Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Credibility of My Sources

Imagine a day without the Internet… seems impossible doesn’t it? Not only would my writing be invisible to you right now but also I would not even have the resources to write about a topic that interests me. This is just a speck of all the changes that would result if the Internet became obsolete. Fortunately, there are no signs of that ever happening, which means that my resources will always be a credible source of information for my blog posts. Everyday, billions of people use the Internet to access information, take care of their daily chores, and also have a source for entertainment. Resources are vital for all these activities. Just as a reference list or a works cited page highlights all the resources used in a particular essay, the related links bar on my blog highlights all the sources that I find useful for my posts. Since most of my postings are based or related to these links, I would like to spend some time analyzing each source and what it has to offer.

AdAge.com offers information on the newest and up-and-coming ad campaigns. Not only do authors write different columns each week, but also a list of blogs can be accessed for additional information. Most relevant however are the ad campaigns they analyze and discuss. For ecample, did you know that Unilever, the company who owns Dove, declined ther offer to advertise at the Super Bowl? Ad Age did! Without Ad Age or the Internet I would not know of this information as soon as i did.

Ad Hunt also displays recent successful advertising campaigns, but does not analyze each ad campaign like Ad Age does. Ad Hunt illustrates the ads for visual evaluation.For example, the new Mini Cooper campaign is featured on Ad Hunt. As each car drives past interactive digital billboards,personalized messages are displayed based on personal information the customer has provided at the time of his/her purchase. Ad Hunt calls in a “minority Report,” I think its one step closer to our high tech world.

Another interesting resource I have is Ads of the World. This website depicts different advertisements worldwide. Advertising influences people all over the world.Why not get familiar with ads in Japan or Germany along with your own nations? Also, the site makes it easy for you to select a specific region’s advertising campaigns, or to locate ads from a specific industry. This is useful because people can compare and contrast ads for clothing from America with those in China or Australia. In sum, the site illustrates the point that each specific culture has certain appeals that advertisers must appeal to.

Creative Response
, a blog I have evaluated in an earlier posting, focuses on all forms of creative expression. This site includes featured ad campaigns, innovative paintings, new promotional ideas and even talks about issues circulating around the ethics and morals of advertising. It is a good source to access innovative creativity that can be used in future advertisements.

Along with these online resources, I also have a few links to books that are prized in my field of study.For example, Practices of Looking is one of my favorite sources about how advertisements are viewed and what influences they leave on people. Throughout my posts I draw out information from the actual book, Practices of Looking. Therefore, I want my readers to familiarize themselves with the information I am using. The website has many useful tools such as an outline and brief summary of each chapter. Another important source is ERIC. This site offers educational information about various topics, such as advertising. Therefore, the readers of my blog can get a brief understand of how advertising works and what it entails by visiting ERIC.

Another credible source is the blog for the book titled Communities Dominate Brands. Personally, I find the blog more engaging than the actual book because the book was published once and cannot be changed unless a new publication takes place. However, the blog can feature new information just by adding a post. Also, the blog includes comments from readers which ads more material and engages readers.
Lastly, I have listed my wikipedia search for advertisements. Often times people do not consider wikipedia a credible source because anyone can write anything they want about any topic they chose. I disagree. People deserve more credit than that. Also, if I read something I find questionable, or had to believe I can go ahead and do a more thorough search on that particular area. The Internet is not limited to wikipedia, but so long as that resource exists I believe we should all make use of it. Thus far, I have not yet been displeased with the website and until that day I will continue to rely on it for information.

However, related links are not the only important resources on my blog. Here are certain tools such as Diggo, Furl and Del.icio.us that help me clear through the clutter of information by annotating and organizing that information. Also, these sites are a great place for finding additional information on Advertising. For example, i can access peoples bookmarks on Diggo and use annotated pieces of text that apply to topic. The combination of my related links and my tools give me the ability to formulate well written posts for readers of this particular interest to enjoy.

Therefore, I would like to give a special thanks to the Internet for giving my blog a home, my resourceful links for giving me the information to give my blog character, and my tools for sorting through the clutter. Cheers!


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Evaluation of CR Blog


No more MLA or APA work cited pages! No more citations to interrupt your flow of reading! No more foot notes! The internet has made all of that useless. Now with a click of a button any reader can access a link to my resources and my related links.

The related links section on my blog is useful not only for myself, but also makes it convenient for people interested in this topic to have access to other relevant blogs. One of my related links, Creative Review Blog, has very relevant information regarding the role of advertising in society. This blog is set up and run by multiple writers, who contribute on a daily basis to the postings on the blog. This group of writers regularly creates both visual and written posts about creativity, new forms of advertising and other innovations in our society.

