Do New Business Models Result in Greater Consumer Choice of Products and Ideas?

New business models result in greater consumer choice of products and ideas because these new ideas help firms and organizations improve their marketing styles. Knowing how consumers think, feel, reason, and pick between retailers helps companies figure out how they can better influence their product.

According to consumerpsychologist.com, the definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or orgainizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society."

Another important piece toward grabbing the audience's attention is through different marketing strategies. For example, companies will schedule food ads at the time of the day when people are most hungry. In addition, companies that have new products must be well off until their product gets revenue.

Public policy is also another huge deal. For example, in the 1980s a product called Accutane was made to help treat acne. While it was successful, people later found out that it was giving females birth defects. The FDA then announced this and put a picture of deformed babies on medicine containers. This can be looked at in the opposite way because the FDA stepped in which probably will shoo customers away from that specific product.

Social marketing these days also can be effective as well. Many companies are on facebook, and myspace which allows companies to get more ideas across to consumers rather then selling them something. All in all, I think that new business models have a greater result in consumer choice of products and ideas.

Is hate speech in the media directly affecting our culture?

Hate speech in our culture does have an effect on society because it influences a group to view a certain race or sexual orientation in that way. This can be seen in music, comedy shows, or anything popular that gets a certain groups attention. For example, in Eminem's lyrics he reveals his hate toward homosexuals and how he is homophobic. People who listen to Eminem would then take this in not knowing that it truly does have an affect on them because they are listening to the lyrics. That is why nowadays there are many more censored places that are selling music. For example, at Wal-Mart you can only buy music that is edited. Furthermore, not only music but I have also seen on many TV Shows a hate toward Arabs. Not only on South Park, but Family Guy as well. Seems like the media does a great job portraying Arabs as ones who are dangerous and that do not know English. I think that this topic also goes along with stereotypes because with stereotypes you might get some hate communication as well toward that group. I think that in order to solve the hate speech in the media from directly affecting our culture is sitting down and educating kids about what is going on, and why. Kids need to know why the media is portraying a certain group this way and how they can ignore it.

Are Arabs Depicted In a Negative Manner by the Media?

Ever since 9/11, Arabs have been stereotyped in a negative way because they are thought to be "dangerous" and "corrupt". A stereotype is basically a person's own opinion which affects a whole group to behave in that way because that is what people are taught sometimes. According to calstatela.edu, the word "Arab" simply describes a person from the Middle East. Given that there are many countries in the Middle East, this term categorizes all Middle East into one big stereotype. So what can people do to help solve this problem in Western Society?

One, we could go and educate kids in schools all around the United States, telling them that here are the reasons why there are stereotypes and how they would feel if it was turned around on them. I think that it will take a while for everyone to not have biased opinions on not only Arabs but other groups as well. There is always going to be that one biased person who has an affect on a whole group. Furthermore, events that occur also have an effect on the group of people. Of course people are going to stop and check an Arabian man's passport these days due to 9/11 and security. I think a lot of times it is indeed better to be safe then sorry, but where do you draw the lines?

Women As Objects: The Effects That Advertisements and Illusions Have on Women

John Funkhouser

Dr. Adams

MPS RA #3

November 4, 2010

Women as Objects: The Effects That Advertisements

and Illusions Have on Women

"With approximately six billion people in the world, and a mere ten million of them suffering with some type of disordered eating" (.18% of the overall population -- less than a ¼ of 1%)  (Something-Fishy.org).

Introduction:

The media's portrayal of women in advertisements has an effect in the long run on women because these illusions can cause eating disorders for women that desire to be like what they see. By illusions I mean the computer generated effects that companies use in order to make their models look even more unreal in their beauty. Media uses the technology these days to enhance their models even more.  This “perfect” look has women constantly influenced by the media to be pretty. In other words, the media does a great job of making women feel like they are not only objects in society, but need to be a certain weight in order to be accepted. The media’s perspective on women, while very distorted in its appeal, can cause disorders in a young uneducated women’s life. Women can develop unhealthy eating habits that can lead to anorexia, and bulimia.

