Critical Thinking - Media Blog

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVLWpx3pu0 Call me a nerd, but the other day, as I was watching videos about running shoes, an ad for Sam's Club popped up before the YouTube video began. In a nutshell, the commercial consisted of Allyson Felix and Usain Bolt sitting at a table in Sam's Club. Usain says to Allyson, "Is there a bigger accomplishment than being named the fastest shopper of all time?" Allyson responds, "Maybe accomplishing it ten months after a C-Section, but, what you did was cool too" The commercial finishes off with Usain glancing uncomfortably at Allyson, who is smiling. Right at the end, the screen turns black, projecting the words "Watch the fast go faster with Scan & Go." After watching this ad, I noticed many things that related to what we've learned in class. First of all, I noticed that the commercial attempted to fulfill the consumer's need to dominate. In advertisements, consumers look for products that ...

At almost every corner of any city, you will find one of the world's most well-known coffee chains. Starbucks. Now that the holidays are getting nearer, Starbucks has started selling holiday drinks. To the left is one advertisement for Starbucks during the holiday season. The fact that the only writing in the ad is "The holiday drinks are here." shows that the brand can rely on its brand name to do the advertising. They are using reification, a type of language in which a words moves beyond its basic definition and becomes more powerful than its objective reality. That's the case here, as Starbucks is solely relying on their brand name to advertise. In addition, I think that this advertisement appeals to the need for psychological needs, as they are promoting drinks, a type of psychological need. I think the ad can also appeal to the need for aesthetic sensations. The perfect, pristine white Christmas trees made of whipped cream against the vivid, rich red of the c...

On Saturday evening, I was calmly going about my business when I casually glanced at the T.V. as my dad was watching the NCAA Big 10 Football Championships. Then suddenly, BAM!!! Nope, Ohio State didn't score a touchdown. Something much better happened - an idea for my media blog immediately burst into my head. Let me explain what I saw: There was a break in the football game, and during that time, Dr. Pepper was holding a contest. They made a huge cardboard Dr. Pepper can, which contestants were supposed to throw footballs into. Whoever made the most shots out of the two contestants won $100,000 in tuition money, and the runner-up received $25,000. Everything in their set-up had Dr. Pepper branding - the bucket full of footballs was plastered with Dr. Pepper logos and the table had a Dr. Pepper tablecloth. The contestants were even wearing Dr. Pepper jerseys! Why did I think that this one little contest held by Dr. Pepper was a good idea for my media blog? Well, I think that what...

For this media blog, I examined two articles about the current Trump impeachment process. The first article was by CNN, which was titled "House Republicans Defend Trump's Actions in New Report Responding to Impeachment Inquiry." The second article was written by The Atlantic, and it was called "Impeach Trump." Even from just reading the titles of each of the articles, it is obvious what stance each news outlet held. When reading the article from CNN, I noticed that the author created a specific tone with the goal of portraying Trump as innocent. Although the article seemed more facts-based rather than opinion, some of the adjectives used to describe Trump and the Republicans defending him had positive connotations. I found the exact opposite from the author's language in the article from The Atlantic. The language employed in the article resulted in a dire tone that convinced readers that the impeachment of Trump is necessary. In addition, I found that when...

To be honest, there is no exact way to define media as either good or bad. Media plays multiple roles in many people's lives, and those roles can have positive and negative effects. For certain people, media might be an integral part of their lives that they could never live without, while others might despise it. In my life, the media can influence how I dress and what things I like by displaying something as "trending" or "popular." I'm sure teens everywhere can relate. Eventually, if everyone follows what they see on the media, it causes the majority of us to all look alike and have the same interests! This is an example of a negative effect of media - it encourages uniformity. On the other hand, a positive effect of media is that it can lead to people trying out new things that they wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise. Here's an example of media where its effects are up to interpretation. If people saw someone "cool" on YouTu...