News, trust, and “truthiness”

We are definitely in a world where audiences either consume the news they or get influenced by the news.  It is obvious that the mass media, which are driven by capitalism, deliver the information they want to the audiences and may also construct the information.

 An example is Jon Stewart in “The Daily Show” who uses satirical news as an alternative to the traditional news reportage. In my opinion, Jon Stewart tries to distract viewers through his comedic style; he exercises the contradictory input to inform people about the truth behind the traditional news. Jon attracts viewers through the humorous side of his show to revel the deep-seated part of the news. Some studies found that satirical news is equally substantive to traditional broadcasting news. While other studies proved that it’s not equally substantive but less since the behavior of the satirical programs is directly affected and dependable on the major source of information which is the traditional reportage. Traditional segments such as CNN and NBC convince us that their news is objective and reliable. On the other hand, The Daily Show, which is a satirical reportage, proposes the opposite by proving the flaws of traditional news. In comparison between traditional and satirical news, the use of irony contributes to a democratic population.

Satire news is not considered to be a new tool but has been around for thousands of years. Since the beginning of the twentieth century this kind of news has considerably changed through the advancement of technology and innovations such as internet and TV but what didn’t change is the aim of sarcastic news.  A significant portion of young people follow satire news as opposed to traditional news. A criticism of this is that the satirist might be misapprehended by viewers who have insufficient knowledge of the “real news”. Therefore, in the minds of the viewer, the satiric news would appear to be a fully reliable source of world news. Another implication of satirical news is that some satirists are not a credible source and may deliver fake news to which the viewer does not realize. Therefore, the viewer is taking this misinformation and believing it to be true. 

After reading several of my classmate's blog entries, I found the following quotes interesting. Sarah Trotman (http://st12tq.wordpress.com/) states: “When watching these reports I take the information with a pinch of salt as I know that it is highly opinionated and not always the entire truth.” Therefore, as I previously mentioned, the general impression is that satirical news reportage is not as equally reliable as traditional news.

Kevin Shen (http://kevinshen94.wordpress.com/) also explains an implication that satirical news may face “The downside of this is the amount of false information that can be provided because satirical reporting can involve modifying some information to make it comical. If people do not know about an event are only learning about it from a satirical news source, then they will believe the satirical news to be true.” 

Tori Gligic (http://torigligic.wordpress.com/) illustrates the effect of humor and irony when mixed with traditional news and how people react to humorous news: “Viewer’s respond more positively if they are provided with jokes that they can relate to”

As a conclusion, Satire news, which is a form of mainstream culture jamming, has had an influence on the public sphere, discourse and even the traditional news. It has improved throughout the years to reach an elevated stage nowadays, thus it is extremely substantial that viewers understand satire and the way it impacts the public sphere.

 

The Fake News The Real News?

Culture jamming is an approach that is used by some individuals to obstruct the media in order to alter the original message and make society think twice about that product or service. It is an offshoot of advertising that seeks to spread suspicion among consumers whether it’s about a product or even related to a political purpose. Smartly, culture jammers use some tactics such as changing logos or an image that goes against the flow and challenges the primary notion. As mentioned in the text book culture jammers are mainly anti-consumerist social movements who are not considered to be a part of the media industry “…culture jamming is a form of communication that can come only from outside commercial culture, not from inside the media industry.” (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012, p. 214)

Alternative media can be any form of media such as television, radio, internet, magazines or newspapers. The alternative media intends to sarcastically transform the mainstream media and hook us by getting us to question the masses. For example, Nike is a highly reputable brand known mostly for their running shoes. The ad that shows the running shoe with graffiti writing on it about the cost of the shoe for the public and the cost of the shoe coming out of the sweatshop, is intended to make people question whether or not they should buy Nike running shoes. This may sometimes backfire and instead these ads make the consumer remember the brand name as a popular one to buy. Therefore, alternative media is biased towards its own ideology and standpoint and want to make their viewpoints known as well.