              According to AvalonHills.com, the main difference between anorexia and bulimia is that anorexia is the fear of gaining weight, so the person often times does not eat a full course meal. Bulimia is when an individual constantly forces themselves to throw up in order to lose weight. Moreover, both of these eating disorders present health issues for women. For example, “Bulimia damages the digestive system and can affect electrolyte balances, which in turn damages organs. The starvation of anorexia causes the body to slow down to preserve energy, which in turn has adverse consequences. In extreme cases, both can lead to death” (AvalonHills.com).
               According to something-fishy.org, "The average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height." I think that many women do not know this fact and that is why it continues to be a problem in society because they think that it is normal. Think of all the diet advertisements that you see every day on losing weight. A lot right? Indeed, this is because people want to "look good" and "fit". Although there is nothing wrong with getting fit and looking good, the media takes it to the next level because of the large amount of skinny and unhealthy models that they show in commercials.
           So what can be done to solve the problem? Does every teenage girl have to turn off the TV and not be sucked into the media's view of women so that she does not get an eating disorder? Of course not. It's important to let young ones know that what they see on TV is not real and that most of the time it is computer animated. I think that educating kids about the media and the dangers that it can have on people in society will in turn make the world a better place and eventually end the messages that it sends kids and young adults.

Method:

            For my research, I will conduct a survey that will consist of seven questions that will help me better understand if women think that this is a problem in society, where they mostly see it, and what ages that it targets. I will survey 40 women, 20 that are young adults, and 20 that are middle aged so that I get a good comparison on how teenagers are viewing media, and older people. The seven questions that I will ask consist of:

1.      What is the most common place that you find women being portrayed as objects?

a.       T.V. Ad

b.      Newspaper

c.       Magazine

d.      Billboards

2.      Who is mostly affected by the media’s portrayal of women in society?

a.       Young women (20-35)

b.      Kids (6-12)

c.       Teenagers (13-19)

d.      Older women (35-*)

3.      Out of all the commercials and ads that you see, what is the main message that they try and get women to do?

a.       Lose weight

b.      Buy a product

c.       Eat healthier

d.      Exercise

4.      What time of day do you normally see the ads that depict women as objects?

a.       Morning

b.      Afternoon

c.       Evening

d.      Never

5.      How does the media make you feel when you see these commercials?

a.       Mad

b.      Happy

c.       Sad

d.      No emotion

6.      Overall would you say that the media portrays women in a negative way?

a.       Yes

b.      No

7.      Do you or do you know someone that has an eating disorder due to the media’s influence?

a.       Yes

b.      No

Description of Survey:

The first question is set up to find out where the person sees the media the most during the day. Whether it’s TV or magazines, it will give me a good idea where the most popular media source for displaying women as objects. For me, I would have to go with A. T.V. because whenever I watch a show late at night, I always see commercials that persuade me to buy a certain product and that I will be with a “hot” woman if I do so. In this case the person being used to get the product to sell is the women. A lot of times commercials use beautiful models to sell their products because it is an attraction method that they use.

Next, the second question will give me a better understanding of what age groups are most affected by the media’s portrayal of women as objects, according to the survey. I would have to go with C, teenagers because I think that they are the ones that think trends in the media are “cool” and often times are ignorant about the issue. For example, I remember when I was a teenager one of the girls that I talked to said that she needed to lose weight. I told her that she was crazy because she looked perfectly normal, but she said that she had to because of commercials she saw of women tanning in the sun with flat bellies. This is just one example, and I am sure there are more. I am very interested to see what people think is the most affected by the media.

The third question I posed has to do with messages in the media. I want to figure out what messages are most popular toward women in the media. If I were taking the survey I would probably pick exercise because I see that all the time. Losing weight can be associated with exercise, but there are also pills that are designed for people to lose weight as well so that is why they are in two different categories.

The fourth question has to do with the time of day that these portrayals are most frequent. I would have to go with C, evening because most of the time that is when people are home watching T.V., but then again people do wake up early and watch infomercials. This will give me a better idea of what time during the day these messages are being sent out to women.

The fifth question is designed to help me figure out how women are feeling about this subject, and whether or not they care. I think that a lot of women would probably be mad because they have to deal with the same issues every day with the media depicting them as objects that sell products.

The sixth question has to deal with whether or not overall women think that media does indeed have a negative influence. I predict that almost 80% or more would say yes.

The seventh and final question has to do with whether or not that person knows a person that has an eating disorder or in turn them.

Results Summary:

            I will be graphing my results with 2 graphs per question, one showing the young adults answers comparing to the older adults. It will be interesting to see the differences of each question in their percentages because it will show how older women think differently or the same as young adults. I think that the results should be helpful in supporting that there are negative messages being sent out by the media to women.

