Twitter

1) There were a few things at the end of Ad Nauseam that I found particularly amusing. The first one was in the section of "Subliminal Seduction". I find it very strange that people could actually see pornographic scenes, naked women and even animals on plates of food and in the ice cubes in a cocktail. Even once I was told what to look for I couldn't see it. I find it strange that people used that has advertising when it is so discrete that most people wouldn't pick up on it.

I also found it very interesting that women are deemed idiots and is the reason why a lot of ad campaigns are targeted to women (the other is that in general women do more consuming than men...) However, as they advertisers were trying to sell things such as household products, they seemed to sell them as being "smart" and "sohpisticated".

Lastly, I enjoyed part 6 in its entirety. It's crazy how someone will be willing to buy anything if you sell it well enough. That is why advertising can be such a problem. People are attempting to sell things using lies and all the techniques used throughout the book. This is isn't anything new to me but it definetly reiterized the idea of "buyer beware".

My questions is, if we are selling sex and violence to and extreme already, how is that going to progress and/or change in the future? Will be finally realize how sick our society has become and try to change that or is it only going to get worse?

2) Twitters massive following and usage has created a new media highway for communication, advertising, and news.

In Steven Johnson's article, "How Twitter Will Change the Way we Live", there were a few concepts with which I agreed with. One of which is its ability to be used as a social networking in a way that we have never been able to use it before. The fact that they used this for an education forum that was open to the public is really cool. It allows for the public to take part and have a voice in places that they have never had before. I also agree with the advertising bonus that this creates. Businesses have a great way of advertising to a massive amount of people and this also allows them to have a more one-on-one customer basis. They can have instant chats and gain feedback about their company and products.

There were a few things that I did not agree with too. For instance, I don't necessarily view Twitter as a breakout program to our culture. I don't necessarily understand how much different it is than texting or live chat rooms aside from the fact that a website makes finding these much easier. You can send texts to as many people as you want from your phone. I guess I just don't understand how Twitter is viewed as this new amazing concept. I also don't agree with the fact that Twitter search engines may at one time be more useful than Google. Twitter is filled with ideas that have been changed and formed to what their users like. Its just like saying that we should all use and believe everything that Wikipedia tells us to believe.


3) Five things I learned from the video "The Merchants of Cool"

1. That channels actually pay someone to do ethnographic research on teens and how their lives have changed over the years.
2. That TV must inevitably change their ways of advertising and broadcasting to each generation.
3. Teens are one of the largest groups of consumers and the biggest trendsetters. People seek out the biggest trendsetters to find groups of consumers to market to.
4. Movies have transformed over time from being more wholesome, to more sexual and violent and only to fulfill the consumers needs. Its almost as if society is saying its ok to thing like this and feel like this.
5. The best part of a female body is her midriff and there are actually certain ways to portray it and act the part.