Culture Jam Mville-Constructive Criticism

Culture jamming is an effective way of communicating the "other side" of the mainstream messages that are presented to consumers through the leading businesses in popular culture. The notion of culture jamming seemingly grew as response to the commercialization of products and ideas that have been displayed to the public as reality in a heavily media saturated environment. People are exposed to so many ads continuously throughout the day that they cannot consciously avoid every single message but should be aware of what is presented to them. Therefore, ads are created to counteract the effects of the media by those who examine beneath the surface of the messages and a act against the clutter of that popular media outlets set forth. After looking at a few ads and videos online on adbusters.com and other sites, I found that culture jamming was simply turning the table on some of the world's most popular name brands and ideas (eg. Nike, McDonalds, Cigarette Companies, and so forth). It reveals the hidden agendas of well-known companies and the tactics that they use to convince the public of how life should be and how people should act and consume information/products. Culture jamming seeks to challenge the ideas presented to the masses by the dominant forces in the media industry; it reveals the truth behind the pop culture that we take in through imagery, sound, and text. It is a way of sending out a message on the issues that are kept secret. Culture jammers converse their messages to the public by making changes to popular logos (Nike swoosh on Tiger Wood's smile), adding text to certain images (My poster below), creating videos ("The Meatrix"), and so forth as a way to get people thinking about the social reality that they live in. They usually target images in popular culture to grab a viewers attention and educate consumers about the reality of the products they support and the things that happen behind-the-scenes. Culture jamming in essence criticizes the image of the world that corporations have created and taps into an individual's emotion to generate a response to the reality that the public has been persuaded to accept.

A poster that I created to culture jam or simply just criticize an aspect of life at Manhattanville has to do with the Registration process and Student Accounts located at the castle. My criticism stems from personal experiences in having an issue arise during registration for all of my eight semesters at Manhattanville. I feel that the communication between students and certain departments on campus is weak and think that more needs to be done to keep the students informed on their account statuses and their eligibility to register for classes when the appropriate time comes around. Every time that I had to register I would receive notice from either Student Accounts or the Registrar that my account was "on hold" the day of registration. My parents always paid the bills on time, I made sure with my adviser that everything was on point, checked my WebAdivser, campus mail, and still, when the moment came after I waited on line for about an hour to register I received word that I could not sign up for classes because something was wrong with my account. It is very frustrating as a student to not only have to register for classes with those green sheets that have been signed off after chasing down professors but then to wait on line for a long time to hear that you have wasted your time and have to run around campus to student accounts, financial aid, and so forth to have everything fixed. And still, in the end you only did all of that to find out that by the time you can register your classes have been closed. It is basically a wild goose chase and a student is sent from one department to another only to be told information that contradicts because the communication between everyone seemingly got messed up along the way or the letters/message was not delivered to the student on time. Mville claims that it is a community that is engaged in all aspects of their students life but what it seems to be engaged in is cashing in a check and forcing the students to undergo unnecessary stress.


For my poster I used the Mville site logo and a picture of a student walking up the steps to the castle; it states "On route to registration. SORRY!", "Your account is on hold" because this is what I have experienced at Manhattanville and one of the things I have liked least about the college. I hated walking from Brownson to the Castle each time to be told a different story when in reality my account was never supposed to be on hold to begin with! Many of my fellow classmates experienced similar situations and have been frustrated with the whole process. Somehow there was always an error with my account, and better yet, there is another girl with my exact same name on campus whose information was always mixed up with mine. For my entire first semester of sophomore year I had been using the wrong I.D. number because somehow campus safety, admissions, every other department confused the two of us and had us using one another's accounts, so again when registration came around the two of us spent 6hours trying to sort things out and get our classes. In essence, my poster takes a dig at the whole registration process and the departments involved that failed to communicate to me and other students the status of our accounts. (eg. tuition payments, parking payments, and signing loan forms) The whole registration system is currently changing and is supposed to allow to students to register themselves online; that would have been useful from the beginning but I still think it's going to cause major problems during the trial run. I do like a lot of things about Manhattanville but there are many, many aspects of the college that can be improved upon, and I think that they should definitely work on bettering the communication between departments. My poster essentially is intended to make not only students think about the whole process but the administration as a whole so that there will be fewer problems in the future. Mville needs to acknowledge the problems so that they can be fixed and students should be super-aware of their account status and should double and triple check everything before going to register for classes.

