Monday, February 20, 2012


Cynthia Magelitz
Comm 406
The Persuaders
2/20/2012
M. Larson
Consumer Bombardment

     In this documentary, "The Persuaders," all one needs to understand is that every one is the consumer and the goal to any advertising agency is to sell the product to the consumer in a pervasive and informative fashion in order for the consumer to be persuaded into buying into the hype of the product.  Everything is advertised including politics. While an individual is standing in line to pay for their goods or even pumping gas there is a form of advertising happening right before them. It is true that as consumers we are bombarded with what is the best brand ( in so many words) with images, and why it is the best brand. According to an article in Forbes magazine titled, “Unsolicited Advice Supermarkets,” over 65% of purchase decisions are made in-store and that in-store advertising represents little over 5% of marketing budget, although the article states that no solid evidence links purchases to the in-store advertising. Companies spend millions of dollars researching new products to sell to the consumer  and advertising space becomes anything and everything.
     Walk into a convent store, 7-11 for example, While an individual is standing in line to pay for their goodies a nice 52 inch flat screen is suspended from the ceiling flooding the sub-conscious mind with images of other goodies to buy in the store and messages from other outside mediums, such as; who Billy Bush is going to be talking to this evening on ‘Entertainment Tonight.’ Advertising agencies become more creative with space and how to utilize this space to get the message across and know that retailers are hungry for business will find ways to be creative in getting the message across to the the consumer. This documentary also points out the vast regions of greed, and possessiveness consumers are willing to consume for their own good and how advertising agency thinks nothing about the amount of money spent just to lure the consumer into thinking this is the best buy. 
     Advertising agencies are all about lining their own pockets and keeping their employees busy with ways of creating competitive advertisement in order to continue getting the business to keep their agency in the game of advertising.  Another question arises when watching this documentary is whether or not the companies that spend millions of dollars in advertising truly have the consumer’s best interest at heart. A product will not sell unless the consumer likes it and in order for a company to get the consumer to like the product they are pushing on the market is to promote the product as the best buy for the consumer's hard earned money and to convince the consumer that they (the advertising agency) believe enough in this product that you, the consumer, should have faith enough to try it once. “Consumers are like roaches, you spray and spray,” this quote states what the consumer sub-conscious is naive enough to believe  anything and that the more consumers are bombarded with sugary adds of any product advertised the more the consumer, or roaches, will come to consume.  As consumers, do we really understand what is happening around us or is the consumer wanting more?  Even the consumer is a walking billboard for some of their favorite products by the logos we sport on our clothes.    
     Bombardment of advertising has become a part of everyday consumer life and the more the consumer is saturated with product brand names the better it is for the company selling the product to stay in the capitalistic loop. Every well-known brand of consumer product wants to stay in business. Companies such as Apple, Protector and Gamble, Kraft, and the list can go on, use pseudo marketing which makes individuals, the consumer, feel as if they are a part of the bigger picture by buying the product therefore the consumer is made to feel that the company has their best interest at heart.
     Song Airline, a wing off the Delta Airlines family, aimed to market themselves as a company that understood the consumer personally. Unfortunately with all the money Song put into advertising did not help them stay in the air as Delta discontinued the low-fare Song when Delta filed for Chapter 11 in 2005. Song Airline was too busy worrying about being all brand, apple martinis and designer made flight attendant uniforms before it was about business.   Song lasted for two years under the Delta umbrella fighting for recognition in competition from other airline’s low fare offers such as, JetBlue and Air Tran. These other airlines  were more consistent in offering low fares and had been operating longer than Song. A strong identity is important, but is not as important to the service one is selling and one of Song’s problems was the marketing strategy as brand before service, the other main problem was Delta Airlines was not being managed properly therefore filing for bankruptcy two years after Song was introduced to air travelers looking for a product at a reasonable price.  Song marketing became too wrapped up in its logo, designing cocktails and aiming a lot of its marketing strategy towards women flyers before it actually had a business strategy to compete with the other airlines. Delta tried to stay afloat but was stifled by other competitive airlines just two years into it's introduction with their answer to competitive low-fare causing Song to crash and burn out of air travelers memories. Leaving some to say Song who?
     Unfortunately consumers cannot go anywhere without being bombarded by a form of marketing or advertising message even here on Shepherd’s campus, the billboards, cross walks, and even in the bathroom behind the stall door there is a form of advertisement promoting something. Not all advertising is bad, but the consumer is defiantly being bombarded by it on a daily basis, in which the competition is competing for the consumer’s  hard earn money. Which is what it all boils down to, money, always has been and always will be about money. Thank goodness advertising allows the consumer to make this decision for themselves when it comes to investing their money by comparing one product against the other before the consumer makes the purchase. Advertising agencies do realize that an educated consumer is the best consumer which makes the task even harder for companies promoting a product simply because the consumer is not as stupid as the promoter would like them to be therefore the advertisement must be informative, an eye catcher and believable. Once the product does become a success the consumer will continue to get bombarded with persuaders of how great one's life will be once the initial investment has been made. Soon the consumer will not be able to see the blue sky for all the advertisements in the viewing way.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I am me,, I wear no mask accept this or not!

