After discussing about what mass media portrait on stereotypes in advertisement during class, I begin to start randomly watching different advertisement on Youtube. Then I started to wonder, is mass media the only way to advertise? Across the decade, marketing managers have been thinking that the best way to advertise their product is by creating awareness. Hence, mass media would be the perfect medium to create such awareness. However, in the past few years, marketing managers has thought of a new medium beside from the mass media; and it is pretty effective on creating this awareness. This new medium is us, regular men and women.
Imagine when you walking down the street, and saw someone using a special product or having a tattoo on their forehead, don’t you want to know what that is. This is the idea where marketing companies started to use regular men and women on street to advertise their products. For example, you are having a tea in a café, and suddenly a lady with really attractive body walks in (for girls: an attractive half naked six pack male walks in), our first reaction would probably be glancing at her. When you glance to her boobs, and you found a website address link on top of her boobs, www.bostonfitness.com. Doesn’t this makes you want to check out this fitness gym right now? It doesn’t only create an awareness of the gym, it also implies that if you want to find hot girls, you should go work out and get fit in this gym. We have become a medium between the marketing companies and their target markets. This method of advertisement reminds me of the definition of media McLuhan makes in Understanding Media. He states that a medium is “any extension of ourselves.” Now, we ourselves have become an extension of ourselves. We have become a medium for the advertising companies to mediate their communication with their consumers. This advertising technique has affected or altered how we perceive other human beings. In some ways, now we can perceive a human being as a marketing product.
Nice connection with McLuhan and how our bodies can act as a literal extension of media. I have seen people tattoo company logos on themselves for as little as $300. I find it interesting how some people don't care what kind of messages they project for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI like this blog a lot. You have very nicely connected McLuhan's extension of man theory. However, if you think about it, people don't even know what message they are portraying and in that sense it is also a amputation of man. Such things on ourselves are actually making us numb literally and metaphorically too. Even in South Africa, many young attractive females are seen advertising random things ( house sale to coffee machine) on the red lights. Although it looks great, but the question, "Where is society going" cannot escape my mind.
ReplyDeleteThis form of advertising has actually been present for a long time. Take for example the Disney Mickey Mouse. I have people in those costumes to attract kids. In at Babson, we see the Biz E Beaver roam around to attract.
A great post--it reminds us that media are not only extensions of our body; they're also invaders of our body! Turning a part of our organic body into a commercial tool of the other. The important thing is, however, how do the corporations even get us agree to do this? How can this exploitation easily "slips" everybody's mind? what's the unconscious effects of this?
ReplyDeleteGood job.