Thanksgiving

2 more days until I get to go home and see my friends and family! I'm pretty excited that ISU gets a week off whereas most schools get off the day before thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is pretty much one of my favorite holidays because it's the time to eat as much as you want and whenever you want! Leftovers are the best I'd sayyy.

Halloween weekend.......

Sooo... pretty sure this weekend is what I've been looking forward to for about a whole month now :)

I'll be driving back home to Minnesota with a few friends and getting home around 6:30 P.M.. I will then meet everyone (about 20 people!) at Chipotle, my favorite fast foot mexican restaurant, at 7:30 PM. From there, we will all car pool and drive to Valleyscare, which has 5 "haunted" mazes you go through. It's going to be a thrilling experience and it's best when it is shared with your friends. :)

Saturday, in the morning and through the afternoon, I will be spending it with my family. We will be going out to eat and spending a lot of quality time together. I miss them so much so I am really happy I get to do that this weekend! Around 10 P.M, its another round of hanging with the friends... but this time, we are all going out to the club in Minneapolis! It's going to be a really good time dancing with the girls and guys...

Sunday, will be a chill dayyyy... go out to eat breakfast with the fam and then heading back to Iowa again.

Weekends.

Last weekend was amazing. Hence the fact that I didn't go back home like I usually do every weekend! I stayed here at ISU and went out and partied with my friends. Let's just say, it was one crazy weekend...:) I met many new people and they were all extremely cool. We came back around 3 A.M and passed out... Sunday came and the roommate and I did nothing literally... but slept all day! We were extremely tired from the night before but it was definitely all worth it.

The weekend before, Jason came down to visit from Stout, Wisconsin. It was very nice seeing him; it's been a while!! That weekend was filled with joy as we spent a lot of good time together. I showed him around campus and that was exciting on my part. Sadly, he had to leave bright and early on Sunday morning... but I'm glad he came down to visit me acknowledging that the drive is 8 hours total back and forth.

In conclusion, these past two weekends were my favorites out of all the weekends that I've been here by far... :)

Winter is getting near! I am not excited. Time to bust out the jackets and boooots!

School has been stressing me out due to all the exams. I consume more time studying than anything else, it's crazy! I'm hoping this doesn't keep up. 

Stressssss!

Four exams this week and I can't feed my mind any more information. Can't wait for this week to be over!! 

The future television

Technology is always improving every day and I believe that there is no limit for it. Thinking back to the days when I used to watch Barney on video cassettes (I had a collection!) really amazes me how every movie/show is now on DVDs. It improved by making it more convenient... a DVD is a lot smaller than a video casette, you have options like menu, scene selection, etc... whereas in a video casette you can only fast forward and rewind!! The greatest invention I think is the TiVo. How great is that to pause your show or even fast forward? If you miss something you can rewind! The media is always trying to find new ways to keep audiences interested. 

In the future, I don't have a doubt in mind that there will be an invention of something absolutely crazy. Technology is great itself and can be used for everything and anything. However, I am not afraid of how the media will be portrayed in the future because it is impossible to stop technology. I'm really glad I am in today's generation than the 50's or 60's. The media seemed so boring and bland with black and white images and mainly news were portrayed. Today is nothing compared to then. No matter what, people will always come up with new ideas that will highly affect us all. What would it be like tomorrow? We'll have to wait and see... I know for a fact my grandkids will look back on this generation and say that we had nothing compared to their time!

Reflect

I believe that all of the concepts consisted in media is wonderful. Ideas like advertising claims, propaganda, psychographic, demographic, operative, and classical conditioning are the best ways to capture a consumer's attention. People may say certain media gives bad influences but I disagree! Worldwide, media is what keeps us all connected. It keeps us moving forward and helps the society as a whole by targeting specific groups so that everyone is included. I do agree that the media's goal is to consume us... but at the same time we are consuming media. It's pretty much a trade-off. They need us to make money, we need them for entertainment. There are so many ways to promote a product... but the ones that consumers see are bluntly given. If we were to sit down and peel off the elements of the ad, we can point out many sources and claims they used (but no one does that!) This is why media is so powerful. Every form of advertisement has a "story" behind it that we don't see. The only thing consumers do see is the main point of the ad. I believe that media does not have a right or wrong way of expressing itself but the fact that because every human being is different and we consume things differently, it is the consumer that has the right to take "action" or they're not even affected by the media. Media grows every second and an idea will always spark the advertisers mind to create something new. Technology advances from time to time and there is always a new trend going on... media will never become obselete.

Sony laptop

American core value- Material Comfort- Sony is a very well-known brand. Good quality. HD screen "baller-status!"

Achievement and success-If you have this laptop, you are successful. "You deserve it."

Target Market:
Females/Males from 18-25
Income- Middle to high class. Most likely college students and business workers.
Lifestyle- Busy and stressful. Uncoordinated.

