website I chose to analyze is Popsugar. The primary rhetorical purpose of this website is to inform, but also to alter perception. The controlling idea or thesis is to keep viewers aware of what is occurring within popular culture and perhaps change the way the audience thinks about a subject. The website is separated by celebrities, fashion, fitness, beauty, love, moms, living, career, food, Latina, news and video. By separating the website into these categories, the website makes their purpose evident. It is significant that the website is split into different areas because all the areas consist of what is "popular" in each category. The website can then approach each category with stories and opinions that target the audience’s perceptions. …show more content…
A common strategy that I found was the use of identification. All the articles included in the website form a sense of identification with the audience before introducing their topic. The website assumes its target audience is young women and appeals to the shared values of most young women in the opening of each article. By relating to the audience's preferences and experiences, the articles and website increase the chances of a positive audience reaction. If the audience feels as though they can identify with the author or subject of the articles, the audience will be more open to the acceptance of the intended message. Another language strategy that is used in many areas of the website is depiction. By using highly descriptive language the audience gains attention and interest in the subject almost automatically. Since many of the articles on this website include informative and opinionated information, using colorful language enhances the quality of the articles. If the author intends for the audience to read the entire article, it is important to include captivating language so that the author does not lose the attention of the reader. I think Popsugar effectively uses identification and depiction to engulf the audience's attention and increase audience …show more content…
There is a significant amount of bright bold colors used throughout the website. Since the target audience is young women, there is a large use of pink. The website effectively uses color to create a sense of identification with the younger, mostly female, audience. The website also has very clean lines and is well-organized which is perceived as structured and appeals to a higher-end audience. Popsugar uses their aesthetic appeal to young women to create a virtual experience of the audience feeling included and invited in the site, which increases audience participation. The website is more difficult to evaluate on truth grounds because most of the articles include a lot of opinion and biases. I do not think you can assess this site on truth grounds, because the amount of opinion used obscures the truthfulness or completeness that can be found from the site. Using an immense amount of opinion takes away from the ability of the article to give a complete account regarding certain controversial topics. Furthermore, the issue of differing perceptions or beliefs about each topic makes it difficult to account for and control audience reaction. Ethically, I think the site is well-intentioned and seeks to address shared values. Although some articles within the site may be less ethical because of how the content is presented, ultimately, the site does not
As May approaches, many students, teachers, and parents prepare for graduation ceremonies. This time is often used for reflection upon all the accomplishments of those involved. Google, a world-renowned search engine has been using this reflection mentality in a multitude of its commercials. In 2011, the company released a commercial promoting its internet browser, Google Chrome (Nudd). This commercial, “Dear Sophie Lee,” was one of Google’s first, and it became an instant classic (Nudd). It was part of a string of advertisements centered upon the Chrome browser (Nudd). For her thesis paper, Ms.Vanessa To of Ryerson University compared a few of the Google commercials based on their likes and comments on YouTube. Her analysis showed people were more than ten times more likely to have a positive reaction to the video than a negative one (To). Google Chrome’s “Dear Sophie Lee” advertisement adeptly conveys its company’s message: “The web is what you make of it.”
... role in the process of critical thinking, how imagery whether through television, billboards, books or magazines has a profound impact on how we view the world and that we have been bombarded with images, whether positive or negative, to a point where we become oblivious to the underlying messages these images are conveying to us. They suggest that images define who we are and what we do, for example, a beautiful model wearing a designer pair of shoes in a magazine conveys to us that we too can be a beautiful, confident woman if only we had those shoes. Another example, on the negative slope of imagery is an advertisement for alcohol or cigarettes, these advertisements are designed to sell, and we are willing to buy. The editors make it clear that we need to be subjective when viewing these images, to go beyond the immediate and look for the underlying message.
Celebrity blogs typically provide great insight into the three important theoretical perspectives in sociology. This paper will analyze the data obtained from five selected celebrity gossip blogs, such as Celebitchy, Yahoo Celebrity, The Huffington Post, Time, and SheKnows. The analysis will be based on the theoretical perspectives of celebrity gossip, particularly conflict theory. For instance, it will address the inequalities that exist in the gossip blogs based on race, gender, class, or sexual inequalities. Additionally, it will identify the interests of those served by the blogs as well as those who get exploited or suffer as a result of the publication of the blogs.
Baran, Stanley J., and Dennis K. Davis. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1995. Print.
It is evident that in society how the media is playing a major role in influencing the formation of gender stereotypes in the minds of children and adults. Effortlessly a person might come across a TV show or an article which is targeted toward a specific race and ethnicity by depicting stereotypes of others. While surfing the internet, I came across an article on a blog known as Elite Daily. Elite Daily is known as a sexist blog targeted towards young men. The site used gender stereotypes in order to put men on a pedestal. Many of their published articles are based on stereotypes such as men love sports and sex, while women love to sit home and clean. The article I am particularly referring to is called “Things Every 20-something needs to Realize” which was published early august 2013. This specific article is identical to many on articles on Elite Daily that is designed to exalt men and degrade women. The article was written in order to bring awareness to 20 year olds about how they should approach life. It was unfunny, judgmental and hateful. The article was so banal and misogynistic that its approval surprised many. The article had quotes such as “Ladies: your teeth are for chewing, and we don’t like to be chewed...........if you can get her into bed before date 3, then you’ll get bored with her by week 2” (p2). The article was clearly stereotypically developed by a male in order to influence the perception of the reader. While I was in search of a similar but different article to the latter I came across an article called “The Top 10 Things I (Apparently) Still Need To Remind Myself at 30 Years of Age” on a blog known as 20 something’s. 20 nothings is a feminine blog designed to uplift women by giving them daily advices to ...
