girls vs boys *toy ad edition*

lately, i have been watching a lot of nickelodeon, a channel i never really watched when i was younger. but i did watch the kids' channel qubo. i noticed how the ads for kid audiences seem to have very similar templates and style of execution. when it comes to toys, most toys seem to be similar to the ones 7 years ago. same barbies, nerf guns, play doh, really wack electronic skateboards/ripsticks. i am also still surprised about how genders play a role in toy ads. i don't think there should be gender specified toys and i thought that idea would have died down as the years went by. but commercials for "boy toys" are still aggressive and fast paced with this male narrator (whose voice hasn't changed in the past decade) yelling. meanwhile, commercials for "girl toys" are still very pink and are usually girls singing in the background while teen girls dressed to look younger are playing with the toys.

this is an ad i've seen so much recently, and it is for "shopkins lil secret lockets". it is obvious that it is geared towards young girls because of the girls singing in the background, girls playing with the toys, and the excessive amount of the color pink. i think the producers used the need for affiliation. there were multiple lines implying that if you buy this, you're buying a new friend: a doll you can take around in a locket. "a symbol of friendship you can wear too" and "inside each locket, a teeny best friend" tells the audience that you should this toy to get new friend, which who doesn't want? i think this commercial also uses avante garde. they use words like "new" and "explore" and "so many to collect" to encourage kids to buy this because it's different and hasn't been done before. the name "lil secret" also implies that only kids with this toy would understand that the locket necklace is actually a "tiny world inside". i think these advertising tactics are obviously working because of its long-lasting success throughout the years with similar templates for similar toys.

this ad is called "nerf fest is here!" and is obviously an ad for the popular "boy toy" nerf guns. this is the same exact narrator for almost every aggressive "boy toy" commercial who is yelling the script really fast. here is the need to agress. all the different names of the guns or "blasters" are just over the top to make it sound dangerous like "twinshock", "deadbolt", "raptorstrike" and "motofury". i honestly don't know what any of that means but it just sounds like they put together two aggressive sounding words to make a name. and with each gun, they show teen guys knocking down things like walls and metal along with killing cartoon zombies. i did not expect this but this ad used the magic ingredient tactic when describing one gun's "innovative switchfire technology". they make it sound really cool but really it's just a knob where you can adjust your "firing mode". the ad's choice of sound affects is also the cherry on top. they have very intense rock instrumental with a lot of bass along with pounding and thud sound effects when adding the title of each gun. along with the shopkins ad, their strategies are clearly working to convince their audiences to buy their product. even though they used the same tactics 10 years ago, i guess they're just that effective.

vsco vomit

disclaimer: i'm not trying to make fun of the people of vsco. this is my opinion on the app and its users. let me know if i said anything offensive.

vsco: the "photo editing" app... yeah right. this app has been blowing up since late 2018 and has turn into a social media platform dominated by teenage girls. vsco is advertised as a photo editing app for "creators", which what i was using it for until i realized a lot of girls on instagram putting their vsco handle into their bios. then i found about a whole different world of media. here on vsco, everyone seems to be super happy and quirky and relatable.

i'm not saying having a positive mindset is bad, but "vsco girls" take it to another level. i always see things like "happiest girls are the prettiest" "no bad days" and "espresso makes me less depresso". as someone who has struggled with mild depressive episodes, it does not feel good when people associate beauty with emotions. also, really? no bad days? and i know for a fact coffee does not reduce depression. i know these type of phrases aren't meant to harm others, but i think they are a bit insensitive and unrealistic.

vsco couples are a whole other realm of vsco. my friend veronica and i have noticed the extreme cheesiness of these posts, and we personally find a lot of it stupid. so we made a pinterest board called vsco vom with all these posts. we find them amusing because of how unrealistic everything is.  couple posts often come in the form of snapchat text bars and text messages exchanged. now that i think about it, ALL vsco couple posts are in those two forms. also, a lot of them can't tell the difference between your and you're and that drives me insane. here are some of my favorite "um..." posts:

