Video Research Documentary Introduction and Continued Discussion of Capitalism..

Video Reseach Documentary topic: Cars and Women- A Beautiful and Potent Advertising Combination

My video research documentary will be done alone.

Race: How it is portrayed in the media and advertising.  Stereotypes seemed to be re-enforced always.  A good example of this during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  The news would always show african-americans stealing and caucasians running.     

One of the biggest differences between this generation and the last few, with regards to media, is that older generations could do some stupid, highly regrettable things in there lives, whereas in present-day and in the future everything is recorded.  This generation, and certainly ones in the future, record, film and tape everything in one way or another. Two factors changing; memory system and identity.

 

Media and advertising: Anything that has a communicative element.  In this regard, media shapes message. When looking at media, advertising and democracy, it is easy to see that the two are closely related in terms of representation.

Noam Chomsky, one of the most highly disputed, quoted intellectuals states democracy is both good and bad.  He elaborates on this point by declaring that democracy is a system that perpetuates the upper class and privileges the rich.

A term coined from Herbert Schiller is 'corporate speech'.  This term refers to the speech activity of corporations. Corporations speak through many vehicles.  This generation of mass audience has a mass voice, even though we don't voice it simultaneously.
Media concentration:  Where power is allocated in the media...i.e. advertising.  Concentration of ownership is concentration of power.

Capitalism and America in Advertising..

"Manufacturers do not rely on advertisements to sell their products. Advertisements neutralize each other" - Helen Irving
Irving brings up several good points with this quote.  Where do our needs come from? Are our needs liberal or conservative? Or a bit of both?  As previously mentioned, capitalism and the commercial media system are directly correlated.  They feed off each other and are quite the combination. 

"Either capitalism is very weak or I am totally dis-illuded thinking the choices i make are my own.  Who is to say we have not freely chosen this path to the satisfaction of our needs?"  -Irving

Another interesting point Irving brings up.  I am glad we discussed it in class and I am going to have to 100 % agree with Dr. Strangelove's view on this issue.  Capitalism controls media and media control capitalism!
I wonder what the official statistic of money spent on advertising annually from McDonalds.  Unfortunately, I could not find the answer online.

U.S.A. produces 50 % of global advertising. We are talking about a billion dollar industry.
Considering America's dominance in this category, it is easy to see why capitalism is at its strongest in this western part of the world.

"I try to make the world more open."- Mark Zuckerberg

We buy into the liberal system. i.e. No limit to speech, power or personal wealth.

As Michel Foucault states, "Wherever we find ideology/power at work, there will always be resistance."

Propaganda in advertising is never 100% effective and it never lasts long.

Diversity: If you have a characteristic that is significant in one system, in this case advertising, it is most likely repeated in other systems.  According to Dr. Strangelove, it seems like the belief system of capitalism reduces diversity and originality.  In the context of media, diversity has contradictory genres with the same intention of converting the audience into consumers.

A Marxis concept is 'false consciousness'.  This term is essentially the idea that we are all experts in deceiving ourselves.  Society produces false consciousness within us.  The core of this way of thinking relates to consumption and happiness.

Demassification: 7 billion people on the planet; What makes you so special? - This notion of the 'crowd' or 'mob' became a concept because there are so many of us.  The advertising system demassifies products to enhance the concept of individuality.  The notion that the product is made 'just for you'.
Post capitalist cultural production involves the participants creating non-marketed things.
i.e. Facebook profiles, wikipedia pages, youtube accounts... In other words, things that re-enforce commercialism.
What does corporate/capitalistic America want us to think as consumers?  "Shopping is good!""I'm so stressed out, BUYING something will help me feel better!"  "We are going to BUY pink to support a good cause!" "Let's BUY green to support the environment!"  "Lets celebrate what we BUY!"

If we can be certain of one thing, it is that men run media and advertising.  This directly related to gender in the media and how the different sexes are represented.   During the feminist movement, Lucky Strike cigarette company changed its logo and shortly after greatly increased its sales.  "Have a smoke, you deserve it."  I could not find a picture of that logo but I did find this one, which has feminism written all over it:

Active Audience and the Commercial Media System..

John Fiske coined the term "Semiotic Democracy".  This is a very interesting concept which is the democracy of 'meaning-making'.  This term was developed when Fiske was thinking of the commercial media system in the 1980's.  He went on to theorize that the meaning system does not tell you what to do  We, the consumer, decide our own meanings. 

The 'active audience' school insists that the audience is in control of the meaning of media products.

This brings up the great rivlary of 'audience power' vs 'text power'.
Do we, the 'audience' really make our own choices with regards to what we buy, like and strive for in the commercial sense?  Does the capitalistic society tell us what to do or are we really the ones who are in control?

