More handpicked essays just for you.
The effect of TV advertisements on consumer behavior
Impact of mass media and advertisement on consumers
The effect of TV advertisements on consumer behavior
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The author Richard S. Tedlow in his article, “Intellect on Television: The Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s”, sheds light on his examination of the problems inherent in commercial broadcasting, especially as they relate to the television quiz scandals of the late 1950s. The author begins his article with the events of June 1955 when $64,000 Question made its debut on the CBS television network. According to the author, the radio had been exploiting the American’s interest for facts with contests and games since the mid-1930s. Moreover, small amounts of cash or donation were given away in different formats. The specialty about Question was that even the loser got a Cadillac as a consolation prize. The format of the show was very simple, contestant …show more content…
was selected by the producers, then the participant choose an area of interest to which he/she answered questions in an increasing order of difficulty. The values of the questions ranged from $64 to $64,000. The contestant had the option to quit before succeeding to the next plateau. However, if he/she continue and miss, they will loose all their money earned leaving them with the Cadillac. The questions were deposited in the vault of the Manufactures Trust Company and was brought into the studio by a bank official along with two guards. The contestant returned for the quiz every week rather than completing it in one go. This time was provided to the contestant to prepare and think about his/her decision of continuing the show. As the stakes increased, participants were asked to enter a glass-enclosed booth for isolation to avoid unwanted hints from the audience. The author mention how in a short span the show was a hit, by September, around 55 million viewers saw the Richard S. McCutchen, a 28-year-old Marine captain, became the first to win the grand prize. The author then mentions the difference in the types and difficulty of questions for an average folk when compared to McCutchen, moreover, the author assumes it was done to increase the demand for the show. In few months, Questions developed a huge consumption community, for non-idealogical, democratic and rapidly shifting groups of the twentieth-century. The movie theater business declined, stores and streets were vacant, as many people spent their most of the time at home watching the show. Every participant’s life of this show prospered, some contested were approached for public relations work or for movies. On the other hand, the creator of Questions, Louis Cowan became the president of CBS-TV. In March of 1955, the show was sold to Revlon, which used the success and popularity of the show as a medium of advertising their products. The author then talks about the increment in sales of several products and one product was sold out nationwide. The author then sheds light on the efforts of the Revlon Companies vice president in charge of advertisement and the drastic increase in net sales. The author provides detail about a new show, 21, launched by another firm of independent program packers, Barry, and Enright, Inc.
The basic idea was similar with some difference, like the presence of two contestants for competing for each other and the no limit on their winnings. Barry and Enright leased the show to Pharmacueticals, Inc. and they used it as a platform for advertising their products, the first show aired on October 12, 1956. The quiz show 21 did not match the ratings of Questions, however, it competed for another successful and popular show. The author highlights one of the 21 contestants who became a symbol of the nation of the profitability, Charles Van Doren. Moreover, the author briefs about his intellectual family chain. Van Doren defeated the impoverished champion, Herbert Stempel, after three times of tough tie match on December 5, 1956. Van Doren’s victory in the quiz show brought him greater rewards than his ancestors. The author then provides detail about the fame and popularity Van Doren received, thousands of people from around the world thanked him through the letters he received. Little services which he had to pay, from his $4,400 salary annually as an English instructor in Columbia, were donated complimentary by the shop keepers. He received numerous job offers from several different colleges, he was given the title of Doctor without his Ph.D. On the other hand, rumors arose about the fixing of the quiz show. By the end of 1956, many articles published mentioning about the control exercise performed by the sponsors, eliminating the unpopular one and saving the popular
one. The author describes the arguments and question arose, he also discloses that the contestants were very disappointed by the attitudes of the sponsors. While Herbert Stempel had a mixed motive. Firstly, he blackmailed the producers for money, however, he failed. According to the author, Stempel was forced to portray himself as a person with a very poor background of Brooklyn, which was not true. He was asked to dress low quality and old dresses to convince the audience. In 1957, Stempel tried to remove the blindfolds from the nation’s eyes, but he failed. However, in August 1957, a show known as Datto was accused of being fixed, it was then Stempel was able to make his accusation public. The investigation was lead by the New York County District Attorney Frank Hogan. The author briefly describes the process of investigation and the cover-up attempts by the producer. He further mentions about the