Complete the following tasks and wider reading on the Score hair cream advert and masculinity in advertising.
Media Factsheet - Score hair cream
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
"ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony."
"Print ads took on a realistic look, relying more on photography than illustration"
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
In the UK, advertising in the post-war period was characterised by campaigns that very effectively reinforced that idea that a woman’s place was in the home.
Through advertising, women were encouraged to return to domestic life and resume their subservience to men.
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
-The jungle dressing of the set as well as the white explorer man suggests Britain's colonial past
-The scantily clad women give sex appeal to the advert and boldly suggest users of the product will also have sexy women holding them
-The women are physically below the man as a metaphor for their place in society
4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?
"identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’"
Meaning they suggest you can also be the hero through buying the product.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
The gender representation in this advert would have been hegemonic in society during 1967, therefore having little negative backlash would have been expected.
However, in 2019, gender representation has widely changed since the 60s. The reception of this ad would be increasingly negative for holding traditional views over masculinity.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?
It uses advert conventions such as slogans and anchorage text to promise the audience a better life through purchase of the product.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Using Judith Butler's 'Gender as performance', it can be analysed that the women are all traditionally feminine and attractive, showing skin for the male viewers. Their gender representation has been constructed to perform what most men viewing the advert would want most: enamored woman slaves.
8) How could Stuart Hall's theory of representation and David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?
The media constructed a hypermasculine representation of men as the legalization of homosexuality shook hetero-normative values. This evolved the idea of masculinity a great bit.
9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?
The media constructed a hypermasculine representation of men as the legalization of homosexuality shook hetero-normative values. It's very heteronormative.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
It's a nod to Britain's true power! The advert is clearly trying to force a power dynamic into play, where the white British male is on top by using the product, much like in the good old days of the empire.
Wider reading
The Drum: This Boy Can article
Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
As we focus on empowering women, men are falling behind and their representation has not been as viciously updated over the years.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
As Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
Campaigner David Brockway, who manages the Great Initiative’s Great Men project, urges the industry to be “more revolutionary”, particularly when it comes to male body image, which he says is at risk of following the negative path trodden by its female counterpart.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
As Miller says, the definition of “family” in places like Britain is profoundly changing – but advertising is not helping to normalise different scenarios by largely failing to portray this new normal.
5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?
This is just the beginning. The slap in the face to say ‘this is masculinity’. All these guys [in the ad] are attractive. Now we have our platform and our point of view, we can break the man-bullshit and show it doesn’t matter who you want to be, just express yourself and we will support that.
Friday, 27 March 2020
Sunday, 15 March 2020
Case study: Marmite
Case study: Marmite
Marmite has a long history of unusual advertising based around the idea ‘You either love it or you hate it’. How many of the persuasive techniques can you spot in these adverts?
Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task
Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54 (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here.
Answer the following questions on your blog:
1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?
2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?
buyer. It offers him an image of himself
made glamorous by the product or
opportunity it is trying to sell. The image
then makes him envious of himself as he might
be. [...] The spectator-buyer is meant to envy
herself as she will become if she buys the product.
She is meant to imagine herself transformed by
the product into an object of envy for others."
3) How was Marmite discovered?
4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?
Unilever
5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?
They make reference to pop culture and children's tv. They wanted to create nostalgia through Paddington bear and the weird fleshy looking thing called Zippy?
6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?
High culture is harder to access for regular people whereas pop culture is widely accessible. The "ma'amite" campaign spoofs the idea of higher culture with ‘By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’
7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?
Their references give an audience the pleasure of getting a joke, therefore rewarding them with a sense of knowing and enlightenment.
8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?
They make satirical commentaries on today's society.
Narrative in advertising: blog task
Narrative in advertising: blog task
Nike has received critical acclaim for its February 2018 advert ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. Embed the advert in your blog and answer the following questions:
1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.
Nike has received critical acclaim for its February 2018 advert ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. Embed the advert in your blog and answer the following questions:
1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.
