. Answers and Groups Forums lets you search and ask specific questions that apply to business. It lets you interact with trusted experts and helps you find information on network names, companies and locations. 

This website allows you too connect with people like never before. It has a specific job that helps you with your job. When potential employers see that you have a Linkedin profile they’ll think that you’re a trusted, business oriented person that is trying to connect themselves with the business world. Plus, this is the first profile they will see when doing a search on you. You’re not only able to connect with former colleagues and friends, but also with people that share the same belief, values, and interest that you do. A website like this can do wonders for your career whether you’re still a student trying to build a good reputation or working and maintaining a good reputation. 

News

I think the only value in reporting events such as these is getting the word out. If there were something going on around me, I would like to know. Such news can stop people from going out therefore possibly saving them from getting hurt or for people on the road to get away from whats happening.
News programs are intended to communicate what is happening locally, nationally, and internationally. These programs get the word out about what you need to keep an eye out for and general knowledge of what going on around you. I think everything that could hurt you or give you general knowledge of what going on should be live broadcasted. Such as political events, natural disasters, and local events. There are many factors that influence what news shows broadcast. Factors such as what their demographic is, what will appeal to their audience, what will make them have higher ratings. Fox News is very republican therefore they report negatively on democratic points of view and talk positively about republican beliefs. CNN on the other hand is very democratic, so in return they speak poorly of republican views. Local news report what everyone in the area should know. This may include wrecks, power outages, storms, traffic, and weather. Pop culture listens to what they want to listen to. They won't be forced to listen to something they disagree with. Our society likes to be informed of what has happened so they can form their own opinion about it. While we see a lot of negative things on the news, it's still a positive thing because we need to know what is happening.

Advertising

Advertisers often trick us into buying things we don't really need. They use different techniques that appeal to our needs and wants. Techniques such the need for affiliation, the need to dominate, and the need for escape. They advertise these to certain people depending on their gender, needs, and wants. The need for escape can be presented through an advertisement for a hotel or cruise. The need for sex is usual geared towards men through nearly naked woman. This is an advertisement that can be a little bit sexist and often persuade women, and men for that matter, to think a certain way. Ads that are trying to sell a car will usually have a man surrounded by a lot of friends and women representing the need for affiliation. After seeing that ad you'll think that if you get that car, you'll be popular and have a lot of girls all over you. Advertising is definitely an art that many have perfected. After seeing ads for clothes or the newest apple product, I'm automatically thinking I have to have it. These ads create myths that make you want to buy their product, but that's all they are: myths. Just because you have that car you may not have all those people always surrounding you; just because yo're on that cruise doesn't mean you're escaping anything. I find it funny how people, including myself, buy into this kind of stuff just because it will bring us something we think we need. There is nothing stronger than the need for something we don't necessarily want and vice versa.

Advertisement

If you love shopping as much as I do then you know it just takes one look at a clothing ad and bam you're in your car driving to the mall. These particular ads are for Abercrombie and Fitch and what isn't to like about it? It persuades me because the clothes are cute and it's the kind of clothes I like wearing.  Plus, you know, the cute guy in the ad doesn't hurt to look at and we all know that cute guys are going to be in the store as well. The girls in the first ad look content and "cool" if you will. Who doesn't want that?  These clothes are definitely not something that I NEED, but I sure as heck want them. This ad is saying that you'll have the "hottest looks" out there if you buy from Abercrombie and Fitch. No where else can even compare. Honestly, maybe you will or maybe you won't, this ads spells it out for you though, and it's persuaded me that they have the "hottest looks." Yes, they're expensive, but to them there shouldn't be a price on fashion. I personally already love A&F and shop there anyways, but seeing these ads makes me want to go to one of their stores and buy up the place more than I already do.

The Journey of Pop Culture

      Before reading this article I didn’t realize that popular culture hasn’t been around that long and even when it was discussed in earlier years, it was frowned upon. This is really weird to me because in my opinion popular culture is everything a society bonds over and unites as a culture with. Reinhold Niebuhr thought that television was a threat to our culture and even went as far as comparing it to the threat of atomic weapons; which is pretty extreme to me because although it may have some negative impacts, such as kids always watching it and being exposed to things that they shouldn’t necessarily be exposed to, its used not only for an educational purpose but also an entertainment one. It makes since that it wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that people started experiencing popular culture because that’s when the British Invasion and all these new tv shows/radio shows came to our attention. These things were considered popular culture because the masses like it. I found Sklar’s quote of “ The movies were the first medium of entertainment and cultural information to be controlled by men who did not share the ethnic or religious backgrounds of the traditional cultural elite” to be very interesting because it puts how the class divisions were back then into perspective.  Then to push the envelope even further, Robert C Toll  provided a new look to Minstrel Shows. Minstrel shows meant to kind of made to make fun of the way african americans were treated by white people and how african americans really lived in the US. So, not only were they used for entertainment, but also for an educational purpose in how they were treated. Over all this article was fascinating to me because it explained so much about the journey popular culture has taken from being something frowned upon to something that plays a major role in society and culture today.