On a side note, these are examples of culture jamming against two of the biggest name brands/logos that I liked.
(Tiger Woods with the Nike Swoosh Culture Jam, the logo with it's most popular sponsored athlete. Wood's smile was made to imitate the Nike swoosh which makes his smile look like a crooked and deceiving, as if he were hiding something from the public. Again, using the swoosh as his smile gets people talking and thinking about why someone would have done that. What message would someone communicate by changing his natural smile with a popular sneaker logo?)

McDonald's "Big Mac Attack" revealing the ills of consuming the greasy fast food chain's products.
(adbusters.com) This is interesting because it catches the viewers attention by placing the famous McDonald's M/arch on the monitor representing the patient's heart rate. On the right side you can see the doctor's operating on the patient and shedding light on the fact that McDonalds doesn't necessarily serve the best food for its consumers. Regardless of this ad, people will continue to eat the fast food chain's products but it is funny to note that although many culture jamming ads are creating only a select few members of the population are exposed to it.


This is also a poster that I created from the previous culture jam blog I had completed before realizing that the current one had to involve Mville. I basically added text where "Starbucks" had been written on the logo and changed it to "We're everywhere. Is it fair?" as a response to the thousands of Starbucks that can be found within a few miles of one another (domination of coffee industry) and to touch upon the issue of "fair trade" and how Starbucks can sell it's coffee cups for about $5 and the farmers working the fields in developing countries probably earn about 3cents for their work. The logo can also be changed to say "Starbroke" or something like that to emphasize how much consumers are actually paying for this "premium" coffee and how much they could save by consuming elsewhere but that's just for thought.

Discuss Reactive Measures of Media (Class Activity)

The media has had a strong hold on us not only as consumers but also as individuals for a long time. Since becoming one of the dominant forces in our culture it has been an influential force in conditioning our actions, beliefs, and values. It is important to understand how our role as consumers of the mass media is shaped and the effects that it has on the way we react to events and society as a whole. It is better for a person to understand the effects process of the media and how that causes them to react in their everyday lives to the situations they face, the people they encounter, and the decisions they make so that they become less affected by the false reality portrayed by advertisers. What that means is that it is better for us to be proactive about the media and understand that there are a number of factors contributing to the effects process than to solely be reactive and accept what happens in simple terms (eg. good vs. bad, light vs. dark, right vs. wrong). Both what we see and experience should factor into how we react to the media and the rest of society.

When a person engages in the reactive measure of the media, he/she is simply reacting to the immediate exposure to an image or sound without putting together all of the pieces of the puzzle. Effects are not the results of single occurrences or events. In fact, there are many contributing factors that contribute to the formation of a greater effect that needs to be processed by people on a greater scale. For example, in chapter 6 "Proactive Perspective on Media Effects" by Potter the game of Russian Roulette is used to explain how numerous factors contributed to the death of a young boy who was playing the game with an actual (real life) loaded gun. The initial reaction of the public was to point their fingers at the media and blame the incident on the violence presented by the images shown on the television screen etc. As an effect of being reactive, the individuals failed to realize that the media alone was not responsible for the young boy's death. Other factors such as the loaded gun being present in the household, the unaware parents, and so forth contributed to the tragic occurrence. Yes, the young boy most likely saw the game being played in a movie but that single image cannot endure the blame on its own.

It is a natural reaction for a person to want to point fingers and place the blame on a force (such as the media) that they do not feel responsible for. Once a person understands that there are differences between being proactive and reactive they can act accordingly as a media literate individual. People have an idea embedded in their minds about what is socially acceptable, which provides them with a baseline for handling the effects process of the media. For instance, who put forth the idea that the media alone was responsible for the boy's death? This reaction occurred because with time, the media has become a scapegoat for society's problems; no one wants to take the blame for their own actions so might as well blame the main influencing force. The person that is usually blamed is usually not at fault because their are multiple influences that produced the final outcome.