           

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the stereotypes that women need to be fit, small, skinny, and beautiful poses a threat for women in society because it can lead to health problems such as eating disorders. Upon researching for this project, I found an interesting quotation that I would like to share. “When the unnatural thinness became attractive in the media, girls then did unnatural things to become thin” (Pipher, 1994). Clearly, the media portrays women in an unhealthy manner which can influence uneducated women in society. That is why it is important to do surveys and research about the issues that present problems in the media so that the common people can manually fix it.

Do Media Cause Individuals To Develop Negative Body Images?

"With approximately six billion people in the world, and a mere ten million of them suffering with some type of disordered eating" (.18% of the overall population -- less than a ¼ of 1%)  (Something-Fishy.org).
The media's portrayal of  women in commercials has an effect in the long run because it can cause eating disorders for women that desire to be like what they see. In other words, yes, media does a great job of making women feel like they are not only objects but need to be a certain weight in order to be accepted. This idea is very wrong and it is sad that it happens.

According to something-fishy.org, "The average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height." I think that a lot of women do not know this fact and that is why it continues to be a problem in society. Think of all the diet advertisements that you see every day on losing weight. A lot right? Indeed because people want to "look good" and "fit". Although there is nothing wrong with getting fit and looking good, the media takes it to the next level because of the large amount of skinny and unhealthy models that they show in commercials. 


So what can be done to solve the problem? Does every teenage girl have to turn off the TV and not be sucked into the media's view of women so that she does not get an eating disorder? Of course not. It's important to let young ones know that what they see on TV is not real and that most of the time it is computer animated. I think that educating kids about the media and the dangers that it can have on people in society will in turn make the world a better place and eventually end the messages that it sends kids and young adults.

Do Video Games Encourage Bad Behavior?

"There should be less violence in video and computer games sold to kids." (American Psychological Association)
Games sure aren't like they were 20 years ago, that's a given. The technology that people use nowadays gives the maker's of these games virtually detailed graphics and images that seem almost lifelike. The games that usually are the bloodiest and most violent are rated M for mature audiences, which entails they need to be 17 or older to play the game. But the big question is do these video games encourage bad behavior? Honestly, I think that it does not for most people because parents do a good job of letting their kids know that it is only a video game and that they can not do those things in real life. For the people that do not learn this problem, it could pose a threat down the road because they have the mentality that what they do in the video game is okay. But for the most part I do not think that video games harm society, they pretty much entertain people and that's about it. Also, an interesting link that I found was at FoxNews.com:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166251,00.html



Check it out!!

Is Advertising Good For Society?

Every single day we turn on the TV or read the newspaper and we see advertisements all over the place. These are products that people try and sell by persuading us to buy them. According to an online source, an average American watches 1550 hour of TV, listens to 1160 hours on the radio, and spends 290 hours reading newspapers and magazines. So every day a person watches atleast 100 TV advertisements and almost 50 phone calls a year from telemarketers. In my opinion, I think that despite all of the annoyances and commercials on TV, without advertising, we would not know of the "great deals" that we could get. Yes, advertisements are designed to sell and make money, but they are also designed to inform the public. For example, if there is a huge sale going on at Navy I would probably go there if I saw an ad rather than to another store that has higher prices. But, advertisements can trick people into thinking that their product is "different" and "better" than other people's products, when in fact it is indeed the same thing. I think that the one true benefit of advertisements toward the consumer are that they communicate sales. Other than that, advertising can be bad because they can influence kids who do not know the real truth behind things.

Are People Better Informed in the Information Society?

Nowadays anything is google-able. That means that a 10 year old kid can google to learn more about a certain subject and they would get results. However, if kids are not finding the correct information and are going to sites that are not well-known or professionally done, it could lower their intelligence. But overall, most times kids these days will make the decision of what is accurate and what is truely false. But overall, yes, I think that the information on the internet benefits individuals more than not. An example is Linda Jackson's study of people between the age of 10 and 18, which she found that the people who surfed the internet had higher scores and GPAs were better. Also, it it says in the book that "The Internet showed the potential to enhance academic achievement" (365). Not only does the internet help students academically get through their classes and add creativity and spark to their projects, but it makes them in reality smarter and more aware of society. In conclusion, I don't see the harm of information that is out there on the web, it is just that people have to make wise decisions on what sites they search and make sure that it is valid in its content.

