Media, Culture & Society

This article from the New York Times details efforts by tv networks to keep the viewer engaged during commercials and to get them to put down the remote control. This includes adding short skits or trivia quizzes in between commercials to give the audience something to look foward to. The article also speaks about the many new devices viewers will be watching the new fall line up from and how big broadcasters are catering to that since its “what the people want”

Unilever, who makes Skippy peanut butter among other things, has vowed to quit the use of models and actors in their campaigns that promote an unhealthy ideal body image.  We have discussed in class the negative effects, such as eating disorders, that can arise from all of the super-slim actresses we see in the media.  This is an example of one company trying to do what they can to combat body image issues among Americans. 

This afternoon, National Public Radio (NPR) began a series of feature stories on the future of the advertising industry. Here’s a link to the first installment of this series.

That NPR–the nation’s non-commercial, public service broadcaster–would devote this much airtime to advertising is revealing in and of itself. That said, this is a helpful and illuminating profile of ‘the state of the art’ when it comes to advertising strategies and techniques in the digital era.

I know this isn’t my topic, but I still felt it was pretty interesting article to read because it not only has to do with product placement and commercialization, but also hit TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and ER. A few small medical firms landed a deal with the show’s producers where the shows actors will use some of these company’s equipment on the show in exchange for a monetary payment (obviously). The article states that it is so economical for the companies to do this because they probably would not be able to afford a full 30 second spot on the show. Its a short article, and its right here

Many of you might have noticed significant price-drops in plasma, flat-panel, and LCD TVs in the last few months. Turns out, you have Wal-Mart to thank; they slashed prices in half on their flat panel TVs to less than $1000 last November causing an uproar in the consumer electronics industry. The move left stores like Circuit City, h.h. greg, Best Buy, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, Rex Stores and other electronics retailers to shut down (in some cases) nearly half of all their retail stores. Stock prices and profits plummeted for these stores, employees were laid off, and Wal-Mart just got more popular. Talk about busting the competition’s gonads. All these retailers were forced to follow suit in at least some sort of similar fashion, but if the trend continues, will Wal-Mart finally take over the world?

I’m not one to complain at all about lower prices on luxury items (though, I still can’t afford a flat-panel), but it just seems pretty bold to try and essentially take over an industry which only makes up about 2,000 square feet of your 80,000 sq. ft. stores.

Wal-Mart’s official line? “We want to be your low-price leader in the industry.”

Read about it here

We talk often about the ubiquity of Internet in modern society, and the day has finally come… Internet access built into your car. By the end of Spring 2007, Ford plans to “have a hands-free cell phone gizmo” built into at least a dozen models of cars that will enable the driver to control their MP3 player with voice commands. The “gizmo” (called Ford Sync and operated by Microsoft’s Auto operating system) has big plans in the future (a future as early as 2008)–the ability to add Wi-Fi to your vehicle through a router plugged into the cigarette lighter, possibility of supplying real-time weather and traffic reports from information relayed by your windshield wipers or headlights, and so on. The convergence of these two industry giants is a big step–especially since Ford reported significant decreases in sales in some of their most popular models since this time last year.

What might this technology do to the net neutrality debate? Can you imagine having a credit card reader installed in your car so you could pay to have your email read to you while you’re driving? What happens to privacy? Is information about your driving shared with local police forces? And if we can make the car a moving internet hotspot, why can’t we do something about fuel efficiency or alternative fuels?

Read the article here

The media giant Clear Channel has been in the process of a buyout since at least November of last year and has plans to close the deal sometime this year. Private investors (also known as equity investors) originally offered a deal to Clear Channel shareholders to purchase their shares at $38 each. The private investors would also assume about $8 Billion in debt in the deal. Recently however, the buyout vote has been moved back to May 8 with the proposition of an added “sweetener”–an extra dollar per share. The original bid was $18.7 Billion minus the $8 Billion in debt, however, with the sweetener, the current bid has jumped to $19.35 Billion.

Clear Channel stock closed at $36.23 on the NYSE last Thursday, a drop of almost $0.50 per share. The private investors are obviously speculators, but they are highly interested in the potential for big returns with the company.

Check out an article here

and here as well

In recent years, bottled water has become a type of status symbol in the United States–much the same way a cup of swill from StarBucks has been over the years. The up-and-coming bistros in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles have long subscribed to importing Perrier, Evian, Santa Lucia, and other European brands of bottled water to offer their customers the highest quality–quality that is termed “the snob factor.” However, because of the intensive production process and carbon-based shipping methods, these bistros are now looking at a less expensive, more environmentally friendly beverage: tap water–filtered and carbonated on-site. Global warming conscious consumers are increasingly more concerned about the health of the environment over the “snob factor” of their water. Does this mean Perrier will disappear from the US market? Probably not. But industry leaders like Coke, Pepsi, and Poland Spring are expressing interest in stepping up their domestic production and acquiring smaller domestic producers of bottled water. Perhaps now would be a good time to invest in Brita and PUR?

Read the article here

This is a song by the hip-hop artist Nas. His newest album, Hip-Hop Is Dead, is his first with the label DefJam. He switched to DefJam from Sony because it aligned more with his views of what music should be and where it should be headed. Many of the tracks on this album boldly state his issues with the music industry and the consequences of commercialization on an art form such as hip-hop, which was created to serve as a voice for a marginalized group of society. Unfortunately, as Nas also seems to understand, corporate influences have resulted in the disappearance of this voice. What was once hip-hop artists portraying their views and the views of their society–views which were not commonly heard or given recognition–has now become a very formulaic and engineered “art” geared at advertising and self-promotion. Notice, artists like Nas, who put forth a critique of such aspects of the media and the industry, are not commonly granted air time and or being given the big name awards. I assure you, this is not a result of the quality of his music. After all, is “Shake Your Money Maker” what you would consider grammy worthy? Granted, it’s fun, BUT GRAMMY WORTHY? I think not. Anyway, here are the lyrics to the song Nas’s album is titled after, Hip-Hop Is Dead.

I have always been a litlte bit bothered by the fact that every holiday involves (Yeah right! Requires.) some sort of gift exchange. Granted, I enjoy getting and giving gifts as much as the next guy, but I know that spontaneous gifts are the best to give and receive (Guys, go ask your girlfriends, they’ll agree with me.) With that said, the necessity to tie holidays–most of which are religious in origin–to gift giving is entirely unneccesary. So, why do we feel so pressured to BUY things on these holiday? Commercial interests have shaped us into believing this is necessary over time. I haven’t conducted any great amount of research into this, but just think about it. Why else would Valentine’s Day exist? Anyway, here is a guy who seems to have similar frustrations with me in regard to the commercialization of Easter. If nothing else, he makes some good points and it will probably evoke a laugh at some point. MORE OVERRATED THAN PEEPS