Beer! Beer! Beer! Value?

Value is sometimes added to an ad to give the product a better name to consumer, such as this Corona beer commercial. Many of Corona's commercial gives the impression to just relax and have an ice cold beer.

The ad's setting is usually associated with tropical islands and sandy beaches. Does buying a Corona really come with sandy beaches, or give us a time to relax? In a way yes it does because some of the ad shown above also shows that having Corona gets you away from the work environment and put you in paradise.

This is adding value to the product. Even though we don't necessarily get vacation time or a chance to relax that often, seeing the ad present an image to consumer that drinking Corona does allow us some time to relax and be on vacation.

Other times, commercials like Heineken also present the idea that having a it's beer also satisfy the male desire to have their own dream to come true, in this hilarious commercial. We can see that adding value to a product can really sell its image.

Advertising it's everywhere...

LINK TO AD

This website from American Express gives its users a chance to purchase products, trips, and gift cards for incredible prices. As an American Express card user myself, I found this ad for the XBox360 for a great price of $149.00 Elite bundle package deal. Retail price for this would cost around $300+. Talking about the website itself, I would say that it attracts almost anyone that is interested in getting great deals, but as for the Xbox360 ad, I would say that its audience is between 18-40, mostly male I would presume. It would appeal to people that have an American Express card with no specific education level or income level.

As for as psycho-graphic characteristics, I would say it would appeal to people that want a bargain and have extra money to spend.

The ad itself portrays a process of finding the product for a specific customer that are interested in video games but as far as the XBox360 itself, I think it the "X" has the meaning of "extreme" and it relates to the "box" which would make some people to think that the device itself is an extreme gaming machine.

I believe this ad is extremely effective for the fact that it has a limited quantity and for a great price. It address the demographic and psycho-graphic qualities that it set out to achieve.

And finally, this ad caught my attention for the fact that it hasn't been release to sell yet, having consumers anticipating on its opening date to buy. It also has a price that can't be beat and would make anyone come back to this site for more deals to come.

PR Strategy: Edison Chen Sex Scandal

Chen appeared in the 2002 hit Hong Kong police thriller, "Infernal Affairs," and in the 2006 horror movie, "The Grudge 2." He also had a cameo in the Hollywood blockbuster, "The Dark Knight," released last year.




Public relations, also known PR, has been around for hundreds of years. Its technique and strategy played an important role in many of history's greatest events. Its profession is to improve how their clients are viewed by the public. No matter if its for companies or celebrities mishaps, it's goal is to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public.

Ivy Lee, the father of modern public relations industry, was the first public adviser to change how PR really be run. Before PR advisers tried to conceal, fool or avoid the mishap situation to the public, but Lee had a different perspective that he brought. He suggested that the goal of public relations was no longer to fool the public, but believes that businesses should alight themselves with the public's interest rather than insisting that the public interest align itself with the business.

Take for example an incident in 2008: Edison Chen, an international Hong Kong celebrity that had sent his computer for repair along with nude pictures of him and many other famous HK celebrities that was illegally uploaded onto the internet by the computer technicians.

Article from Hollywoodgrind.com

"The scandal started after pictures were taken from Edison Chen’s laptop by a technician that was repairing it. There were a total of approximately 1,300 pictures. The naughty pictures included Bobo Chan Man, Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi, Edison Chen, Gillian Chung, Gillian Chung Yun-Tung, Joey Yung, Yu Chiu, Vincy Yeung, Cecilia Cheung, Yumiko Cheng, Mandy Chen, BoBo Chen, Rachel Ngan, Candice Chan, Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, and some say even Japanese star Chiaki Kuriyama, and possibly more. On 2-23 we found out there are three more female celebrities that are now involved."

After days and weeks of the photo's release, Chen went into hiding from the public for awhile but then gave a statement admitting that the photos were real and that it was him who took it. Chen decided he would retire from the entertainment industry because of it and would do community service to make up for the scandal. Chen did use Ivy Lee's PR technique by not avoiding the situation and admit his mistake to the public. He also suggested to his fans to learn from his mistakes of taking pictures and hope they would forgive him.

Recently, Chen had been offer to star in a Hollywood movie after two years of service to the public according to Theinsider.com.

From my opinion, I think that Chen did the right thing to not avoid the incident too long. He admitted his mistakes and even suggested the public should learn from it. This types of incidents often occur in Hollywood and the story usually gets old after awhile, but a story that involves multiple International celebrity like this is hard to forgive and forget to most people.

Blog 9: Twitter

In today's world, social media such as Twitter and Facebook are taking society by storm. It gives the public the opportunity to express there thoughts and feelings on any given subject. Like many new innovations, everything has its good and bad. Sites like Twitter and Facebook have greatly affected people to become there own journalist, and depending on how individuals use it this technology will ultimately determines the outcome of it being good or bad.