grand jury sealing the presentment for some unclear reasons. However, the Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee was firm in getting to the core of this matter. It was October 6, Stempel was able to narrate the whole story in the public hearing. The author describes every detail of the process how the producers managed to fool the world. The producers were testified to the fix, however, Van Doren refused to accusations. Despite hiring a lawyer and trying to cover up the reckoning days of Van Doren were near and he gave a confession, which was considered as pathetic by the author, he justified that the producers manipulated him to do the show and he tried to quit but he couldn’t succeed. After Van Doren’s testimony, an investigation was going on the fix of the $64,000 Questions, although details differed from the 21 case. This infuriated the public, Van Doren was fired from his job, although, many students protested not to remove an excellent teacher in Columbia. However, Columbia felt that Van Doren had violated the moral laws by misrepresenting the education. As per the article, many average Americans were sympathetic towards Van Doren. The author then provides detail of the dilemma the average Americans were facing. The quiz shows excited many, however, it was mere a platform for increasing the sale production and they succeeded in their motive. The author is seen mentioning about the comparison of the earlier days when radio was raising with the television. He also specifies about the defense done by the CBS president, Frank Stanton, he defends the quiz show $64,000 Questions, stating that it was for the public's interest. On the other hand, the author highlights the presidential election of 1960, how the arguments arose for this matter. The author also talks about the technological advances and elaborates the expansion of the mass communication, radio, and television, from 1854 to 1950s. The businessmen realized that mass media was a powerful tool to lure customer and increase the sales. Lastly, the author summons up his article by mentioning the critics says that the television is a powerful medium but is misused. The author Tedlow talks about how the lack of direction of American broadcasting has never overcome. For this part, the industry usually ignores.
Good evening and welcome to The History of Television. On tonight’s show we will focus on how and
To begin with, defining the term deviant behaviors is in order to understand the issues concerning reality shows. “The definition of deviant means to be diverse from what is considered to be morally correct or common” (Deviant. (n.d.). In other words, a person cannot act socially correct/ normal in character. “The next term to consider is behaviors meaning the manner of how one conducts themselves” (Behavior.
One of the greatest captivators of public interest in the 1950s was the emerging quiz game show on television. The public, naively trustful, fell in love with television game shows. People found them to be new, exciting, and similar to the captivating radio quiz shows so popular before television's advent. Some game shows were developed primarily for laughs, while others were played for prizes or large sums of money. These game shows were so popular that at their peak, twenty-two of them were concurrently on the air. They varied in format from the basic question and answer type to the naming of popular musical tunes. Public familiarity with the general structure of the quizzes, coupled with the strikingly high stakes, precipitated extreme interest in these shows, and led to the unbelievable popularity of successful returning contestants (Anderson, 9). Virtually everyone with a television set in their home tuned in weekly to their favorite game shows in the interest of seeing the contestants, with whom they identified more and more as the weeks went by, succeed in the quiz games. The popularity of quiz games was staggering. In August of 1955 approximately 32 million television sets and 47,560,000 viewers, almost one third of the nation, tuned in to see The $64,000 Question (Anderson, 8).
Political movies and television shows being developed in the 21st Century have immensely grown in popularity, often focusing on various scandals in the government or other historic events. The popular television show called Scandal, takes the viewers on a journey through various events that can occur in the White House on a daily basis. Olivia Pope, a former White House Communications Director for the White House, has created a crisis management firms with a handful of associates who call themselves “gladiators”. Since serious matters of any kind concerning the government or political figures can occur at any moment, Olivia and her associates work together to protect public images from having their reputations harmed. Whenever there is a moment of crisis, Olivia Pope is just a call away from solving your problems in a moments notice.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
Television was not merely entertainment. It was a teacher, offering lessons in what was acceptable
White collar crime is a term created by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 that refers to crimes committed by people of higher social status, companies, and the government according to the book “White-Collar Crime in a Nutshell” by Ellen Podgor and Jerold Israel. White collar crimes are usually non-violent crimes committed in order to have a financial-gain (Podgor and Israel 3). A very well known white collar crime that has even been taught in many history classes is the Watergate scandal. This is a white collar crime that was committed by government authorities. Watergate was a crime that shocked the nation.
