Subliminal Messaging

                                  Existence of Subliminal Messaging in the Media

     Our culture has been defined through the portrayal of messages being promoted in the media on a daily basis. There has been significant controversy surrounding the idea of which items should and should not be circulated throughout the media circuit.  An idea that has come up from the negative side of the circulation of media has been regarded as subliminal messaging, which is the practice of placing hidden messages in certain advertisements and other media outlets to promote certain ideas to the general population.

Subliminal messaging has been known to exist within various advertisements to appeal to the senses of the consumer and encourage them to buy more products.  The three areas in which companies seem to focus their efforts on are sexual appearance, promotion of ideas, and ideas that society deems as acceptable.  For example, in the image below, this Pepsi can seems harmless and is an image that would simply promote their product.  However, if you look closely, the images in the can are designed in manner that spell out the word sex.  The correlation between Pepsi and sex is a marketing tactic to attract the consumer to want to buy their product at a higher rate.

Society has been built upon the idea of being accepted by fellow peers.  There are certain aspects, if not followed, will lead to critical judgment and possible isolation.  The media circulates things that may or may not be accepted by every member of society, however they seem to be accepted by the general population.  People are conditioned to be attract to sexual ideas and ideas that are materialistic.  While some of these messages are out in the open, a good amount of messages are placed in television shows of all genres.  There seems to be a movement toward shaping the perception of the mind through the youth of our society.  As seen below, there are sexual ideas placed within youth cartoon programs such as SpongeBob.  This leads to the question of whether the media is pushing the boundaries well past the moral limit.

So what is my stance on subliminal messaging?  I believe that is quite immoral and unjustifiable to subject the general population to this type of promotion.  It allows for these corporations to take the position of God and take away our opportunity of free will to choose which ideas to believe in and which ideas to disregard.  Also, there is the promotion of wrong ideas.  For example, our society is moving away from a world of morality and closer toward a world where sexual images are deemed as appropriate.  If subliminal messaging continues with its focus on sexualized images, will there be a decrease of moral behavior and a true following of Christianity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=60&v=_sRbBpdXp4E                                      

Very Funny Pepsi Commercial

Anyone living in a consumerist economy needs to understand that advertisement is a deeply pervasive aspect of the culture. It's no mistake that the average citizen living in a Western society is perpetually bombarded with hundreds of diverse adverts per day---TV commercials, billboards, film trailers and product placement in films, Internet adverts, radio blurbs, newspaper and magazine ads, and more.
Advertising is obviously a kind of popular culture through which we learn and interpret other cultures. For example, film trailers are not only interested in marketing their cinematic products, but to also shape and influence the perceptions of their customers about the movie. It is obvious that advertising is an intrinsic mode of socialization, informing the audience, viewer or reader about how to think and feel about what is cute, trendy, sexy and normal. Adverts also create awareness about problems people need to pay attention to sometimes.  For instance, the lack of the latest electronic gadget, insufficiently white teeth, mammary magnitude, etc.
According Popping Culture, music has a direct route to our subconscious and while we are always aware of what we hear we process the visual and spoken messages more consciously and critically than we do music. The music works to create mood and sustain the energy level. Never seen but also never shut out, it serves as a soundtrack for consumption (Pomerance, 2012, p.194). It's quite evident to understand why TV commercials are loaded with auditory assaults and popular songs.

Amongst the numerous objectives the Pepsi commercial intend to accomplish are persuading and enticing the viewers into believing that a sip of the drink would always be an irresistible reward for super achievers. The embedded messages in the advert are both rhetorical and Semiotic. Meaning, the visual is an emotional appeal to the viewers, while the incredible display of martial art skills by the monks allows the viewers to interpret the sighs of the Pepsi can itself along with other images associated with the temple scene.

 The viewers’ interpretation is mostly constructed on individual understanding, according to their experiences, and how it relates to them. "Successful persuasive messages evoke past experience that create resonance between the message content and a person's thought or feelings" (Griffin, 2015, p.14). The inspiring and transformational story of a Buddhist Monk of mediocrity into a super Monk due to the power of Pepsi can't be underestimated. Could Pepsi be a rewarder of super men?

