Consumer Marketing - Kyle Cheung

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Outdoor Advertising - Kyle Cheung

Outdoor advertising is currently one of the biggest forms of marketing our society has today. Companies strongly recognize this and utilize this as a propaganda technique to display their brand in mesmerizing ways. Lauren Rosewarne claims in her article that outdoor advertising is so effective simply because of exposure. If it is out on the streets that people are going to see it no matter what. Due to this, outdoor advertising has a strong connotation on public values because of its exposure. Specifically, billboard advertising has been a technique that allows for a deeper message to be portrayed. Women's sexuality is often placed on these billboards in order to gain a stronger following. Sexism is something that exists heavily in advertising, especially in outdoor campaigns and billboards. 

The picture above shows a Calvin Klein ad in which they are attempting to sell their new whitewash jeans. The picture is of a man and woman, both attractive, and both wet lying on top of each other. The point is to get people to think that if they buy these whitewashed jeans than they are more likely to be in seducing sexual situations like this one. This isn’t the first time Calvin Klein has used this method. Calvin Klein has many famous partners such as supermodel and celebrity Kendall Jenner who has posted multiple pictures on her Instagram in strictly her underwear, saying #mycalvins. Attractive women tend to be used to try and gain likeness and status for companies. The issue with it is it conforms beauty for young adults and teenagers into believing that this is how one has to look in order to be considered beautiful. Altering the advertising landscape is something that people have been trying to reform for years, primarily attempting to shift the idea of sexism and women's sexualization in outdoor marketing. 

Gudis’ better describes America’s advertisement landscape by noting that the environment of advertising is linked to virtue and morality (Gudis, 166). The environment being the space in which sexualization and other stereotypical trends can be reformed and changed. Sex appeal is still the biggest tactic in which marketers rely on. The second photo shows Hope Solo on an ESPN ad posing nude. She was one of the best professional soccer players in the world and did a nude shoot for one of the biggest sports campaigns in the world. The purpose of this was to create a societal norm in which it is acceptable to pose naked as one of the most loved athletes in the world for the biggest sports magazine in the nation. Within advertising and the public space, women are seen as food products and beverages in that they are consumable images (Rosewarne, 14). What this does is serves to social control of women and compartmentalizes them into a category of sexism within the advertising workspace that feeds into the manipulation of masculinity within advertising. Men always want to have control, and it is until we can free women from social sexism in advertising campaigns that we will continue to have to fight for this issue.

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Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry

What many people don’t know is the recent Trump impeachment inquiry was from something that actually started back during Obama’s administration. During Obama’s tenure as President, his administration funneled millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine that ignited a strong relationship that would last over 3 years. 

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Fast forward to 2019, and Volodymyr Zelensky is elected as the new leader of Ukraine. Zelensky hopes to end the war with Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. That summer, President Trump was suspected of pressuring Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s family, who was his political rival and heavily involved with Ukraine during Obama’s presidency. As this was going on, Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine and claimed he was doing nothing wrong but Democrats were demanding to know if this was an attempt to find information on Biden, who again is one of his competitors for the upcoming election.

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On July 25, “the phone call” took place. While speaking on the phone with Zelensky about military aid, he asks for a favor from him. Trump asked Zelensky to look into a company that investigated hacking prior to the 2016 election and was linked back to Russia. Specifically, Trump said to look into Biden’s involvement in stopping the prosecution of Viktor Shokin.  

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In the following months reports a complaint is filed by a whistleblower with the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson. He characterizes the complaint as “urgent” and “credible” and a subpoena for Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, quickly followed because of his refusal to share details. 

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Within the following week, it was reported that Trump made a promise to a foreign leader and that was what prompted the whistleblower to file a complaint. The house of democrats demanded that the whistleblower complaint be released. The controversy underlines an attempt to undermine Biden again based on Ukranian official's investigation on his son and his involvement in corrupt business deals. Four days later, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, finally announces a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump. 

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The reaction of this impeach inquiry has been as expected - shocking, yet not that crazy. People across the country have thought about the impeachment of Trump since he stepped into Office, but now that thought has transformed into a reality as he has continued to follow every outrageous act with an even stronger one. The media’s portrayal has been harsh. According to Fox, broadcast news has slammed Trump with 96 percent negative coverage since the impeachment inquiry. News outlets have been more hostile than normal and that is one of the main purposes of the impeachment inquiry.