Cynthia Magelitz
Communication 406
2/8/2012
Goffman’s dramaturgical model of social life

Every morning when I get out of bed I pray to God and ask, “God, if You have a will for my life, I need to know what it is and what to do about it.” It is this bloggers belief that each and every individual over the age of seven wants to understand their function in everyday interaction within society whether it be in school, at one’s job, even shopping in the grocery store. Who are we, and what is our role to one another and what significant importance is one’s life to someone else’s and how important is one’s life to society. In Erving Goffman’s book, “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,” examines and explains that life is a theater and the human race is its actors playing parts or roles that are or have been formed for one’s life, either by the individual through their own perspective or allowed to be formed through social mediums, such as school, work, a significant other, friends, and media advertising especially through print. How one’s life is shaped depends, this bloggers belief, is how psychologically balanced one is, the level of one’s self esteem and how comfortable one is in their own skin.
Goffman’s dramaturgical model of social life is a study that dates back into ancient history. In the later part of the twelfth century, William Shakespeare presented a play to the masses titled, “As You Like It.”  In act II, scene VII, starts with the speech, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” Like Shakespeare, Goffman presents to the masses the question of what is an individual’s role and how does each and every individual present themselves in their role as an individual in a functioning society for their audience who happens to be either their boss, co-workers, class mates, friends and so on. But just as important as questioning one’s role in the function of society is also what and who influences the behavior or the role one plays to the masses and do most individuals feel as if they are playing a role up on a stage for all the world to see or just behaving as themselves by using bits and pieces of examples into their lives as how to function as a ‘normal individual’ within society and are individuals easily shaped to what the whole of society feels an individual should perform and behave. It is a very deep subject. Each and everyone is observed. It does not matter what one is doing outside the realm of their own privacy and there is a matter of appearance and manner that has to be socially excepted while “on stage.” Once off stage one is allowed to behave as bizarre as one wants because who is watching other than God. It is this bloggers belief that social acceptance is influenced by the individuals training and their psychological perception that each and every individual is different. If the entire world is a stage and we are but mere players to life than we are looking on a daily basis for affirmation from our peers and will be influenced through this affirmation to perform better within society. Goffman feels that media advertising promotes a better chance for this affirmation in order to boost one’s self esteem and be accepted with the popular consensus of what is an acceptable performance and what is not.
 Through Goffman’s dramaturgical model of social life suggest that each and every one of us wears a mask. With each role that one plays there is a new mask to be worn because there is a new role to be played even if one is talented enough to play several roles at one time, i.e.: mother, soccer mom, and a taxi driver all in one hour. Through advertising, especially advertising aimed at women our role is to be sexy, skinny, have great hair, wear fabulous clothes, and be incredibly naive in order to be accepted as what society’s stage would have a woman’s role to be. It is this bloggers opinion that any woman that buys into what advertising says a woman’s role should be is incredibly naïve and lacks self esteem and has allowed themselves to be swayed by popular opinion as to how one should behave, dress, speak, and function in society. So I will continue to be who I am, and I will continue to ask God, whom is my stage director, what His will is for me in my performance of life and not be concerned about Goffmans theory of dramaturgical model of social life and all the psychological pressure it puts on an individual to perform at their best.