In the advert there are many vignette narratives throughout to keep the pace of it quick and attention grabbing. This way we can explore the diversity of London through small narrative arcs with different characters. By using this, Nike is attempting to say they are for everyone.
2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?
They used minor celebrities with small followings and gave them a cameo in the advert to connect with Londoners to show they're adapting to modern times.
3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. [Note: this may now be behind a paywall - you can find the text from the article here]. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience?
The spot weaves together a slew of different scenes by having a character from each one slip
seamlessly into another, over and over. The talent narrates by talking directly to the camera, and
each scene features different types of camera moves and tricks—some of them as wild as anything
Nike has put on film. Furthering the playful sense of competition, even the music changes for each
scene, offering everything “from a classical score to grime to a wurlitzer organ,”
4) What representation of London does the advert offer?
2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?
They used minor celebrities with small followings and gave them a cameo in the advert to connect with Londoners to show they're adapting to modern times.
3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. [Note: this may now be behind a paywall - you can find the text from the article here]. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience?
The spot weaves together a slew of different scenes by having a character from each one slip
seamlessly into another, over and over. The talent narrates by talking directly to the camera, and
each scene features different types of camera moves and tricks—some of them as wild as anything
Nike has put on film. Furthering the playful sense of competition, even the music changes for each
scene, offering everything “from a classical score to grime to a wurlitzer organ,”
4) What representation of London does the advert offer?
Although the characters complain over the hardships they face when attempting to master their sport, the advert regards it in a knowing way, almost creating a love-hate thingy.
5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?
personal identification
5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?
personal identification
Blog tasks: ideology
Blog tasks: ideology
Part 1: BBC Question Time analysis
Watch this clip from BBC Question Time with Russell Brand and Nigel Farage. The BBC deliberately placed the two against each other and the episode resulted in far more people watching and tweeting than usual.
1) What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching this clip?
Blue haired woman vs Disabled man
Short hair vs long hair
Immigrants bad vs Immigrants good
poor vs rich
people vs government
audience vs performer
2) What ideologies are on display in this clip?
Embed the video into your blog (as above) and answer these two questions in full paragraphs.
Part 2: Media Magazine reading
Media Magazine issue 52 has two good articles on Ideology. You need to read those articles (our Media Magazine archive is here) and complete a few tasks linked to them. Part 2: Media Magazine reading
Page 34: The World Of Mockingjay: Ideology, Dystopia And Propaganda
1) Read the article and summarise it in one sentence.
The Hunger Games world is filled with propaganda and rich people with power over poor people.
2) What view of capitalist ideology is presented in the Hunger Games films?
the view is that of a negative one as there are huge divides between the rich and the poor.
3) What do the Hunger Games films suggest about the power of the media to shape and influence ideological beliefs?
3) What do the Hunger Games films suggest about the power of the media to shape and influence ideological beliefs?
The characters slowly learn to manipulate the media into favouring them, showcasing that media is simply someone's perception of events and not the ummediated truth.
Page 48: They Live - Understanding Ideology
1) Read the article and summarise it in one sentence.
Ideologies change rapidly due to constant conversations presented through media and people.
2) What are the four accepted ideological beliefs in western societies highlighted by the article?
-People should put their families first.
-People should work hard for their money.
-Women should behave in feminine ways, and look after their appearance.
3) What does Gramsci's theory of hegemony suggest about power and ideology in society?
His theory suggests dominant societal views benefit the rich and powerful and keep the working class in check.
4) What does French theorist Louis Althusser suggest about ideology and consumerism?
His view was that ideology is the greatest material power and dominates our day to day lives through two key forms of control:
1: Repressive state controls social behaviour through the major institutions
of society – the Government, Army, Police, Courts, etc. –which are dominated by the ruling elite.
2: ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’ that control using common sense rather than fear.
5) Do YOU agree with the idea behind They Live - that we are unthinkingly controlled by the media which is run in the interests of the economic elite? These are the big questions of A Level Media!