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Statistically speaking, the impeachment would never fall through because of how the process works. The Democratic House accuses him of something but in order for it to fall through, the accusation goes through the Senate which is made up of Republicans. The Republican House would obviously back President Trump so, in reality, the impeachment inquiry was actually a propaganda technique for the 2020 election. What Nancy Pelosi is attempting to do is to begin adding a negative cloud over Trump so the Democrats can begin to sway the country to vote in their favor come to the election. It’s schemey, yet brilliant. 

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What’s interesting is that although this is receiving incredible amounts of negative attention, leaders from other countries refuse to talk about it. The following days after the announcement of the Trump Impeachment inquiry, the top news articles from the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Ukraine all had nothing to do anything Trump-related. It’s normal for foreign countries to not constantly put out news involving the United States, but it is odd to not hear one thing when this is just the fourth time in United States history, a country that has strong relationships with European countries, has an impeachment called on our President. The point is that these foreign countries truly do not want to get involved in the mess that is United States politics. 

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Since the impeachment inquiry, much has and will continue to take place until the 2020 election. Trump has claimed that the whistleblower committed treason and has demanded that Adam Schiff, the Chair of the Intelligence Committee and one of the lead investigators in the impeachment inquiry, resigns. The Democrats have subpoenaed Giuliani who is Trump’s personal lawyer and even subpoenaed the White House for documents on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. A second whistleblower emerged and finally, Joe Biden himself called for Trump’s impeachment for abusing his powers to help his own reelection. Yes, crazy times. 

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The final point to make in this hectic and crazy last couple of months is, indeed, this is all normal. American’s are so numb by the absurdity and madness that is Donald Trump that it is hard to even get a reaction when people are calling for his impeachment. To put it simply, some even said: “This is all a joke.” No other country in power takes us seriously so it is hard to even take ourselves seriously. It’s hard to imagine that as a country we elected this person to lead us but that symbolizes the state that America is in right now. We’re lost, we’re confused, and most of all, we’re impatient. We want all our problems to be solved right now and Trump seemed to like the person that would make all that happen. The key stakeholders of our country have called for his impeachment, the news has only given him negative backlash, and the citizens can’t even believe he is our President. It is time to move on. 

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A Conformed Lifestyle - Kyle Cheung

Kate Rhodes’ piece on contemporary fashion photography reminded me heavily of the popular blog and platform of the NBA’s “red carpet”. Professional basketball players are seen as celebrities with strong personal following, which allows them to wear the hottest clothes and trends. Blogs saw this as an opportunity to showcase someone of the top pictures by capturing their outfits pregame while walking into the stadium. Kate Rhodes perfectly describes this by saying, “The use of imperfection as part of an effort to signify the real suggests that ‘alternative’ forms are inevitably instrumentalized into another marketing ploy aimed at extending the commodification of desire” (Rhodes, 202). This utilization of the NBA as a propaganda technique is different but effective. It utilizes normal human beings, rather than supermodels, but has a stronger reach to the public because of their social status. Furthermore, none of this planned. The players in the NBA aren’t told what to wear or told to pose while walking into the game. They simply showcase their unique style every day, which consists of a multitude of different brands, while getting their pictures taken from different angles. Rhodes continues to make interesting points that can pertain to this by talking about Martin Parr’s Fashion Magazine. Specifically, how he captured shoppers at the Somerfield supermarket partaking in everyday activities but switching clothes constantly. This showcased them as new models and “created images that reveal the mutant qualities of fashion as it seamlessly moves from commodity to image and then to sign before the lens” (Rhodes, 210). This perfectly describes the blog of the NBA in that these players are unknowingly becoming a cultural symbol and marker for different brands through the use of photography. 