Adbusting is defined as destructing ad images to deliver a message and intentionally ruin the reputation of a certain brand. Some examples are: Absolute Vodka “Absolute Hangover” and the Marlboro ad “Moneywaster”. Culture jamming and alternative media play this adbusting game to deliver a negative picture about a certain brand or political viewpoint. Consequently, this negative game may lead to a positive outcome for the sake of the original brand since it helps consumers recall the brand and make it more attractive and in demand. “…the more clever the graffiti, the more negative publicity that it generates, the more likely people are to remember the brand in question when they walk into a shop.” (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012, p. 224). On the flip side, there will be some critical entanglement and make culture jammers held liable for their own actions “Culture jammers can be sued for brand tarnishment, brand infringement, copyright violation, and even defamation.”  (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012, p. 224)

 Jonah Peretti’s case study explains how freedom of expression can go off limits and lead to reveal the truth behind the trustworthy brands. Culture jammers rely on several sorts of media such as email to spread the word within seconds with adbusted ads. Another example is “McLibel’s case” against McDonalds. McLibel used computer mediated communication (CMC) where viewpoints can be exchanged within a glimpse. In my opinion, this sort of reportage is a useful contribution to our public sphere mainly because it directs the eyes toward an ambiguous concern and specifically when it is related to a political influence or action.

Sometimes culture jamming requires changing the media ironically to positively criticise themselves and bring activists together while others focus on devastating a political message. This sort of subversion may lead to some kind of legal implications and revert back on the jammers.
 

     

                                 

References

         O’Shaughnessy, M., & Stadler, J. (2012). Media and Society, (5th ed.). Australia & New Zealand: Oxford University Press.

          http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blnike.htm  (Jonah Peretti and Nike customer service representatives)

         https://www.adbusters.org/content/nike-shoe-sweatshop (Nike - sweatshop image)

Demonstrable Demographics

Advertisement is basically a game that companies play, to their advantage, on their targeted customers. We, as customers, first look for ourselves in an ad whether it’s a photograph or a commercial. In the eyes of the companies it is very important to look at how people are depicted in terms of culture, ethnicity, and how stereotypes affect the implied message. Marketing strategies also consider body language, setting, appearance, and socioeconomic factor.

 

The fundamental purpose of visual commercials is to sell a service, product or to spread awareness of a topic. Tori Gligic (http://torigligic.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/1f25-blog-post-3-what-the-hail) passionately argues in her recent blog, “Don’t Drink and Drive.” That message is one that is valuable in today’s society and would get numerous comments.  Tori summed up her blog with a very effective statement that she believes the ad is about.  She states that the ad will “leave the audience thinking whether it really is worth it in the end.” Even though I fully enjoyed Tori’s blog, I didn’t find that the photograph used in the ad reflects the idea intended behind drinking and driving. I found it hard to figure out what the picture was portraying. She also states that although the character in the ad is a female, the targeted audience is not limited to females but extends to males as well. She continues saying “Although it has been proven that males can drink more and handle their alcohol better than females, it is still possible for regrets to happen to boys”. I didn’t fully agree with her adding this statement in. If the statistics show that males can drink more and control their alcohol better, it doesn’t mean they don’t get drunk or drink enough to make undesirable choices. I felt that this quote made it seem that usually it is females who make poor choices after a night of drinking and I don’t think that is the case.

 

Allison Sparham caught my attention by the way she describes Taco Bell’s commercial during last year’s Superbowl. Even though the characters used in this commercial are a group of old people, as she mentioned, the targeted audience are teenagers who are considered to be reckless. Therefore the humorous correlation between demographics is an intelligent way to attract a certain age “This ad was interpreted as comedic because of the mode of address.”  (http://allisonsparham.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/what-the-hail/) I agree that it was comedic and would catch the attention of the younger demographic.

