Weekly Written Analysis 5: Sex in Advertising

Over the years sex or sexual innuendo in advertising seems to appear more often than not. You see it in deodorant and body spray commercials where hundreds of women are chasing a man after he has put some of the deodorant on. Or how about the gum commercials that show two teenagers that start making out right in front of the girl's parents after they start chewing the gum? A memorable car commercial that I have seen has a woman that is just getting off work changing from a suit into sports attire in an elevator full of people, then she runs out and jumps into her friends car and they speed off down the road. Now I know the manufacturers of these products couldn't really think that anyone would buy their products just because they have seen these commercials and expect to get the same results as the actors in them so I think it must be a ploy to peak our interest so that we will pay more attention to these advertisements instead of just flipping to another channel during a commercial break of one of our shows.

A study was conducted by two individuals from the University College London on 60 young adults that proved otherwise. One of the purposes of the study was to find out if a commercial could be recalled more easily if it had some sort of sexual content in it (Economist 2007). The 60 adults were placed into 4 groups, 2 of which were shown commercials with sexual content between the show "Sex in the City" and another show that didn't have any sexual content called "Malcolm in the Middle". It was found that there was no significant difference between the groups in being able to recall the commercials or the product that was advertised in them regardless of the sexual content (Economist 2007). So it was concluded after the study that sex doesn't really sell after all. I on the other hand still find it hard to believe that sex doesn't sell and that sexual appeal has no effect on the popularity of a product. If that was the case then my question is still "Why is there still so much sex in advertisement?", and why was I able to remember these commercials in order to write this analysis?

Reference
The big turn off. (2007, March 3). Economist, Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

Journal Article Analysis Assignment 1-3

I chose to review an article called “Bad is Good”, which discusses the television talent show American Idol. I remember when American Idol first premiered here in the United States back in 2002 and I really enjoyed watching the show. I would rush home from work trying not to miss an episode, especially in the beginning of each season when you could watch the try outs because there were some pretty bad singers and it was really funny. I would never vote for whom I wanted to win but still had my favorite contestant picked in my head and I would still be disappointed when he or she didn’t win. However, after the show continued year after year I began to lose interest in the rest of the show and would only tune in for the try outs and not watch the rest of the season, but this article appealed to me because the author’s focus was on one of American Idol’s past contestants, Sanjaya Malakar who was extremely popular last season and I had heard a lot about him. The author of the article talks about how Sanjaya was a terrible singer but somehow he continued to progress throughout the show without getting voted off and made it into the top twelve. He questioned whether or not American Idol’s viewers were trying to play some sort of joke because they kept voting for Sanjaya to stay even though he wasn’t a good singer, and he discussed the relationship between pop culture and its audience.

I’m not really sure why Sanjaya was actually allowed to stay for so long on the show and I doubt if it was a joke, but I do believe that the show’s viewers were voting exactly the way they should vote, for whomever they like the most whether the person is a good singer or not. Oftentimes there are many of us that like to root for the underdog in different situations and I think last year’s American Idol season was no different. We can get bored with the same thing all the time and often have short attention spans when it comes to entertainment. Sanjaya staying on the show apparently boosted the ratings and mixed things up just enough to draw additional media attention and also cause more viewers to tune in to watch the show. I agree with the author when he says there is no way to know what will appeal to TV audiences, which is why television executives have to take a chance when they premier a new show and hope for the best that the show will be a success. Television executives will never really be sure what we like because we as an American people have various tastes that can change at the drop of a dime and sometimes we don’t even know until we see it so they will just have to take their chances. In this case bad is good and when it comes to those try outs in the beginning of the show, bad is also really, really, funny.