• "not even God can handle me" with a girl wearing sunglasses, a pink hoodie, and her juul in her mouth 
• "boys who say your name before talking to you is the BEST feeling ever" 
• "when i say ur cute ur supposed to say it back. Not just 'thanks'"
• "did you know a crush only lasts 4 months so if u like someone longer than that ur in love..."
• "she doesn't even notice but i stare at her so much"
• "your the second best girl ever...i love my momma" it's you're not your :/
• this one is a text conversation."im about to cry in mcdonalds" "b*tch embrace it. mcbreakdown" 
• "why flex ur AirPods when u can flex ur beautiful girlfriend" 

i can't really explain why this is so cringeworthy for me. i think it's because everything sounds so forced and fake to idolize a relationship or a "teenager" lifestyle. 

if you're reading this, please tell me ur opinion on vsco, i would appreciate other viewpoints of it :)

big words don't make you sound smart??? *intense*

to be honest, i think i lost a couple of brain cells reading george orwell's article politics and the enlightenment language... but i think i got an idea of what his message was. i agree with his idea that modern writing includes a lot of unnecessary metaphors, big words, and long sentences, but i probably agree to this because i am a writer who lacks fancy vocabulary and things of that sort. you can probably tell, but i'm way more comfortable with casual writing rather than "formal" writing. up until this year, i always thought that more words (and fancier ones too) are better. i always thought that longer sentences were better. this school year was the year teachers started telling us to stop "trying to sound smart" by creating long sentences and using big words, and that kinda blew my mind.

i also agree with orwell's idea that writers lose their thought when they try to use certain phraseology. i always struggle with turning my ideas into words, especially with my limited vocabulary. so the questions that orwell says to use for every sentence is helpful, "what am i trying to say? what words will express it? what image or idiom will make it clearer? is this image fresh enough to have an effect?".

in conclusion, i agree with george because he says bigger vocabulary doesn't make writing better.

ads be like...

i agree with the pbs documentary persuaders idea that we are always surrounded by ads and there's really no avoiding them. i like the analogy made in the documentary saying that ads are pesticides and consumers (us) are roaches, and we have become immune to many pesticides, leading to companies to come up with new "pesticides" or strategies.

as an avid viewer of shark tank, i feel like i already had a bit of knowledge on the idea of having a focus group for a company. this correlates to the idea of satisfying consumers. of course a perfume company would want to put their ads in beauty magazines and not sports illustrated. this seems like one of the most obvious ways to attract profit. we cannot please everyone but we definitely can please a certain group of people. 

one idea that persuaders included that i never really thought about was the idea of fantasy, lifestyle, and identity. it made me realize how many commercials i see is trying to sell a certain lifestyle rather than the product. iv'e been seeing a lot of coke ads that are just these quick random shots of people running marathons, hanging out with friends,  jumping into pools, and of course the bubbly brown soda with really upbeat trap music. and i am just like what just happened? ads like these are promoting a lifestyle that apparently comes with the product they're selling, which obviously isn't true. like am i really going to play tennis like serena williams because i have the same nikes as her? i wish lol. we now know that companies are using psychology to kinda manipulate consumers into correlating their product with a certain lifestyle or identity... but are we really thinking about psychology when we are watching tv? probably not, so i would say these companies' advertising strategies are working. 

this taco bell commercial is interesting bc it shows a guy in formal wear holding taco bell and walks straight into a pool that is actually filled with bubbles of hot sauce while people are eating at a dining table full of more taco bell. oh and the vibe-y music.