Unfair Advertising Practices (Class Activity)

The goal of the advertising industry is to persuade consumers into buying name brand products and labels at all costs. This is a business that is willing to spend millions of dollars on print ads, commercials, and other media outlets to get consumers of all ages to buy products even if the practices they use to get their niche to buy are unfair. Some of the most unfair advertising practices are directed towards children who lack the maturation and experience to understand the images and sounds that are presented to them via the television, music, books, and so on. Children do not understand what it means to interact with the media because they have not matured or experienced real life, which makes them an easy target for marketers. In reality, the products that are being sold to children are neither good nor bad, it is the message behind the content that is questionable. What IS bad is overexposing a child to ads and manipulating them into buying a product or manipulating the child to force their parents to buy a product. Children are not aware of the intent of advertisements or commercials during their early years even though they pay attention to the TV screen and the images shown.

The job of an advertiser is to manipulate consumers into wanting products. When targeting children their focus is placed on toys, games or going to a place like Chuckie Cheese. What is unfair about certain advertising strategies is that they target children whose minds aren’t developed, which is a golden opportunity for marketers to play into their vulnerability (and exploit them). According to "Media Literacy" by Potter, children are exposed to the media as early as 6months of age (Hollenbeck & Stably, 1979); that is absolutely insane. The problem is that the child has no idea what they are paying attention to on the screen and is presented with a lifestyle that they are yet to understand. The overload of ads that children are exposed to is a result of the technological advancement of our society and the overwhelming amount of information that advertisers have accessible on their consumers.In my opinion, it’s not wrong to make things for children (toys, shows, songs) as long as it is development appropriate, which means that the messages/products displayed to them are aware of the different levels of development in which the child falls under. (sensorimotor, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage)

What is unfair about advertising to children is that since they are not developed cognitively, emotionally, or morally it is easier to get a certain message stuck in their minds even though they do not understand it. Unlike adults, children need to be protected from negative content (violence, sex, language) and unfair advertising practices (overexposure, no program distinction, false advertisements)until they are old enough to understand what the media shows them and how to process the messages.
"Only 10% of children 5 to 7 years of age have a clear understanding of the profit-seeking motives of commercials; 55% are totally unaware of the nature of ads and believe commercials are purely for entertainment." (Potter, 57)Young children can not differentiate between a programmed show and a commercial if there is not a clear indication that the two programs on t.v are not the same; the signal and the noise need to be distinguished. Advertisers need to be sure that there is a clear divide between the program the child is watching and the commercial they are being shown. For example, children Networks such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, Noggin and so forth need to make the distinction between when a show like "The Suitelife of Zack and Cody" is on and when a commercial advertising a new "Kids Bop" is on. Additionally, the time that a child is exposed to advertisements needs to be limited. Luckily,there are regulations in place to combat these unfair practices in which commercial ads are limited to 12min per hour on weekdays and 10.5minutes per hour on weekends; if a company refuses to comply they are fined an excess amount of money.(Potter) False advertisements are also illegal, for example if Barbie was presented on TV moving on her own or next to a large playhouse with a bunch of accessories and no disclaimer was mentioned. If the messages "Accessories are not included" or "Some assembly required" and so forth are not listed, then it is false advertisement but also an unfair advertising practice that makes the child want the Barbie and the whole "Barbie World" presented without knowing that when they go to purchase the doll they are simply only getting the doll.

Other unfair advertising practices include calling a child to action directly by stating "Ask mom and dad to buy ..." because to the child, what is presented on TV is reality, they do not understand the concept of deception or that they are only being shown part of the truth. They are not aware cognitively and accept what they see because of their basic level of understanding but to an advertiser, children are also consumers. Children are the ones that ask their parents for products. Most often they cry about getting what they want, complain, or nag until they get their way, which proves that the image presented to the child worked towards convincing them that the product is necessary. Phrases such as "I just gotta have it" and "I really need it" lure parents into purchasing products for their children that they would have never thought about buying otherwise. Even so, children are indeed a special audience not only because of their lack of maturation and need for protection but because they too are consumers with a strong influence over their parents who spend money on the toys and shows advertised.