Behavior Variables:
Benefit sought- Consumer needs space and the laptop helps the consumer to be organized. Convenient
Product End Use- Consumer gets built-in Camera and Microphone. Easy to carry.
Product Usage- Laptop
Brand Loyalty- Sony VAIO

Product Attributes:
Benefit- Convenient. Stores all of consumer's data
Features- Camera, Microphone, Adapter, Additional battery, and 15.4" display
Quality- XBRITE-ECO LCD (sharp details)
Brand Name- Sony

Financial Risk- Reduce because it is worth it.
Functional Risk- Increase because there will be better and more advanced technology

Physical Risk- N/A

Social Risk- Socially accepted because you are carrying a "cool" laptop.

Goal of Advertisement
Operative- The ad is saying that if you purchase this laptop you will be guaranteed satisfaction.

Classical- they use sony's slogan "like no other." The viewer automatically knows that is is Sony.


I saw this advertisement in Best Buy and it caught my attention. Sony was in a bigger font than the rest which makes it very noticeable. It is very effective because there were other people around me looking at the laptop also. It was very useful that the product (laptop) was right next to the ad which makes it an easier access to occupy with the product.

Media portrays Stereotype

The media sends out many messages that can either be safe or harmful. As consumers, we unconsciously feed our minds with theses messages blurring our view from the real world. We pretty much live in media, meaning we come across these messages all the time. When it comes to stereotype, the media holds the power to control what we think and see. I don't think the media cares what we consume as long as their message is out. For example, music plays a big role in stereotyping. We don't just judge individuals based on the genre, BUT ALSO the story the lyrics are telling. Rap music, calling females bitches and hoes. Talking about hustling and the "good life." Is anybody stopping them from producing these kind of lyrics? Absolutely not. Country music, there's some that talks about family; the wife staying in taking care of the kids and the husband going out and working. What's wrong with women going out to work like men do? Nothing. But the way it is translated through media seems like we should be living a certain way. Television shows like the real housewives of the O.C shows wives staying in a dreamy home, taking care of their kids, and living the platinum life. Where are the men in this case? Oh they're out working. They're barely on the show! This portrays that women should be "treated" like princesses and men should be the primary worker. There are so many ways media shows stereotype. We get involved without realizing that we turn into these people that the media shows us. I don't think there is a way that we can get rid of stereotype because we are influenced by it everyday no matter what we do. If we don't want to stereotype, we would have to literally cut off media; that would be an impossible thing to do.

The office/American core

The Office

The three american core values presented in this episode are...

Achievement and success-Michael (the manager of the office) feels that his employees are feeling stressed out because of his work. He feels that it is his job to get rid of this "stress" and comes up with an idea. Michael assigns a special day and tells his employees that they could pick on him all they want so that they can feel better! This assignment worked and the employees had a real good time!

Humanitarianism- The fear of Stanley's heart attack kept the employees worried and they continue to come up with solutions to avoid it. Michael had everyone stop working to meditate thinking it would lower Stanley's stress level. He is being helpful and caring. Michael wants to be the main aid for them.

Youthfulness- During the fire, Angela saw Oscar in the ceiling and she asks him to help her get up. He calls her fat and she replies saying she is only 80 pounds. That is extremely tiny! She still has the perspective of wanting to look young and good. Also, the employees joking around with each during work and saying jokes is not really amateur. 

The show tells viewers that we should value friendship. (Humanitarianism)

 Not all the employees get along with each other but they still have to maintain a good relationship because they work together. No matter what goes wrong, we need to understand where the person is coming from. We can always provide our help and show them that we care. Nothing is ever too late; always keep the door open for the ones that we love. 

Consuming Kids

The mass media in our society targets mainly children. The media affects everyone but it is easier to target children alone. I think that children are more naive and they have a different perspective than adults. They know little about what is going on in our society which means they care less about what they get themselves into. For example, there are kids that play games involving violence; do they know that this happens in reality? The answer is no. If it's fun and enjoyable, then that is all that they care about. The media does not care what goes on to their product just as long as it is seen and leaves an impact. I believe that our future will change if this continues. In fact, our media will most likely double its impact on consumers and it will change our society. We will always be saturated in media no matter what we do. We can not avoid it because the technology and knowledge of the people are increasing everyday. 

Compare and Contrast (note cards!)

The four questions I asked are:

What is media?
How does "media" impact your life?
Where is media used?
What elements can be used in media?

I interviewed my mom (44), my brother (27), my dad (47), and my neighbor (20)
The responses from each individual had some differences but they all had similar answers when asked what media is. They all said that media consists of communication and entertainment. The younger generation (brother and neighbor) based media off as music and art (high demand). When asked how does media impact their lives, they had similar responses. They all said that it keeps them updated with what is going on in the world. It helps them communicate and connect with others. When asked where is media used, they pretty much said it is used everywhere and everytime. They all said that the elements used in media are used to inspire and effect people. My dad and mom (the older generation) both said propaganda is used. My brother and my neighbor used the word motivation, inspiration and convincing as elements.