Ad Diary

Over the weekend I didn’t have too much of a chance to watch TV or do much of anything because I was on duty as a CA in golden bear south. Although when I did watch TV most of the ads that I saw were movies. I saw a couple of fliers on campus about the rapper/actor, Common coming to KU to make a speech about something. That particular flyer didn’t have exactly what he would be discussing. I don’t think he is any up-coming movies that he could be promoting so I’m not sure why he is coming and the only information about when he is coming is at the very bottom in small letters.

On Saturday, the day I kept track of the ads, I spent most of my time watching TV shows on Netflix and one show in particular called the IT Crowd. The show didn’t have commercials on Netflix however throughout a few different episodes the Iphone comes in as product placement. I thought this was weird because it is a British show and although I knew that the Iphone was sold overseas I didn’t know that it was popular enough to be mentioned in a show more than once.

When I wasn’t watching Netflix I was watching USA and many of the commercials were for Vonage and Burger King. The rest of the commercials were movie previews and previews for shows coming up on USA. For example there were at least two commercials per break for WWE wrestling which makes me think that the majority of people who watch USA watch it for their showing of Monday night wrestling. Another commercial came up which was a sale at a local car dealer in Coatsville. This reminded me of how people who own channels have to have some sort of local flair to their advertising. It was funny just because now that when I see some local commercial amid a bunch movie and television show previews I know why that one local commercial is there.

Is Radio dead?

I believe that radio is still relevant in today’s society. I believe that if it weren’t for some renovations to the way which radio is presented than it would no longer be relevant to people looking for some form of entertainment today. When TV news became more popular than radio news; the radio industry began playing music which is something that TV couldn’t do on a daily basis.

Radio also died when sitcoms came to television. People used to flock around the radio to listen to soap-operas, comedies, and even horror stories which were read over the am and fm channels. Television stole that audience by being able to add a visual to the words which helped people understand and get into the story they were watching. To combat this radio continued to play music which even (early) MTV could not play music as often as the radio does.

Another way the radio evolved to keep up with the television is the invention of XM Satellite radio. XM radio uses satellites to broadcast hundreds of different radio stations across the world. The fact that someone in Somalia can listen to the same XM station that someone in Los Angeles is listening to has helped keep the radio alive. Although one has to pay to keep an XM subscription, the advantages of it are that no commercials are played on that particular station and that it is (for the most part) completely un-censored.

Although it has seemed that radio could have died many times in the past hundred years, it has become a medium that people still crowd around, mostly at work, and it does help get people through the day. it is also still used when people are stuck driving to work. People rely on the radio to know the weather and check the traffic reports. Radio is by no means a dead medium.

Audience Fragmentation

The market place of ideas is that no matter what your ideals may be, there is some sort of media that suits your beliefs whether they be religious or political. A right wing conservative can take solace knowing that Glenn Beck is still on the air while a left wing liberal can be upset that Keith Olbermen is now off of MSNBC. The point is that no matter which set of beliefs one may have, there is something out in the world of media for everyone.

The market place of ideas is what makes the United States a truly great country and it ultimately compliments the first amendment which allows for the freedom of speech and for freedom of the press. The market place of ideas also realizes that by having certain ideals that they will be able to make a lot of money off of conservative or liberal values. Fox News reports on the conservative take of the news and appeal particularly to conservative viewers. On the other hand, MSNBC reports on the liberal take on the news.

As someone who watches the big three (FOX,CNN, and MSNBC) I can see how these programs split people apart and make it hard to discuss news with someone who may have different political ideas than yourself. Although the market place of is a great concept, it does divide the country in half. People are able to get along with one and other fine until politics come up and then the conversation turns to something like this:

“Well I heard on Fox…”
“Fox is crap, on MSNBC, they said…”
“MSNBC is crap!”

And the conversation will carry on to something like that. There are few popular programs that will show the news without bias and without having someone comment on it so the big news stations push their ideas and advertising on the people who watch their shows. Because of audience segmentation, we as a people are a united nation spilt by competing television channels who when it comes to be election time have lost all civility when we discuss the issues.

Magazine

After looking at US Weekly it would seem that the target audience would be girls who are in their late teens up to women in their late twenties. The articles are mostly gossip about celebrities and it seems to signal that everyone who reads should be following every story. It is also a magazine that encourages these women to bring out their sexuality by showing (mostly) actresses in skimpy clothing and having ads such as “Skinny Girl Margarita.”

Seeing that I am not a girl or don’t care for celebrity gossip reading US weekly made me feel completely out of place and I understand the idea of signaling. An advantage of this is that it will bring the people who read the magazine back for me. For instance, there was an article I read about Elton John and his partner having trouble adopting twins from the Ukraine. The article went on to say that they were able to adopt one of the brothers however the other was still in the adaptation agency in the Ukraine. People who read these kinds of stories will be drawn back to the magazine. The celebrity stories are great for advertisers because a lot of people care about celebrities and advertisers know this. By having a variety of ads the magazine can draw the same readers to new products or ideas.

The consumers are at a disadvantage because they have to page through the countless ads that the magazine has out in US Weekly just to find the stories they want. They must also page through pictures of picture perfect bodies that they (the reader) may not have. The magazine adheres to a demographic of people who seem to be in shape and for those who wish they could be in shape. The magazine does a good job at it but it almost seems like US Weekly is being a bully to a generation of young women who want to be nothing but perfect. To the average reader it may not seem like this just because the average reader doesn’t look at it from an outsiders view. However, as an outsider I feel that US Weekly is almost an exclusive club that I am on the outside from everyone involved including, the writers, the editors and even the advertisers.

What are they selling me?

To be quite honest when I watch T.V. I really only watch one channel and that would be, USA. I like the kinds of shows that involve some kind of crime and mystery to them. It has been a while since I’ve felt like I was being sold a household product. I hardly ever see item commercials any more. When I watch USA I often find that I am being sold other USA shows. For example, during Law and Order SVU, the commercials are telling me to watch Law and Order Criminal Intent. When I watch TV I am no longer being sold tangible products but I am being sold other television shows.

When I do see commercials for only TV shows, I wonder how any money is made especially when a show created by, Dick Wolf (Law and Order Series) is advertising commercials for another spin off by Dick Wolf. The shows that I watch are watched by those who want to watch something mysterious and criminal. In the end we are only being sold shows that are more mysterious than the last. If it is not a movie trailer or television trailer or commercial on USA than it is something that involves mystery. USA is the only channel that I have seen advertise books by, James Patterson in particular.

In the end I’m not entirely sure how the advertisers make any money from selling me shows created by the same circle of people. I suppose that they are making money from the networks that originally aired those shows (seeing as USA doesn’t have too many original programs). I am not bothered that I am being sold shows and novels that I like, because it’s free and I will mostly like the shows that they are trying to get me to watch.