Facebook... why?

Like many teens today, I have a Facebook. I mainly use it to upload pictures for vacations and such. But whenever I log on, I am always appalled by some of the things that are on my feed.

My feed is flooded with ads and MTV articles/videos. I will admit that occasionally there will be an article or video that catches my attention and then I end up wasting the next five minutes of my already short life.

On Facebook you can see that there is actually a quiz that will tell me what kind of cupcake I am, 13 ways to deal with hot and sweaty thighs this summer, what it would be like if men had periods, and even a list of 9 things your cats butt-hole has definitely touched. I also found this picture below, but I found it amusing so I'm not going to complain. 

Anyways, is any of this, any, vital information? Something that I should even remotely care about? Probably not. So then why is it 80% of posts on Facebook. 

Today, we live in a society where we care more about a sweaty thighs and cats butt-holes than real news that actually has an effect on your life. The media continues to distract people and push them away from the real world.

People are more worried about posting a new selfie on Instagram and tweeting about a totally crazy thing that happened to them today, than reading the newspaper or watching the news. Many people don't even have cable today so you know that they are just watching Netflix and not staying in touch with the outside world. And they are able to do the successfully because pretty much the only new you'll read online is about Kim Kardashians newest pair of shoes or two Siamese cats that apparently kept meowing in Holland's embassy in Moscow.

The "R" word

While scrolling through Facebook I came upon this video. The "R" Word- Upworthy

I thought this video was a perfect topic for a media blog since it is something I actually see happening today.

The video focuses more on facts about Down Syndrome and how it is a serious illness, rather than the roll the word "retarded" plays in society. Even so, the "R" word and the media are connected.

Today, most of our society seems to think that it is okay to just throw the word retard around. At school I hear it all the time. "You're so retard, you didn't do the second page of the homework." "We have a test on Wednesday, that's so retarded." I even have a few friends who say things like this. It's not okay. Although I'm sure they aren't purposely trying to make fun of people who have Down Syndrome or who are mentally retarded, it just shows how emotionally numb parts of our society have become.

A lot of this "numbness", I believe, comes from the media.

Constantly, I come across pictures and cartoons like this. Many comedy channels, TV shows, and movies do the same thing. Through the use of the word retarded throughout the media, people think that saying things like shown above are okay, and even humorous. 

The media can be a great instrument for change, if used correctly. More videos like the documentary posted by Upworthy need to be made and shared. That way we stop being such an extremely rude and hateful society. 

Part 2- MissRep

This post is a bit of a sequel to my last one about Taylor Swift.

In MissRepresentation, one of the things we learned about was that only 16% of protagonists are female in movies/television. Even so, they are usual portrayed as sex objects. Or, even more well-known, the "fighting fuck-toy". This in the end causes gender socialization and the form of gender roles.

After hearing about all of this in the documentary, I immediately started thinking about the "Blank Space" music video again. I then thought about the comment that Abby had posted responding to it and also the comment she made to me about it in person.

Abby's first impression of my post was disgusted. She thought I had been extremely sexist and overall disagreed with what I had to say. She believed that Taylor Swift was just showing women that they need to stand of for themselves and that they can. She also thought that Taylor Swift was just doing it as a joke and I took it too seriously.

Connecting back to what I learned in MissRep I thought that Taylor was totally playing into a stereotype of women. In movies and television shows, we constantly see women portrayed as the "crazy ex girlfriend" or "physco bitch". In the video, I saw it that Taylor was showing us and her viewers that its okay to break your boyfriends car because he was on his phone during your picnic together. And not only that, but also that women act that way, and instead of being able to act maturely and talk out their issues, they resort to violence. Probably the thing that also hit me the most, is that Taylor Swift has a lot of younger fans. At their young ages they are very susceptible to influence, and especially from someone they look up to and who is famous. They would see a video like that and then they would thing its okay to act that way, and not only that but they should act that way. Why? Because Taylor Swift does.