Product Placement

In last the few decades, advertising and marketing company have had to become more creative in the way they promote their products. With the landscape of technology constantly changing, the way consumers receive messaging is shifting alongside it. Consumers of media have become much more savy on how to tune out advertisements when they are unavoidable, and have found ways around them all together in some instances. With ad free streaming services like Netflix, and the seemingly ubiquitous DVR trend that allows you to fast forward through commercials, advertisers are leaning further away from investing in commercials and towards more subtle means like product placement. 

Product placement is when companies pay to have their products integrated within the narrative and setting of typically a television show or movie. We see this tactic used in mediums such as books and video games as well. Because these materials are worked subtly into the narrative, the advertising messages are supposed to translate to the consumers on a more unconscious level. 

This can be done on a number of levels. Most commonly, companies are either name dropped in a exchange between characters or the products are openly and clearly displayed within a scene. The integration of these products are not intended to be overly palpable. However, when you are looking and listening for them, it's unbelievable how present they are.

They've done a number of studies revolving around the best strategies in terms of engaging this devise. Tanner reports in his article for Forbes, "we examined how product placement might affect the audience for subsequent ads in a number of cases. These included a perfect match, which is when the same product features in both the placement and the ad, e.g. the judges on American Idol drink Coke and then a Coke advertisement is shown in a subsequent commercial break. A brand-only match represents the case where different products from the same brand feature in the placement and ad, such as an iPhone commercial following an earlier MacBook Air placement. A competitive-match occurs when a specific product placement is followed by an advertisement by a category competitor, imagine for example if the Coke placement on American Idol was actually followed by a Pepsi commercial." Tanner continues to state, "Our investigation was motivated by the fact that psychological research on priming suggests that brief exposures to visual stimuli can be sufficient to alter how people respond to subsequent stimuli in an entirely nonconscious fashion.  The primary idea we rely on is that when a placement and a subsequent advertisement feature the same brand (perfect match and brand-only match) the placement acts as a prime that activates the brand in the viewer’s memory, thus leading to temporary increases in its accessibility. Several theoretical accounts predict that such increased accessibility should result in increased attention being paid to subsequent advertisements featuring the brand. For example, if there was a box of Cheerios in a kitchen scene in 'Modern Family,' then despite not consciously noticing it, a viewer may nonetheless pay more attention to a subsequent Cheerios ad than if the placement had not been present."

The studies found that consumers being exposed to the products previously did indeed aid in reception to the commercials later, however, much more so in perfect match and brand-only cases. They found within competitive scenarios a slight increase in attention, but found a higher level of interference than synergy with this style of integration.

On a more psychological level, product placement also taps into a number of sensitive spots within our subconscious. According to Dr. Zimmerman, "product placement can affect what’s called implicit self-identification.  Implicit self-identification is automatically associating yourself with an object, for example a consumer brand.  When we watch a liked character use a brand, we can start to automatically identify with the brand as a way to vicariously experience that character’s life. He continues to conclude, "psychologists have actually found we’re more likely to buy something we identify with than something we like...it [also] shows that even when we view placements skeptically they can still give us a favorable inclination toward placed brands."

 These underlying identity pieces play a huge role in the success of this advertising tactic. This also leads one to question whether or not (given how the advertisers chose to integrate a product) product placement in this way could be seen as a form of targeted advertising. 

Ultimately, product placement has been more successful than many would credit as it works more on an unconscious level. Sometimes they are utilized to prime for later more blatant advertisements for the same product or to subliminally translating messages about identity and inclusion. As the digital media landscape continues to shift, it will be interesting to evaluate how the use of product placement evolves alongside of it. 

