.The Language of Advertising Claims

1. The Weasel Claim



2. The Unfinished Claim


3. The "We're Different and Unique" Claim



4. The "Water is Wet" Claim



5. The "So What" Claim



6. The Vague Claim



7. The Endorsement or Testimonial



8. The Scientific or Statistical Claim



9. The "Compliment the Consumer" Claim



10. The Rhetorical Question

Reading Media Photographs

• Nonverbal: In this photo, Justin Trudeau is holding a microphone with one hand.  He's holding out his other hand as if he's explaining something.  His fingers are outstretched will his arms remain close to his body.  Trudeau is purposely holding the microphone with just one hand so he can use the other to try and connect with his audience.  He keeps his arms nice and close as his he's speaking so that he seems to be explaining something logical rather than it seeming like he's out of control and flailing his arms around.
• Facial Expressions: He's looking up and out at the audience and making eye contact. His facial expression is serious while holding a subtle smile on his face.  He's making eye contact to both literally and figuratively connect with his audience.  He's smiling to remind others of his kindness.  He's looking up at the audience so they feel like he's looking up to them while really it's the other way around.
• Body Language: There's not much I can say about body language because he's giving a speech and there's no one near him to judge the distance he keeps from people and everyone listening in the background has been blurred out so we can't analyze the code matching.
• People: All other people besides Justin Trudeau are blurred out.  However, he is a white male in his forties.
• Clothing: The clothes that he is wearing is professional but not overly formal.  This is to make him seem of a greater power yet still approachable and humane.
• Background: The background is blurred out to focus (haha) on Justin.  Although it's blurred, you can still tell that the seats behind him are packed.  Also, there's a light coming in from the side that looks "heavenly." This may be suggesting that those above us approve of him as well. Also, his wedding ring is huge and very noticeable.  having this prominent is suggesting that he is very loyal to his wife and therefore going to be loyal to his country as well.
• Camera Angle: The camera angle is below eye level.  This is so that the audience will look up at Justin therefore creating a feeling of literally looking up to him as a leader.

Appealing to Your Audience

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For this assignment I chose to analyze a Pathos Advertisement.

The speaker of this advertisement is a very wise voice. Who it is in particular is up to the audience's perception.  The voice is someone that the viewer looks up to for advice and trusts their ability to make good decisions.

The intended audience of this advertisement is parents and anyone who works with young children.  It's especially targeted towards anyone who doesn't watch their mouth around kids and sometimes lets it get out of control.

I know the above audience is the intended audience because it shows a child being "punched" by someone's words.  Generally, verbal abuse comes from someone who's close with or always around the child. Therefore, if their is abuse, it's probably from the legal guardian or the temporary care-takers.

Hopefully the audience of this advertisement will be influenced emotionally and change their ways if needed.  The creator of this advertisement used a child weeping to really capture the pain (s)he was trying to convey.  After seeing this, viewers who weren't aware of what they may be doing have probably changed their ways and now think before they speak.

deconstructing an advertisement

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Step 1

• The only person in this ad is a white male child about the age of 1.  This baby has is wearing a "pouty face" and semi-formal clothes that're generally worn by business men.  He's rolling up his sleeves to make it seem like he's in charge.
• The camera angle is at eye-level.
• The lighting used in this ad seems to be artificial lighting created in a studio.The skin of the child is highlighted as well as the background behind him. There are some small shadows on the lower parts of the baby, suggesting the lighting is coming from above him.
• The main colour used is blue and it's tough to find any other colour in the ad.  The blue isn't necessarily bright but the light blue of the background starkly contrasts the dark blue of his shirt to make him stand out.
• A very plain font is shown to write the only text (found in the upper left corner). It's not very big but it's easy to find because the ad is clean.