Personal fashion blogs represent a smaller part of contemporary fashion in that people conform their styles to match what is hot in the now. People utilize social media outlets such as Instagram far more than websites to share their own styles and fashion trends to the world. Instagram is largely based on how many likes one person gets, so people tend to wear what is hot and trending at the moment. This is how the creation of a “Hypebeast” came to surface. Clothing designers saw these personal blogs as an opportunity to publicize their hot and trendy clothing lines through the marketing of celebrities. For example, a celebrity with 90 million wearing your clothing item now has hit a potential 90 million customers for your brand. Agnès Rocamora better describes this in her read about personal fashion blogs by saying, “With blogs, this process of self-expression and construction is encouraged by the constantly renewed communication the blog technology allows” (Rocamora, 411). This form of self-expression is something new that was created by social media. It allows you to authentically create a self-image of yourself portrayed to others through a combination of lifestyle pictures. In particular, this form of self-expression is displayed not through real life, but through a computer screen or other technology. Hypebeasts are people more so on the internet than in real life. You see them flex their special clothes and fancy shoes on their personal blog but rarely see them wear that in real life. The self is no longer displayed out in the three-dimensional bodies but in computer screens (Rocamora, 414). It makes you wonder, has technology permanently ruined the existence of fashion in real life?

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Lamiyah Bahrainwala and Erin O’Connor’s read on the creation of Nike’s Pro Hijab reminded me of a controversial commercial that aired worldwide. Reality TV star and famous supermodel, Kendall Jenner, was the lead in a Pepsi commercial that highlights issues such as racism and equality. Many issues that are relevant today were illustrated throughout this commercial, but it was Pepsi’s misuse of cultural connection that resembled such a parallel to Nike’s Pro Hijab marketing tactic. It is important to first notice the setting -- these street protests are taking place in what seems to be a high-income community with top of the line retail. The majority of actual protests happen in lower-income areas filled with crime. Bahrainwala and O’Connor highlight how Nike similarly uses a desert landscape with a woman riding a horse in their Pro Hijab commercial as a marketing technique “to help center a (White) United States audience (Bahrainwala & O’Connor, 8).” The commercial then proceeds to show Kendall doing her everyday job, modeling. She then takes her lipstick and wig off and joins the movement. Kendall gets handed a Pepsi and gives a sip to the police who are blocking the protests. After the sip, the policeman smiles and all is well. The point of the message was to try and illustrate that drinking Pepsi can solve all world problems and provide peace and unity for all people. The problem is, cultural boundaries were completed crossed and a white supermodel was misused for her celebrity status and marketing ability. Pepsi didn’t truly believe that Kendall Jenner and Pepsi could solve fundamental issues within our country such as racism and LGBTQ rights, but they saw an opportunity to make money and hopefully reach a certain demographic within society. That is exactly what Nike attempted to do with their Pro Hijab creation. One of Bahrainwala and O’Connor’s main arguments was, “The Nike marketing team conscientiously positions itself as working alongside Muslim women athletes while remaining separate from the Muslim community (Bahrainwala & O’Connor, 6).” It was a money grab to try and sell their company as a brand that hopes to unite all through their creations when in reality it was an attempt to create an athletic product that has not been manufactured by a high-level company before without the consent or counseling from that specific group.  

Much like Sarah Weiser’s depiction of Levi jeans, Nike has continued to exemplify the idea of the ‘logos’ of the brand through the famous Colin Kaepernick campaign. Kaepernick was a star NFL player who kneeled during the National Anthem to “stand up” for what he believed in - which was criminal injustice, police brutality, and racism. Nike saw how Kapernick could represent “a personal, individual narrative, that revolves around lifestyle, identity, and individual empowerment (Banet-Weiser, 101).” They understood not only the power in what Kaepernick was fighting for but more importantly realized the money that he could produce for them. Weiser continually brings up interesting points about advertising campaigns and how the purpose of them is to instill trust into the customers and in neo-capitalism itself (Banet-Weiser, 102.) What Nike did was exactly that. They used the power of an NFL star mixed with the sensitivity of the topic of racism to tap into the emotional aspect of their consumers, and therefore create tons of profit.

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Cartoon Realism - Kyle Cheung

Jason Mittell’s piece on cartoon realism rose some interesting thoughts about today’s media, specifically relating to postmodernism and the target audience. Mittell focuses on The Simpsons and how the show provides a perfect example of niche marketing, genre-mixing, and postmodernism and how they relate to contemporary media. In today’s society, it is very common to misunderstand aspects of media and what it is trying to portray. In this case, there is a common misconception on the discourse of The Simpson’s being an animation or cartoon. So much of this misunderstanding has to do with the target audience and becoming aware of cartoon realism in this era. Mittell's main concern is, “The two major effects of the show’s generic mixture concern the breadth of the show’s target audience and the paradox of realism” (Mittell, 20). Target audience and realism, in this case, genre, are linked because genres define the target audience. 

