Hey guys!

 

Now looking at this fancy title, your probably wondering what is medium? Well, for those who don’t know, a medium is a forum through which ideas and messages are passed on. Ex: the news, Instagram, facebook, Twitter, etc. The plural of medium is media. Now, I mentioned this in my Oregon blog post (Check it out. It’s pretty cool.) but I talk about the current focus on our class. I often say it’s advertising, and it sort of is. Our focus is on the medium and the message. Now what is the message. It is several things. It’s how you pressent yourself, what you say, how you appeal to the viewer, etc. Our big driving question:

 

How does the medium influence the message?

Our milestones

To fully understand the project, you must understand the milestones. The milestones are like the big steps leading up to the end of the project. Their the mini projects inside the project. Here’s a list of our milestones.

1 Welcome home dissection. In the Welcome Home ad made by apple, there was a sad person who lived a mundane life. But when she asked her apple device to play her something she’d like, her world turns into this multi coloured dance floor. We had to analyze the ad, and write what we though about it. 2

My milestone 1, welcome home dissection

In my milestone 1 we analyzed and ad. This ad shown by apple is called the welcome home ad. It shows a sad person who just lives an ordinary life, and the entire shots of her not around apple products are mostly dark and monotone, which in my view indicates sadness. Then when she arrives home, she asks her apple home pod to “play her something she’d like”. At this point colour shows up in her world, and she gets all happy. At this point her world turns all disco, and she has a nice little dance session. Now looking back on the ad, I think that it was trying to relate to our emotions (a technique called pathos).

My main thoughts about the video when I wrote up my response was that it was saying “even you can be happy with apple products!” and I felt it was aimed towards lower class, or less happy individuals.

my milestone 2, an advertising survey

 

The advertising survey was a little online questionaire about if you collect company’s products, like a Starbucks mug, or a coke can. We had to write our answers as well as the answers of a person form a different generation, then write a comment about the different point of views depending on the generation. My comment was mostly about how for my parents advertising is intrusive, and has great political affects, while my point of view was that often companies will “over advertise”, and how it drives me, the customer, away.

Here are the questions, and here are my answers.

Kid point of view. I find that I sort of fight advertising by disliking the product once I have gotten the adds so often. Example: the Shaw bluecurve add annoys me very much, and I dislike the product even though I have not experienced it. But still, some adds make me want to really want to get the product. Those adds, like new xBox games, would probably really do nothing for adults. So, I feel very influenced by some adds targeted to my age, but no so much by others. Adult point of view. Advertising is an very interesting way to think about things and to capture your imagination, I think targeted advertising can be quite dangerous. Because it reinforces your biases a lot more based on what they know about your targeted group. It creates an echo chamber, which can be very dangerous in political advertising. Targeted advertising, especially the political kind, can make it difficult to have conversations with people who hold different political views. That is because they see advertising that reinforces their beliefs and I see advertising that reinforces mine. So it creates little bubbles. The difference between the adult point of view on advertising and the kid point of view has a lot to do with how others see you. The adults point of view involves a lot about the different groupes and enforcing biases, while my point of view is that targeted adds are ineffective on most people, and, if anything, directs me away from the product. For each question below, write your response in full sentences. You should write at least 3 sentences for each question. Be prepared to share your responses with the class. 1. Do you collect any ads or advertising products? (e.g. Coca-Cola, Starbucks mugs) 2. Do you have any clothing with a visible designer name? (e.g. Old Navy) Give examples. . 3. Do you have any clothing with a visible designer logo? (e.g. Nike) Give examples. 4. Have you ever bought any products based solely on advertising? Which and why? 5. Have you ever not bought products specifically based on advertising? Which and why? 6. List the places where you think you see advertising on a daily basis: 1. No. I don’t collect advertisement products. I just have whatever is useful. 2. Yes. I have a pair of old navy jeans and shirts, along side joe fresh clothing. 3. Yes I have a bright orange Nike shirt. I also has a world rugby 7s hoodie. 4. No. If anything, most adds turn me away from the product. 5. Yes. I have gotten a repetitive add for a game called TOON BLAST. It is so annoying that I now hate the game. 6. I see most of my adds through games and videos. Mom 1. No. I do not collect advertisement products, I have no interest in them. 7. Yes, a winter jacket with a NORTHFACE logo on it. 8. A lulu lemon hoodie. 9. No, I buy what I need and not what adds tell me to buy. 10. Cars, because it is a big purchase, and I will not let that be influence by an add. 11. At my work.

Milestone 3, the persuasion chart

 

In this milestone, I had to look up print ads and analyze them. I analayzed them with these techniques.

