Sunday, February 4, 2007
Confession #1
Perhaps my identity will rely on confessions. I have many, many deep and dark (and cliched) confessions, the first being that I am a sucker for advertisements. I'm also a sucker for their aesthetic value. I make collages with them. I put cool ones up on my fridge. I love examining the people featured in them and trying to interpret the looks on their faces. This probably sounds crazy, but a lot of them (especially weird, couture fashion-y ones) have bizarre poses and odd facial expressions. WHY? How is this useful?! These don't compell me to drop a zillion dollars on clothing. Other ads, though, do tempt me. Those for cheaper products (a new kind of body lotion that will smooth away the winter dry-skin blues? YEAH!) that feature attractive people happily using their wonderful product. I think we all like to see ourselves as immune to the influences of commericals and ads (and maybe pop culture in general) but I think it infiltrates us even when we believe it doesn't. So there.
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2 comments:
It is kinda sad to think that we do not have any sort of power of commercial influences even if you fight tooth and nail along the way. Unless you are Evan and you actively don't watch tv, then maybe you are not as prone to the drowning commercials. Where do you think most commercial influences come from (i.e. Tv, magazines...)? Where do your commercial obsessions lie? :)
commercial influences tap into our tendencies, our weaknesses and our strengths. they are showing up in more and more places. think about how long it was since the last form of advertisement or persuasive attempt you experienced? it has been about six minutes for me, and all i have been doing for the last three hours is checking out blogs and personal websites. they are in between the lines. television is probably the major access point for most americans, but increased communications through wireless and web functions means increased publication and receipt of commercial content. the line between exposition and persuasion has been blurred for decades, but those involved in the persuasive arts are becoming more savvy creating informational masks for their persuasive content. like sugar-coated medicine, the taste does not always predict the effect. as media educators, this must be on our front burners so we may empower our students to discern what kind of information they are actually digesting and to interpret the motives of any publication.
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