Media Literacy 1

Make us aware of products Differentiate one product from another Create a need where none existed (Ring around the collar) 2

We prefer to identify with ads that show us as we aspire to be rather than as we are (Goffman, 1976). 3

Ads are very specifically placed in TV shows, newspapers, and magazines to be seen by a target audience. Magazines and TV shows know who watches and reads and they market themselves to advertisers. If its in a publication you read, it is aimed at you (even though you may not identify with the product). 4

Ads manipulate our cultural understanding of the meaning of symbols, ideas, words, relationships, and images. The name for the study of these understandings is semiotics. Advertisers try to invent a link between a product and a desirable symbol, idea, or relationship. 5

desire for the products results to create an image insecurity that we needed it all along and just didnt know it (dandruff shampoos!) (Dentyne) fulfills psychological need brand loyalty 6

Overt means out in the open or obvious Covert means in secret or not obvious Advertising has overt goals and covert goals 7

Buy this product. Buy this product; youll be happier. Buy this product; it will help you meet your goals. Buy this product; you will be more attractive. Buy this product, you will be more successful. 8

How do you think people in general are affected when they accept the overt messages of advertisements? 9

Covert messages are ones that are under the surface. No one could come out and say them straight out because these messages appeal to parts of our minds that we dont really talk about: our insecurities and fears. 10

You can rely on this product, but other people and other things cant be trusted. The people who have this product have access to something that you are not fully aware of. Buying it will make you part of this select group. (Members Only) This product allows you to break the rules. 11

This product makes you better than people who dont have it. (Members Only) This product has powers that you do not have. Owning it will give you those powers. This product will identify you with a social group or cause 12

You wont be able to control yourself with this product. validates the idea that loss of control is acceptable People like you use this product. OR People like you dont use this product. (in the case of less affluent people) This product will give you competence and confidence. Without it, everyone knows youre lost. 13

How do you think people in general are affected when they accept the covert messages of advertisements? 14

Linking products to causes Linking products to cultural needs Creating brand loyalty/lifestyle marketing Using sex to sell 15

The revolution is about basketball, and basketball is the truth. Shows powerful young black men playing basketball in Rucker Park. Links civil rights to basketball and to Nike shoes. An extension of Nikes ad campaign that used The Beatles song Revolution. (Nike Beatles Revolution Ad) 16

Keep America Moving. General Motors tries to make it a patriotic duty to buy a car. Weve come a long way, baby. Virginia Slims campaign that linked smoking with womens liberation movement. (Virginia Slims) 17

What do you think happens to causes when people accept a link between a product and a cause? Whats one ad you can think of that links a product and a cause? Name the product and the cause. Is the link real? 18

cultural rape using important religious (crosses, images of Jesus or Moses) or secular ( the Constitution, the flag, Abraham Lincoln) images to sell a product 19

Mastercard ads that show credit spending being used to build personal relationships (father-child bonding in particular) Bonding over products: guys become friends because of beer, couples fall in love over diamonds, women build friendships over chocolate (MASTERCARD COMMERCIAL) 20

Bribing the kids: McDonalds ads that validate a mother for feeding her kids fast food. Drug ads showing elderly people with arthritis struggling to play with their grandkids, then enjoying being grandparents once they take the medication 21

How do you think people are affected when they accept a link between a product and a cultural need? Whats one ad that links a product and a cultural need? Name the product and the need. Is the link real? 22

Tries to promote a link between a certain product or group of products and a lifestyle; kids and yuppies are the biggest targets. Goal is to create a life-long consumer. 23

Couture houses create an image through money-losing haute-couture to get people to buy their lower-priced off-the-rack items and accessories. Product placement in films 24 Brand Loyalty or Lifestyle Marketing

How do you think people are affected when they develop brand loyalty or accept lifestyle marketing ideas? Whats a product that tries to develop brand loyalty in your age group? How do they do this? Does it work? For whom? 25

The basic goal is to link the product to a desirable thing and sex is the most desirable thing to many people Some products naturally fit, some its a stretch 26

Only so many products can be sexualized, so to use this strategy you have to either expand the market to different (younger) consumers or sexualize non-sexual products by taking the product out of the ad clothing, beauty products, gum, beer, cars 27

How are people affected by sexual advertising campaigns? Who is most affected? Name one product that uses sex to sell. Is the relationship between sexuality and product realistic? 28

Who is able to do it? Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: We are vulnerable at whatever stage our needs are not met. 29

Self- Actualization Needs (feeling fulfilled) Ego Needs (self-esteem and respect of others) Social Needs (belonging) Security Needs (safety) Physiological Needs (food, water, shelter) 30

Where are teens vulnerable? Where are pre-teens vulnerable? Where are parents vulnerable? Where are more successful people vulnerable? Where are less successful people vulnerable? Where are men vulnerable? Where are women vulnerable? 31

Where are you vulnerable? 32

What do you think? 33