Tala's Answer to Question 1

The difference between sponsoring culture and becoming part of culture can be very distinct at times and very hard to notice at others. Using the example from the question, if there was a concert to be sponsored by Sprite, the drink would be served at the concert, bringing up the sales of that month. Since it would be one of the only drinks served, people who would rather drink something else that isn't available will drink Sprite instead. A scenario displaying how Sprite can become part of culture could simply be a hip-hop concert with people drinking Sprite because that is what a stereotypical hip-hop fan does. What Naomi Klein argues is in some cases true. At Qatar Academy, the Model United Nations Action club has information booths at certain events to raise awareness about the school it is building in Sri Lanka. This is an example of advertising that is both sponsoring and becoming culture because while the club asks for donations and help from the students of Qatar Academy, as a school that gives serving the community the importance it needs, it is expected of all Qatar Academy students to donate to the school in Sri Lanka and endeavour in helping the club reach its goals.

When trying to come to a conclusion about what happens to culture when its purpose is sales rather than expression, a number of points come to mind. Firstly it is not appreciated as much because people will not choose to buy the culture, it will be made easier for them to buy it than for them to go out of their way and buy something else. With regard to the Sprite example, those at the concert sponsored by Sprite will always know that there is enough Sprite for everybody since the Sprite company will be providing plenty of it. Secondly, although it might be an efficient way of getting this culture to become part of the people whom it's targeting, when the purpose of culture is sales, it will take a very long time to advertise it and establish credibility. Therefore, when culture is intertwined with expression and becomes part of one's every day life, it is more likely for that culture to mean something to that person and more likely for it to not fade away.

Response to Question 1

Over time, advertisements have grown to be part of our everyday lives. There are thousands of new products that need to be promoted everyday, and advertising is a way that is used to promote these products, while their aim is to provoke the viewers to buy it. Many different advertising techniques are used to achieve this. Whether they ask a very famous celebrity to promote it for them, create a scenario that makes them feel like they have to have it because everyone else does, or they make it seem like this certain product will make you very happy and have this big positive effect on your life.

Advertising has become a major factor in the mass media industry. Companies attempt to persuade the viewers by using the audience’s specific interests and views. For example, using different forms of art music, dancing, singing, visual and most importantly culture. Culture can be a very effective means of advertising. Culture in particular is a little harder to define. Culture is something embedded within us. It can be certain attitudes, values, and beliefs that we value in our particular community that unite us. Many Companies often try to incorporate various characteristics of our culture. The purpose of this is to make their advertisements more attractive and relatable to their targeted audience.

As years have passed, advertising has really begun to invade our lives in newspapers, streets, the radio, television, internet, buses, trains, planes, clothes and in many other places. For example,you can’t go anywhere without finding a print ad right in front of your face especially in a public place. Advertisements have become so obnoxious; many people have begun to take action against it because of interference with their daily lives and the effect the industry is having on our culture. Advertisements have developed enough, and media manipulation has been used each time to attract someone to a certain product. Its starting to seem like an everyday routine to watch or spot an advertisement about something new, Therefore, advertising is becoming part of our own culture.

My Response

Both anthropologists and ad agencies focus on the same study of humans. Anthropologists are people who study the structures and customs of a society or community. While ad agencies need to understand human interaction with culture, behavior, and attitudes, to be successful in selling the products. Ad agencies pay a lot of money and time to learn about the society’s behaviors and culture. It is only necessary that the ad agency identifies these matters to know how to market and advertise their product. What they do is not as easy as people think because they have to consider several aspects like; how to advertise it in a range of different countries where different cultures exist, and What specific methods should be used to persuade the audience and keep them loyal to the product. Many ad agencies actually higher anthropologist to do such works and research.

Similarly ethnographers and market researches focus on the same study of cultural phenomena. Ethnographer’s study cultures and how they have changed to reflect on the knowledge and systems of meanings that guide lives of people. Relatedly, market researchers are people who study about the people’s cultures to understand the customer more. It is similar to anthropology but focuses more on culture, and since culture is the factor that changes people, ad agencies are also in need of ethnographers.

Style, trend, culture changes so frequently that there has to be people who track what they are and how they are going to change. Some adults are so used to their old culture and traditions that they ignore what’s around them. Or maybe they have reached the level of maturity that they only buy and accept what seems logical to them. As for teenagers they look for change and uniqueness, therefore researchers need people to tell adults what teen society is really like.

Question 1

The difference between advertising sponsoring culture and it becoming part of it is that when advertising sponsors culture it appears as a side section of the culture but when it is part of it, the culture itself features the advertising. The culture becomes empty and commercialized which affects society. The society becomes product obsessed giving people the feel that they require products to be real people who fit in. This results is a need and sense that they deserve these products leading to events such as the London riots.

