Earth Hour

Taipei 101 building before and after Earth Hour. Taipei, Tiawain

(Source: Earth Hour 2009 REUTERS/Taipei/Handout)

Earth Hour

I am sure that you all know what Earth Hour is but for those that do not I will quickly explain. Earth Hour is an hour that is more less given back to the planet every year. People and businesses from around the world are encouraged to take part in the annual tradition of turning off all personal, business, and residential lights for one hour. Earth Hour has been a tradition since 2007, hence, it is not that old. This year it took place on March 28, 2009, at 8:30pm. The aim of this particular annual occasion is to raise awareness regarding global warming.

Humans consume mass amounts of electricity and some of the time people over consume by being careless and absent minded. For example, it is not hard to switch off a light, the T.V., or any other appliances that are running and do not have to be. Thus, Earth Hour provides an opportunity to help us understand that resources, especially, electricity is not infinite and we as people need to ensure that somehow we are able to contribute to the effort of cutting our consumption.

Earth Hour is obviously a step in the right direction when it comes to cutting consumption and raising needed awareness regarding the planet. However, one hour a year just does not seem like enough. My question is: are we as westerners doing enough to cut our consumption, especially electricity, which seems to be a resource that lots of people take for granted? I do not think so. Perhaps this could be related to the fact that we as humans are quite visually oriented. A light or the T.V. that does not have to be on may seem normal and perhaps we do not pay much attention to the bigger picture. Thus, someone may think why should I shut off?

There may be no direct visual benefit of doing this. However, there is a benefit that is not seen, and that is less energy consumption, indicating less greenhouse gas emission which means a healthier and greener environment for us all to experience and enjoy. Even though this is a process that we cannot see; the benefits are all there.

Digital imagery is one way that people can perhaps understand and get a visual sense as to what benefits turning the lights off during an event like earth hour can bring. According to Struken and Cartwright, satellites are a key factor in changing perspectives on visualizing the earth and in changing our ways of circulating the images through which we understand our lives. Hence, we can satellite imagery to help us obtain a visual sense of what is happening on earth pertaining to this particular event which is amazing. Satellite technology, ideally, can help us understand the importance of one of these occasions and that various countries of the world are doing their part in cutting electrical consumption. Hence, this can cause people to want to get involved.

All About Branding

Brands are all around us in the world today. It seems like you cannot walk five steps without encountering some kind of brand, logo, or advertisement. I mean, they are everywhere. According to one my old marketing management textbooks Marketing Management: Knowledge and Skills by Peter and Donnelly a brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. In addition, branding is the process of trying to make one’s product or service different from that of a competing product or service by using the characteristics mentioned above.

According to Sturken and Cartwright the role of the brand has been central to commodity culture. Furthermore, the process of branding may include the look of the packaging, the typeface of package and ad print, and product, packaging and ad design concept and language, as well as the content and form of the product itself. Sometimes, it is a company that becomes a brand and not just the specific product.

With this being said, my question is: What attracts people to a certain brand?

To answer this question, I believe that what draws people to a brand is the association and visual insight that the consumer has with a certain brand. These associations and visual insights can be established through advertising, word-of-mouth, or any other promotional medium. This means that when a consumer sees a product they desire they immediately try to associate themselves with the name, term, design, symbol, product, or any other feature of the product. For example, I have bought a few pieces of Under Armour equipment because I was able to associate myself with the brand in the advertisements/branding efforts that I witnessed which I was quite impressed with. Essentially, it was the ad design concept that attracted me to the brand. The ad design concept according to Sturken and Cartwright is a process of branding and it caught my attention.

This concept worked for me, however, there are more ways people are attracted to certain brands. Perhaps some consumers have a particular attachment to a brand from past experiences. Or maybe once a person consumes a particular brand they like; they stay loyal to the brand. Anyway, what attracts you to a certain brand?

In addition, another thought crossed my mind in the wake of thinking about branding. Rather it is a question which is: Does the influence of certain brands change as we get older?