One negative aspect of this blog is that there is no background information about each writer. The audience does not know whether the writer is a professional advertising agent, artist, or a college student much like myself. The lack of information on each author influences the credibility of the blog. CR can solve this problem by creating a new tab that includes information about what the blog is trying to achieve and provide background information on each author. By doing so, readers understands what perspective the writer is seeing the work of art/ advertisement in – as a creator or viewer. More importantly it will build credibility and attract more readers.

Even though this blog lacks credibility through its anonymous writers, the blog postings are interesting and up to date. Writers post on CR Blog multiple times a day with new and interesting ad campaigns and comment on impacts of creativity on society. The posts attract a moderate amount of activity with multiple posts and comments everyday. Also, CR Blog encourages comments. This is important because blogs are seen as part of the new and interactive world. By reinforcing it, the website becomes inviting and people are more likely to comment and interact with the writers of the postings.

This blog is very relevant to my work. It emphasizes the creative component of advertising and also talks about how innovation influences advertising. Although some of the posts are not very thorough or detailed, the visuals are self-explanatory. Most of the postings circulate around how new forms of art, advertising or promotions are coming about. For example, new pairs of jeans feature demos of different bands. A picture of the jeans, the albums cover and how they are displayed and packaged are featured on the post. This is important because as old channels of advertising and promotions close, such as radio and television, new channels are opening. This specific post emphasizes those new channels and displays an example of that through the cross-promotion of the jeans with the band. The information provided in this Blog is interesting and new. People such as myself who are interested in new creativity that can be added to advertising, or new communication channels that are being developed will find this website very fascinating.

I appreciate the work of all the writers, who add to the success of this blog. I also know that most of the information they provide will be used or analyzed throughout my blog. Although CR Blog is relevant to my blog, my blog is different in a few ways. My blog concentrates more on creativity related to communication and advertising where as CR Blog refers to creativity in all forms of art. Also, I have provided information about the focus of my blog and information about myself. Therefore, the readers of my blog know what to expect and know who is writing the postings on the blog. Overall, CR Blog is a great reference to my field of study and I look forward in referencing the postings on this blog in the future.

So, there. Go ahead. Click on all my links, resources and even the pictures you see. Take advatage of this tool that we have been so fortunate in having.

To view CR Blog: http://www.e-cr.co.uk/crblog/?p=449

Monday, January 15, 2007

INTRODUCTION





Norman Douglas said - "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements." So lets evaluate our nation's ideals based on the ads we see. It is ideal to be super thin, almost invisible. It is also ideal to be sexually motivated all the time. Children strive to look like Barbie and Ken when they get older. For women professionality is ideal, yet they must still be able to cook a full course meal and take care of the kids. For men it is ideal to make enough money to purchase everything.. o and to constantly be seduced by women ( if you are not being seduced something is wrong with you ... FIX IT!).

If Norman Douglas is right, our nation's ideals are highly distorted. And if advertising has the power to reflect a country's ideals then our advertisements need to change... fast!

Traditionally, the word culture entailed all fine arts such as music, theatre, painting and architecture. Culture today is defined as a way of life or a shared practice among a group, where meaning is made out of visual, aural and textual representations. Our society relies on these representations to communicate with one another. Whether we are writing letters to communicate something or taking pictures to remember moments, messages are constantly being encoded and decoded. In essence, communication is based on the ability to convey and understand the meaning of words and also non-verbal images.

Images and messages also have a primary role in the functioning of commerce through advertising. Advertising is the newest and most influential addition to culture. As advertising influences people to make choices about what purchases to make, it also communicates cultural ideas about lifestyle, self-image, instills beliefs and attitudes – in sum causes a mass-audience to think a certain way. Advertisements usually invite consumer into the life of the advertisement, claiming that their lives would be such if only they purchase that specific product.

Most fashion ads use beautiful supermodels and desirable men to advertise their brand. Since the images of these models are paralleled with the brand being advertised, whatever feelings the images create in the viewer is applied directly to the brand as well. Most fashion ads with gorgeous models create feelings of arousal and desire. Consumers, equate the brand with the images they see as desirable and therefore desire the brand as well. For example, when D&G (seen in picture below)illustrate gorgeous models in an ad, people who are attracted by those models automatically associate the brand with the images they see. Therefore, considering the models attractive while they wear D&G clothes, also leads them to consider D&G attractive.