Now that I think back to when I was a child I can honestly say that I asked my mother to buy me way too many Barbies and dolls and I wonder how great a role the media played in that. "How young is too young?" At what age is it appropriate to advertise to children who otherwise have no idea what they are being shown by the media? I think that children do not know what messages to ignore and what to pay attention to until they are older; their minds automatically become attuned to images, color, and sound with little filtering at high rates of exposure, which can be very unfair.

"The Corporation" Response (Week 5)

The Canadian Documentary "The Corporation" is a interesting film that sheds light on the truth behind the world's largest corporations and their media outlets (both the good and the bad). The question "What is a corporation?" was answered in a unique manner in this film. From what I watched, I understood that a corporation is a large institution that is a part of the life of every person in the world; it is the most dominant institution in our modern society. (This is a fact that I already knew but didn't pay to much attention to in the past simply because it has always been there.) Additionally, corporations have an excess amount of wealth and power, which is a problem for many people because they view this business as society's "bad apple". When I thought about it, I could not picture a world without the large corporations of today and all of the brand names that have been presented to me through the media outlets. I unfortunately do not know a world without a McDonalds, a Macys, Toys R Us, Walmart, etc.

Corporations such as McDonalds, Dennys, Disney, the Body Shop, etc are all run by people who are hidden behind large office buildings. I found it intriguing that in one of the chapters of the film the corporation is portrayed as a "person" with rights as opposed to an organization run from inside a structure. I would never in my own personal definition of a corporation define it as a "person" with the same rights as an actual living individual. The fact that lawyers were able to go around the law and allow for 14th Amendment, which was intended for the right of African Americans, to be extended to include corporations was ridiculous.I had no idea that it was possible to gain rights for a business by claiming that it was a "person" and successfully reaping the benefits designed for a human being.

Furthermore, the chapter entitled "Perception Management" described what a corporation is at best. It focused on how the corporate world in essence formulates the patterns and habits of our daily lives. Corporations do not only us advertise products to us but sell us a way of life. Each of us is being sold a story about what corporations think life should be like. These large businesses try to define who they are as people and try to relate to us by presenting their corporation as a "person" but what they are really doing is determining our freedom from behind the scenes. It was made apparent to me that there have been decades worth of propaganda that have been used to educate the public in consumer habits. We are told to consume a certain way of life and believe that what we do and buy is a result of our own will, which it certainly is not. We are told what we should by, how we should act, what is good, and what is bad by an industry only concerned with itself. Rich men who are out of touch with a majority of the population are making these decisions for a public that they can not relate to. The decisions that they make come from their reality (having money), not the reality of the rest of the world (most of whom don't have that much money).

Corporations essentially advertise a way of thinking. They tell their audience a story about who they are as people, what they should be like and make people believe that the images that are presented to them depict real life. Most consumers don’t know that the clothes they buy are produced by exploited workers. For items that cost $14.99 in America, the workers are paid 78cents in third world countries. As consumers we purchase items that are sold for hundreds of dollars when the workers (poor men, women, and children) only receive about 40cents on average, which is appalling. The film also used a really good example of how corporations have a way to make you think that by purchasing a certain item or label you are supporting a good cause. A segment displayed the use of the label "Kathy Lee" and promoted it as being a humanitarian brand that supported helping children when in fact 13 year old children were the ones producing the items consumed. What were people supporting when they bought a "Kathy Lee" Brand item? How do you support a brand that is intended to help children when you have children making the clothes? Does that mean one then supports low cost child labor? It's funny to actually take notice to how easily big businesses get away with lying and cheating.