Letter To Deutsche Welle

Dear Deutsche Welle,
    It has come to my attention that your media outlet is very useful for people who live in Germany. I will go through and explain five reasons to support this statement. The first reason is the social network that you use on the media site is very friendly and easy to access. For example, there is a way that people in Germany can view soccer over the website which attracts soccer fans from all over. Also, in relation to the social networking, you reach out through Facebook and Twitter which makes it easier for the public to have access to live media that you cover. Over the years many other websites have also included this, it makes it user friendly in turn attracting more people. In addition, the second reason is that nowadays most people get information on their phone and it seems that if websites don’t have mobile access, then they are not getting as much hits and their ratings go down. But in your case, you have a mobile access website in the “Interactive” section which makes it convenient for people to have it always on the go.  For example, the applications that you have such as Deutsche Welle News Portal, makes it available for users to always get the latest information about everything. Ever since the I-Phone came out websites have been advertising their applications just like yours which is a good way to get more views. The third thing that the media website has going is that it does a great job advertising tourists to come visit. For example, there is a “Germany Info” tab that has ‘Visit Germany’ along with ‘Facts about Germany’ and ‘Study in Germany’. In these sections it shows tips of what to do in Germany and you show great resources of current events that
Funkhouser 2
tourist, like myself will be very interested in. You do a great job at drawing people in from other countries to learn more about the German community and lifestyle. Also, students who are interested in studying abroad might be able to seek more better information and having your website is a starter for them. This is very unique because I do not really see this on American websites, trying to get other countries to come visit. Moreover, reason four lies under the fact that you contain quality political coverage over a wide span of things. For example, your updates on politics and security are always fast and applicable. The fifth and final reason is that it is easy to find events that happened in the past. For example, there is an “Archives” section that allows people to have access to stories and coverage all the way back to 2001. This shows that you like to keep written articles and documents of the past, which is significant because people want to be able to remember what happened in the past so that stories do not go missing in the world.
    In conclusion, the website is very handy for people who live in Germany because of the five reasons I went through. These are social networking, mobility, advertising, political coverage, and archives, which all make apart of why your media outlet is not only useful but complete in all its up to date functions. Some websites do not have some of these key functions that yours does, which makes your site on another level, competing with other sites. My personal opinion about the website is that it is useful for me in the fact that I can get more information about studying abroad because I have always been interested in doing that. Also, I am from Germany and going over there would be nice because I have family that I have never met that live there.

International Perspectives On Local/Global Issues

After reading and watching news from international press online, I took notes on one particular issue and the different perspectives of that issue. First off, I wanted to take note that the New York Times and BBC News stood out to me. One thing was that the New York Times paper seemed to have a little bit more information about the Vitro Fertilization topic. In addition, "Advances in human reproductive technology arouse people's deepest concerns and often go through a cycle, first of outrage and charges of playing God, then of acceptance. The other news sources such as news.com.au seemed to have more quotations than the others, so less commentary.
The issue was about the vitro Ferlization winning the Nobel Prize. Robert G. Edwards who is an English biologist, "developed the in vitro fertilization procedure for treating human infertility" (NYT). Also, I learned that the Swedish committee is believed to avoid controversial people and issues. On the other hand, it seems as if BBC gets right to the point, unlike other sources. Robert Edwards treats nearly 10% of all people in the world, which says a lot. So some people trust this guy, right? However, BBC news appears to be against the whole idea that this guy should win the Noble Prize, rather than the other. For example it says that "A Vatican official has said the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to British IVF pioneer Robert Edwards is 'completely out of order'"(BBC). This shows that every different news source has different opinions and are not all completely biased reports. In conclusion, I learned that you must go to each different source to get better facts so that you can put the pieces together.

Fox Primary: Complicated, contractual

So the big question is how are news organizations going to cover candidates such as Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee? these are known as the "Fox Candidates" which is posing a problem for the network because of the competitors. Steve Scully, who said that when C-Span tried to get Pailin for an interview, said he had to get Fox's permission but they ultimately said no. I think that it is crazy that candidates have contracts with each station because it doesn't allow the other side to get the truth out of each person. There are also rare times where they do get permission to go on other networks, but often times it does not have any significance. In conclusion, "While having candidates with Fox contracts may be ideal media strategy for the primaries, the GOP may suffer in the general election if its candidates avoid speaking to the mass audiences of the Big Three Networks."

Can Media Regain Public Trust?

