To Be Continued...

As the class comes to a close, there have been a lot of interesting terms and ideas learned in the class. Mass media effects more than I thought. As many know, popular shows that are shown in the United States are reproduced to air in other countries. The Simpsons, for instance, can be seen in various places in the Middle East. Even though the Middle East does not allow their television to show alcohol related things on the air, the Simpsons is still able to show. Jake Tapper and Avery Miller of ABC News write "from American Beer to Arab Soda." Hot dogs will become Egyptian beef sausages, and donuts will become popular Arab cookies called "kahk." Moe's Bar has been completely written out of Al Shamshoon, the name for the Simpsons in Arab. Is this surprising? Many of us growing up watch the legendary cartoon series Dragon Ball. It was dubbed from Japanese to English for the our pleasure. Ever notice that a lot of the money movies make are due to international revenue. Almost half the money Transformers made was from foreign money.

The media affects the way society thinks. Children are likely to listen or follow their role models. Partly the reason why I am playing football is because I saw Tim Brown back in 1995 destroy the NFL corners to get to the Pro Bowl. From that moment on I knew I was destined to play football. In a previous post, I said I use to wrestle because it was on cable. I believe that the media has to change in order to stay around. The Social responsibility theory of media says the media should serve the public by setting high standards ad avoid disseminating material that could lead to violence. The public has earned that right since they are paying for it. Ethics are at stake. Someone or something that has so much power should be responsible with it like Spiderman's uncle said, "with great power comes great responsibility," or مع قوة عظمى تأتي المسوءولية كبيرة in Arabic.

I'll leave on this note. Many nations are ahead of the U.S. on media literacy efforts. Society and the media need to change that to guarantee success in the future. Only time will tell.

Cause and Effect: Theories



WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon shown after hit
with a chair



As a psychology student, I come across theories all the time on the human behaivor, emotion, thoughts, etc. It was strange to find out that mass communication has some appealing theories. It is foolish to think the media has a limited effect on people. How could one even think so? Former President George W. Bush once said, "We cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores.  When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos?  Parents, don't make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m." Nichloas Johnson also said, "All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?" T.V. is suppose to be make-believe but is it? A show like Law & Order is not real but is based off of real-life situations. It is not like there is a big sign on the credits that say it is not real. A lot of people use to watch wrestling when they were younger. It wasn't until they got older did they realize it was fake. I myself could not understand how it was fake but the wrestlers bled. The neighborhood kids and us use to wrestle in a ring, with stage music, on table, whatever. If it was in the WWF then we did it. How do you fake a person falling off a 16 foot cell,twice? Take a look. (Cage fall) That was entertaining alright. It made me want to do so. Families, schools, churches, and other socializing agents do not influence this stuff. The media does it all.

Thousands of people saw The Undertaker throw off and chokeslam Mankind off the Cage. The beauty is that I came home after church one Sunday afternoon to watch this. At anything in my life I can match some sort of violence whether it is on the TV or the internet. The transmissional perspective of media sees media's purpose to control and they do that by having people tune in to their shows. With all the advertisements about that match, I begged my folks to get that Pay-Per-View.  Sure I could have done some studying but something told me I had to see it. There are a number of theories to help explain this phenoman. I remember when the first finale of Flavor Flav came on everyone was talking about it at school. My friend even told me that he was going to watch it because that was going to be the topic of discussion at school.

It is impossible to not be influnced by the media. Even if a person choses not to subscribe to its ways it is still influncing just not in the way the media wants. The mass society theory says the media is corrupting the social order and it is. Society is getting dumber. Like the President said, kids are going to watch a mindless video game then read a book. There was a time when people wanted to read. Now people can read but they choose not to. I am gulity as well. I rather play video games then read The Giver. We are dependent on the mass media. Without it, soicety would be in solitary confinement. Basically, in a cell with no light all alone with no one to talk to. There was once a Simpsons episode when Homer went on a rampage and started killing people because they where stuck in a house without beer or television. Just watch. (Homer Goes Crazy) This might just happen if there was no form of mass media nowadays. TV is like a drug and people are hooked to it.

Super Bowl XLIII Commercial Doritos Free Doritos In-Game Ad Funny

Goes with the previous post called, "Tell me something Joe."

Tell Me Something Joe

If your every trying to be persuade to by something, a person might be influenced by a advertising. The most effective way to advertize is through television's commericals. The best commericals usually come on during the Superbowl which really has to relation to products. According to the Nielsen ratings, the 2010 Superbowl had average audience of over 106.5 millions U.S. viewers. Some of those people are watching the Superbowl solely for the commericals. Prices for a 30 second commerical can cost millions of dollars. Expected commerical cost for this up coming year are estimated at $2.6 million. The commerical can be promising and worth its cost in the end.

