Introduction to advertising: blog tasks

Introduction to advertising:

 Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) How does the Marmite Gene Project advert use narrative? Apply some narrative theories here.

Enigma and Action Codes - Roland Barthes

The product that was to become Marmite was invented in the late 19th century when German scientist Justus von Liebig discovered that brewer’s yeast could be concentrated,bottled and eaten. The Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire in 1902 with the by-product yeast needed for the paste supplied by Bass Brewery. Marmite takes its name from the clay French stock-pot used for reducing foods into stews. It was originally supplied in small earthenware pots, but was made available in the characteristically-shaped black glass jars from the 1920s. The stockpot remains on the label, however, with the connotations of traditional cookery and ‘boiled-down goodness’ that were a feature of early advertisements.

2) What persuasive techniques are used by the Marmite advert?

 

It has a strong emotional appeal since it is narrating its history, therefore the constant referring to its historical context it gives out a view to the audience that it;s not just a  product but much more than that. It has true meaning and can hold memories.

3) Focusing specifically on the Media Magazine article, what does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

Makes us dissatisfied with our present selves and promotes the idea that we can buy our way to a better life. ‘All publicity works on anxiety’.

4) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

Psychologists refer to referencing as when we create a vision of ourselves living an idealised lifestyle, and then behave in ways that help us to realise this vision.

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

In 2007 an 18-month, £3m campaign featured the 1970s cartoon character Paddington Bear. The adverts used the ‘love it or hate it’ slogan, whilst using a nostalgic environment that appealed to the family member responsible food shopping. Paddington Bear is shown trading his well-known marmalade sandwiches for Marmite sandwiches and enjoying them, despite others being repelled by it.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

Popular culture is culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elite. Whereas, high culture identifies the culture of an upper class (an aristocracy) or of a status class. Royal Warrants of Appointment are acknowledgements to those companies that provide goods or services to the British royal family, allowing them to use the phrase. By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’ alongside the royal crest. Marmite used their product slogan ‘One either loves it or hates it’, to create a comedic tone by combining it with the Queen’s idiosyncratic speech.

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

Postmodern audiences arguably understand that they are being manipulated by marketing. They understand the conventions that are being deployed and satirised. Postmodern consumers are simultaneously aware that they are being exploited, yet also prepared to play the game – if it brings them a sense of superiority and social cache. Postmodern consumers get the joke and, in doing so, they themselves may become promotional agents of the product through word-of mouth.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Well, I’m being thoroughly postmodern by playing with your expectations and making a knowing, intertextual wink to anyone who’s seen the spoof rock documentary Spinal Tap and knows that it’s better because it goes up to eleven! It’s essential to get your campaign, and therefore your product talked about – the only thing worse than being talked about in contemporary advertising is not being talked-about. Thus, Unilever has promoted Marmite as a term that implies polarised responses. Note the by-line in the Daily Mirror for Robbie Savage: ‘Football’s Mr. Marmite. Love him or hate him; you can’t ignore him’. Since the 1990s, Unilever’s campaigns admit that not everyone will want to buy their product. Companies normally try to maximise their potential consumer-audiences, so to admit that this is a targeted niche product might seem to be against conventional advertising wisdom. Ultimately, the evidence for the success of these postmodern ads remains sales of the product. Sales figures and market research suggests that Marmite can now be found in a quarter of all British

homes. 

Postmodern audiences arguably understand that they are being manipulated by marketing. They understand the conventions that are being deployed and satirised. Postmodern consumers are simultaneously aware that they are being exploited, yet also prepared to play

the game – if it brings them a sense of superiority and social cache. Postmodern consumers get the joke and, in doing so, they themselves may become promotional agents of the product through word-of mouth.

Royal Warrants of Appointment are acknowledgements to those companies that provide goods or services to the British royal family; since 1840, this approval has been used to promote products, with a warrant entitling them to use the strapline ‘By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’ alongside the royal crest. Unilever has spoofed this approach, with the Ma’amite series of advertisements, typifying the irreverent nature of their product – breadsticks form a crown and the Queen’s corgi dogs replace the lion and unicorn. The motto ‘One either loves it or hates it’ is a delightful comic conjoining of the familiar product slogan and the Queen’s idiosyncratic speech.

MIGRAIN Final index

 Your final index should include the following:

1)  First Blog Task
2)  English by Tarun Thind analysis
3) Reading an image - media codes

4) My media consumption

5) Reception theory: blog task
6) MIGRAIN: Genre
7)  Narrative: blog task

8) Audience classification blog task

9) MIGRAIN assessment 1 - learner response
10) Audience theory 1: blog tasks
11)Audience theory 2: blog tasks
12) Industries: Ownership and control blog task
13) Cultural Industries: blog task

14) Public service broadcasting: blog tasks

15) Media regulation: blog tasks

16) Representation: blog tasks
17) Introduction to feminism: blog tasks

18) January assessment learner response
19) Feminist theory: blog tasks
20) Collective identity and representing ourselves
21) 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 than usual watching and reacting on social media.