One of the last things we learned in Miss Representation was that the media can be an instrument of change. But in order for it to make a good change, society has to really come together and try to make it happen.

Taylor Sizzle

Most people know who Taylor Swift is. She is one of the most popular pop singers. Pretty much everyone who has heard of her, knows that she has a reputation for writing "break up" songs. You are able to hear that general theme in most of her music. 

In November, Taylor's new songs "Blank Space" came out. When it first hit the radio, I immediately liked it, it was catchy as hell. But several weeks after, I remember seeing some discussion over her music video for the songs that had also just came out. 

The beginning of the video starts out very sweet and love-filled. They're staring into each others eyes and riding bikes in her study, how lovely right? Next, Tay takes a nasty turn when bae is on his phone instead of enjoying their picnic. Now Tay has reached her limits, she's throwing iPhones into water fountains, stabbing oil paintings of bae (I think his name is actually Sean), cutting holes into all of his clothing, and now she's smashing bae's car with a golf club. 

So overall in this video, I think that Taylor Swift is totally playing into the stereotype of a physic-crazy girlfriend. She is showing her viewers that instead of talking through your problems and maturely working it out, you can just ruin a lot of nice things. Taylor is also delivering this to a large group of younger girls who at their age are extremely susceptible to anything and everything. 

Examples like this from the media, are a reason why society is beginning to make a turn for the worse.

Cellular Devices

Early today I had my guitar lesson. My teacher is around 45 years old. He (Greg) is single and lives with his cat who has a very ironic name that I cannot remember at the moment.

As usual, we end up getting a little off topic and talk about some personal dilemma. Today we talked about cell phones.

We somehow began talking about how everyone in this day and age have a cell phone. Greg said that he has realized that first dates now consist of texting, updating your Facebook status, and posting pictures of your food. It seems like you can no longer have an uninterrupted conversation with another person.

Greg then informed me that he does not have a cell phone, only a land line. I was surprised. I can not imagine my life without my phone. I asked why he didn't have one. He then admitted that he actually had a flip phone for about a week but got frustrated because his friends would randomly call him and just talk about nothing.

I actually laughed when he said this. I spend most of my day, texting my friends about what? -pretty much nothing. I have a twitter account which allows me to read about how hungry someone is, learn about what crazy thing the Kardashians are doing now, and see a fun picture off Michael Scott from the office. Do I need this? Heck to the no. But I chose to do it. Why?

Today, we feel the need to update our close friends, or even people that you've never actually talked to, how much homework you have, or your OFTD. And this is all normal.. Although there is a group of people who refuse to get a twitter for these reasons exactly, but for the rest of us, why?

I think that today we live in a society where everything you do revolves around your phone. It started with Facebook where you would update your status saying how upset you were or what you did that now, and now it has just morphed into twitter where you can just post "cat" and you'll probably get 25 favorites and 10 retweets.

Honestly, I don't think that we will ever be able to back out of this way of socializing and communicating, at the very least it will have to get much worse before it gets any better.

A tearful commercial

Before you even begin to read this post, you have to watch the video below. I dare you to do it without crying. 

This is a commercial for Metlife in Thailand. I came across it when I was scrolling through Facebook one day. Someone I was friends with had shared this video which was titled, "Most Heart Touching TV Commercial".

This ad solely uses the need to nurture. You see the love the father has for his daughter and you immediately want to help them both out.

This ad uses the technique of diversion. It should really be about MetLife and what they have to offer, not a touching story involving a little girl and her dad. This ad also uses plain folks. The people in the ad are very ordinary. They aren't extremely wealth or extremely privileged. They live in a small apartment, the dad does heavy labor, and the daughter attends school. MetLife wants us to then see that they are the right choice for you. The family who is having some money problems, dad just got laid off and is having a tough time finding work, MetLife is going to really help you out.