The good that comes from sites like these is that it allows people to instantaneously post real time events for the world to know. It provides many different points of views on a particular subject and have the potential of many audiences participating in the matter. It could be use as eyewitness accounts worldwide without the editing of the mass media's involvement or government cover ups. Take for example the Iranian election from The New York Times. The article states that hundreds of thousands of demonstrators show defiance toward the presidential election in Tehran. With the help of Twitter and Facebook, Iranians twitted and posted eye witness accounts of what was really happening during the election. Although the government tried to censor these sites, there were still many other loopholes of getting the information out to the world to read. Sites like these makes it useful for journalist to get important information out to the public as fast as they could type it. However, these sites are not always good

As a matter of fact, incidents such as the supposed 'off the record' comment from President Barrack Obama's interview on ABC News and his thought about Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swifts acceptance award, was disseminated when he called him a 'jackass'. Posting something has many issues involved such as verification issues, rumors, misinformation especially during breaking news, government censorship, propaganda, fake accounts, bad intentions to slander and many more.

Some questions arise as to placing a limitation on journalism when using these sites, but I believe that these sites give good opportunities for journalist to share to the world the truth about the subject matter. However, the thing that it should be limited to is using this technology with the intentions of instigating a lie from the truth. I would recommend using the technique of judging a reliable website to a post by looking for an attribution, any authority support, what is the objectivity, and how current is it. Because these days, anyone can put anything online, it is up to the reader to be the journalist now in finding the truth of the matter.

Week 8: Blog

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC)

How to file a complaint if there is indecency on a radio or television broadcast:

1. Must provide information regarding the details of what was actually said or depicted during the broadcast.

The complainant may choose the format for providing the information, but it must be sufficiently detailed so that the FCC can determine the words or language used, or the images or scenes depicted during the broadcast and the context of those words, language, images, or scenes. Subject matter alone is not sufficient to determine whether material is obscene, indecent, or profane. For example, stating only that the objectionable programming “discussed sex” or had a “disgusting discussion of sex” is not sufficient. Moreover, the FCC must know the context when analyzing whether specific, isolated words or images are obscene, indecent, or profane. The FCC does not require complainants to provide tapes or transcripts in support of their complaints. Consequently, failure to provide a tape or transcript of a broadcast, in and of itself, will not lead to automatic dismissal or denial of a complaint. Nonetheless, a tape or transcript is helpful in processing a complaint and, if available, should be provided.

2. The date and time of the broadcast.

Under federal law, if the FCC assesses a monetary forfeiture against a broadcast station for violation of a rule, it must specify the date the violation occurred. Accordingly, it is important that complainants provide the date the material in question was broadcast. Indecent or profane speech that is broadcast between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. is not actionable. Consequently, the FCC must know the time of day that the material was broadcast.

3. The call sign, channel, or frequency of the station involved.

To take enforcement action for the airing of prohibited material, the FCC must be able to identify the station that aired the material. By providing the call sign, channel, or frequency of the station, you will help us to quickly and efficiently process your complaint. The name of the program, DJ, personality, song, or film; network; and city and state where you heard or saw the program are also helpful.

Finally submission: On-line complaint form can be found at esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm. You can also file a complaint by e-mailing fccinfo@fcc.gov; calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice, 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY; faxing 1-866-418-0232; or writing to:

Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th St., SW
Washington, DC 20554.


c) Example of an FCC charge filed on 03-15-2006 about a complaints against various television licensees concerning their December 31, 2004 broadcast of the program "Without A Trace"

The FCC fined CBS Television Network ("CBS") affiliated stations and CBS owned-and-operated stations in the total amount of $3,607,500 ($32,500 per station) for broadcasting indecent material in apparent violation of 18 U.S.C. S 1464 and section 73.3999 of the Commission's rules. On December 31, 2004, at 9:00 p.m. CBS program "Without a Trace" broadcast material graphically depicting teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.

d) I don't think that the FCC is doing enough penalize these network at a timely manner for them to learn their lesson. If we look at the date that was broadcast compare to the date that it was fine, it is almost two years apart. So if the FCC really wanted to show these networks a lesson than do it faster.

iReport CNN a New Trend in Reporting

iReport also known as I-Report launched in August 2, 2006 is CNN's new method that allow the public to interact with the media through public journalism.

