Saturday, September 14, 2013

Reading and Discussion Four


“But advertising's influence is subtle. Strident calls to action are easily discounted and rejected because they are obvious. But engaging and memorable ads slip ideas past our defenses and seed memories that influence our behavior.”

After reading this article, many things stood out to me. I selected this quote because it summarizes the main ideas of the article. It is so interesting to me to read how advertising truly works. I found myself very intrigued after reading this because it seems so correct! Seldom do we see an advertisement and run to the nearest store to purchase it. Think about it though, how often do you remember a funny commercial? How many celebrities can you remember from those Pepsi ads? I am 22 years old and still remember how excited I was when Britney Spears was singing “ba ba ba ba ba, Pepsi-Cola.” I was never the biggest Pepsi fan, but look at the effect that this commercial had on me. Like many other advertisements, it slipped into my memory and will probably never fade away.





This Chevy commercial gets me laughing every time! It has so many powerful techniques that definitely help to capture a very large audience. It has humor throughout the whole commercial. It also has music that will make everyone tune in. Along with catch phrases such as, “Dave didn’t drive the longest lasting most dependable truck on the road. Dave drove a Ford.” Also, take a look at the timing. This was created as a Super Bowl commercial, months after the world was predicted to end. Maybe it is just the Chevy fan in me, but this is great advertisement!

What reasons for teaching media literacy resonate with you? Why?             
I feel that teaching media literacy is very important in today’s world for many reasons. One statement from the article really struck a chord with me: “Some see media literacy as a tool to build relevance into contemporary education, building links between the classroom and the culture.” This is how I feel. Our culture is being shaped by the media, and it is important to understand and be able to interpret it. This would be quite the struggle if an individual never learned how to do these things until they were an adult. If educators could take a few minutes every day to teach media literacy skills, then children would be able to dissect the media and understand good and bad advertisement. Children today spend so much time around media, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing if they could actually “understand” it?

Why is media production important for teaching media literacy? What are the challenges?
I feel that these two topics go hand-in-hand. It is a wonderful thing for students to be able to create media productions. This is helping them to get involved with today’s culture. In order for them to do this though, media literacy must be taught. Students must understand how the media works before they create their own.
Challenges will include what was described in the article as “product over process.” Students may look at the requirements for the media production and instantly think about the final product, forgetting about important media literacy skills. We must take these productions one step at a time. Educators must focus more on the process of creating media instead of focusing on the final product as much.

How did the deconstruction and creation of a magazine cover address the 4 key concepts of media literacy programs? Give specific examples.
Core #1: All Media Are Constructed. By creating our own magazine cover, we used a step-by-step process to individually construct our own products. We created messages that we wanted to get across to the public.
Core #2: Messages are representations of the world. When we deconstructed the magazine articles, we saw important messages about how society is today. We saw how fitness is a very important factor in males. Also, when we created our own magazine covers, we selected messages of how we wish the world could be, by challenging today’s society.  
Core #3: Messages have economic and political purposes and contexts. In recognizing the purposes for the magazines that we deconstructed, we saw how the headlines tried to capture political aspects. Also, economically the magazine was sponsoring Arnold’s new movie, in hopes that the box office reports would increase. On another note, all magazines are created very carefully in order to capture the largest audience possible.
Core #4: Individuals create meaning in media messages through interpretation. As I commented on one of my peers magazine deconstructions, I covered core #4. I read the deconstruction, interpreted their meaning, and then compared and contrasted it with what I took from the magazine.

Explore the Common Core Standards and find three standards that media literacy would help you address in your content area or interest.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.7 Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.


Sources:
adpressive. (2012, December). Chevy runs deep 2012 end of the world super bowl commercial. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-bTsx0d_Zc 
  
Hobbs, R. (2011). Teaching media literacy: Yo! Are you hip with this? Retrieved from       http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/teaching-media-literacy-yo-are-you-hip
    

Hollis, N. (2011, August 31). Why good advertising works (even when you think it doesn't) . Retrieved     from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-good-advertising-works- even-when-you-think-it-doesnt/244252/

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