These questions bring up many good points.  Both can be argued for but from what I have gathered from class so far I would have to agree with Dr. Strangelove's view.
"If you think you are in control of what the media commercial system produces than you are wrong!" - Dr. Strangelove

There are severe limits to thought in any culture.  Perhaps the highest limits to thought occurs within capitalism.

It is very difficult to not listen to what Lady Gaga is trying to sell:

 Do I really care about the fact that she uses youtube and google to communicate with fans?
No! However, I am attracted to her and am willing to take 3 minutes out of my day to look at her..

This is an example of 'text power' or 'star power' in advertising.
The subliminal messaging in the video is obvious and although I don't think the video had much of an effect on me, maybe it did.  Maybe i spent more time on youtube that weekend.  I don't even like her music.
I know Dr. Strangelove agrees with me when he says that "Sex sells!".  Anyone who say's it doesn't must be from another planet.
Would any hetero-sexual male not watch this commercial? :

It's not that I will buy the perfume....but I will certainly watch it more than once and who knows?..maybe my sister or girlfriend will catch a glimpse and go buy it. 

The media is extremely powerful with its advertising.  Especially in this youtube and twitter generation that we live in.  The more exposure you get on youtube, the more you are paid.  In other words, they want you to reveal yourself...its good for business!  The more views, the better for everyone.

The Influence of Pop Media Culture and Identity in Advertising..

Objectification is normal...but NOT when someone is reduced to an object. i.e. What the Nazi's reduced the Jews to during the holocaust.

A women showing herself on youtube is similar to a woman walking down the street.  Both are exposed to the male gaze.

Very interesting and noticeable how there always seems to be a battle of the sexes in advertising.
The intent demonstrated is to saturate our natural environment.

What would men be like if we menstruated? (a question with no real answer but provides some food for thought).

Advertising forms part of our popular culture.
In the 20th century, humans gained a lot more leisure time.  2 centuries ago, there was no weekend!
In this generation, we invest 3-4 hours per night on pop media forms of entertainment..i.e. internet and television.

We make our own popular culture from the media system and the raw-material it produces for us.
Examples of raw materials: identities, values, shared meanings and patterns..
This century of consumers takes raw material from pop culture and WE manipulate it.

2 classic examples of indigenous forms of media culture in this century are: 1) Haul videos- mostly female.

                                                                                                               
2) Un-boxing videos-  mostly male.

These two behaviors are great examples of cultural parodies.  The haul videos privileges beauty and the female body is used as an advertising tool.  These videos also demonstrate a part of the rapidly emerging 'do-it-yourself' culture.

What was the first thing the Gutenberg Press did when it gained power of the news industry?

Answer: Imitate!
They re-wrote the holy bible in there own way for both historical reference and recognition.

Imitation is very important and common in advertising.  Competitors always imitate each other.

There are few things more important than gender and sex.

Introduction to Advertising and Society..

Advertising doesn't represent our reality, it represents our dreams.

Read the NY Times and the Globe and Mail.
"You don't get the truth, just insight." - Dr. Strangelove

"Pornography is a lust from a vicious male..." - Ellen Lewis
She is not a feminist but has defined terms with a feminist approach.
For her, erotica represents romance, love, relationships and things of that 'goody-goody' nature whereas pornography is the opposite.

Advertising  usually focuses on privilege of the male.  Gender play without gender privilege.

To critique advertisements you need to fully understand them...

This is where it gets tricky, most advertisements are so mysterious that we, the viewer, cannot point-out specifically what they are implying.  This makes it very difficult to critique advertising.

We all objectify women at one time or another.

"If we eliminate objectivity in sex, we are no longer human.  Words must be used to tease and flirt, and the body must be desired." - Dr. Strangelove

I completely agree with Dr. Strangelove's point-of-view.  Unfortunately, in the Western world, men and women are both over-protected when it comes to objectification.  For example, it is highly frowned upon  for women in North America to expose there breast in public.  This is not the case in many parts of Europe, Africa and South America.

Corporations are a-sexual.

"The closer we get to power (i.e. religion, government, capitalism..), the more the body is controlled." 

                                                                                                                            - Dr. Strangelove

Advertising is capitalism speaking to us and that is why both these terms are directly related.

To understand how advertising works, we must first understand how capitalism works.

Advertising controls product placement.  It is mythological and mysterious.  It funds 70-90 % of entertainment, new, sports and other major systems.   

Each candidate who ran for presidency in the United States spent at least a billion dollars on advertising in there respective campaigns.