I think yes. When we are younger I believe that we are influenced more by brands that friends are deeming as superior and chill, thus, as a follow up we may be inclined to consume these certain brands. However, as we age and are more and more able to think for ourselves, we tend to veer away from the brands that others consider high-end. Nonetheless, the influence from others is still there but not as much. Hence, I believe that marketers realize this and will try to attract people to establish brand loyalty when they are young. In essence, it is a battle that the brand is attempting to win as it tries to hold onto your loyalty before you start swerving to other competing brands.

News or Olds?

News or Olds?

Mass media has many different ways of communicating information to us “the viewer”. According to Struken and Cartwright media is the plural form of medium which refers to the group of communications industries and technologies that together produce and spread public news, entertainment, and information. When we refer to “the media” it usually means a plurality of media forms (entertainment, film, news, radio, the web, television, etc.).

Last week I took a couple of days to study the news. Doing so, I paid attention to different mediums that the news is offered to “the viewer”. These mediums included the newspaper, television, and the web. During my little study I paid close attention to the kinds of different news stories that were explained. I found out that during the first five to ten minutes on television, the majority of the opening sections of the newspaper, and the major headlines on the web news all dealt with a common subject. This subject to me if I had to put into words would be something like a combination of depressing downbeat anecdotes of information. It seemed like at the beginning of all of these mediums were the same stories over and over. These stories ranged from violence erupting overseas in war zones, the economy crises hitting the western world, and violence happening in North America, just to mention a few.

After realizing this pattern after a couple of days of tuning in the news I asked myself “is this news?” Or is this olds? I mean, I have heard downbeat stories of unfortunate and ill-fated happens taking place concurrently one right after the other but on different days. It seemed like these downbeat stories were going in one ear and out the other. Hence, are these stories all news? There are such an extreme number discouraging stories produced by all mediums in the news that I can see why some people can experience depression while watching it. Paying attention to and thinking about the unfortunate happenings I can see could cause people to not want to watch the news.

This brings up an interesting question that stems from all this: Have we heard the same kind of information being televised on the news too many times that we just automatically hear it and then disregard it? Therefore, is the news, news? Or is news, olds? Olds, in this case, meaning stories regarding topics and subjects that we have heard over and over again.

Also, according to Struken and Cartwright, the presentation of news in different media affects our perception of it. For instance, in television news, our perceptions can be shaped by such elements as the cultural status of the newscaster, as well as by how he or she is situated on a set. I also tried to gather some perceptions of this and did not really notice anything or pay much attention to it. Therefore, my perceptions of the news did not really influence me in how I watch the news in any of the mediums that I viewed the news in. Nevertheless, does a different medium affect our perceptions of the news? For me, I have to say not really.

A closer look at the "Gaze"

This advertisement really caught my attention because it really reflects on the certain aspects of the gaze that were discussed in class. This particular advertisement is a Remy Martin ad. Remy Martin is a French brandy for those of you who are not familiar with the name. Anyway, the advertisers certainly use the gaze as a mainline marketing tool in this image. So let’s look at this image in detail:

Firstly, the woman on the left is showing signs of a gaze that could be either a gaze that is looking at the man (we will call him the “Player”) or at the other woman on the right. This is a tough distinction to make; however, I am going to say that she is looking at the woman on the right. Clearly, the woman on the left is engaging in an “Intra-diegetic” gaze due to the fact she is looking at someone else who happens to be the woman on the right. Additionally, the direction of the gaze is important here as the woman on the left displays reciprocal attention as her attention is directed to someone else who happens to be the other woman.

Secondly, the player who is engaging in a different gaze then that of the other two women. The player is obviously not looking at us in this image nor is he concentrating on another face. Conversely, he is focusing on the lips/lower jaw of the female that he is in close proximity to. Thus, the player’s gaze constitutes the “Gaze of a Bystander” because, as the audience, we are looking at the player looking at something else which is the lips/lower jaw of the woman on the right. In terms of the player’s direction of gaze; his attention is directed towards different things that the other two women are not looking at, hence, divergent attention.