BBC QUESTION TIME

1) What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching this clip?

• Rich and poor
• Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
• Arrogant and Helpful
• Middle-class and Working-class
• Justice and Injustice

2) What ideologies are on display in this clip?

The ideologies displayed are Liberalism and Conservatism. We also see their contrasting views on immigration and and over population.This allows the audience to see how much our government actually care regarding the issues broadcasting in their own country. Their lack of improvement of such issues foreshadows their beliefs and values as a whole creating a sense of insecurity within the country.

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 short tasks linked to them. 

Page 34: The World Of Mockingjay: Ideology, Dystopia And Propaganda

1) Read the article and summarise it in one sentence.

 The dystopian representation of capitalist society in the latest Hunger Games film and the series as whole, drawing attention to elements where media theory can be most usefully applied.

2) What view of capitalist ideology is presented in the Hunger Games films?

Every district is poor; people struggle to survive on small amounts of food and minimum wages, while they work to provide coal, technology, food, power and other services to the Capitol.we can see that the ruling class keep the poor under control through civic means; armies of ‘Peacekeepers’ are sent to control each district and to punish anyone who tries to defy the authority, whilst providing them with so little money that many are forced to break the strict laws to find means of keeping their families alive.

3) What do the Hunger Games films suggest about the power of the media to shape and influence ideological beliefs?

But there is also a vital ideological element to the way Panem is run; those in power control ideas, as well as resources. The world is caught under the dictatorship of President Snow, a man who believes more in his own supreme leadership than the people of his country. He invests his creativity into The Games, he smells of blood and roses, and he purposefully aims to obliterate any hopes of rebellion. He believes that hope is the ‘only thing stronger than fear’, and he deals with rebels by spreading fear among the districts. He mainly does this through propaganda and the media, using constant repeats of previous ‘Hunger Games’ and airing the current ones live on TV to distract the masses from organising a revolution.

Page 48: They Live - Understanding Ideology

1) What are the four accepted ideological beliefs in western societies highlighted by the article?

• Good should overcome evil.

• Law is better than disorder.

• Pleasure is a goal in life.

These ideas are hard to disagree with; they are, arguably, a ‘given’, an obvious and unspoken set of values and beliefs that we accept and follow. They are at the core of our Western belief system, part of the social system which shapes and forms our identities, and makes us who we are today.

2) What does Gramsci's theory of hegemony suggest about power and ideology in society?

Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci introduced the concept of hegemony, and its role in social control.

Gransci defined hegemony as an important way in which those in power maintain their control through consent, rather than the use of force. He argued that the power of ideology derives primarily from ideas and structures which support, and thus serve the purpose of, an elite social group which is able to dominate through ideas, rather than militaristic strength or fear.

Let’s take a simplified example from recent news events, to see Gramsci’s

concept of hegemony in practice:

The big idea The notion of trust in capitalism, banking, and trust in the

economic institutions of this country.

Who does this Idea best serve? The elite class, which controls the economy

and major institutions.

Is this a commonsense, accepted Idea in Britain? Yes, but the economic

crash of 2008 has challenged the assumptions it was based on.

3) What does French theorist Louis Althusser suggest about ideology and consumerism?

The French Marxist theorist Louis Althusser offers a way of understanding how we are controlled through ideology. 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 Control, also known as ‘Repressive State Apparatuses’ (RSAs) through the major institutions of society – the Government, Army, Police, Courts, etc. – which are dominated by the ruling elite. These state agencies regulate social behaviour and repress the masses through violence, punitive law, and fear.

2: ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’ (ISAs), such as the Church, the media, educational institutions, the family unit etc. These looser institutions control and dominate implicitly through ‘common sense’ acceptance and social norms, rather than through fear. This echoes Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, by which ideology’s power derives primarily from consent as opposed to the use of force.

To illustrate, consider these familiar ideas: ‘Realise your true potential,’ ‘Be yourself,’ ‘Lead a satisfying life.’ These values, suggesting the importance of the individual, and self-fulfilment, are dominant in the West, and closely linked with the ideology of consumerism, which arguably dominates and drives society.

The big idea We should buy more goods and consume as much as we can. Material wealth will make us happy.

Who does this Idea best serve The elite class, the manufacturers and owners of the means of production, the multinational corporations which benefit from their distribution.

Is it a common sense, accepted idea in Britain? Yes, it pervades all ages, genders and is a dominant global ideology in the 21st-century West, which constantly encourages us to want and to consume through advertising and marketing. Arguably, we are at the mercy of hugely powerful corporate messages, against which we need to be vigilant.

