Section 5
I was blown away by the subliminal messaging/seduction advertising drive. The fact that it was deemed to be a hoax interested me because I have always heard of this concept but had never read anything about it. The idea of seeing skulls and humping donkeys flashing very quickly in and out of an alcohol commercial was very bizarre to me.
This quote also interested me a lot: "Medicine is in some ways the foundation of modern advertising." This is a very powerful statement however in the 1800's medical advertising exploded. Today medicine ads litter newspapers, magazines, the TV, and the internet. It was cheap to bottle, no one knew what was in it and due to the high alcohol content or other drug content it made people think they felt better when in fact they were just loopy.
My question is..Is there a difference between subliminal advertising and
just regular advertising? Are they not both trying to seduce the viewer/reader/etc.?

Section 6
I really enjoyed the short exert on the naming of SUV's and RV's because it's true. These vehicles are generally named ridiculous powerful names and are driven by people with a slightly enlarged ego.
My question for section 6 is...how is it possible for the largest corporations in America balancing our money and weighing our balances to have such a lack of security?

2.)
A: Twitter is a very useful communication tool but is one of many in today’s rapidly developing technological world.
B: I agree that these types of resources are useful in rapid communication especially the format in which Twitter operates.
I also agree that Twitter is a source of advertising much like any other resource such as myspace or facebook. Using these sources companies can post things all over the place based on your current status or your personal info.
I disagree with the fact that Twitter is arguably the most interesting alternative search/share tool next to Google. Google is unsurpassed because its the easiest and most widely used search engine today solely based on shear simplicity. Twitter requires accounts and can only relay information to other people with accounts and in this day and age Americans are far less responsive to resources requiring accounts and personal information than they are to free and anonymous search engines.
I also disagree that every major channel in the future will be twitterfied. There will always be people who like the old fashioned books and newspapers and there will always be the technologically superior snobs that require the latest and greatest gadgets. To say that everything will be twitterfied is ridiculous because this form of streaming information is simply a stalling tactic until they can come up with a faster more efficient method.
c: I do not use twitter so I have no affiliation with it however if I were to use it I would say that I would only use it for personal uses. I feel that professional matters should be left to more private and secure sources such as business emails, private accounts, and voicemail boxes. Twitter is a great way to check up on your friends but I would not use to it set up a business meeting.

February 23, 2010 8:33 AM

zach williams said...

5 Things from "The Merchants of Cool"

1.) The amount of money teens have at their disposal to spend.
2.) The marketing companies ploys in their attempts to be cool so as to be on the same level of coolness that the teens think they are.
3.) Aggressive powerful messages sent in advertising to teen boys and sexual beauty messages in the advertising for teen girls.
4.) Advertising companies spent $20,000 to a website based on teen trendsetters in order to find out what they should be saying/pitching in their ads.
5.) The concept of advertising has no limits now. Through teens they can put ads on clothes, shoes, signs, buses, anywhere really that teens will see it, it's there.

February 23, 2010 8:45 AM