Such devious acts are part of the reasons why corporations use Public Relations to enforce their good will and image upon us. P.R representatives help corporations have a voice, build business, and make them appealing. (eg. environmental campaigns)These economic giants are selling their role in society to create an image of being a regular person so that they in turn can appeal to the "Average Joe" who doesn't know any better. That is why it is important to be able to deconstruct the messages presented to us as consumers so that we don't fall into the pattern of accepting everything we are told. Some of the things that the consumer isn't told is that these corporations (eg. Shell) are responsible for creating chemicals that never existed before that are harmful not only to our environment but to humans and animals alike. Corporations have the means and power to produce chemicals for any purpose at absolutely no cost, which presents a huge disregard for human safety, especially if the risks are ignored in the hopes of gaining a profit. All of the chemicals used in our products are responsible for contributing to negative societal outcomes such as the cancer epidemic and infection of our food supply through the use of harmful hormones. (eg. cows injected with RBGH, which infected the animals' utters and our milk supply) The behind-the-scenes occurrences and wrongs are not displayed in the promotion ads and commercials; one must dig deeper and understand the reality of the corporation.

But what kind of person is corporation? A corporation has no moral conscious; it is an organization, not a single person like the documentary presents. There are numerous people running the corporations that dictate our lives who we know nothing about. They as "people" should have some sense of morality but when it comes down to it they only cares about their stakeholders and profit. The bottom line for a corporation is to make as much money as possible while maintaining all of the power and wealth in the community while disregarding the well-being of others.

Picture of "Cool" & "Look-Look" Response (Class Activity)

"Cool"



This is a picture I took yesterday when I went into NYC for a girl's night out with my friends. I thought a great deal about what I would capture with my digital camera and label it "cool". I think this picture is cool because there is a lot to look at here. I am a fan of Broadway musicals and liked all of the colors and familiar images (eg. the phantom, the witch) used in the ads to promote the shows. The displays above signify a major part of popular culture in New York City. I was born and raised in Manhattan and have been surrounded by this media frenzy environment all of my life. I think that the bright lights, all of the colors in the displays, and the overall set up of this area of town is pretty cool. I liked that all the Broadway ads were put together in on space, which is one of the reasons this caught my attention. These ads are intended to catch viewer's attention and be appeal to their senses. The whole purpose of promoting a Broadway show is to get people to go to it and provide them with an entertaining afternoon or evening, it's about the experience and enjoyment. Shows like "Wicked" and "Phantom of the Opera" are awesome and I guess I'm a dork when it comes to certain things but this is something that appeals to me and caught my attention while I searched for "cool" with my camera. I know that Broadway shows aren't cheap and one (the target) must be willing and able to spend a large amount of money for a ticket but there are also times when promotions go on for students and others who can't afford a full priced seat. Advertisers for Broadway shows promote to families, teenagers, adults, and the elderly alike but the avid show attendees usually have the money to do so. I feel like everything that is displayed in New York City, specifically the Times Square area is cool or else it wouldn't be placed there. This is a central location for advertising and getting people to buy and spend money on products/services and setting trends. It is one of the greatest examples of the media saturated society that we live in. Whether it's Broadway or just the area in general I think that musicals are cool especially when they are located in the center of one of the busiest cities in the world. People from around the world travel to NYC to experience these shows and the culture of the city, which is composed of a hectic and commercial environment. The media is ever present in this setting and I feel like the picture that I took captures one of the highlights on a visit into the city. My friends and I also went to see the heart that was set up in Times Sq. for Valentine's Day and thought it was pretty neat so we took a picture with it. The fact that there was a large pink heart shaped statue in the middle of the city made it a "picture worthy moment" for us to show people.
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It was interesting to learn from the "Look-Look" Press Kit that "cool hunting" actually exists. I think that it is really smart of marketers and people in the media industry to hire people to search for what is cool so that those who don't know what is "cool" are fed images about what is. Look-Look's main purpose is to be the pioneer for all of the newest trends, fads, and ideas concerning young people. They hire other young people to research the coolest aspects of our culture and in turn display it to the youth through the use of the media. Look-look is in charge of presenting young people with the coolest clothing items of the season, the newest and coolest gadgets, music, TV shows, books, stores, brands, and so forth. I also thought it was interesting that searching for "cool" means something different everyday. What may be "cool" today may not be cool tomorrow, and once "cool" is discovered and commercialized, it becomes uncool. Once a certain aspect of society is viewed as "cool" by the mass it becomes uncool due to overexposure. Once "cool" is found, it is lost; cool is only in for a limited time because trends and fads constantly change and die away. The meaning of cool is also different for each person because what is cool to the underground grunge kid is that his/her music isn't on the radio or popular, that way the music and the artists that they listen to are exclusive to them as opposed to pop music, which is everyone's music. The mass market has now become a niche market since people want things to be made specifically to meet their needs and wants. "Look-Look" is connected to a lot of popular brands such as WalMart, Virgin, Coca-Cola, and helps put together ads for some of the biggest products and names in entertainment. I found the "Style of Students" section to be interesting because I can identify with the items listed. As a college student jewelry, scarves, purses, sneakers, and so forth are items that I purchase for and during the school year so that I am able to put outfits together and keep up with the newest style. I guess that is why so many girls love "back to school" shopping and why the stores/marketers love it as well.

