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Marketing continues to evolve, what once a simple poster has now turned into dramatic commercials and infiltrative spies trying to figure out what sells the best. We have virtually no control over what is seen and heard today because these companies have purposely caused it to be this way. The advertising battle between the companies has made it so that no matter where you are there is a way to sell you something. Now companies have to target certain types of people because of how much advertisement is out there. Without targeting certain crowds many of the advertisement would fall in the shadows of others since there would be no purpose for it to reach, nor direction in which it is trying to follow. This forces advertisers to create the most pleasurable, exciting, attention-grabbing ad they can imagine while targeting a large enough crowd to sell their product but also make it personal enough to be highly noticed by that targeted group. As we see many of the beer companies fit their advertisements to middle age men mainly because they have found that men tend to drink more beer. There are many scenarios in which advertisements are targeted towards broad groups of people, yet this still is not quite good enough for many companies. They now have the capabilities of tracking our spending habits and statistically figuring out what we might want to buy next. In today’s technological lifestyle companies, such as target, can gain access to your computer and other devices to see what products you have recently purchased or even talked about through Facebook or Twitter. They then create a personal shopping list that is based upon your passed purchases and designed to sell you the products you may need next in the future. This has its benefits by saving time not having to look through articles and coupons to find what you need, instead it already knows what you are going to get and creates a personal list that you may use. This also has many privacy issues though. The idea that a store can know so much about you that they already know what you are going to buy shows how much access they have to your personal lives. To me it doesn’t seem worth the convenience it offers.      

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The BC SPCA created a commercial showing several animals in need of help. The animals in this commercial came from abusive households and it shows the struggle and pain in the eyes of the helpless pets. As the commercial plays there is a highly emotional song repeating in the background called “Angel.” This grabs the audience’s attention and creates a sympathetic feeling towards the animals. As I watched the video for the first time I immediately felt the pain and sadness the animals were experiencing. It made me feel that if I didn’t help I would be allowing this to happen to the pets. They do an excellent job of selling the emotions of sympathy but also allow for hope if the viewer decides to make a small monthly donation for just pennies a day. In the beginning of the commercial, as it shows several small clips of abused animals, it keeps the viewer locked in wanting to help then supplies a way to help which worked in a highly persuasive way. The idea that if you don’t help with the donations you are letting these animals continue in their abusive conditions has many people running to the phone. The animals need help and this is an excellent way to save countless numbers of pets.  Since animals cannot defend themselves in many situations it lends to the idea that if someone can help they should. This is one of the few commercials that has actually created a desire in me to respond to the advertisement and I am sure it has worked on many others as well.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc

Post #1

Jake Gifford

Leroy Ashby’s “The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch” is a wonderful article that explores the ideas and changes of pop culture throughout the twentieth century. He discusses theater, opera, television and many others that shaped the society and created an eyeglass into the varying cultures throughout the 1900’s. One quote that stood out the most in my eyes was when he compared Mickey Mouse to Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression saying, “if we want to know how people experienced the world, FDR had his role but so did Mickey Mouse.” This reveals the power of media showing that even a child’s cartoon can be used to determine how people felt and acted decades ago. He also brings up another issue of which he quotes “Popular art confirms the experience of the majority.” The idea that what the majority enjoys can show what was of importance during their lives and that students, years later, can look back on that and learn much about the culture and society.