Thirdly, the woman on the right is employing a gaze that looks pretty obvious as she is looking at the other woman whose face seems to be largely hidden behind the player’s head. However, this woman is gazing at the woman on the left. Therefore, she is engaging in an “Intra-diegetic” gaze with reciprocal attention because she is looking at the other woman. Nevertheless, this can be debatable as someone could argue that she is looking at the player or possibly looking at something else. One could also argue that both of these women are looking at the player. This would make the direction of gaze more object-oriented. However, that can be debated.

Now for the advertisement, both women are displaying signs of happiness in this ad. This means that Remy Martin could have the power to instill happiness in everyone who drinks it. In addition, the player seems to be a happy camper. Furthermore, the targeted audience that this advertisement targets are younger drinkers ages 21-35 both male and female. Moreover, this advertisement is trying to exhibit that if you consume this particular drink you will score just like this player is doing. In a sense this image is trying to market the experience one can have when drinking this type of alcohol. This is especially obvious in concept at the bottom that states “Things are getting interesting”.

Lastly, by the looks of it, this illustration is being advertised on a subway car door which is a smart location to promote this product. This is because you are not supposed to drink and drive. In the big cities where there are subways; lots of people that have been clubbing will take the subway as a means of transportation to possibly go home or to another club. Hence, this image should garner lots of exposure from the audience that it is intended for.

Analysis of the Rene Magritte’s “The False Mirror”

Analysis of the Rene Magritte’s “The False Mirror”

When it comes to the practice of analyzing images, taking a look at and analyzing images created by surrealist artist Rene Magritte provides opportunity to think about what they mean. In essence, Magritte uses representation in this image to create meaning about the world around us. Not only does looking at an image created by Magritte open a window of opportunity for just thinking about what the picture means, it presents a chance to visualize. One thing that is great about looking at an image like the “False Mirror” is that you can visualize and create the meaning in your mind regarding what you believe the image means. Hence, there is no right and wrong way of looking at an illustration such as this.

When I first saw this image, it really caught my attention. I took a few minutes to look at it and to consider what it really means. When studying this picture, the term that stuck out in my mind was “opportunity”. This is what I saw in this particular work of art:

Somebody is starring into nothing. What I mean by this is that this person may have a chance to do something of great importance in his or her life. However, this person somehow knows in their mind that this road in their life will lead to nothing.

Conversely, on the flip side of things this eye may be the eye of a child who has immense opportunities in his or her future. Ultimately, in this case, “The Sky is the Limit,” which means that this child has endless life opportunities to make a world of difference. Furthermore, this phrase does not strictly have to apply to a child but to anyone. Hence, I believe that this image has the power to instill motivation.

In addition, a saying that I have heard many times before stuck out to me while I was looking at this image. This saying is “the eyes are a door to the mind”. Fundamentally, due to the fact that there is a mainly clear blue sunny sky being portrayed in the eye it represents a clear mind or a clear future. Essentially, when I have a clear mind I am able to think and comprehend better, plus, I tend to not be stressed. Evidently, this could be the case for this particular individual.

Another aspect of this illustration that got my attention is the title “The False Mirror”.
When I first associated the title with the image I thought that this person is starring into a mirror that indicates that there is something false or not true about him. Perhaps this person is a hollow or shallow person that is hard on him or herself and sees that they are of no particular importance, which is false. This person could have a wide and bright imagination and character. However, what they see in the outside world could reflect what they think about themselves.

On the other hand, this person could be a highly respectable and popular human being in the world but actually be a shallow person on the inside. Essentially, there are many ways that this title can be interpreted.

In conclusion, there are many different ways that one can look at this photo and analyze what it actually means. A great thing about illustrations made by Magritte is that one can draw their own conclusions regarding what an image means to them.

Please, let me know what you think about this particular image and what it means to you. I would love to hear what you have to say about this wonderful piece of art.

Cheers.