Response to Question 1

As of today, there isn’t much of a difference between sponsoring culture to becoming culture. Although companies have always payed huge amounts to become sponsors, it has now gotten out of hand. The line between the two has become so blurred that companies are doing whatever they can to get their products advertised whether through actual sponsors (i.e. on cars or on shirts) or through product placement in movies. Before, companies would sponsor events such as festivals, concerts or even drag races. But as time passed, companies and their products have taken over. The Hip Hop industry is one of the greatest examples of this. Whenever a rapper mentions a product (whether they legally do or not), sales of that particular product rise dramatically. We’re now living in a society where we feel to buy whatever is considered popular.

If you look at Formula One racing, you can see a great example of extreme sponsorships. By having a company’s logo on the car can cost that company millions of pounds. Even though it costs these companies thousands, because so many people see the logos, they will be more likely to buy one of their products.

When culture’s purpose is sales rather than expression, we loose our selves. We loose our identities and end up just being another sheep in the herd. Culture is what makes us different from one and other. When the advertising becomes our culture, we start becoming more materialistic. Although you cannot say we were never materialistic, it just increases our want for materialistic goods.

For many of us, we are proud of the culture we come from. We’re proud of the traditions, sayings and beliefs. But gradually through advertising and sponsorship, it can make us question our cultures and even create doubt in our minds about it. It’s never wrong to question things, but by creating the doubt, it can stray us from what our own cultures have taught us. Many would say that most people are becoming too mainstream and that, like sheep, follow whatever is popular.

Mikheil's Response to Question 3

There are certainly a lot of similarities between advertising agencies and anthropologist. First of all, they both specialize in studying their audiences and finding out what appeals to them the most. But the main difference between these two areas of research is that advertising agencies concentrate more on gaining a competitive edge over their opponents by mostly concentrating on aspects of the society that they need to target,  while anthropologist carry out a more general research.  Another distinct difference is the fact that, advertising agencies may try to exploit their research in order to manipulate their audience in some way, while anthropologists do their job in order to provide data about the communities that they study.  But nevertheless, ad agencies hire anthropologists, because the structure of their jobs is practically identical.  

The same thing applies to ethnographer and market researchers.  Ethnographers  that work for the government or some company, research into the impacts of certain actions on the culture of a community. Market researchers work very closely with advertising agencies and their job is to investigate the impact of the adverts and send the feedback to the creators of the ads, so that they can improve their strategy. In addition to that, market researchers and ethnographers, are able to build complex mathematical models that are able to accurately predict possible trends in the future. Advertising agencies use that data to gain a competitive edge.

Well, it is a very well known fact that adults usually never understand the needs and wants of the new generation.  Therefore, the need for a group of specialists that are able to research deep into the jungles of teen mindset  seems inevitable.  I think that the only difference between normal adults and market researchers is that the second group is paid much more money.

Consumer Culture Response- Question 2

Since the media is a broad spectrum consisting of various sectors, many, if not all people rely on one or more of these sources for information, be it to educate themselves on global issues, or to keep up with the latest fashions and trends.
The media is controlled by people with similar mindsets and goals- to inform and/ or to attract. One may have a set view different to that of others but in order to convince themselves and others that what they believe is right, they turn to one or more sectors of the media. Some way or the other, every ordinary person’s views have been influenced massively by various levels of mediums. On the other hand, culture and tradition also play a role in shaping a society’s values, but this is slowly disappearing as people become multicultural and diverse. This helps us conclude that with every passing day, as scholar George Gerbner asserted, those who control a society’s stories have more power to shape the society’s values.
Though the media has been extremely helpful, it has also been very influential, persuading people to believe what they want them to believe, so that these people could be used as resources to their advantage. For example, Louis Vuitton could convince a woman that she wants a handbag in order to be regarded as sophisticated and elegant. Obviously, she wouldn’t feel as euphoric as the advertisement convinces her that she would feel, but a movie she might watch later could convince her that she wants the product.
The delusion of a large organization controlling our society is ominous. Wanting to have some control over what our values are is like the want for personal space. The human mind itself gives them potential to shape their own values, and people would want their ideas to be helped, not created, by resources. However, media has become so widespread and is now a significant aspect in our lives that this personal space needs to be struggled for. The media has grown so powerful, that they have successfully cajoled most of the society, making us dependant on their stories.
People within the media work on attracting or creating different types of people, and as a result, there are many sources of information, targeted at specific people, giving an accurate voice to their stories. This makes people believe that they have figured out exactly who they are, and therefore find ways to express themselves. Commercial industries take this to their advantage and advertise what would help these people express themselves. This could also work reversely, with a particular group in a community choosing to present their characters using specific products, thus influencing various mediums to produce/ broadcast what they would be interested in.