 

Christine Merrill (http://christinemerrill2.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/what-in-the-hail), a reflection of my ideas, chose Revlon’s “Beyond Natural” advertisement. She argues how girls can be driven to constantly buy cosmetics in order to get the “natural” skin which is considered to be hopeless. It is a marketer’s strategy to use celebrities in their commercials to magnetize consumers. By using Jessica Alba in the ad, girls are hoping to have a smooth skin like Jessica’s face and will keep buying the advertised product line. I totally agree with Christine when she said “If the make-up doesn’t do what they advertise in the picture, why exactly do they advertise it that way?”

 

The only aim of marketers is to embolden the potential buyer to purchase their product either by a tremendous headline or by making an offer for what the customer wants or several other creative thoughts. By reading numerous blogs of my colleges, I found a diversity of opinions where I either agreed or disagreed.

What the Hail?

Volkswagen Game Day 2013 Commercial “Get In. Get Happy” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H0xPWAtaa8) is a creative and humorous commercial. This Volkswagen commercial starts in an office setting and due to the plain beige colour that is everywhere, it gives off the image of dull and boring. However, Dave is a cheerful employee from Minnesota who speaks in a Jamaican accent and is the only happy and optimistic one in the office. During a meeting Dave breaks the negative and boring atmosphere by saying, “You know what this room needs? A smile! Who want to come with I?” His boss and colleague leap into Dave’s bright red Volkswagen Beetle and they’re all cheerful now.

 

As a Volkswagen driver, the title of the commercial “Get In. Get Happy,” makes me believe that I’m the one being addressed and hailed. The location and atmosphere of this commercial is in an office but I still felt I could be related because I was picturing myself in the school environment. I felt that the boring and dull environment was something that any gender, race, nationality, or occupation could relate to. Therefore, this commercial was able to hail and interpellate a wide range of people, not just Volkswagen drivers.

 

 

“This ‘hailing’ has the effect of putting us in our place or positioning the addressee in relation to the addresser.” (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012, p. 185). In the Volkswagen commercial, hailing was embedded in the nature of Dave’s character and by the very first line of the commercial. “I hate Mondays!” is a line we all relate to and therefore grabs the viewer’s attention immediately. Therefore, the impact of hailing positioned me as ‘addressee’ and Dave as the ‘addresser’.

 

 The optimism and cheerfulness in Dave that lightens up the day at work and his cheerfulness rubs off on the others in the commercial. This intrigues and hails me to watch the full commercial. There are numerous reasons why I was attracted to this ad after watching over nine commercials of different brands. It captured me through humour but also because I did not have to decode any messages.  It sparks my inquisitiveness till the very last second because I wanted to see what happened next in each scenario. Usually an ad has couple seconds to gain the viewer’s attention, but the catchy scenes and humorous techniques in the commercial got me to stay engaged for the full commercial. Once the Volkswagen commercial was over, I found myself smiling and reflecting on it. A Minnesotan white guy, Dave, who bursts with a Jamaican dialect not only innervate the spirit of his office colleagues but also kept me engaged and got me to research the new Volkswagen Beetle.

 

Interpellation is a process that affects us from the day we are born and involves us into certain roles in our society. Louis Althusser (1918-1990) explains that interpellation is a method as giving a name to a person. Moreover, ideology addresses us and proposes a specific identity according to our beliefs and thinking as stated “So, in our identity we internalise particular ways of thinking, feeling, and believing” (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012, p. 184).  This commercial hints to the viewer that although life may be boring and unhappy at times, if you drove a Volkswagen Beetle, you would be happy. Your cheerfulness and optimistic attitude will rub off on the people around.  I believe that this ad was successful because at the end, I wanted to see more about the car and as a Volkswagen owner I automatically felt happy.

 

References

 

 

 

O’Shaughnessy, M., & Stadler, J. (2012). Media and Society, (5th ed.). Australia & New Zealand: Oxford University Press.