I, on the whole, do believe that money holds influence and as the media giants amass great wealth, they would naturally promote ideologies that keep them on top. These ideas have been so ingrained in our culture though that they must unknowingly be promoting it themselves on some level.
Thursday, 12 March 2020
learner response (half)
Your learner response is as follows:
Create a new blog post called 'MIGRAIN 3 Assessment - Learner response' and complete the following tasks:
1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).
www: A very strong assessment- real critical autonomy comes through: A strong argument in Q2.
ebi: Theories! where was Butler or Van Zoonen in Q2? It's the only thing holding you back from full marks (plus perhaps more detailed textual analysis/examples)
2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the number of marks you achieved for the two questions: _/8; _/12. If you didn't achieve full marks in a question, write a bullet point on what you may have missed.
6/8
-woman being at the feet of a man
-explaining the shapes of the bottles
10/12
-using more theorists
-more detailed examples
3) For Question 2 on the social and cultural contexts of gender representations, identify three potential points in the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.
The ‘Good girl’ / ‘Bad boy’ campaign that strongly reinforces classic gender stereotypes
contrasts with recent campaigns such as Gillette’s ‘Boys will be boys’ advert that went viral
for attempting to challenge toxic masculinity.
The campaign reinforces Judith Butler’s work in Gender Trouble – particularly the idea that
gender is culturally and socially constructed – not ‘natural’. The construction of the adverts
supports Butler’s idea that we are conditioned to adhere to social norms – both in terms of
gender roles and heterosexuality.
The female model arguably provides evidence for each element of van Zoonen’s theory
regarding the representation of women. Here, she is clearly objectified, restricted to a
secondary role (at the man’s feet), passive, framed to emphasise her sexuality and adhering
to white western beauty standards. This could undoubtedly have an impact on media
audiences and therefore influence social or cultural norms.
4) Having read the whole mark scheme, pick out one media theory that you didn't include in this assessment and summarise it briefly here so you can use it confidently in future.
Van Zoonen stated the female body is a spectacle, meaning women are there to be looked at and not much else.
5) Based on your experience in this assessment, identify three aspects of Media (e.g. skills/particular theories/examples) that you need to work on for your next assessment.
Create a new blog post called 'MIGRAIN 3 Assessment - Learner response' and complete the following tasks:
1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).
www: A very strong assessment- real critical autonomy comes through: A strong argument in Q2.
ebi: Theories! where was Butler or Van Zoonen in Q2? It's the only thing holding you back from full marks (plus perhaps more detailed textual analysis/examples)
2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the number of marks you achieved for the two questions: _/8; _/12. If you didn't achieve full marks in a question, write a bullet point on what you may have missed.
6/8
-woman being at the feet of a man
-explaining the shapes of the bottles
10/12
-using more theorists
-more detailed examples
3) For Question 2 on the social and cultural contexts of gender representations, identify three potential points in the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.
The ‘Good girl’ / ‘Bad boy’ campaign that strongly reinforces classic gender stereotypes
contrasts with recent campaigns such as Gillette’s ‘Boys will be boys’ advert that went viral
for attempting to challenge toxic masculinity.
The campaign reinforces Judith Butler’s work in Gender Trouble – particularly the idea that
gender is culturally and socially constructed – not ‘natural’. The construction of the adverts
supports Butler’s idea that we are conditioned to adhere to social norms – both in terms of
gender roles and heterosexuality.
The female model arguably provides evidence for each element of van Zoonen’s theory
regarding the representation of women. Here, she is clearly objectified, restricted to a
secondary role (at the man’s feet), passive, framed to emphasise her sexuality and adhering
to white western beauty standards. This could undoubtedly have an impact on media
audiences and therefore influence social or cultural norms.
4) Having read the whole mark scheme, pick out one media theory that you didn't include in this assessment and summarise it briefly here so you can use it confidently in future.
Van Zoonen stated the female body is a spectacle, meaning women are there to be looked at and not much else.
5) Based on your experience in this assessment, identify three aspects of Media (e.g. skills/particular theories/examples) that you need to work on for your next assessment.