The image of a specific brand relies heavily on advertisers and marketers. Advertising agencies are constantly creating new campaigns to reposition brands closer to their target audience. Through this process messages are created to have a greater appeal to their audience and therefore increase sales. One approach is when advertisers take a concept or ideology that is commonly shared by all and appropriate that concept to mean something else. For example, A Diamond is Forever, a jewelry company that is well known for their catchy slogans in magazines released an interesting ad campaign for their Journey Diamonds (ad illustrated below). This line of diamonds is said to symbolize the growth of a couple’s love and how their unbreakable bond intensifies over time during their unique journey through life together. This "growth of love" is illustrated by the growth of the size of diamonds on the necklace. The slogan says, "Journey Diamond Jewelry - with every step love grows..." This ad, much like all A Diamond is Forever ads, appropriates love to mean diamonds. The consumer is told that the bigger the diamonds are the greater the couples love is for one another. This also relates to Althusser's notion of ideology.

Advertisements or the media, incorporate certain messages that appeal to the audience in order to gain adherence to their ad, and influence consumers to buy. Because of this ad and those of its genre, many women have and will believe that diamonds are true representations of love; and men will feel obliged to purchase bigger and more expensive diamonds in order to prove their love for the women in their lives. It is no wonder why women flaunt their engagement rings, compare sizes with one another and brag about the "3 qt. Rock" they got. By equating the meaning of love – something so prized in our culture – with diamonds, the ad informs its audience that the larger the diamond the larger the love.




We live in a consumer society, which means that buying is a natural daily activity. Within recent years our consumer society has also become our commodity culture, where what we own says something about who we are. On an individual scale this is known as the commodity self. What we buy or use communicates a message about our lifestyle, attitudes and the ideologies we believe in. Concepts such as the commodity self would not exist if it weren’t for advertising. Advertising encourages people to think of a commodity as an encoded message, which others decode to learn about who you are. Advertising gives qualities to products or brands, which they would otherwise not have in and of themselves. These qualities are created in the form of exchange value and not just simply use value. For example, designer clothes such as Cavalli can have the same use value as a piece of cloth – covering bare skin. However, the exchange value differs. The Cavalli (seen below) outfit gives messages of wealth, fashionable taste, and defines a person’s lifestyle a belonging to a particular status. Overall, as the production meaning of an item is undone and filled with a new meaning that mystifies the product – commodity fetishism is created.



Advertising has many strategies that influence people to consume more heavily. People in general like to identify with others and feel as though they belong. Everywhere we go, anywhere we turn we are constantly seeing images of what true beauty is, how women should be, how men should behave, and how we should all function in society. These images create codes of conduct that get infiltrated into our society through repeated exposure. For example, seeing multiple perfume ads, all of which illustrate the same lustrous female who is seductive and mesmerizing – coupled with clothing ads which portray that same supper thin body – and the facial products with their flawless skinned model – give out a certain message. They hail young women into the ad and make them spend countless dollars to become super thin, have flawless skin and maybe then be as desireable as the girl on the 30x24 billboard.

This is why ad campaigns such as Real Beauty by Dove are so important for us to embrace into our advertising culture. Dove portrays real women in their ads. No body sprays to have a flawless tone or photo shopping images to have that perfect Barbie figure. The same potential to increase a person’s sophistication or personality that exists in music or theatre, also exists in advertising. The only exception is that one particular ad has more of an influence on a greater audience than does one song or one play. Therefore, we must understand the capability of this powerful tool and use it for the benefit our society, not for its destruction.


Dove Campaign Commercials:
AD #1
AD#2

post modernism: not just a fun word

Original Article:
http://gemsy18.blogspot.com/2006/11/postmodernism.html

My Response:

I have to disagree in regards to the idea that post modernism is not applicable or real. Post modernism is that stretching of
boundaries. It cannot tell you whether you are right or wrong because post modernism does not distinguish right from wrong
but it deals with being ultra- creative and avoids the traditional route. yes, it does question the existence of ideals such as
rationality or objectivity and allows us to consider new thing. All great ideas or theories were brought about be first
questioning the existing one. Who knows where this trend of post-modernism will lead us.

It takes the traditional, modernism, and classical and extends it to a whole new level. It is applies to architecture, literature,
art, and most interestingly to me advertising. The latest ad campaigns of most designer brands have adopted this "idea" into
their current ads and are very interesting and creative. They attract attention without instilling ideals in them that most
traditional ads have bombarded us with over the decades. They stand out and make an impact.

It is not just a fun word we use because somebody somewhere came up with it but because it is a part of our culture. The
trend has been noted and has been given a name just like the classical era, the renaissance and so on.

Examples of Post Modern work:






This is my first post

This is my first post.