Sources:http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/09/08/synergy-or-interference-how-product-placement-in-tv-shows-affects-the-commercial-break-audience/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sold/201303/product-placement-can-be-lot-more-powerful-we-realize

Unrealistic Racial Portrayals and Aspects of Reality Television

In Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice Chris Parker claims that “the cultural significance of television lies not only in textual meanings and interpretations, but also in its place within the rhythms and routines of everyday domestic life” (347). Likewise, reality television and race are deeply connected and influential with producers racial and cultural portrayals on shows. If a viewer has limited personal interaction with a particular race or culture, it is more likely for the person to believe the stereotypes displayed on a reality television show as true. Also, if this viewer perceives the depiction to offensive, it is more unlikely that the person would not like to interact or befriend someone from that race. James A. Forbes claims “when people rely on surface appearances and false racial stereotypes, rather than in-depth knowledge of others at the level of heart, mind, and spirit, their ability to assess and understand people accurately is compromised.” Therefore, when viewers rely on reality television producers, experts on surface appearances, to provide authentic portrayals of different races they are weakening their capabilities to make concrete judgment on another group or person. The type of judgement being implied here should be based on personality and morals, instead of depictions of events that could be altered by producers.

The depictions of race on reality television are not particularly discussed on the shows. However, the implications of race on reality television are present if viewers are paying enough attention. Emily M. Drew, a researcher, notes that reality television does not have a ton of discussion regarding race if the show is during prime time. This could intentionally occur since the Civil Rights post-era television tried to avoid openly discussing race. Also, television is supposed to take viewers away from their problems by transporting them to a different world. So, why would viewers who face racial issues daily want to see portrayals of such matters while watching their beloved reality show? Nevertheless, when race is discussed on reality television regarding social problems the considered lesser race seems to be the blame for the issues. This allows producers to create messages that encourage negative depictions of races to viewers who have limited knowledge of race and viewers who actually align with the depictions.

Another implication of reality television regarding races includes intentionally featuring situations that endorse racial stereotypes. Jin Hoon Park, a researcher, highlights how “reality TV unhesitatingly portrays ordinary people’s racial intolerance and bias while capitalizing on racial stereotypes” (153). Park is emphasizing how in social settings most people will not tolerate ratifying racial stereotypes, but in reality television it is acceptable to validate racial stereotypes. Then, Parks identifies two limitations of reality television that endorse current perceptions of race, which are typecasting and producer reconstruction of actual events. An example of a reality show with typecasting is The Real World because in majority of the seasons there are a few Black cast members with a primarily White cast. If the cast of the show was randomly selected, there probably would be a more diversified cast. Then, on shows such as The Bachelor it is clear when actual scenes and statements are changed during the reunion of the show with the cast members discussing the times their actions and words were twisted on the screen.

A group that especially has distorted portrayals in reality television is Black women. Robin Boylorn, a researcher, notes that Black women are portrayed as “modern day mammies and Jezebels” (417).  Mammies are portrayal of Black women television characters who play a motherly role. However, Jezebels are Black women television characters displayed as highly sexual beings, physically attractive, and sexually confident. It seems that reality television favors the portrayal of Black women as Jezebels. For example, Black women in the show Bad Girls Club are sexualized through their appearance (short and revealing clothing) and the way they carry themselves (proactively seeking sexual encounters). Then, in reality television Black women are seen as well-educated or lacking education. Bad Girls Club displays Black women as lacking education because the cast members occupation is not mentioned and these women are seen to primarily drink, party, fight, and dress up.

Black Friday Deals!....Wait, what happened to Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, but my email account is not filling up with emails about thanks and turkey sales. No, my email is filled with Black Friday deals. It seems as though the second October hint, Halloween was dismissed and retailers focused on what is one of their biggest days for sales throughout the year. Immediately “early Black Friday deals” and smiling family who had saved money were clogging up my email and I became frustrated with the fact that everyone wanted to skip Thanksgiving and go straight to the buying gifts holidays. But, you know what? In early October, I began looking at those early sales and planning out what I could buy everyone for Christmas. “Consumerism is not just a form of pleasure and fun, but is an all-important instrument of social control and a means by which individuals are integrated into society” (Kellner, 2013, p. 27). They got me. Douglas Kellner (2013) writes, “they sell us consumerism as a way of life and promote the belief that happiness is to be found through consumption” (p. 29). As I look at the Black Friday emails I have received and see the smiles on those “deal savers,” I realize that I want to save money too. I realize that I want that smile on my face. That is why I began to look at Christmas gifts before Christmas music even hit the radio.  