Consumer Culture Response - Question 3

Surely, there are parallels between ad agencies and anthropologists. An anthropologist is one who bases his findings on the study of people's languages, traditions and beliefs in different parts of the world. Meanwhile, ad agencies require knowledge about their clients and their interests, as their main goal is to attract them to their products. Since anthropology deals with understanding people's traits, needs and wants (based on their culture, nationality and beliefs) and because ad agencies are in the business of capturing people's interests (in the form of an ad), there should somewhat be an overlap of interests between cultural anthropologists and ad agencies. Hence, marketing professionals employ anthropologists to help them determine suitable places for advertisements or to aid them in the necessary communications that a marketer might use in the market place (promotion).
On the other hand, ethnographers are anthropologists whose main focus (other than data collection) is to clarify how culture affects people’s behaviors and experiences. Similarly market researchers, gather information related to markets and their customers. For instance, after conducting an ethnographic study on two-way pagers in rural China (shortage of telephones), Motorola started marketing its pagers for the rural China market. Jean Canavan, an anthropologist for Motorola said, "If we want to develop technologies that really fit into the way people live their day-to-day lives, then we have to understand how people really live." This shows the relationship between both jobs but although they are similar, require more depth in their work as well as more developed analytical skills, where as market researchers only require basic details about their customers' interests (in order to satisfy their wants).
Change is an inevitable and a continuous element of life, and so is time (aging). The views and ideas of people in the past have considerably changed nowadays, which is why the older generation would require researchers to enlighten them about the views of the younger generation. Also, in the past people were not as isolated as children are nowadays (sitting behind their computers rather than being social), therefore their lives were not as enclosed. Furthermore, children would not be able to provide adults with complete answers to what they are looking for "I just like doing that ok!" as their answers will not be comprehensive enough... This is when researchers step in.

Consumer Culture Response - Question 3

There are some parallels between both of the pairs listed. Ad agencies and anthropologists both spend a large amount of time and resources looking at the way groups as a whole are set up, and work. Ad agencies however, take this to the level of trying to 'crack a code' in finding how they can use these to make their advertising tailored to penetrate groups and make their products appeal to them. In fact, ad agencies likely hire antrhopoligists to discover what makes groups 'tick', and how to appeal to them. So, many people in ad agencies are anthropoligists, or carry out similar tasks to what anthropoligists do.

In the same way, all market researchers are ethnographers, but not all market researchers are ethnographers. Both look at how things effect groups. But as ad agencies, market researchers take their research to the next level of extrapolating, and trying to predict trends that will come up, or how to create trends.

Adults see teenagers as such a different group, because though many things have stayed the same since they were young, many others have changed, and they don't understand how these changes alter the general mindset of young people. Thus, they hire older people who spend all their time acting like, researching, and assimilating the culture of young people, who they think will be able to understand them better. Also, corprate find it easier to deal with an adult who's job is to research and learn teenagers, than talk to actual teenagers, just because that's their style. Though some firms do hire teenagers as consultants, and to test products. But I guess people who analyze teenagers over long periods of time can explain their behavior, while teenagers themselves may not be able to.

Consumer Culture Questions

Present a thoughtful response to one or more of the following sets of questions before Thursday's Class.

•                Author Naomi Klein argues that advertising has changed from sponsoring culture to becoming culture (e.g., Sprite sponsoring a concert as opposed to Sprite becoming a component of hip hop culture). What's the difference? What happens to culture when its purpose is sales rather than expression?

•                Distinguished scholar George Gerbner has asserted that those who control a society's stories have the power to shape that society's values. Who has control over your stories? Who do you want to have that control? Does who tells a story matter? Does MTV give an accurate voice to your stories? How does commercial control (i.e., control by those who are primarily interested in selling things) of media influence the kind of stories our society hears?

•                Various social scientists devote their careers to helping us understand people who are different from us. For example, anthropologists study the structures and customs of a society or community. Ethnographers are anthropologists who focus on looking at the impact of culture on people's lives. Are there parallels between ad agencies and anthropologists? Between market researchers and ethnographers? Why might adults see teen society or culture as so different or closed that they need researchers to tell them what your life is really like?

Pairs Ad Analysis

Below are links to advertisements from three time periods (1864, 1950s, 1980s):

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1864/april/old-advertisements.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPB8b1AibN0

http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/advertising_from_the_1950s/

1.     Your pair will be assigned to one of the three time periods.  Choose an advertisement from your chosen era.

2.     Using the Five Main Advertising Techniques sheet, the Rhetorical Techniques , as well as any other useful advertising techniques sources you may find useful (remember to cite them!), analyze your chosen advertisement.

3.     Create a one page written response and a 5 minute oral commentary to share your evaluation with the class.

Be sure to consider the following elements in your analysis:

·       Advertising techniques (language, layout, presentation, colour, composition, etc.)

·       Genre conventions (newspaper, magazine, television)

·       Purpose

·       Audience

·       Social; historical context of composition and interpretation

Finally, remember to evaluate rather than describe and to create a bibliography for your response.

My Picture

A picture that represents me

A picture that represents me

A picture that resembles me.

1960's Coffee Ad

A Picture that Represents Me

A Picture About Me

My Picture

Picture that resembles me

My Picture