Privacy in the Media

http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/x622283632/Facebook-must-get-serious-about-privacy-practices

As you all know, facebook is a huge database that has a ton of personal information about each and every one of its users. This article addresses how Mark Zuckerburg the CEO of facebook, is under some pressure because its partners, such as zynga (who is popular for the games “Farmville” and “mafia wars”) are abusing how they treat the personal data of facebook users. As stated in the article, “The Wall Street Journal recently noted many of Facebook’s most popular applications transmit identifying information — in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies.” Demand for this information is extreme and software developers like zynga have great access to details about facebook users and companies will pay lots of money to get this information. In the article it says “Facebook must stay ahead of this cyber-market and its partners by enforcing stronger compliance to policies that protect its users’ information.”

This is really important that this issue is being addressed because it needs to be acknowledged. Facebook users are supposed to be private but their privacy is being violated and I don’t think that’s right. 

In our digital age, I think that privacy isn’t like what it used to be. There are over 500 million users on facebook all with updated information about themselves and you hear all the time about identity theft because people are less careful about the things they share on the internet.  Privacy doesn’t exist in our digital age and social networking sites are making privacy more difficult to obtain.

My Teen Media Text

The media text that I would create would be a print ad that targets teens and/or represents teens in the ad. The values that the teen would have would be having good relationships with family and friends. I would target their fears of not fitting in or being an outcast and I would have their wants and desires as fitting in and being “cool”. I would use lots of popular gadgets like iPhones and iPods because lots of teens these days have a lot of those types of materials. My ad would feature a teen girl in a school hallway looking unsure of herself, sad and less bright. She doesn’t have the latest gadgets and technology. She would be standing on the outside of a circle of other girls who are all laughing. They are brighter and are all holding iPods and iPhones. They seem to appear much happier.

Representation of Teenagers (Chart)

Name of Media Text	It represents teens as . . .	It is accurate/inaccurate because . . .	Symbols and signs
Gossip Girl Ads	-Rebellious -Self centered -Wanting to mature faster -Promiscuous -Provocative	This is a good representation of a lot of qualities that teens have and are known to have, however, not all teens are like this	This was demonstrated through implying sex is one of teens main priorities
Febreze “Karl’s Room”	-Lazy -Dirty	This is not an accurate representation, and it gives the reality that all teenage boys are lazy and dirty and want to impress teen girls.	This was demonstrated through a messy room and listening to music versus doing homework
90210 Promo	-Having good values (what is important in life for them is not materialistic, it is centered around emotions such as friendship) -Values and beliefs are important in this society	This is a good representation of teens and their relationships. It is always important to have strong relations with those around us.	This was demonstrated through the key words “family” and “friendship”
Miley cyrus –cant be tamed music video	-wanting to be consider a woman not a girl -it is normal for teens this age to behave this way	This is a good representation of teens. While growing up to fast is not necessarily a good thing these are common issues most teenage girls face.	This was demonstrated through the lyrics “can’t be tamed”. Miley also chooses to wear whatever she wants and dance however she wants no matter how provocative it is
Pizza Pops Commercial “Girls”	-suggests that teen boys are interested in women and food.	This is somewhat of a good representation of teens (specifically boys) because as I am sure they think about that stuff, I don’t believe that that’s the only thing their focused on.	This was demonstrated through the portrayal of the teen when he was thinking about girls.

Gossip Girl Print Ad -http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/17/newgossipgirlads.jpg

Frebreeze Advertisement - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwEPKTn4ies&feature=related

90210 Promo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1-rx-4DbeU

Miley cyrus music video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSG6z_13-Q&feature=related

