The Persuaders

1. I never knew how much science and thought truly went into marketing. I was surprised by the elaborate and complex process to making a marketing ploy. I believed that ads and billboards were put up to simply promote a product or service and get the name out. The truth is that many focus groups and presentations are done before a final marketing scheme is done. I never thought about the words used in ads, but there is so much thought that is put into just one sentence for a marketing ploy that stimulates a consumers brain to start working. It is a science that is used to grad and pull the concumer in.
When watching these clips I realized how much I actually rely on marketing to make consumer choices. Marketing is everywhere, on the streets, computers, television. The amount of it in our lives today is incredible. I think i over look how much is put into marketing because in our time we are suffocated by it so we have become immune to it. I watch tv and marketing for products is everywhere, but it no longer bothers us. Instead we embrace it because we as consumers want to know whats the new fad or style. It has just become a new part of our life that is only going to continue to grow.

2. On the topic of the amount of advertising we see in today's world I would say there is too much. However, there needs to be this much do to our life styles and although there is a large amount of advertising we do not complain because it is a part of our lives and we welcome it. In America many people want to have the latest trends and the best cars. Because of this advertising is growing and growing. People want to know whats out there and the only way companies can do this is by putting out advertisments in the most easily accessible places for consumers. Tv, papers and the streets we live and drive on are where these advertisments go. It has become a regular part of life so it is no longer a nuisance. The companies will continue to do what they are doing because as a whole our society has embraced this culture of marketing and purchasing with open arms. A large difference between society today from 20-30 years ago is that we are bombarded with advertising so we know exactly what is out on the market and where we can get it. Also, it helps the consumer compare and contrast prices or find out exactly what they want. Before shopping and going to a store was normal. Now people know what they want and go online to find it. It has changed our lives to a more fast paced attention grabbing society.

Myth of the Image Original photo

This is the original photo. It is a corona ad, however, when i cropped out the beer and lime it seemed to be a normal image of a beach view. This shows how many things can be used to sway the actual meaning or content of an image. Many people can take images and alter them however they want to make their point. You cannot always be sure an image your a viewing is true or is being completely shown in its entirety. By simply cropping out a few pixels this images message was completely changed.

Myth of the Image

This is my cropped image, it appears to be a regular old nice tropical beach. People could use this on a website to promote a vacation or many other things.

Second Collage

This is my second collage I made the changes I could not do before, such as the background color and the arrows that no longer look terrible. I still have a lot more work to do as far as photoshop goes.

Photoshop as a media medium

Photoshop is a medium because it allows people to entend there abilities through the program. As McLuhan states new technologies are just extentions of the human body and mind. In this case photoshop is available and gives the tools for the professional all the way down to the amatuer. Anyone can use this program to alter pictures or create their own images at the click of a few buttons. It lets people get their message across in the manner in which they choose. A friend can change a picture to send to a friend for entertainment as well as professionals can use it to create images for magazines or online web pages. As a medium it can be seen as an extention of the eye and thought do to the fact that there are so many options in how any image can be displayed. It is a remarkable program that will only continue to grow in my opinion.

Improved Photoshop Collage

There are a few things I want to change in my collage that I was unable to do at first. I wanted a colored backround as well as different shapes and sizes to my pictures. Another change i wanted to make was to have better arrows and possibly color changes to those as well. The firs time through i had to draw them using a tool which was difficult to keep in staright lines. I have alot of work to do as far as photoshop goes, so the viewers of my blog must bare with me for a bit. My new collage will be up shortly, I am still making it more aesthetically pleasing.

Medium Collage

I am a novice to photoshop so my apologizes. As far as my medium goes, I selected a Blackberry. A Blackberry is an evolution to a standard cell phone. With Blackberrys people can now not only text and make calls, but send emails and be connected to the world wide web at all times. People can do simple tasks such as checking their email or even find out what the wheather is going to be by a few buttons. Although there is numerous contents for this medium I picked the Internet. This is because now one does not need to be in front of their computer to do their daily tasks and in turn saves time. The message that comes from this I believe is that with this phone more people are connected in a way that they were not before. People can talk, text, type a blog, email or even play games together in an extremly simple manner. It does not take a professional to function the phone, meaning a wide variety of people can become a part of it. It takes many machines and connects them into one extending the eye, hand and mind as McLuhan would put it.

Thank you for reading, I'll do my best to improve on my weak collage.

Media Mediums