I was not alone in my frustration of the media and businesses completely omitting Halloween and Thanksgiving. Each day, there was a new post on my Facebook from someone who was frustrated with how “the media was pushing the holidays they want.” I was surprised by how many people were upset about the Black Friday and Christmas emails and advertisements that were consuming the air waves. Aitken, Gray, and Lawson (2008) write, “consumers actively process those advertisements that coincide with particular purchase needs, and respond to brand, product or service information according to the cognitive or affective appeals of the advertisement” (p. 279). So, what does this have to do with everyone’s anger towards these early deals? Well, we are talking about them. Whether you physically go to a store and cash in on these deals, browse a stores website looking for that perfect gift, or post a status on Facebook about Wal-Mart already talking about Black Friday, you are talking about that business which is what the companies want.

            Aitken, Gray, and Lawson (2008) outline a few different models advertisers use in order to get their message across to consumers. One model touched on is called the “information-processing model which “assumes that if the message is clear and it is delivered effectively it will be interpreted appropriately” (p. 280). “The act of ‘reading’ and responding to an advertisement is not simply a process of decoding the clues to discover the preferred meaning of the message but is an active engagement with both the formal and the informal elements of the advertisement and with the genre of advertising to produce a negotiated understanding” (Aitken, Gray, & Lawson, 2008, p. 281).  Advertiser cannot necessarily predict how their messages will be decoded and received by consumers. In the end, however, having people talk about their products and advertisements might draw more foot traffic to their business.

            Will we ever move away from the consumer stigma we have had placed upon us? It only takes one company to get the ball rolling, and this year that one company is REI. REI has decided that its doors will be closed on Black Friday this year and is attempting to start a new movement called “Opt Outside” where they are encouraging customers to do more activities outside on Black Friday instead of being in the mall all day. However, if a person wants to spend the day hiking instead of shopping or perhaps camping that would mean that person would need some outdoor gear. Ironically enough, REI sells outdoor recreation equipment. So, is this “Opt Outside” campaign just another way for REI to advertise their own products and make a profit before Black Friday? I guess that is for each consumer to decide.

Aitken, R., Gray, B., & Lawson, R. (2008). Advertising effectiveness from a consumer perspective. International Journal Of Advertising, 27(2), 279-297. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.eastern.edu:3277/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=dae98864-23df-4ffc-960a-b5f006cfa0ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4113

Pomerance, M. & Sakeris, J. (Eds.) (2013). Popping culture (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Peasron

Let's get Personal: Facebook Ads

I cannot be the only one who has searched something on the Internet, like sunglasses or books, and have found advertisements on the side of my Facebook page pertaining to the same exact product I was looking up. Or scrolling through your news feed to find a tweet or Facebook post about something that only you would like or be interested in.

            Coincidence? I think not.

With the rapidly evolving world of social media and consumer culture, advertisers have become more creative with implementing advertisements into our personal social networking platforms.
Looking at Facebook’s website (Facebook.com/help), advertisements are determined by:

•      Information you share on Facebook (ex: Pages you like)
•  Other information about you from your Facebook account (ex: your age, your gender, your location, the devices you use to access Facebook).
• Information advertisers and our marketing partners share with us that they already have, like your email address.
• Your activity on websites and apps off of Facebook.

The website says that you have the option of managing the ads on your news feed, but users still see the ads that are popped up before they have the change to manage their advertisement settings. 

According to Knowledge@Wharton.com “consumers no longer need to seek marketing and media. Marketing and media come to them” (2015). This puts social media users in a low power position because they do not have control over the ads they see on social media unless they take the time to manage their ads. Due to the fact that these ads are tailored to specific users, they will be more inclined, and interested to look into the product or store that is being advertised to them.