I need to work on incorporating theorists into my argument and go into more detail when talking about products (note for CSPs in the future)
Wednesday, 11 March 2020
Representation of women in advertising
Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising
The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.
Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising
Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:
1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?
"Since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual
orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous."
She believes the sexuality of the models used in advertising has increasingly become ambiguous.
2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
Women were expected to be hyper feminine to make up for the leniency of the world war.
3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?
They were shown as decorative (empty) objects. Their worth was in their appearance.
4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?
Mulvey suggested it along with the idea that 'sex sells' and women being represented as objects.
5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?
Due to radical feminism, the 'new woman' image was created and women were presented as more career driven. However, some people criticise this as being superficial because of the low ranking, subservient jobs they were encouraged into.
6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?
The professional world is marketed to women as another opportunity to present themselves differently and buy clothes, deeming it superficial social progress.
7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?
"Similarly, Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of
male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that,
underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman', that 'no serious gender defection has occurred'
(Barthel, 1988:124-125; Davis, 1992:50). In other words, that there is no real threat to male power."
8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?
'[advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist]
attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate
"liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very
unliberated coy sexiness'
Therefore no real progress is made and the representation of women remains sexualised.
Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)
Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.
1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?
They had a blonde, white, scantily clad woman with the ideal body and text saying "are you beach body ready?"
2) Why was it controversial?
It shamed audiences, women, for not having the right body type and suggested they would be fixed by the product. Inadequacy marketing is very out of date.
3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?
They would be fixed by the product.
4) How did some audiences react?
With mockery and disdain.
5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?
They attempted to showcase 'real beauty' by showing predominately white women with a slightly bigger hour-glass figure.
6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns?
Social media means that consumers can call out and shame bad representation and hold companies accountable for being out of the loop/traditional.
7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?
Van Zoonen says the female body is a spectacle which is very apparent in the protein advert. However, the Dove advert attempts to subvert this by desexualising the women's bodies and attempting to get a sort of empowerment message across.
Protein World
pr: I'm not beach body ready, I need the product.
or: This is highly offensive for suggesting a woman's body must look like that in order to be shown for other people's enjoyment.
Dove Real Beauty:
pr: The women look like me, a size 12 white woman, I can get behind this product as it empowers me through my insecurities to feel sexy.
or: The women's bodies have very little difference between them and they all cinch in at the waist, so this is still trying to present the women as conventionally attractive.
8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?
I feel like the changes that have been made over time have been mostly superficial. Perhaps if the internet had not been created and consumers were not given a voice the changes would have been even more gradual as companies would have minimal pressure to change their marketing. Therefore in my heart of hearts I truly believe the only reason companies have changed their tone of address to women is to sell products to the empowered females, and not because of some industrial shift to the left wing. If they were not adapting and evolving, they would be left behind in the 50s.
The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.
Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising
Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:
1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?
"Since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual
orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous."
She believes the sexuality of the models used in advertising has increasingly become ambiguous.
2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
Women were expected to be hyper feminine to make up for the leniency of the world war.
3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?
They were shown as decorative (empty) objects. Their worth was in their appearance.
4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?
Mulvey suggested it along with the idea that 'sex sells' and women being represented as objects.
5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?
Due to radical feminism, the 'new woman' image was created and women were presented as more career driven. However, some people criticise this as being superficial because of the low ranking, subservient jobs they were encouraged into.
6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?
The professional world is marketed to women as another opportunity to present themselves differently and buy clothes, deeming it superficial social progress.
7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?
"Similarly, Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of
male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that,
underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman', that 'no serious gender defection has occurred'
(Barthel, 1988:124-125; Davis, 1992:50). In other words, that there is no real threat to male power."
8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?
'[advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist]
attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate
"liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very
unliberated coy sexiness'
Therefore no real progress is made and the representation of women remains sexualised.
Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)
Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.
1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?
They had a blonde, white, scantily clad woman with the ideal body and text saying "are you beach body ready?"
2) Why was it controversial?