It allows users to contribute videos and pictures of breaking news stories from there own home town or anywhere they are. Public journalism practice allows and encourage regular people to not just watch or listen to the news, but to become a part of it. It also created CNN's Fan Zone, where fans could post current pictures of their favorite team playing. This method of public journalism was prove to be greatly useful during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which cause a large tsunami to devastated multiple shores lines. News journalist were unable to get to ground zero and images could not be capture except with the help of locals and tourist's cameras.

From then on, the need to have a site like iReport was created and inspired a chain of followers such as ABC's i-Caught, Fox's uReport, MSNBC's FirstPerson, and Broadcast Interactive's YouNews.

Movies

(a) The Dark Knight, I thought was one of the best action acting movie I have seen with a great story line.

(b) Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Rachel is thrown out the window and Batman dives out to save her, we never see Batman go back up to his flat to flood out the Joker and his gang. However, with his trusty grapple hook, he could have done so in short time, and, having just received a vicious beating, the Joker's thugs were likely eager to get out of there. Also, the cooling ducts on the side of Bruce Wayne's Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 are closed at the beginning of the scene, then open. They're motorized, but they take time to open and close. Also, when Batman beats The Joker in the holding cell, The Joker's hands change position as Batman pins him to the wall. When the camera faces The Joker, his hands are gripping Batman's arms from below, with the fingers pointing up. When the camera faces Batman, The Joker's hands are holding Batman's arms from above, with his fingers pointing down.


(c) I learn that sometimes scenes aren't shown doesn't mean events didn't take place. And it it took many different location setting to film a movie not just in Hollywood.

Blog 5: Magazines

1) Magazine Title: Madame AIR FRANCE

2) Magazine Type: Fashion

3) Cost (magazines that are delivered as a part of a subscription will not have a price): Free

4) About what percentage of the magazine is advertising? 95%

5) Describe one story in this magazine:

"Keeping love alive" talks about a book called, "In Praise of Love" by a French Philosopher Alan Badiou. It advertises his book about how nowadays, women seem to think that if they spend more than three years in a monogamous relationship they might as well check into a retirement home. But the essence of love is self-fulfillment over the long term. He talks about the predominant romantic notion of love and focus on the idea that physical attraction help to fuel the mechanism of consumer society and that does not allow us to progress beyond the narcissistic stage of love. Instead we should overlook that and see the hedonistic satisfaction that goes beyond just appearance.

6) How would you describe the readers (audience demographic) for this publication?

Anyone who is interested in fashion no matter if its men or women, young or old.

7) What kinds of products are advertised in this magazine?

Do they seem to target the intended audience? How? All types, perfumes, colones, clothes, watches, destination tourism places. It is intended for people who travel a lot and also one who likes to keep up with high brand name fashion.

8) Count the men/boys and women/girls in the photos and illustrations

57 women, 6 men.

9) Are men and women portrayed in similar or different styles (activities, dress style, formality)? If displayed differently, in what way are they different?

The men seems to be portray more different than women. There is more women models than that of men. Most men is either authors or judges in a fashion runway. Also one interesting advertisement had a men getting step on by a women shoe which portray a sense of power if the women were to own those pair of shoes.

10) Looking at the photos (both editorial and advertising), does there seem to be representation from a variety of ethnic groups? A variety of ages? A variety of social classes? Describe what you found. Interestedly enough there wasn't really much diversity in the models as I thought. Most of the model is of European/Caucasian and I found one African American women model and about one single men model. The ages mostly in the young 20s and middle age models. And as for class, it seems to portray more upper middle class to high social class status.

11) If you were called in as a consultant to help this magazine increase its circulation, what would you suggest?

I would add more historical fashion stories of how these fashion became a trend and where the idea came from or how much work it took to make it. It would give the audience a better understanding to buy and appreciate what they are buying if they are going to spend that much amount of money on a product.


12) Did anything that you learned about this magazine surprise you? If so, explain.

The "Keeping love alive" was an surprisingly interesting article to read because it talks about how appearance shouldn't matter as much as real love, espeically in a fashion magazine? Ironic. Also I would expect there to be more diversity in these magazine but what can I say, I picked it up at the airport in France so I should expect it to target mostly Europeans.

In class on Wednesday, we watched a documentary called "News War" from FRONTLINE news. It is a four part special series examining the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces that is challenging the news media today. In chapter four, newspaper played the origin of where real journalism is from but today it is being challenged by the taking over of corporate ownership and technological advances.

Is the news a form of entertainment? Today it seems like news can be compared to a form of entertainment. Ted Koppel once said, "give the public what it wants, not necessary what it aught to hear, what it aught to see, what it needs, but what it wants. That may prove to be one of the greatest tragedy in the history of American journalism." It used to be that news had a real mission, to serve the public what it needs, but it seems like these days news can be in any form. Before the government actually had the FCC mandate the news to inform the public what was important. Corporate take over change all that, today it is just the money making industry of entertainment in which real journalism is limited to its successor.