Much of the time, postmodernism is defined by the outlets in which the media is using while cultural references are often intertwined in the messages that these media outlets are trying to portray. The target audience is the fundamental building block of all media which aligns cultural references with the target audience. This raises an interesting point in that the creation of animation and cartoon realism weren’t always intended for the youth in which people expected. Rex Krueger analyses this issue and states that in The Boondocks, “McGruder is practicing a more direct kind of cultural borrowing that can be likened to the hip-hop practice of sampling” (Krueger, 324). This perfectly depicts the use of cartoon realism in order to communicate a deeper message in that McGruder uses voice over from real black actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Dave Chappelle so the actors never have to break out of character.  

I believe that the target audience in relation to animation and cartoons is the most vital aspect in linking the understanding of animation and cartoons. Particularly, I think it gives people a better understanding of media, visuals, and images in general because our society relies heavily on these outlets. 

There are countless examples that showcase the idea that media can be the most powerful tool when aimed towards a specific target audience, and none greater than the election of our President. Trump perfectly utilized media through Facebook and Twitter to hit a very niche audience that he wanted to sway in order to elect him President. In the same way, animation was created to hit an “assumed natural target audience of children” (Mittell, 26). I strongly disagree that there are countless cartoons that are utilized to portray or highlight real-world issues in this form of media because it allows the message to be received in a lighter world of animation. South Park is a perfect example in that it makes comedy out of serious problems in the form of four little kids. Recently, South Park made an episode mocking China for the issues going on in Hong Kong, and have now been banned permanently in that area. By using animation and cartoons to hit a target audience, media has the ability to showcase anything and everything in a light that will be taken friendly due to the genre that these outlets exist in.

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The Altered View of Reality - Kyle Cheung

Meredith Michael’s piece on questioning what we see in images brought up interesting thoughts in my head in relation to today’s social media revolving society. Michael focuses on the underlying meaning of pictures and how the purpose of pictures is to represent something in the world. Specifically, Michael’s uses the example of the Three-Inch Baby and says, “The composite representation depicts as real nonreal relationships among those real body parts” (Michael, 116). In other words, the image shows a normal size woman holding a 3-inch baby but it is dependant on how our mind views the image to understand the meaning of the picture. This perfectly parallels the idea of facetune on Instagram pictures and how many girls edit their bodies to make themselves look skinnier, therefore more attractive and socially acceptable in their eyes. When even relating to the news on social media outlets such as Twitter and Snapchat, many blogs and tweet pictures are constructed to be conformed to how the publisher wants the audience to view them.

This then ties into the topic of photojournalism as it pertains to Instagram and how we view pictures as consumers. Eddie Borges-Rey better explains this in his piece “News Images on Instagram.” The article highlights photojournalists on Instagram and how they utilize different filters to portray different meanings on their posts. He states, “photojournalists use the online photo-sharing platform Instagram to construct a hyperreality: a version of the world that is assumed to be real but is nonetheless distorted and exaggerated to the extent that it becomes hyperreal” (Rey, 577). This is what Instagram is all about. A platform that allows such easy access to other people’s lives creates this utopia like society that alters how people are viewed and how they act. It is all about conforming to the social norms and popularities by changing your appearance on Instagram instead of sharing natural and candid pictures of yourself.

I believe that Instagram is utilized by people for the wrong intentions. Pictures, in general, are art forms that should bring about emotion in people. When natural pictures are tampered with it is almost like a form of propaganda that photojournalists use to express certain news. Meryl Alper perfectly expresses this by saying, “The mission of journalists to serve the public’s ‘right to know’ is generally interpreted as also serving their ‘right to see’ the actors and the events deemed to be newsworthy” (Alper, 1236). What Alper is saying is that photojournalists can utilize any form they please to get the news across. They can tamper any picture they please because just as much as it is the public's right to know the news it is the publishers right to show it in the form they please. Pictures are truly one of the most powerful forms of communication because they speak so much louder than words. You can express so many different emotions and feelings in one picture and it is all up to the viewer and he or she sees the picture that determines the true meaning of it.