The Roarin' Radio 20's

The mass appeal of the celebrity was helpful to the radio world of the 1920’s, ensuring it’s sponsors a means to advertise and helping Broadcast Companies transition from the sounds of radio to the sights of television.

Celebrities, the stars of Hollywood now have global appeal reaching out their opinions (and products) to the worldwide audience who attentively listens and follows suite.  The individual celebrity holds a significant amount of power, thusly when their opinion is given out masses follow in suite; as seen by the Ugg-boot and Twitter trends.  Celebrities are groomed for mass appeal, or to a specific type of audience, by creating an individual who is so appealing companies can sell their product or their values to that audience and take it further, take for example Miley Cyrus.  Miley Cyrus began her career on the Disney Channel television show Hannah Montana. She was young, cute-sy and had a style geared toward the Disney audience, thusly Disney could sell her products, after winning over the heart of girls with Hannah Montana Disney took Miley further than the television screen and on a countrywide tour.

Through the radio broadcast of the 1920’s celebrities were created and used by advertisers and by broadcasting companies.  Celebrities, such as seen in this Wednesday’s lecture with the celebrity of the 1920’s- Jack Benny.  In the video clip below the writers of the script cleverly drop the name Tandum bicycle into the scenario Benny encountered, a company, which I guess, sponsored the show.  Jack Benny was a name known to many Americans, thusly many trusted his judgment whether it was what soap to buy or which cigarette to smoke, and advertisers used this to their advantage.  The celebrity creation stemming from the radio in the 1920’s increased audience listeners and the appeal of certain shows.  The creation of radio celebrities also helped bridge the transition for Broadcasting Companies from radio to television.  How could a company ensure that they would have an audience’s attention?  Keep the same celebrities and give them their own television show.



Jack Benny's Television Show

Link to the Radio show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqUjciB0Q80

Priming in the Media...

Priming in the Media

Priming is the means by which advertisers or other companies in the media try to persuade the audience towards their own goals, by evoking emotions or memories related to a particular image.

Priming is the method by which the media grooms the audience by stimulating one idea related to others.  By unleashing certain media clips or images a connection is made between the audience, the certain media clip, and a related thought for the audience member.   In releasing certain media clips the audience’s emotions can be triggered either negatively or positively.

In the advertisement I chose the creators of this intended to gather the pathos of their audience by making the trees similar to the twin towers from the September 11^th attacks in New York City.  Nearly every American has some relationship with the towers or can remember exactly where they were when they found out the towers had fallen.  By evoking a sense of empathy felt by the audience in the past, the advertisers want that same sense carried over to the trees they are trying to save.

Food for Thought...

The Taco Bell advertisement “Hands off the Buns” clearly accomplishes the concept of hegemony by framing their idea to an audience, that sex appeal is instantly given by eating their product, and changing how they react and act to consuming their food.

 

By framing media with techniques such as biased information or even the particular diction a distributor of media can control the viewpoint of an audience easily. The “gatekeepers” of the media will often frame stories or advertisements by using flashy titles or taking photographs out of context in order to implement their opinion on an audience member.  By influencing the viewers gatekeepers of the media implement their wanted beliefs and messages.

In the Taco Bell advertisement a woman is objectified with nothing on and a suggestive expression across her face.  The near-nakedness of the woman in combination with the random rabbits captures most viewer’s attention for various reasons perhaps the best technique that this particular advertiser was designing the catch phrase to be centered across the woman’s body.  The double entendre for the catch phrase of the slogan suggests that by keeping ones “hands off the Buns!” and eating tacos one is also reaching a certain level of sex appeal.  By framing the tacos from Taco Bell as something sexual and suggestive the company implements in the mind of their viewer that the number of tacos one eats is directly proportional to ascetic sexual appeal, thusly go forth and eat a fourth meal!