"Look-Look" gathers so much information and is forced to update its research constantly because trends and what is "cool" is always changing. Teenagers are the most difficult market to target because they can be very critical about what is "cool" and what isn't. They are trendsetters, innovators, and so forth but how much is really a result of their own individuality and not from the media or what they are shown. (eg. is the Green movement cool?, designing your own cell phone cool? why is the Ipod cool?)

Poster Design For Media Niche (Week 3) Revised

Advertisers put a lot of time into targeting a specific audience as a result of the many dimensions and facets of our society. One cannot simply target a large group of people and expect them to all react the same way to a message or product because everyone is different and has different values, appeals, needs, and wants. The way in which one reacts to a message they are exposed to differ from group to group which is why it has become important for marketers to narrow their focus down to the “niche audience”. “Attracting audience attention is critical for the thousands of advertisers who spend billions of dollars each year to get their messages out to their target audiences” (Potter, 48) Without a target audience these marketers would be spending billions more on trying to appeal to everyone and in the end will be losing more than they intended to gain. That is why advertisers have modified their tactics and moved away from targeting “mass society”, which is not only more costly but complex.

What I have learned so far is that the best way for marketers to reach an audience is to segment the mass into niches. That means that subgroups are used to identify an audience by age, race, religion, income, education, demographics, social group, and so forth to produce the greatest outcome for a product’s success. The hurdle that advertisers need to tackle is attracting people they do not know or interact with and get them to purchase specific goods and services. But to get that to happen they need to have a target audience in mind. The mass population in general has different desires, needs, and wants; they are heterogeneous, not socially organized, and unknown which is why in order to successfully reach maximum potential the audience must be narrowed down. The fact that American society is composed of so many different people from diverse backgrounds, social classes, religious groups, education, and so forth makes it vital for marketers to focus on niche audiences to achieve the greatest results. They need to tap into what certain groups think is cool, appealing, and useful as opposed to trying to grab everyone's attention.

To narrow down this concept one must understand what a niche audience is. Niche audiences can be identified by segments such as geographic location, demographic, psychographic, social status, and geodemographic. These segments allow advertisers to make advertisements appeal to a specific person or certain groups of people without the hassle of trying to reach everyone. Such means of communication between the marketer and audience are channels like the television, newspapers, internet, radio, magazines, billboards and so forth, all of which are geared towards a specific audience in mind in order to yield the greatest outcome. Advertisers want to make sure that they expose their audience members to specific ads, shows, commercials, jingles, and so forth so that they can appeal to their interests and get them to act. In order to do so, the media must position the products & services in a certain way in order to achieve full success and capture their target market. For example, "if a radio station wants to attract an upscale, highly educated, older audience, the programmer is likely to select classical music format and play only a certain type of music as as as present interviews and news about certain artists." (Potter, 45) Conversely, if the radio station was trying to attract a younger more carefree audience such as high school/college students and people that are attracted to mainstream music they would play rap, rock, and pop and promote events/artists linked to MTV and similar media (eg. z100).