So can media really regain public trust? Michael Schudson argues yes because it is "essential for democracy, the behavior of journalists makes them unpopular" (150). Although that he says that journalists are obsessed with facts and certain events, journalists can exaggerate or even make up rumors that are not indeed true. This is why I agree with John Hockenberry because he questions the the credibility of journalists in the corporate environment. The pressure of corporate owners makes it difficult to broadcast a complete and worthy story. For example, in the Michael Jackson case there were many things that were speculated that were not true about what happened. This can cause the public to distrust the media because they are not telling the facts, but rather what they feel is true. In conclusion, a quotation from John Hockenberry sums up the arguement in that "Technology, as it has done through the ages, is freeing communication, and this is good news for the news. A little empathy couldn't hurt" (171). What he is trying to say is that technology is making the news better but people should not take advantage of this.

Upcoming Election

In the upcoming California election it comes down to two people, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, Jerry Brown is representing the democrat party as Meg Whitman is the republican. Nonetheless, I went to each one of these candidates websites to learn more about what they stand for and how they are different from one another. Jerry Brown said that "I have lived in California all my life, as did my parents. And like them, I have devoted a large part of my life to public service. I care deeply about California. I know its history and its governing structure" (JerryBrown.org). Jerry Brown talks about the structure of California and how he wants to lower taxes and open up new jobs for people. Moreover, on his site it says that "under Jerry Brown Californians saw their tax burden reduced by more than $16 Billion. He indexed the personal income tax, eliminated the business inventory tax and offered energy tax credits, as well as other tax-saving measures" (JerryBrown.org).

On the flipside, Meg Whitman who is the owner of Ebay, plans in "restoring the state’s economic health by creating jobs, making government more efficient, and fixing the state’s public education system" (MegWhitman.org). So, there is more of a sense of bettering the education in Whitman's perspective it looks like rather than Browns. No matter who is elected, one of them needs to get California out of debt fast.

Both candidates are against Proposition 19, which is to legalize marijuana. On the ballot for November 2, 2010, this gives Californians a chance to vote for something that could get California out of debt. Legalizing marijuana I think will bring California out of debt because of how much they will tax it. I know a lot of people are against it but I think that if they legalize it for a year or two, it could help us out financially.

Will Evolving Forms Of Journalism Be An Improvement?

Yes, indeed they will be. With the constant improvement of futuristic technology and people being more intellectually educated, society will grow which is just a few of the improvements that are positive for the media. Nowadays people often have short attention spans so they most likely are not going to read the paper. This in turn will cause newspapers to slowly diminish within this lifetime and everything else will be digital. Furthermore, as time goes on people will begin to adapt to these technological changes so that they will be caught up with the media probably clearer than HD today! David Simon, who is a Senate Committee on Commerce argues no. His main reason for arguing no is because of the internet. He believes that because anyone can access it, unprofessional people will make the news more faulty. Even though there are people out in the world that do indeed do this, I still think that educated people will ignore those fallacies on the internet and choose the appropriate source.

Are Harry Potter Books Really That Bad?

Harry Potter has been controversial for quite some time now due to its portrayal of witchcraft to young children. Rob Boston, who is extremely against the Harry Potter books because of witchcraft, believes in censorship and among other things as well. Although the books do have content that might be disturbing for some individuals, in reality it is all fiction and make believe. Furthermore, Lana A. Whited does not think that they are harmful for children to read about because she thinks that the books are positive role models for children and encourage reading and learning about new things. And why wouldn't they be? Not only do Harry Potter books present those aspects about learning, but every book! If it weren't for books there wouldn't be a spread of ideas or knowledge! There's that saying, "Read to acheive", and I really agree with those words because it's true. If kids aren't reading, they are not acheiving. So, in turn, having kids read something that is appealing and entertaining to them is a great start!

All in all, books and movies are mainly written for entertaining people, not offending or trying to manipulate people to believe a certain way. That option is completely independent depending on that individual and what he or she wants to do with their lives. People who argue against the Harry Potter books pretty much put down the first amendment and are clearly not fans of creativity. I'm no Harry Potter fan, but I respect and applaud the person who wrote the books. Without freedom of speech and people being independently open minded, the world would be a boring and less fun place!

Unit 1, Issue 1

After reading Unit 1, Issue 1 on how American Values are shaped by Mass Media it was interesting to see the different approaches that each person had to offer. Schiller argues that the ideological core of media messages remain the same and electronic media is negatively influencing our society. Carey on the other hand, says that reality is produced through communication. I agree with Carey because humans have created realities through certain values, and morals that they choose to stand by or live by. Also, I agree with Schiller's idea that money is the biggest influence on our economy. He also says that system is at risk because of this because of extortion and exploitation, meaning that anyone will do anything for money. Therefore, the values and morals of people would begin to diminish over time and the economy would be an unsafe place.

We Made It

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