Pizza Pops - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab3XCYMLpEk

Reflection - Tennis Magazine Ad

Our magazine ad was constructed for the tennis company Babolat. It features the famous tennis player Maria Sharapova at the US open. This advertisement will appeal to all female audiences, upper to middle class, ages 12 -18, who live in both rural and urban areas. The ad technique we used was star power. Maria Sharapova is a role model for a lot of young women and females look up to her. She has good looks, fame and success which is what most teen girls want. This media contains value messages because it is telling girls that being famous and attractive is important to be successful. I believe star power is an effective ad technique for our demographic because young females will believe that if they buy things from this company, they could be like her.  The slogan we chose says “Love Means Nothing in Tennis”. This slogan has a double meaning as love signifies “0” in tennis. It also implies the stereotype that what all women are interested in is love. This slogan will connect to and empower teen girls to break the stereotype. Media constructs reality in this slogan because the slogan is portraying what life is like. In this case, the slogan is saying that women enjoy the idea of love and romance. The producers created this text for an audience and in the slogan we used rough war-like writing which is a code people associate that with being tough and we thought that would portray that type of feeling when the audience’s read the text.

When we were producing this media piece, we wanted to specifically target teen females, so we thought using an empowering female celebrity tennis player would be really effective. Some challenges with this piece of media is that it only targets one certain type of demographic (teen females). If we wanted to expand our target demographic to males and females, I wouldn’t use Maria Sharapova and I would use a more general person or thing.

Part B (Test Rewrite)

Part B

1)      The media creates a carefully constructed version of reality. What the media is saying about reality is that attractive white men drive expensive Cadillac cars. The slogan also says “Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit.” This would indicate that you can achieve those three things when you have an expensive car. In the AD, the men seem to be going to a formal party or dinner. This is implies that all attractive white men go to parties and get invited to expensive dinners. You can also see that there are two men in the car, which would imply that only men can afford to drive these cars.

2)      This media contains value messages. It is saying that it is important to be attractive and drive expensive cars. It is also saying that it’s important to have lots of money to be able to afford these expensive cars.  This ad promotes the good life implying that it is essential to go out, have fun and party.

Target Audience of Sports Ads

	Gender	Income	Age	Education	Rural/Urban	Overall description of target audiences
Ad # 1 (Nike Football Write the Future)	Males	-lower to middle class	14 - 40	-basic education(high school)	both	-males ages 14-40 -lower to middle class
AD # 2 (New Nike Golf Commercial)	Male	Wealthy	30 - 60	Well Educated (university)	Both	-middle aged –wealthy  -men
AD # 3 (Nike: Take it to the Next Level)	Male	Middle class	14 - 25	-high school educated	both	-young males -middle class because in this ad shows a youth male getting picked from a high school team and making it big
AD # 4 (Nike: Tennis)	Female	Upper Class	15 - 30	Educated	rural	-upper middle to upper class -white -females teen to young adults
AD # 5 (Nike Yoga)	Female	Upper middle	18-40	Educated	urban	-upper middle class -white -females aged 18-40
AD # 6 (Adidas running)	males	-all incomes	-20 to 40	No education requirements	urban	-middle class -white -males aged 20-40

Embrace your inner GLEEK!

Everyone has probably heard of the popular comedy/music television show glee, i mean, how could you not? They're everywhere! On school supplies, books, even on pillowcases! All around the world (but mostly in North America) people love them. But what does this current fad say about our society/culture? I think that people love glee not only because of the hit music they incorporate into their show, but also because they love the characters. The characters are outcasts, jocks, cheerleaders and typical "losers" that have all come together with the common interest of singing. These characters are relatable to the audience because anyone is or has been in one of their positions before. People are seeing characters that are exactly like them, glamorized on the big screen. Most of society these days love the idea of fame and this show communicates that anybody can be famous. As we discussed in our groups last class, one of the current fads was reality shows. This relates to the show glee because it also makes it seem so easy to become famous.

Glee is also a clear reflection of society’s fears. It shows that people these days are afraid of being a “loser” or an outcast, but Glee embraces those roles saying that it’s okay, which is why the show is so popular.

Lastly, even though Glee is set in a high school, it also in a way takes you into a fantasy world which provides an escape for people. On the show everyone is dancing and singing which defiantly doesn't happen at your typical high school. The audience can relate yet also escape through the songs.

It's no wonder that the show has become so popular. We discussed last class how a lot of shows were getting old because we had seen them before, but glee is an entirely new concept that’s new and exciting. Nominated for 19 emmy's and creating a whole new genre of comedy, it is defiantly the new craze. But with all these new trends and fads coming out, who knows how long this faze will last?