4) 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 believe at this age, the issues that are happening around the world causes young people and in some cases the older generation to use the media as a form of escape from day to day life. I believe the economy of being young is attention. Individuals also use the media to interpret whether they are real or not if their isn't 'viewed', and if they are not seen they simply do not exist. It's also an easy way to not be alone and take out your phone when you are feeling lonely in a situation. The media takes advantage of this situation by infiltrating your brain with either useless information or exaggerated form of news, which builds up their profit in the interest of the economic elite.

Media has always been under the surface, its simple distribution around us in everyday life has made us used to the fact that we are nothing without the media. The 'They Live' scene illustrates that idea of how our media consumption has slowly infiltrated our lives. The quote    'Don't question the authority' anecdotes that idea of the authority being the media and being the aliens in whom have consumed us into just feeding onto the information they give us. 'Marry and Reproduce' is also seen as us just creating more consumers suggesting that by us producing children, they are receiving a large amount of profit in the interest of the economic elite.

Collective identity and representing ourselves

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. 

Who are you? 

We are all involved in constructing an image to communicate our identity because we have complex ideas about our selves; there is a difference between the person we think we are, the person we want to be and the person we want to be seen to be.

I think, therefore I am

How we perceived ourselves and how we presented ourselves was based on the social constructs that defined the interpersonal relationships within the groups we found ourselves in and our identity would have been based around aspects of our lives that were constructed outside of our selves; class, religion, gender and the predetermined roles that were part of the accident of the family we were born into.

From citizen to consumer 

The idea that identity could be constructed in terms of an externalised image came in the post-industrial consumer boom of the early 20th century where there was a deliberate move to encourage people to adopt an identity and the idea of creating wants and desires was encouraged.

The rise of the individual

 Dominant values help shape how we see ourselves; and by the late 1960s and 1970s the notion of individualism began to take hold, reacting against what can be seen to be the more conformist values of the past and individuals wanted to express their ‘difference’ and ‘uniqueness’.

Branding and lifestyle

 Branding is the association of a ‘personality’ with a product and advertisers sell the personality rather than the product, so that people will choose products that match their own self image.

2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.

-Converse = Comfortable shoes that I wear everyday

-Samsung = This brand provides me with entertainment and I come across it daily (Phone, TV)

-Vaseline = Keeps my skin hydrated and healthy and is used daily

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

The expression style over substance refers to the idea that the way something looks is more important than content. Therefore, I agree to some extent as individuals tend to try and make their content 'look the best' only to gain more interactions or fame, this results in a lack of individuality and uniqueness.

4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more.

Baudrillard calls ‘media saturation’ results in high cultural value being placed on external factors such as physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits such as intelligence or compassion. Baudrillard says that the mass media is so far into our lives that it begins to shape the way we live. Therefore, our society is so saturated with media imagery.

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?

My presence on social media is an accurate representation of who I am, however some information is kept private for online safety purposes. 

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?

Data mining is information from social media platforms that is analysed to identify patterns and trends. I don't think that companies selling me products based on my social media presence and online search terms is that terrible as there are often options to remove permission that allows them to do that. Therefore, it isn't an invasion of privacy if permission is gave.

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 about Gauntlett's theories of identity.

“Identity is complicated; everyone’s got one.” Gauntlett believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead.

• 'pick and mix'
• audiences actively process the messages put across the by the media
• 'technologies of the self'
• the 'male gaze'
• concept of gender as performance

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. The Factsheet archive is available online here - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. 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.

A collective identity refers to an individual sense of belonging to a group, that is shared with others. Identities may be based on any given characteristics or combination of characteristics such as race, class, economic status, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or religion. This sense of belonging can become so potent that it takes over other pieces of the person identity.

2)Things that represent Britain:

• Tea
• Harry Potter
• Fish and Chips
• Radiohead
• The BBC
• Queen
• The Queen
• Big Ben

I don't believe that these things have anything in common but they are all things that non-British people might associate Britain with. Perhaps, not all of Britain has been represented as the things in this list are extremely popular and do not reflect other aspects of Britain.

3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?

This is because the toys are targeted at a slightly older audience meaning that they  become metaphors for the sense of Britishness creating a sense of  nostalgia; longing for the past where life was perceived to be simpler.

4) How has new technology changed collective identity?

Technology has enabled people to actively engage with the content of the culture around them and then go on to use it as resources for their own cultural productions.

5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity?

The phrase that David Gauntlett (2008) uses to describe this new focus on identity is ‘Identity is complicated; everyone 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?

Henry Jenkins calls this new collective identity an interpretive community and labels fans as ‘cultural producers’ who are now actively using the converging media of YouTube, Facebook etc. to create new forms of identity, using the text as inspiration. The Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provides an example as the key aspect of this fan created group is the fact that the collective identity created is one which has no national barriers to the understanding of the cultural identity created.