Pathos ethos and logos are three techniques used in ads, and there is always 1 at a time in a good ad. Let me explain Pathos, Ethos and a Logos. Pathos is an appeal to the emotion. I mentioned it earlier in my milestone 1 section. Have you ever seen an ad that inspires you, made you sad or happy? Well then it was using Pathos, which just means it appeals to your emotions. 2 is ethos. Ethos is often an attempt to make a company look trustworthy. They advertise only the good things, and try to make themselves seem reliable. 3 us logos. Logos is facts. Ever seen a statistic in an ad? That was ethos. They use hard evidence to appeal to you.
1. Weasel Words: a message or promise is implied but not definite; they are empty claims. Example: 2. Unfinished Claims: a comparison is started but left unfinished; they are dangling claims. Example: 3. ‘We’re different and unique’ Claim: states there is nothing else quite like the advertised product. Example: 4. ‘Water is Wet’ Claim: the claim is true for any brand in that product category. Example: 5. ‘So What’ Claim: the claim is true but gives no real advantage to the product. Example: 6. Vague Claim: uses colourful words that are totally meaningless, overlaps with #1. Example: 7. Scientific or Statistical Claim: uses scientific proof, numbers or impressive ingredients to support the product’s superiority. Example: 8. ‘Compliment the Consumer’ Claim: flatters the potential customer. Example: 9. Testimonial: uses celebrities or authorities to speak on the product’s behalf. Example: 10. Rhetorical Question: asks a question that the viewer is supposed to answer in a way that affirms a product’s goodness. Example: 11. Name Calling: makes fun of or is unflattering about the competition. Example: 12. Plain Folks: uses average, typical people. Example:
1. Emotional Security and Physical Well-being: The need to feel emotionally safe and secure. Example: 2. Reassurance of Worth: The need to feel valued and respected. Example: 3. Ego-gratification: The need to feel important and in control of your environment. Example: 4. Creative Outlet: The need to feel capable of creating or skilful. Example: 5. Sense of Power: The need to feel powerful and strong; the need to control and manipulate people and things. Example: 6. Love Object: The need to love someone or something. Example: 7. A Sense of Roots: The need to feel related to the past, or to friends and family. Example: 8. Immortality: The need to feel capable of living forever.

My overall view of them was that pathos or appeal to emotion was used the most, along with the plain folks or sense of roots appeal, which often has to do with the country or the community.

 

Milestone 4, the highest tide medium is the message

 

My milestone 4 was kind of a book report if a book report had a very specific aspect of the story as its focus. The book is called the highest tide and it revolves around Miles O’Malley and marine biology. That’s all I’ll say, because I don’t want to spoil anything for whomever might want it read it. In the book, we see Miles being harassed by the media. We had to write about how the medium influences by the message in the book. I wrote a little paragraph about this. Here it is.

Have you ever wondered how the media and messages are represented in books? Miles O’Malley learnt that, when presenting to the public, he has to be careful of what he says, because the media can change what has said and present his word with a new meaning. Miles learnt how the messages shown by the media can influence the audience. We saw this when many people were rubbing themselves with the mud of Skoomchuck Bay to heal themselves of various ailments, once a serial hoaxer had proclaimed that he regained his hearing after bathing in the mud. Miles learnt how the medium showed him in undesirable ways, thanks to the things that he said. My example was how the reporters showed him as a magical child guru when he said that the “ocean was trying to tell him something”. Finally, Miles learnt how NOT to present himself to media and how to guard his words. He was wary of talking to large groups, such as the religious cult that he talked to in the book; He made sure not to ramble on, and was nervous because the media had twisted his words in the past. My conclusion is that The Highest Tide shows how the medium influences the messages and how in turn the messages influence the people.

 

For those who don’t want to read my long paragraph, here’s a short version of my main argument.

Miles learnt how the medium influences the messages, as he experience it when the news (medium) twists his words (message) to the way they wanted to show him, which was a cute, cuddly child genius. He also learnt how those messages influence people around him and cast him in a semi messiah-like light.

 

Milestone 5 & 6, local ads

 

for milestone 5 and 6, we had to creat ads and out our knowledge of pathos, ethos and logos as well as advertising techniques and appeals to the test by making ads. Our ads weren’t the best, but we had many chances to improve and make several drafts. Milestone 5 was for a local deep cove ad, and milestone 6 was all about creating ads for Oregon businesses. We got to interview our buissnes,  brainstorm ideas and visit these shops and restaurants. Here are my ads.


 

Milestone 7, you’re reading it

 

You guessed it! This is milestone 7! Now here I’ll explain my views on the big question :

How does the medium influence the message?

Well, it depends how their trying to influence the message. Take the super telescope ad for example. It shows a telescope zooming up on the American flag on the moon. It zooms so close that you can see the flag says “made in China”. This ad could just be saying “oh look we have a good telescope!” or “wow look! China’s branches are everywhere!” but no. It’s presented in s very patriotic fashion, and is clearly saying the message of “we need it to be US again!” which is one way the medium likes to influence the message.

Another way is politicians. They present them in odd ways which make them look bad, and often only talk about this particular message presented by the politician for days on end so that when you think of so-n’-so, you can only think of that one message.

I’m only showing the negative examples right now, but the positive it true. A news story could say “BLANK is helping students improve their learning.” but they don’t say “BLANK has caused many students to have nervous breakdowns.” I’m saying that this is how the medium influences the message.