Superbowl commercials gained populairty in the early 70s when football great Joe Namath paired up with sexy Farrah Fawcett in a shaving cream commerical. (Namath and Fawcett 1973)This would set the bar for good commericals but is nothing that compares to the 1984 ad. Apple would create a commerical so good that it would only air twice. This commerical would be the one to introduce the Apple Macintosh to the world, two days after the Superbowl. The commerical's estimated cost was around $1.5 million. (Macintosh Arrival) Not all Superbowl commericals are successful. The 1990 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo was said to promote street racing. Because of complaints, the ad was only ran once. It was a great commerical and if it was that fast I would buy the car. The ad would later be reran in 1995 with a little twist to it. (Twin Turbo Drag) Now what's a commerial without McDonalds, Micheal Jordan, and Larry Bird. Probably the most funniset occured in 1993, when basketball greats Larry Bird and Michael Jordan played for a Big Mac. They shot some ridiculous shots, check it out. (Jordan vs. Bird)

As soon as the century mark came around, beer companies would take over the Superbowl commerical industry. I think Budweiser and Bud Light are competiting aganist each other for some reason. Recently, they have had some of the best commericals. It is almost impossible not to laugh at a Bud Light commercial. THe ones in 2010 took the show by themselves. The list goes on with these commercials.

Advertising is about picking the right time and place to run a commerical. A company trying to sell beer would not run a beer ad on a cartoon network nor would a company trying to keep people from watching violence would run in ad during a boxing match. Also, time is key. A company would not spend millions of dollars to run a commercial that came on at 3 o'clock in the morning. How many people could that possibly reach? At least during the Superbowl, millions are watching. Not all commercial need to be shown during the Superbowl. These two final commericals is why I eat and drink these two products. Not really, but the commerical are funny. The last one is a Superbowl ad for 2008.(Swear Jar- Bud Light)  (Dortitos Crystal Ball) 

Still My Paper

Most people say that all a newspaper is good for is to hit flies on walls. Newspaper are at the top of my favorite forms of medias. When I go on the Internet, chances are I will visit a newspaper site whether it is my city's local paper, Desert Dispatch. or one of the state's major paper, L.A. Times. It's good to keep up with current events so one can know what is going on. A book or magazine is not as regular or current as a newspaper. The Internet is more consistent but sometimes the source is not credible. I cheat by using the Internet to view the paper. How else am I suppose to read the L.A. Times when I'm in the Midwest? This site, L.A. Times, cuts out the soft news and mainly has the hard news. The hard news is really what is important. All I am missing are the funnies. Hold up, they are on the web also. This is the best comic ever and it is called Love is...

I find it strange that people are not reading the paper as much. I guess it makes since when TV brings it to you just as fast. The papers that I remember as a child are still alive. I really don't see the L.A. Times ever disappearing. I did find that my local newspaper is part of a chain of papers in the High Desert. This chain is only in the So Cal desert area though not the U.S.

Just last year, the newspapers in my region raised the price of their papers by $.25. Why do you think that would happen? Come to find out, people only by newspaper on special occasions. I remember when Michael Jackson died that was the only day that all the newspapers were sold out. Also on Sundays the papers were usually gone. People don't have to buy papers because they are online now. Why would I go out and but a Quincy Herald paper when I could stay home and see it on the web? I really predict that both books and newspapers will be gone in the future. I hate to say but I use to like to wake up on a Saturday morning after a football game to find my face in the picture or my name in the news. If anyone is interested you can see articles of me in the desertdispatch.com newspaper. Don't mind the wrestling one; I just got done with the longest match ever and for some reason the camera dude decide that that was the best time to take a picture.  

Thats me destroying in the background



Image

When I think of public relations, the movie Hancock comes to mind. Here you have a disgraced superhero who nobody likes. He goes around destroying things because of laziness and carelessness. In one scene he derails and destroys a whole train car just to save a person. One person in the scene asked him why he just didn't pick up the car and fly up which made more sense. At the same time he meets a Public Relations (PR) consultant named Ray. Ray helps turn the hated superhero into an actual hero. Someone who people will cheer for or to be happy when he arrives. He went from zero to hero.

Public relations representatives do things like they did for Hancock. Even the biggest companies and the most popular celebrities mess up from time to time. The almighty Kobe Bryant got himself involved in a little case back in 2003 where he was supposedly involved with some woman. I'm sure some team consultant help him build his image back after that. In 2003-04, people were calling him a rapist even though he was never proved to be guilty. Still, he lost the majority of his million dollar endorsements. Later in the future, he would regain some of those endorsements.

I kind of see PR reps as spin doctors. The only thing is that the spin doctor make the truth to be some sort of positive for the individual or company. Bill Clinton needed both when he was found to have used marijuana. PR reps and spin doctors would come up with the "... I did not inhale" part. We all now, how could you not inhale? PR reps don't only fix things but they also provide a future consequence if something were to happen. Every company has one, even the government. They are like the voice for the public or the people. Just know, if a person is ever in trouble with the media, chances are that a PR rep can help that person out.