"no you're not in some alternate chalupa-verse. you're experiencing the $5 chalupas craving box..." 

same story, different words

 CNN's "She dedicated herself to covering Northern Ireland. Murdered investigative journalist 'tirelessly pursued the truth'" and Fox's "Northern Irish police arrest 2 over killing of journalist" both report the story of the murder of journalist Lyra McKee. Although both sources are supposedly telling the same story, CNN and Fox took rather different approaches on the story. CNN spent most of the article discussing McKee's successful journalism career. Towards the end is really when they started talking about her death. Overall, this article seemed like a tribute and biography for Lyra McKee rather than a reporting of what happened. Meanwhile, Fox focused on the actual story: her murder. It is almost obvious what is being told by reading the two titles. CNN used words like "dedicated" and "pursued the truth" to describe the victim. In fact, only one word out of the 14 word title indicates the main idea of the story: "Murdered". Fox does the opposite and focused on crime, using only one word to describe McKee: "journalist". CNN's focus is the victim while Fox's focus is the criminals. Here are the first sentences of each article: "Lyra McKee, the young investigative journalist shot dead during violence in Northern Ireland on Thursday, had been widely viewed as a rising star within the industry (CNN) and "Police in Northern Ireland on Saturday arrested two teenagers in connection with the fatal shooting of a journalist during rioting in the city of Londonderry" (Fox). In CNN's article, McKee is the subject and is given a positive description. The sentence structure is like McKee's success while sprinkling in her murder. Fox, like I said earlier, focused on the actual crime details. The subject of their first sentence are the police who arrested the teenagers, not the victim. Once again they refer to McKee not by her name but "journalist". Overall, it seems that CNN took a tribute approach while Fox took a crime report approach. 

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/uk/lyra-mckee-northern-ireland-gbr-intl/index.html

Fox:  https://www.foxnews.com/world/northern-irish-police-arrest-2-over-killing-of-journalist

different perspectives

my relationship with media

   as someone who was born a 4 years before the first iPhone release, i think it's safe to say i am kind of in the middle when it comes to my use of media.  i'm pretty sure spent my whole infant hood screen-free. this may sound obvious, but i was babysitting a family friend's 2 year old and all he was saying was "iPhone". the media i got as a kid was mostly vhs tapes of barney and illegally burned cd's of strawberry shortcake and max and ruby. but more importantly, i read a lot (go me). i got my first personal device when i was like in late elementary school (maybe 5th grade...i'm not sure). it was a kindle but i didn't use it for reading... my parents just didn't want to spend hundreds on an iPad. this is when i discovered youtube, but all i remember watching were toy unboxings haha. after a few years of having a kindle and soon to be elementary school graduate, in comes my first phone, the pastel yellow iPhone 5c with my gray and turquoise case. before my phone, i emailed. now looking back, emailing is so much better when it comes to not getting distracted. but texting is easier to reach someone faster.

   it's crazy to think that i only had had a phone for 3 years and how fast i have grown to be dependent on it. i spent 12 out of 15 years without a phone and now i can't even leave my room without it? now that's kinda sad. the invention of the smartphone has changed practically every aspect of my life. i remember being in elementary school waking up and getting the newspaper and flipping to the weather section to decide what i'll wear. now, while i'm still in bed, grab my phone (less then an arm's reach away), and click the weather app to check. also, who needs a camera anymore when you can just use ur iPhone x portrait mode double lens camera? nowadays, it almost seems like our smartphones are literally taking over everything we do.

   the internet and social media... i have a love/hate relationship with them. the internet has made it easier for people to be more educated because its diversity in information. with the internet comes social media platforms, the ones i use include pinterest, instagram, youtube, and snapchat. pinterest was the first social media platform i got, and is still is my favorite for one reason: the lack of societal pressure and competition. instagram, on the other hand, is arguably THE MOST TOXIC PLATFORM out there (if you don't agree, please share why). it's so demanding and the conscious or subconscious follower/like count competition is dangerous. i feel like after getting instagram and snapchat is when i felt most self-conscious about myself. especially with the snapchat filters that slimmed your face, cleared your acne, made your eyes big and blue, and added lush eyelashes.

   overall, i think media has gotten so competitive, there's no avoiding negativity at this point, but it is still very important to use media to be aware of current events and learn from other peoples' stories/experiences.

expectation vs reality