When I first watched this, I honestly thought it was a short film, not a commercial. Not until the very end did they show what the ad was for.  This shows how much MetLife is relying on this ad making you emotional.

#missadventure

Kate Spade recently came out with a new ad campaign. It is called #missadventure.

Hopefully after watching the commercial (or just looking at the title) you are able to connect that the commercial uses the need to escape. In the commercial, Anna Kendrick arrives at a hotel in Los Angeles and is faced with a bit of an issue. If that does not sound like an adventure, then I don't know what does.

Need for prominence is also present in the ad. I think of Kate Spade as being a classy, higher up brand. It is somewhat on the expensive side and all their products are shinny, glittery, very dressy, and overall classy. You see Kate Spade products throughout the commercial and it all looks like very high end items. The music playing in this commercial is an upbeat jazzy sound, normally I associate jazz music with being more fancy for like dinner parties or a wine tasting. The music therefore connects to a need for prominence. Lastly, Anna is carrying her little yip-yap dog around in a purse. This brings us to a reality assumption that upper-class/rich white women have large and expensive bags that carry their little fluffy dog. Furthermore showing that Kate Spade wants you to associate their brand with class and the need for prominence.

Lastly we see the the need for attention/autonomy. The ad uses testimonial by having Anna Kendrick be the star in this new campaign. I've always thought of Anna Kendrick as being spunky, goofy, cool, and just overall different. For this reason, you can accurately make the connection between being noticed and Kate Spade (whether its for the flamingos on your shirt, or the classiness of your shoes).

Snapchat stories. Media gone good.

Snapchat. Pretty much any normal teen has one. Its an app that lets you connect with friends by sending weird selfies or videos of your cat.

This year, with one of snapchats update came what is now referred to as a "Snapchat story".

Now you can send the video of your cat, not only to one of your friends, but to all of your contacts.

A few months after snapchat stories were introduced, a "live feed" was added to snapchat. This live feed is pretty much a snapchat feed from various places or for various things that you can watch from your app. The makers of snapchat set it up for various popular events or places and if you happen to be in the area, you can take your own picture/video and then post it to the feed. Then I can see what life is like in Delhi while laying in bed or watch a college football game on the toilet.

I give snapchat so much credit for doing this. I cannot even begin to describe how much this feature has opened my eyes to the world out there. This is definitely one of the true benefits of media. 

I am now able to be exposed to new cultures, customs, places, and people instantly. Literally with the touch of a button. 

Without snapchat I probably wouldn't have even heard about the earthquake in Nepal. Half the places on the snapchat live feed I have had to look up on a map to figure out where it was. I already had a long list of everywhere I want to travel, now its even longer.

Madison & Vine

Madison & Vine.

Everyone knows what that means, right? If you've ever watched Sex and the City you definitely know what it means. But why?

Madison & Vine is a newer way that advertisers are trying to "break through the clutter". Are they successful in this? Depends who you ask. If you ask me I would definitely say yes.

Now Madison & Vine is not just product placement. But that's what I will be discussing in this blog.

I would much rather see product placement here and there throughout a TV show then have to watch a bunch of commercials every twelve minutes.

I am a 30 Rock addict and I have to say that they pull of a lot of product placement. They purposely make it extremely obvious and then turn it into a joke and I normally end up laughing hysterically for about an hour.

I will say that I do not always notice produce placement. I have most definitely been noticing it much more after learning about it in zero period. Even so, if the product placement isn't obvious (like in 30 Rock) I think I am oblivious to it. After learning about this in class, I am curious if the Madison & Vine way of advertising has actually worked on me.

The other time I have seen very obvious product placement is in the movie The Truman Show. Also a hilariously funny thing to watch, it was a LOT of product placement that is meant to be very obvious. The product placement in this movie is totally making fun of it which makes it even better. But regardless, it sticks in your head.

I think that product placement now is totally bearable, but I also think that sadly there will come a time when it overruns movies and TV shows. Until that day comes, I will embrace it with open arms.