Reference
Hoppenstand, G. (2007). Bad is Good. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from The Journal of
Popular Culture Volume 40, Issue 4 (August 2007)

Weekly Written Analysis 4: Organic Foods

Over the years the concept and popularity of eating healthy has continued to grow. The fear of ingesting dangerous pesticides that are being sprayed on our foods and the growth hormones that is being given to animals has convinced many Americans to start shopping at natural food stores and to purchase organically grown food. For years we have watched young girls start to physically develop faster than they have in the past and the suspected reason for this could be a result of the steroid hormones being passed to our children when they are fed meat from animals that were injected with hormones to help animals gain weight faster. Excessive hormones are also suspected of causing cancer (Cornell University 2008). The question is, if the pesticides that are being used and the hormones that are being given to animals are so dangerous then why the FDA isn’t doing a better job at monitoring this? The FDA has approved six different types of steroid hormones for the production of food in the U.S. and some of these hormones are naturally made by animals so there is no possible way for the FDA to monitor the usage levels (Cornell University 2008). Thankfully there are plenty of natural food stores popping up around the country to give consumers a choice in developing healthier eating habits. Although organically grown food can be more expensive it a safe choice and makes the money spent worth it.

Reference
Cornell Univeristy. (2008). Retrieved March 14, 2008, from
http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Factsheet/Diet/fs37.hormones.cfm

Weekly Written Analysis 3: The Real World

Reality based programming has taken over television, and is growing more and more popular as the years go by. Shows like “Survival”, “Big Brother”, and “The Bachelor” have drawn millions of viewers to tune in to watch faithfully week after week (Miller 2000). One reality show that is also extremely popular is “The Real World”, which is the Music Television’s (MTV) longest running series and appears to have no end in site (Peyser 2001). The idea of the show is to bring individuals from different backgrounds into one house and watch how they interact with each other after niceties are thrown to the wind and they start “being real” and began to reveal their true colors. I must admit that I also enjoy the show and at one point seemed almost addicted when it first aired because I hated to miss an episode and was glued to the screen, ignoring phone calls and any other distractions when it would come on. Now that it has been on air for over 15 years I still love the show but rarely have time to watch due to work and other responsibilities.

The concept of reality television is appealing to me and many others I think because it gives viewers a chance to watch a real person’s unscripted day to day interactions. You get to see real arguments, real friendships and everything in between, and something about that apparently appeals to viewers. However, when you think about it though, one could argue the authenticity of reality television because is it actually as real as it is portrayed to be? There are cameras everywhere at all times, whether they are eating, sleeping, or in the shower so just how real can one be with a camera in your face knowing that millions of people are watching everything you do or say? Cast members from various episodes have said that they got used to having the cameras around and their presence actually made them feel as if it was more real because their lives were being documented (Miller 2000). Regardless of varying opinions about the reality of “The Real World”, and other programs like it, the show continues to get high ratings and will probably be around for a considerable time to come.

References
Miller, E. (2000, Fall). Fantasies of Reality: Surviving Reality-Based Programming. Social
Policy, 31(1), 6-15. Retrieved March 5, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.
Peyser, M. (2001, July 2). 'Real World' After All. Newsweek, 138(1), 54. Retrieved March 5,
2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

Weekly Written Analysis 2: Body Building

This weekend Columbus Ohio hosted the annual “Arnold Classic” which is a bodybuilding competition and also features various sport activities. The event is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger and thousands of people from all over the country were in attendance. I was amazed at how many people have such an interest in body building and couldn’t believe the size of some of these men and women that walked by me. It was so packed in the convention center that it was hard to even walk around to visit the various vendors.

I have never had an interest in this sport and was forced to attend for work because my battalion had purchased a booth at the event to generate leads for Army enlistment. Otherwise I would not have been there but it was definitely an experience. I do on the other hand have much respect for those men and women that compete. I have seen on different shows like MTV’s “True Life” where they documented a few people that were training for a competition and they worked out for hours at a time and watched and measured everything that they ate. For women to really look there best they have to practically get rid of most of the fat on their bodies which eventually means working out so much that they soon become flat chested because breasts are fat tissue. Some of those women start to take on manly features and I believe some of that is a result of steroid use. Still there are millions of people that love the sport and subscribe to the magazines and purchase supplements so that they can improve their physique. For someone to really train and exercise enough to be able to compete and maybe even win takes a lot of dedication and discipline, and after looking at them it really makes you want to go home and maybe do a couple of sit ups.