Fear and Product Placement

Over the past week we have been talking about two different styles of advertisement, product placement and using fear tactics. Product placement is when big companies advertise their brand in performances or movies, and using fear tactics is when companies try to scare consumers into buying their products some way. The thing is with these types of ways theirs a right and wrong way to use them. When it comes to using product placement, you have to be subtle with it. Using a certain type of car in a movie is a perfect example of this. But when companies put in too much of their brand, it seems like its a two hour long advertisement ( which is one of the many reasons why I hate the Transformers movies). When it comes to using fear tactics it has to be the right amount of fear, not so much that it actually makes people lock all of their doors and windows from the outside. The goal is to make people think that your product is the only solution to a certain problem, whether its killing off germs or medications. I think that the most effective way of advertising is product placement because we are constantly receiving subliminal messages whenever we watch TV or movies.

Barbie's Transformation

Since she came to America, Barbie has been on a roller coaster ride when it comes to changing her image. Although none of these changes will ever be as crazy as her origin story. Originally, she had started off as a a gag gift in Germany and didn't get her debut until March 9th of 1959. The doll was made for more of an older audience, but as time went on parents started to share the dolls with their kids. When this trend started to become more popular, Mattel made it so then the the doll would look more cute and pretty for the younger kids instead of sexy from the older generations. What we need and what we've been needing to look at is the impression that this doll can give on little girls. One of the most notable things about this doll is how skinny she is made to look.This may lead young girls to be ashamed of their bodies, and try to change themselves instead of being who they are. Now that people are starting to be more and more aware of what we teach our children, Mattel has made it so then barbies can come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. This will teach children all around the world that you don't need to be this deathly skinny person in order to make it in the world, and to just be happy with who they are.

Social Media: Yay or Nay?

Nothing is perfect on this floating blue ball of dirt and water, and everything and everyone can have their good qualities as well as their bad ones. Over the past week, we read over and discussed the pros and cons of social media, and these two things that I picked I found the most interesting. 

One of the pros that I found is obviously it keeps you connected with all of your friends and family. Social media makes it so much easier for me to keep in contact with all of my old buddies and talk to old relatives that I've lost touch with. It brings everyone together and it lets people know whats going on in their lives. 

The con that I found was that people became to dependent and glued to their social media or their phones. I found this really ironic because the site that was supposed to bring everyone together is making people pay attention to the media rather than interacting with the people in real life. Also the idea that people have this need to have likes for approval makes me legitimately sick to my stomach. You don't need other peoples approval to be okay with yourself.

Gaming and it's Sweet Reward

Over the last week or so, we looked into the gaming industry and why people love to play video games so much. During that week we read over an article about the values that these video games can have, as well as watching a video about video games can change the world made by Jane McGonigal and they both had a lot of good things to say about gaming and how it can help the world as we know it. One of good qualities that the article mentions that video games have is the ability to relieve stress. I completely agree with this because whenever I am stressed, the first place I usually go is to my living room to play Xbox for a little while to calm my nerves. In the video, Jane also mentions that video games can be an excellent stress reliever, and if anything people need to start playing in order to calm themselves down.

Another quality that the article mentions is that video games give you this sense of celebration when you complete a challenge or task. Whenever you complete a level, you either get some sort of achievement or point reward whenever you complete a mission or finish some sort of side quest. Either way it makes you feel really good about yourself. Jane actually encourages this kind of behavior by saying that in the actual world, we need to be celebrating victories no matter how big or small. 

High School Sports and Religion

Over the 10th week of class, we have looked over and discussed the risks of high school football and why it was so popular. We had talked about the major themes of the sport overall and one of them that I could relate closely to was the one dealing with football being a religion. A lot of the articles that we had read over the 10th week had brought back a ton of memories of what high school football was like. So when people were questioning why players would obviously be hurt, but still want to go back in, the answer would always be that they loved the sport. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but when you spend your summers waking up at 6 am every morning to get to a morning lift at 7, spend the last half of that lift running until you threw up in the blistering heat, practiced every single day practicing and remembering plays and routes, and most of all just preparing to destroy the other team. After all of those hours of hard work, no one in that position would ever give it up for an injury, these players have put their blood, sweat, and tears into this game, and they will see it through to the end.