Ethics have been the principles that shape individual lives in modern society. It is a subjective idea that seems to have a standard in society. Ethics and morals are the major factors that guide individuals to make right and wrong choices. Something that is morally right to one person might be the very opposite of what another person will view as right. There are many factors that can trigger a change in an individual’s view of morality. These factors might be personal and self-centred, while others might be for the “general good”. In the 1994 movie, “Quiz Show” by Robert Redford, Charles Van Doren, a university professor from a very respectable family is faced with a decision that goes against his ethics and morals. Herb Stempel also faces difficult ethical decisions from the producers of the show, Twenty-One, just like Charles Van Doren, which could have affected his whole life. Richard Goodwin also had his own view of morality and his views did not change throughout the movie. Robert Redford in the movie Quiz Show shows that ethics play a decisive role when individuals respond to competing demands.
The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The three main innovators were Niplow - who first developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern in 1884, Zworykin - who developed the Iconoscope which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals (a primitive form of the Cathode Ray Tube) in 1923, and lastly Fansworth - who demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to transmit an electrical image in 1927. (Rollo, 2011) However, one of the many reasons why this medium was successful in the 50s was due to the fact that it became more accessible to the public. Television sets were more affordable to middle class citizens which created further interest in the new technology. Through an historical account of the medium, the spread of television across America throughout this particular decade will be examined.
The name “Watergate” is a term to describe a difficult web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974. This word refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. On June 17, 1972, the “Watergate Burglars” broke into the Democratic Party’s National Committee offices.
The Watergate Scandal The Watergate scandal involved a number of illegal activities that were designed to help President Richard Nixon win re-election. The scandal involved burglary, wiretapping, campaign financing violations, and the use of government agencies to harm political opponents. A major part of the scandal was also the cover-up of all these illegal actions. “Watergate, however, differed from most previous political scandals because personal greed apparently did not play an important role. Instead, Watergate attacked one of the chief features of democracy – free and open elections” (Worldbook 1).
When the television was first invented, everyone wanted one. The first presidential election debate on television was with Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Television started airing media such as shows, commercials, educational programs and the daily news. The first televised game show was called, “Truth or Consequences". A person could be entertained by being able to watch sports on the television rather than having to attend a game or having to go to the theater to see a movie. Television also helped companies advertise their products with commercials to increase their profits.
On May 9, 1961, Newton Minow delivered a compelling speech during the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington DC. He argued that television was more than just a source of entertainment and served a different purpose in American culture. Minow’s speech, “Television and the Public Interest,” is still highly debated today. Some individual’s claim that the purpose of television is to entertain while others believe that it is a medium for educational purposes to portray cultural and political messages. However, people think that television is a vehicle for both of these purposes. As the chairman of the FCC, Minow had the power to regulate television content to assure that is was appropriate to air, specifically educational programs.
Lately, the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill. Who could blame them, there is nothing better than a story out of the ordinary, especially one with presidential status. For the past months he has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen. Talk about 'Primary Colors' and 'Wag the Dog.' What has gotten to me the most however, were the constant flow of Republicans, along with a few Democrats, who just want to say how shocked and embarrassed they are along with the people of the United States.The president had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of conversation and debate 'twenty-four seven.' The people, who I think were most affected by this crisis and feel very sad for, are the Republicans, since they had lost severe amount of sleep over the president's bedroom crisis. They had to perform their republican duties by shocking our brains with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. We had to ignore the rest of the world news and its issues while they plough through the valley of lies, abuse of power and something they called high crimes and misdemeanors.
Television has always been an industry whose profit has always been gained through ads. But in chapter 2 of Jason Mittell’s book, Television and American Culture, Mittell argues that the rise of the profit-driven advertising television model can be traced back through American television history, and that the rise of the profit-driven advertising model of television actually helped to mold American culture both from a historical standpoint and from a social standpoint.