Step 2

• Huggies baby wipes are the product.
• I don't personally find this appealing because I thankfully don't have kids right at the moment.
• The target audience for this ad are parents that have young children still in diapers.
• The ad is portraying that your kid rules your life now and it can be quite the hassle is they get upset.  It probably will work on parents because they don't want to do any harm to their children.  And by using this product, they believe their children will be happy and healthy.

Step 3

• The assumption made in this ad is that children are difficult to deal with and can be quite the hassle.  This assumption is mostly true. However, the level of difficulty can range with time or the child itself.  The only play on gender roles would be that men are generally the boss in businesses. Which reinforces gender stereotypes.
• Again, they used a white baby and stated he's the new boss.  The racial stereotype that usually white people run the world is definitely enforced.
• This ad also sorta plays on the fact that rich people are never happy and always want more.  Definitely reinforces another stereotype but I can't tell you if it's true because I'm far from rich.

Step 4

• A short term consequence could be that your child is allergic to this product and causes more irritation than it was supposed to relieve.  I mean, there aren't really any long term effects (unless if you consider that 40 years from now we find out we all slowly poisoned our children overtime and a huge outbreak occurs.  But that's very unlikely).
• The message in this ad isn't for social change because it used so many old stereotypes, but I wouldn't say they were necessarily against it either.
• Yes, this ad is socially responsible.  Unless you look deeply into it (like we just have) it is very innocent and merely trying to get parents to buy this product for their kids.  In fact, if what they're saying is true, they'll help to keep children happy and healthy.
• If you think of yourself as a citizen rather than a consumer, you'll likely think higher of yourself.  Citizens are part of a group while still being able to be an individual.  However, if you consider yourself to be a consumer, you're generalizing yourself.  Making you fall into a category with numerous others.  Citizens can make change rather than consumers because they are able to bring together all of their individual knowledge and work together.

VAPID

Voice:
The voice that is speaking in this ad is a creditable person that the viewer looks up to about life decisions.  The voice is trying to give good advice rather than sell their product.
Audience:
This ad would be shown on posters in doctors' offices and other places you can go for health related issues and support.  The audience is directed towards smokers. Specifically, it targets smokers who are also parents.  The ad takes advantage of the love the audience has for their children in order to help them quit.
Purpose:
The apparent purpose of the ad is to help smokers quit their habit but the real purpose of the ad is to have more people subscribe to the company offering the help.  However, it never actually offers help.  The ad minimizes cigarettes and shows the negative affects they all have in store.
Idea:
The central idea of the ad is to spread awareness of how addictive habits can take over your life.  The ad is rational.  It appeals to both emotion and reason.  Out of the "Seven Deadly Sins" the ad appeals to gluttony.  The ad does not try to go "above and beyond" to prove its point yet it's still effective through general claims that are true.
Devices:
The overall design of the ad is clear and quiet.  The attention ploy used in this ad is the use of colour. The only colour used in this ad is on the crayons.  These inanimate objects are the center piece, reminding the audience of their higher priorities.  This ad is not trying to sell anything and therefore doesn't have a product in the photo.  However, it does have a message, "Do you want them to take after everything you do? Quit today."  These are the only words (besides what's written on the cigarette box) in the entire ad.  There is no fine print.  The message is clearly stated.  It implies that smoking will take over and has already done so.  But yet connotatively, it wants the audience to quit.

A Checklist for Analyzing Images

1. The design of this image is stark and clear.  Overall, it's quite quiet except for the main part of the photo (which is the cellphone that's spurting blood with a short message afterwards).  This part is the only place that any distinct colour can be found.

2. The part of this advertisement that immediately gets my attention is the cellphone spurting blood.  This is because it's emphasized by the stark change of colour.  It's not necessarily large, but it takes up a great amount of the space.  Also, the moment you notice it, you can't stop staring at it because of the horror of the blood.

3. The audience is particularly aimed towards young couples.  But, it can be effective towards anyone who cares dearly about someone.  This advertisement warns people of the effects that distracted driving holds.