Have you ever looked through a magazine and found it to be really interesting? That is because you are part of its target audience. You are part of a group of people that the magazine is trying to appeal to. There is a reason Sports Illustrated is more of a man’s magazine and Family Circle is more of a woman’s magazine. The people that run that magazine put certain things in those magazines to attract their audience. More commonly, men are interested in sports and anything to do with sports. In Sports Illustrated, the reader would find sports, and that is it. The reader would not find an article titled “How working women balance their careers and home lives.” An article such as that would be found in a magazine like Family Circle, as it is targeted more towards women who have a family. For the purpose of this audience visual analysis, I will be discussing the October 8th, 2012 issue of People magazine. Looking at this issue and reading through the magazine, it is evident that the publishers do have a target audience in mind. This visual analysis will discuss who its target audience is and how the reader can tell. Also, the essay will discuss how the magazine makes the advertisements relevant to its audience.
In conclusion, both producers and consumers of media deserve some responsibility in how social media and magazines have impacted people and the way they perceive themselves. The changes that these two types of media bring upon people can be both beneficial as well as detrimental. In order to live happy and fulfilling lives, people must know that creators of social media and magazines intents were for them to be good and helpful and that not everything that is shared and shown in the media is real. Therefore, the blame of negativity doesn’t solely lie on the producers of the media; it is also in the hands of the people, the consumers. As magazines and social networks become more prevalent in today’s society, images and information are constantly being shared while people will continue to evolve.
The media play an indispensable role in modern life, and are considered amongst the most powerful and inaccurate sources of social information, education and entertainment. Our mass media is an electronic (TV, film, video, videogames, internet) visually dominated media with print (newspaper, magazine)...
Everywhere we look we see advertisements, commercials, news reports, who seem to influence our daily lives. Media we would not normally think of can also affect us. For example, the mere mention of Red Lobster in Beyoncé’s song “Formation” boosted their overall sales while the song was on the charts. Chapter one of the Dines and Humez text covered perception of the audience, study of culture and media, and how the media is “multiperspectival” (Dines and Humez).
Social Media is the 21st Century way of sending and receiving information the quickest way possible. It is also a gateway into a highly sexualized world, which allows exposure to any age. K. M. Scott is a world renowned published author who has discussed finding on how the world we live in today is very much considered sexualized due to media content. Anyone is able t...
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bordo’s thesis can be shown in many common examples of modern media and advertising. For example in the animated television show The Simpsons, creator and writer Matt Groening uses satire as a means of addressing these stereotypes of gender and race through exaggeration of certain distinguishable traits and personalities of characters. Yet simultaneously, the stereotypes that are reinforced by some members of the show are then unexpectedly broken by others to show the viewer how much the media can alter one’s own opinion.
With the growth of magazine popularity, both online and in print, youth around the world are exposed to the ideas of gender expression, identities, and roles. However, with society’s influence, the spread of heteronormative, cisgender, and white ideals has been placed as top priority. After examining men’s fashion magazine, Gentlemen Quarterly, I discovered that much of their magazine revolved around the typical wealthy, white, straight, and able-bodied male. Despite their attempts to branch out to other minority groups, they are unsuccessful in breaking out of their classic audience. GQ’s website is built to automatically draw their viewers into articles, flashing large pictures and headlines immediately into their audience’s face.
On Instagram, a photo-based social media site, highly popular pages showcase, and therefore market, photographs of food to their followers. “If you can get through the Vogue.com holiday dessert roundup—featuring this salted caramel apple pie and more—without your mouth watering,” - states the Vogue Magazine Instagram feed, “then you 're one step ahead of us.” Although the audience is only looking at a photograph, the language used as a caption contributes to an idea that the caramel apple pie is delicious, in-demand, and a must-have. In other words, to be normal and to be able to fit in is to find the apple pie enticing. The caption leaves no space for personal preferences because it makes the public assumption that all will enjoy this apple pie. Although this particular example comes from a more traditional source, Vogue Magazine, there is a vast number of self-made “celebrities” on the Internet who have gained a mass following. Although magazines and businesses often try selling a product online, online celebrities are selling themselves online. In a constant quest for a large following and more engaged audience members, online celebrities resort to sharing posts and photos that would appeal to the largest number of audience members. They reinforce existing ideas by both sharing the ideas, and by modeling what “normal” ideas are for
The evolution of media, from old media to new media, has transformed the way we understand the world around us. New media is interactive and is user-generated while old media is a more traditional way of communicating through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, etc (Lecture Notes. January 12, 2011). New media gives us a new perspective by allowing us to interact with one another through the Internet. Media has become much more personal and diverse as user-generated content becomes more prominent in our lives (Lecture Notes. January 24, 2011). We are exposed to various viewpoints shape our understanding and knowledge of the social world, but does the form of media actually affect the way we understand the content which is presented to us? For my paper, I will determine whether or not the medium is the message by analyzing two different types of media sources and how they affect our understanding of the content. For my old media source I have chosen a news clip from the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric that deals with the ongoing Egyptian uprising. For my new media source I have chosen a video blog, or ‘vlog’, by an Egyptian man named Omar who discusses the crisis in Egypt from a personal point of view. Both media sources deal with the same topic, but result in different understandings of the crisis.