Today, there are so many forms of news. Take for example; Rocketboom, a simple amateur news media in which anyone with a laptop can present news because technology enables people to do so. And with the uncertainty of newspaper in the near future, real journalism is once again in danger of being eliminated. However, technology solve some of the problem of needing more diversity in news reporting. Now anyone and everyone can have the opportunity to present and connect to whatever news that interest them. In my opinion, people will watch whatever interest them, and real journalism will continue on with the ones that dig further for the truth than just what is presented to them.

Week 3 Blog Assignment: Books

The three most influential books in my life I believe is: Slowing Down to the Speed of Life, The Bible, & Chicken Soup for the Souls. The first book is written by Richard Carlson & Joseph Bailey. It is about how to live in the present moment and not stress over the future as often as we do. I came across this book through my sister when I was a teenager. She recommended it to me because I was always worrying about stuff and rushing to get things done in order to have my free time. During the time, I believe that if I was to finish the job then I would have extra time to relax. Well as life has it, there are always things that come up even when we get the job done. Stressing and rushing to get their faster isn’t a good way to finish what we started. This book changed my attitude and the way I think about the future. A really good quote I learn from the book is, “the best preparation for the future is to live your life fully in the present.” With that said I enjoy life less stress than I was before.

The next book we all know is the Holy Bible. I was born a Catholic, and so we believe in the teaching of Jesus Chris and the bible. The teaching of Catholic Church is based upon the Holy Bible handle down from the time of the Apostles. The book itself is interpreted through church. And so as I go to church every Sunday, I listen to the stories that tell me how to live life. Although I am not a fully active member of the Catholic community, I do tend to listen to the lessons that given in the bible. The bible contains many stories that give directions to take in life and is useful in many situations throughout life.

The last book is a very casual collection of books. Chicken Soup for the Soul as many of us have already heard contains many short life stories and lessons we can all learn from. I don’t recall how I ran into this book but the book itself is has interesting stories that I read just for causal reading.
All these books have influence my life in ways that I live still today. The best sellers of today are like the books I have read. Chicken Soup for the Soul is still a good seller even today, the Holy Bible of course has been the number seller in the market, and lastly Slowing Down to the Speed of Life to me is a classic.

Week 2: Media Impact

Chapter 2 talks about understanding the research and effects that media have on society. From theories to research, many development of these theories can help us to understand how media affects us personally. Out of all the theories, the two that I found to be the most useful theories is the agenda-setting theory and the uses and gratification theory.
The agenda setting theory is a theory that predicts the amount of attention given to an issue in the media affects the level of importance assigned to it by the public. A perfect example of this theory is when Farrah Fawcett died a few hours before Michael Jackson died. The media's attention move from Fawcett to Jackson instantly. Who is to say that one life is more important than another, but the way the media covers it show that Jackson death was a more important story to cover than Fawcett was. This is why people sometimes use the term, "yesterdays news" because something else always comes up and its the decision of the media to make it a big story or not.
Another theory is the uses and gratification theory. This theory is concise because we have the option of choosing which music, movies, news, and entertainment media we want to consume. This theory shows how people use media in various ways such as: surveillance, meaning keeping ourselves inform of current events, like for me is reading the news. Diversion, in which we use entertainment lets us escape the pressure of the reality. One example is when we go to movies, it allows us to briefly escape our daily life and live in a movie's setting. Conversational currency, in which keeping up with finding topics to talk about with our friends is always conversation starter. This also leads to social integration which is the shared knowledge we acquired through media that lets us have common ground between associates when connecting to people.

Week 1: Media Autobiography

 
We are surrounded by constant media everyday. Newspapers, magazines, movies, recordings, radio, television and the Internet are all types of media that I encounter everday. When i was young, television, books, and newspaper was our source of information and entertainmnt but these days it seems that the Internet seems have all the media source availible in one place. This is why I don't read the newspaper as much as i should, and mos of my reading the news is online.  I also use to watch the news on television but ever since I got an iPhone so most of the news information comes from my phone. Music, news and entertainment is so convienant to carry with advance technology these days that my average Internet usuage is atleast  25hrs+ per week. The Internet today houses almost everything we need when it comes to media. From movies to emails, the internet connects everyone together. I rely a lot of the Internet for research, news and entertainmnt more than most the media sources available. But one thing about the internet is that it's credibility could be questionable. Compare to books, magazines and other media that has to go through publishing, the Internet is doesn't have as much restriction than that of publishing media. I do like social netwoking sites like facebook. I believe it is a good way to keep connection to friends, family, and networking. It's especially great experience for my career in communication.