4. This advertisement may seek to shock some of its audience because of the brutality involved.  It tugs at the emotions we have stored for someone very dear to us and reminds us to use precautions. It gives us a reality check for some of the ridiculous things people all around us do daily.

5. This advertisement makes it seem like our character is good but ignorant of the consequences.  It makes us rethink our decisions and hopefully help prevent certain deaths.  We don't feel pity for the woman in the photo, but we empathize with her remembering other stories we've heard of or been a part of.

6. The image of this advertisement does most of the work.  However, for those who don't understand it immediately, the spurting blood leads to the message, "Don't talk while he drives."  This message is sure to get through to all viewers.

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The Blog That Was Supposed to be an Essay

The advertisement I chose to analyze was an Audi commercial.

1. The audience for this advertisement was both feminists and meninists across America.  I felt there was a strong gender rivalry throughout the ad.  It was essentially about the 2016 USA federal election so the audience also has to be able to vote (over the age of 18).  Also the two main actors were white so it's fair to say their audience is mostly aimed at Caucasian citizens (because really it was the white people who voted in the wrong president).

2. I'd say this is a populist advertisement because it applied to majority of USA citizens.  It was saying it's worth it to fight for what you believe in (or who you believe in). Every of age citizen has the right to vote.  Whether they were voting for Trump or Hillary, they was someone in there fighting for your candidate. (Thus making it a populist ad).

3. To be honest I don't know specifics about the car they were selling, but I didn't need that knowledge to understand this ad.  All you need is the freaking news channel and know about the (at the time) up-coming presidential debates.  This will help you understand the meaning because the ad isn't about fighting over a car- it's about fighting for the president you want.

4. This advertisement can manipulate you into buying this vehicle if you feel strongly towards a certain candidate or even if you aren't American and believe voting is important.  It can make you think that simply by buying this car, you're a better citizen and working to help your country and defend your beliefs.

5. This advertisement is actually about the USA presidential campaign that happened last fall.  The ad came out shortly before it was time to vote.  At the beginning, it shows a messy floor with vote 2016 pins on the floor.  Some were red and some were blue.  Everything in the room had been destroyed from a fight between two people who were fighting over who should be the driver.  At the end it said choose your driver (of your country) wisely.  Also, this ad tells us that American culture can be destructive at times.  And I'll tel ya, it was certainly a blood bath after the election.

Propaganda's Influences on Us

For starters, you cannot deny that propaganda is found everywhere in our daily lives. Every single day, it shapes our decisions and our thoughts on countries and people all around the world.  Our class just finished watching a documentary about North Korea.  The documentary was supposed to show us both sides and let us decide who is telling the truth.  We see negative things in the news about North Korea all the time, but could all of it be true?  After watching the documentary I felt that we've been brainwashed.  However I felt it was this way for both parties.  I felt that everything was a lie; that there wasn't one piece of truth in any of it.  When they were showing the ways of North Korean people it seemed to be as if they were part of a dystopia that they believed was a utopia.  It showed children about the age of 5 singing songs that had been well practiced about how much they love their leader and how he takes care of them.  Do they even know who they'r singing about?  There were times when I felt each person they filmed had no way of coming up with their own thoughts because they'd been told what to believe for so long.  But then this made me think is that how some people think of us?  That we are just pieces in this one big lie? Maybe there is something we are all missing or maybe there is no truth.

We Made Films (AKA Disasters)

Our films were an awful dread at first.  But in the end we got to laugh at the horrific acting.

By far the biggest challenge was trying to figure out the schedule; when is everyone going to film?  It was so difficult because we had limited time where every student had to simultaneously create a movie AND BE IN MULTIPLE OTHERS.

I'm sure you can see the issue.

I figured that the funniest thing about the movies was going to be the acting rather than the plot.  For the most part, this prediction turned out to be true.  But also I'm sure the audience would laugh at merely the idea of my film: Cinderella as a cyborg.

