Political Campaigns....

Political campaigns are being used extensively nowadays to influence the decision of the voters. The controversy is that people stopped believing in their voices being heard . Nowadays there are campaigns to convince people to vote .This link shows a video where an american advertisement to vote was used by an egyptain to make a point about the importance of  voting.The picture below shows the crowd of people that were lining up to vote.

The problem is if people are convinced to vote and are then persuaded to vote for a specific candidate by all the advertisements and broad ideas that the candidate presents, they might be wrongly influenced . It is not only important that they vote it is also important that they understand who they are voting for and the consequence of that decision because each vote makes a difference. 

Product Placement seems to be the strategy !

Product placement has become a very famous marketing strategy. It is used extensively in TV shows and movies. Recently we have been seeing an increasing use of the strategy especially in films. An illustration would be the movie Transformers where there is a hint to many brands even those that are competing. This link outlines most of the advertised brands in the movie through product placement such as Apple, Panasonic, Cadillac and Hummer. A movie that has had such a high rating at the box office could easily influence people and thus that was a very successful way for brands to bring their products to the customer's eye. The very interesting point is that competing products could be placed in the same movie and still as a marketing strategy this seems to be convenient . This is illustrated when the Porsche, Cadillac and Hummer are placed in Transformers as shown in the image above.

Her face tells the story.

Photography has a great impact on people. The colors of a picture and the story it represents are what gives the picture specific qualities. One of the most famous pictures , is the Afghani girl picture taken in 1984.Below we see two pictures of her side by side . The one on the right shows her covering her face and looking shy which did not satisfy the photographer. When encouraged by her teacher to display the way their living she removes her hand and with the correct amount of light the photographer takes the picture displayed on the left. The serious and intense look in her eyes tells the story of how she is living. The picture is then chosen by the national geographic magazine director to be the cover. The feelings in that photograph conveyed by the girl is what made an impact on people and hence it became one of the most famous photographs taken.

This link gives some detail behind how this picture was taken and how it ended on the magazine cover.

Is it the truth or is it what they want us to believe?

How do we know that the news papers and channels carry the truth about what is happening in the world? During the revolution in Egypt the country newspapers were still following the old regime's style, Instead of putting headlines to convey what is truly happening and why people are risking their lives in order to get their rights their were headlines about the people who came out in support for Mubarak as seen in the picture below even though the vast majority was against the old regime.

The media also seemed to exaggerate the amount of people that were with the regime to convey the message they wanted.We see in this link how the news exaggerate the amount of people supporting the old regime as if they were equal in amount to those who were against the regime. The question is does the news convey the truth or is it biased to what they want us to believe.

People's Obsession With Disney Land

After watching lily's surprise Disney land video in class, i wondered if there were more kids that would react more or less the same.When i searched you tube i found nearly a hundred videos if not more of parents surprising their kids about going to Disney land as if it was the only thing they wanted from the world one of the videos is this one which is used at the beginning of one of disney's tv commercials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocXSqupDpoc.Disney Land has managed to get not only children but even adults obsessed about going.The question is, is it really that amazing or is this another way of increasing their revenue? If there are that many exciting videos about it then i am sure there are lots of people out there still to be influenced to spend a fortune over what i believe is over rated.

Hidden Messages In Cartoon

              Stereotyping in the mass media has become very common.It is meant to influence one's ways of thinking as well as actions.Maybe we can say for the elder people they should be responsible for what they take into account. For example rather than depending on the mass media completely to represent cultures as the accurate picture which is racist, one should meet people from different cultures to learn about them. The question is what about the children cartoons that carry those messages and can very well influence the upcoming generations. I think there should be a rule to limit the amount of stereotyping in children's cartoons. The link has a few hidden messages in the sound from Disney world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg2T_t2UtlU&feature=related

Too Young and Too Skinny

The models we have seen over the past few years represent the same image for what is presented as the perfect woman by the media.They persuade girls to believe that looking younger and skinnier means looking better. We see models younger by the day we saw 14 year old  models followed by 12 year old models and the most recent is the Vogue 10 year old model Thylane Blondeau who was in provocative pictures with full make-up. If ten year old girls were to see her as their role model then where are we going next? We have already seen a high percentage of eating disorders for women below the age of twenty. Also Studies show that  when young girls are asked what their future ambitions are they would point out models not teachers or scientist.I do not think the media is pursuing the girls to what should be a women's perfect picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gZILcka00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGki3vuRcmo