The advertising companies that market their products to social media users have the advantage of learning personal beliefs, values and interests based on the information given on an individual's profile. Author, Throin Klosowski points out that the more information that is given on one's profile the more personalized their advertisements can be ("How Facebook Uses Your Data to Target Ads, Even Offline). It seems as though social media is not only a place for an online community, but online displaying of information that can be used to tailor products and companies that a specific individual would enjoy, or buy from. 

Advertising within modern consumer culture acts as a rhetorical tool to redirect behaviors to correlate with marketer’s beliefs and motives. In Popping Culture, Douglas Kellner states, “advertising is ‘persuasive,’ serving to manipulate consumers into purchasing products be channeling, steering, and directing behavior…by offering commodities as magical solutions to every conceivable problem and as a vehicles to life’s most intense joys” (27). Due to the persuasiveness of advertising, it makes sense that marketer will go to all costs to reach the consumer even it is through personal social networking sites. 

With this in mind, consumers can be aware of the tailored advertisements given to them by the interests expressed on social media, as well as their searching history. It is important to consider that every move on the Internet can be collected and analyzed in a way that will benefit you as a consumer, and persuade you into buying certain products and shopping at specific stores. These ads are unique because they are personally customized, and the layout of these ads are disguised as a normal Facebook posts; not an advertisement. Social media users can see how marketing and advertising companies are able to combine social media's availability for mass communication, but using that platform in a more interpersonal level due to these personalized ads. 

Vaired Representations of Video Game Characters

Around last month, I had a brief conversation with professor Padilla about gender representation of video games characters, after class. We discussed about the common unrealistic stereotypes of female and male characters. For example, male characters in first person shooters are depicted as having hyper-masculine traits such as having over-sized muscles. While female characters are depicted having attractive and very skinny bodies. My professor also mentions that there are more playable male characters than female characters. After hearing this I expressed to Mr. Padilla that there are a lot of playable female characters in video games, and there are a lot of Japanese games that have playable female characters. He responded that many of these playable female characters from Japanese games are sexualized. From my experience of playing video games, looking at game play footage, reading about games, and looking at video game screenshots and art, I think that there is a varied representation of female characters and male characters. I believe this because if you look up a lot of information of video games, there are games that depict characters having sexualized traits, and there are games that use realistic character designs. For example, the fighting game franchise Mortal Kombat has female characters that appear over-sexualized, and male characters that look hyper-masculine. The male characters are depicted being shirtless, sleeveless, and they show off their muscular bodies. The female characters of Mortal Kombat are wearing revealing bikinis and outfits. 

(Photo of all of the characters from Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

One example of a video game depicting realistic character designs is The Last of Us. In this action game, both of the main protagonists, Joel and Sarah are playable characters. And neither of those characters have gender stereotypical design traits. Both characters look like real people that you would see walking past by you. Joel's character design traits does not have the over sized muscular body, and Sarah's character design does not wear any revealing clothes. 

(Photo courtesy of ragreynolds.com)

 

The over generalized representation of male and female characters has created a conversation, questioning if video games causes sexism or not. However in Breitbart's article, "Long-Term Study Finds No Link Between Videogames and Sexism," reports on a research article, by the Journal of Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking. The study's findings conclude, that there is no existing connection between sexism and video games. (Here is the link to the article). I agree with the articles finding because video games are not mind-controlling people to do horrific acts in reality. The findings seem to imply that the news sites could be overreacting to the depictions of video game characters. Consumers needs to be aware that there are playable male and female characters, since the Golden Age of Video Games, such as Ms. Pac-Man; and I can point out many different representations of female and male characters in video games. It is true that many video games depict stereotypes and over-sexualized male and female characters, but there are many games that depict more realistic characters. Should we be worried about the over-sexualized representation of video game characters? No, we shouldn't. This is because these character designs are art, and they are not intended to degrade any gender. If today's society buys into the fear of over-sexualized characters, it could persuade the government to pass censorship laws to video games, that are considered "sexist." In this way Video games can be compared to illegal substances such as heroin, and that is a uneducated comparison. With this in mind, there will still be people believe in this assumption. I would suggest that if you hear some states that one particular video game is sexist, tell him or her to ignore these types of games.