The poster that I created is on behalf of a new product coming out this year called Reed Krakoff Clothing (from the creative director of Coach). My ad is intended for one group of people (young adults/adults with a sufficient income & level of education). This ad will obviously be bypassed by another group that does not see the benefits in the product offered. The target market for the ad are men and women with established careers who seek quality clothing that provide luxurious benefits and promote a strong image in society. My audience is already interested in high-quality fashion products and is fashion conscious.The ad targets educated individuals in their late 20s and thirties who are a part of the upper middle class and upper class in society. They read popular fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, etc and may reside both in urban and suburban areas (NYC/Westchester etc.) The ad combines emotional appeal with sex appeal and targets individuals based on their demographics and social class more than anything else. I combined Coach Products with the images of an attractive male and female model to promote the brand to audiences of both genders who like high-fashion clothing and intertwine it with their lifestyle. This poster portrays typical New York City fashion and it is what I grew up seeing in the streets of Manhattan. I chose the colors blue and gold to signify class and the high-end fashion models to display the products so that it would appeal to my audience. I choose not to make the products or models in color to provide a more mature look so the background is what pops in my advertisement along with the RK logo.

Personally, my niche is a blend of a few niches. I don't feel like I belong to one specific niche just because I like to try different things and be spontaneous with my choice of wardrobe, music, and so forth. I like quality clothing but am price-conscious since I am a college student and do not have a high income on my own. When I was a teenager I identified with the pop-punk kids, I used to go to concerts every other week and used to wear a lot converse, DC skater shoes, and band t-shirts. At my current point in life I am less inclined to stereotype myself since I am still growing and changing my style.

Super Bowl Commercial Critique (Class Activity)

The Super Bowl is notorious for being the "it" show to watch for the newest, best, and worst commercials on TV because every company/product wants to have their ads displayed during Super Bowl Sunday. The fact that so many people tune into watch this game is every marketer's dream aside from the fact that it costs millions to get a spot for one's ad during the game. One of the commercials that I found to be interesting was the Doritos "Casket" Commercial. I watched this ad online because I missed it during last night's game and found it to be a bit strange to promote one's brand & product with the main focus of the commercial centering around a man in a casket. Previous to receiving this assignment I wanted to check out this commercial because it was brought up in another class today that I take called "Death & Dying", which is an Anthropology course. My professor asked us if we had seen the commercial and a good number of my classmates had seen it and related it to the class because we had been talking about how death is portrayed in popular culture and how many people have become desensitized to it.

Now, this commercial is a bit humorous but I don't understand why Doritos would want to have its product associated with death. Are Doritos that good that one would die for or subject themselves to being put in a casket full of the chips as a dying wish? The guy in the casket was pretending to be dead while watching football in his casket full of Doritos. It's a lot different from the popular and successful commercial of the 90s where they used Miss USA, Ali Landry, "the Doritos Girl" to promote Doritos, which made her and the product synonymous. I may only be looking critiquing the ad from this perspective because I am studying the subject matter of "death" in another class. I honestly probably wouldn't have even thought twice about the peculiarity of the commercial but after watching it three to four times I still think that it is pretty bad. The only part that I found to be amusing was after the guy falls out of the casket and the one man stands up in the audience and sings and says "It's a miracle".

It seems like Doritos was trying to target men (the All-American man who watches football & likes to snack) more so than women. I feel like the commercial targets men so that they'd eat Doritos while watching a football. There are no signs that this ad was intended for anyone of a specific class or geographic setting just a regular man who likes to watch sports.Just from looking at this specific commercial, the general audience seems to be men in their late twenties, early thirties(+) that like to eat inexpensive snacks with the loud crunch of Doritos. But I don't get the casket full of Doritos part, I think it's very strange. I understand that it was intended to be comical but I don't see how that was the best way to promote the product, surely it got my attention and raised some eyebrows but it played off of an issue that is sensitive to many people. Then again, advertising in American popular culture differs from that of others; I doubt that people from another culture would find this commercial amusing.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960747,00.html

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Domino's Pizza Change Article

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-12-16-dominos16_ST_N.htm

The only difference that I tasted when eating a slice of the "new" Domino's Pepperoni Pizza was that the crust tasted more like garlic than before. I did not notice a major change in the pizza whatsoever, maybe it's just my taste buds but I am not quite sure as to what this better pizza was supposed to accomplish when it tastes basically the same as the old one. Needless to say, I did enjoy eating a slice for lunch as opposed to the cafeteria food on campus so kudos.