It shamed audiences, women, for not having the right body type and suggested they would be fixed by the product. Inadequacy marketing is very out of date.
3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?
They would be fixed by the product.
4) How did some audiences react?
With mockery and disdain.
5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?
They attempted to showcase 'real beauty' by showing predominately white women with a slightly bigger hour-glass figure.
6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns?
Social media means that consumers can call out and shame bad representation and hold companies accountable for being out of the loop/traditional.
7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?
Van Zoonen says the female body is a spectacle which is very apparent in the protein advert. However, the Dove advert attempts to subvert this by desexualising the women's bodies and attempting to get a sort of empowerment message across.
Protein World
pr: I'm not beach body ready, I need the product.
or: This is highly offensive for suggesting a woman's body must look like that in order to be shown for other people's enjoyment.
Dove Real Beauty:
pr: The women look like me, a size 12 white woman, I can get behind this product as it empowers me through my insecurities to feel sexy.
or: The women's bodies have very little difference between them and they all cinch in at the waist, so this is still trying to present the women as conventionally attractive.
8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?
I feel like the changes that have been made over time have been mostly superficial. Perhaps if the internet had not been created and consumers were not given a voice the changes would have been even more gradual as companies would have minimal pressure to change their marketing. Therefore in my heart of hearts I truly believe the only reason companies have changed their tone of address to women is to sell products to the empowered females, and not because of some industrial shift to the left wing. If they were not adapting and evolving, they would be left behind in the 50s.
Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks
Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks
Task 1: Media Magazine article
Read the Media Magazine article on collective identity: Self-image and the Media (MM41 - page 6). Our Media Magazine archive is here.
Complete the following tasks on your blog:
1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'
Who Are You?
The media has influence over identity as it can convince us to conform to a collective.
I Think, Therefore I am
Our identities were once based on external factors such as race, class, gender and success was seen as meeting the expectations set by each collective group you were in.
From Citizen to Consumer
People were encouraged to have identities based not on behaving as ‘active citizens but as passive consumers’.The Rise of The Individual
People increasingly wanted to express their individualism between the 1960s and 1970s and philosophers such as Freud (discredited) and Lacan thought cleverly over what it means to have 'self'.
Branding And Life Style
Brands sell the personality linked to the product.
Who Will We Be
We now make our own identity thanks to social media.
2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.
CASSART because I like drawing and it's a store for slightly more intermediate artists.
Milka because it's a European chocolate and my sense of identity is European.3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?
I disagree because often more successful brands are stylish because they promote the audience's individuality and very explicitly want the audience to feel like they have substance through buying the products.
4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more.
5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?
I'm actively as vague about my real life and personality in profiles as I can be. I don't like the idea of random people seeing real things about me and making assumptions.
6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?
I feel like it's an invasion of privacy but ultimately it's a natural progression for brands to abuse technology in order to stay on top.
Task 2: Media Magazine cartoon
Now read the cartoon in MM62 (p36) that summarises David Gauntlett’s theories of identity. Write five simple bullet points summarising what you have learned from the cartoon.
-wider range in media offers more diverse representation
-Audiences are active as opposed to passive
-Audiences recognise the problematic representations while still consuming the media for entertainment value
-Identity today is more fluid and transformable than ever before
Task 3: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task
Finally, use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #72 on Collective Identity. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to complete our introductory work on collective identity:
1) What is collective identity? Write your own definition in as close to 50 words as possible.
Collective identity is the state of having the same shared beliefs, values and traditions as a group of people, making a large group of people connected.
2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can think of that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?
-Fish and chips
-tea
-biscuits
-church of england
-Posh accent
-Royalists
-polite
-colonisation
3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?
It goes over the past's most popular toys and goes in depth into their history as opposed to a superficial pander to nostalgia.
4) How has new technology changed collective identity?
Thanks to social media, it is easier for people to find each other and so fandoms and such have become more rampant. Collective identity can be made much easier as you can now belong to any group you wish to.
5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity?
thinks they have got one.’
6) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?
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