The best part about my film was the end piece.  Yes, it was a complete disaster but I 'll be able to laugh about it hopefully for years.  I've shown a few people already and they thought it was hilarious.

The editing wasn't too difficult because I was fairly familiar with iMovie but I will admit that it was time consuming.

I would attach my movie to this but there are already enough awful things that are just taking up space on the internet.

Thoughts on Excel

So the Excel assignments were the least exciting thing we've done this semester. No surprise.

Anyways, I do sort of think that it's beneficial because one day we're going to have to grow up, buy a house and pay taxes or some shit.  I'm planning on keeping some of the sheets just so I can know what I'm doing in a couple of years.  However, the chances that I can actually find them when I need them are slim to none.

In conclusion, we completed them and now they're over with until they're essential in our lives.

Hopefully these few lessons will keep us away from major debt and living on the streets in the next decade.

My Thoughts on Weebly

If I needed to create my own website, I'd use Weebly.  Right away I felt like I was already familiar to the way it was set up; it didn't take long before I had my own website.

Now here's the thing- I DON'T NEED MY OWN WEBSITE RIGHT NOW.

I feel like my website is a bit lame due to the fact of anonymity.  Is my name Merciful Mango, is it Jane?  Anyways, I feel like this will be something very helpful in the possibly near future when I actually need to create my own website.

One thing that I like is it keeps track of how many people viewed my site.  As of right now I know all of the views are from myself but I'm hoping that'll change once I add the link to this.

http://jovialjane.weebly.com/

My Experience with Moovly

Honestly, at first I thought it was awful.
I felt like a 4th grader could make a better presentation using PowerPoint.
It seemed very boring.  Once I found out we could use transitions and animations, it became a bit better.  I found the layout seemed a bit childish but I suppose that fit the subject since my moov was about Mario Kart.
At first the layout seemed foreign but it wasn't too long before I realized pretty much everything is controlled by the section at the bottom.
To be quite honest, I probably won't use Moovly to make presentations for anything other than computers class.  However, if you know a 4th grader who's hoping to up their PowerPoint game, tell them to click the link below.

https://www.moovly.com/platform/#project/view/8c68b743-96c2-0439

Piracy: Good or Bad?

If you were to ask one of my parents this question, they would say it's most certainly bad.

They are right.

They are wrong.

Piracy is obviously bad for the producer of the product that's being pirated.  It's this perspective that majority of middle aged adults see because they are not interested in be consumers.  Most pirating sites are aimed towards attracting young customers.  They rake in a large profit because the young generation is able to keep up with common interests in movies,  TV shows, and music while paying nothing.
Sounds great eh?  Being among these young people I can assure you I support piracy companies.  It used to be a huge deal trying to decide what songs and movies to buy because each one was so goddamn expensive.  Quickly, pirating sites gained tonnes of popularity.

However there's an issue.  When products are pirated no money gets back to the producer.  When pirating gets put of control, even super popular movies don't make much profit.

So what to do?  We only have two options and neither one is very appealing; poorly made media, and not being able to enjoy all of the well-made products because they're far too expensive.

Piracy is quite the paradox.

We'll have to fall somewhere in the middle and just hope that our rich friends actually pay for movies and music more than we do.

You see, before entering this ICT class, I was informed that we would be doing many things including creating our own blogs.  Honestly, making a blog was what I was looking forward to the most.  It's only the second day of the semester and we've already created our blogs.  I'm hoping that having this blog will help me to share my ideas and thoughts with my other classmates and ultimately the world.  Perhaps I will continue to blog after this class but it's plausible that I won't identify as a mango.
Later in the semester we will also be working with some digital film making.  Particularly, I'm looking forward to creating short stop-motion films.  I haven't attempted anything along these lines since elementary school.  I predict the most hilarious part of these films will be everyone dusting off their skills to create their first movie.
This class will benefit us all because technology is quickly advancing and becoming more evident in our daily lives.