My previous research question was how do advertisements effect peoples self-image? However after searching
for sources through the database I found that I could not really find any
articles or reviews that were about the effect advertisement has on self-image.
There were plenty articles about advertisement and about self-image, but none
that covered my specific question. Instead I have found articles about how
media and pop culture in general have effected people’s self-image. Because of
this I feel that I should modify my question from the effects from advertisements
to the effects from pop culture. I understand that by changing this are of
focus I have made my research question broader. For this reason I am going to
narrow my focus by researching the effects in young adults rather than people
in general. More specifically college students or 18 eighteen years of age to
30 years. So my question will read; how
does pop culture effect self-image among young adults?
In class we have talked about how advertisements effects
peoples view of their own body. That is why I originally wanted to focus of
advertisement, but the truth is that it is more than advertisements. All aspects
of pop culture have effects on self-image. And though some may have positive effects,
but most if not many are negative. And like I mentioned before it is not just
physical appearance, but also intellectual appearance. I believe that much of
the pop culture tries to make us the consumers and viewer feel stupid. I don’t know
if it is intentional or not but it is true. For example many people are singled
out in “memes”. People make these “memes” and many times are very rude and put
down the person or demographic pointed out. Though many times they are seen as
funny; it does not make it any less rude. I still need to get a better base of
examples to better support this topic. But this is what I have so far.
I think it was a good idea to modify your research topic. You said that it became more broad but I liked how you narrowed it down to young kids and young adults because it is at that age when young people are just figuring out their bodies and they have the most issues with the way their body looks. Popular culture especially social media makes people not good enough if they do not look a certain way. Everywhere you look you could find something that encourages you to be skinny. When you walk into a retail store do you ever see manikins that aren’t perfectly skinny? No. Do you think there is any solution or society’s body image will ever change? I think you have a good topic and you could talk a lot about the way it affects people’s self-image.
ReplyDeleteYou can also talk about how fashion magazines affect young adults and how most models look like skeletons. Of course then you’ll have to look at how modeling companies have been moving towards having a required minimum weight so they don’t have skeletons representing them. You can also look at how people are starting to just accept insulting commercials as well as insulting memes and rude people on the internet.
ReplyDeletePicking specific examples like physical appearance and intellectual appearance are great examples. Ironic how a commercial will insult the potential buyer and it stimulates a the person to buy the product. If you could include examples you would do great. Like the DeBeers diamond print commercials. Guy can be a jerk and everything is forgiven with a diamond ring or earrings etc. There were commercials making fun of people waiting outside apple stores for new apple iphones and it was posted by a competitor I think it was Samsung for the new Galaxy phone model.
ReplyDeleteThe really old as seen on TV ads where it seemed the challenge was to spend very little on writing and producing the ad so they could pay for more commercial time. The result was repetitive and annoying ads, example "Apply directly to the forehead!" ad for HEADON!.
I was going to describe infomercials, how they worked because they wear you down. But I found this while googling examples. This is a really good post by a college professor. So it is posted below.
Glen Brodowsky, Marketing Professor
As a marketing professor, I love commercials. The ones listed in the post that offend people the most are perhaps the most effective. They have broken through all the clutter and gotten your attention - exactly as they are designed to do.
To me, the most brilliant of all ads are infomercials. I have done a study on these and they all follow a particular format that moves the viewer through the entire decision making process from awareness through purchase to avoiding post purchase regrets with money back guarantees.
I encourage my students to analyze how brilliantly these ads understand - and then affect consumer behavior -- to get them to "ACT NOW WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!"
Do they work? If they didn't, they wouldn't be on the air. Advertising - and media in general - mirror rather than create consumer society. Of course, like everyone else, I often find looking in the mirror to be uncomfortable because it points out things I would rather ignore (like a few pounds or my own baser instincts). That's why we are so offended by what we might see in ads.
Ads are not powerful enough to create society - just smart enough to understand our human weaknesses and tendencies and profit through that understanding.
Hopefully, making my students take a closer look at how advertising works helps them to understand what is going on and to make better decisions as consumers.
In the meantime, if you like what I have written, and respond within the next 20 minutes, I will double your value by posting again - free of charge of course, but you might have to pay shipping and handling.
Written 26 Mar, 2013.
Picking specific examples like physical appearance and intellectual appearance are great examples. Ironic how a commercial will insult the potential buyer and it stimulates a the person to buy the product. If you could include examples you would do great. Like the DeBeers diamond print commercials. Guy can be a jerk and everything is forgiven with a diamond ring or earrings etc. There were commercials making fun of people waiting outside apple stores for new apple iphones and it was posted by a competitor I think it was Samsung for the new Galaxy phone model.
ReplyDeleteThe really old as seen on TV ads where it seemed the challenge was to spend very little on writing and producing the ad so they could pay for more commercial time. The result was repetitive and annoying ads, example "Apply directly to the forehead!" ad for HEADON!.
I was going to describe infomercials, how they worked because they wear you down. But I found this while googling examples. This is a really good post by a college professor. So it is posted below.
Glen Brodowsky, Marketing Professor
As a marketing professor, I love commercials. The ones listed in the post that offend people the most are perhaps the most effective. They have broken through all the clutter and gotten your attention - exactly as they are designed to do.
To me, the most brilliant of all ads are infomercials. I have done a study on these and they all follow a particular format that moves the viewer through the entire decision making process from awareness through purchase to avoiding post purchase regrets with money back guarantees.
I encourage my students to analyze how brilliantly these ads understand - and then affect consumer behavior -- to get them to "ACT NOW WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!"
Do they work? If they didn't, they wouldn't be on the air. Advertising - and media in general - mirror rather than create consumer society. Of course, like everyone else, I often find looking in the mirror to be uncomfortable because it points out things I would rather ignore (like a few pounds or my own baser instincts). That's why we are so offended by what we might see in ads.
Ads are not powerful enough to create society - just smart enough to understand our human weaknesses and tendencies and profit through that understanding.
Hopefully, making my students take a closer look at how advertising works helps them to understand what is going on and to make better decisions as consumers.
In the meantime, if you like what I have written, and respond within the next 20 minutes, I will double your value by posting again - free of charge of course, but you might have to pay shipping and handling.
Written 26 Mar, 2013.
You have narrowed down your research question really well. It still fits the criteria, it's logical and well-focused. Society is impacted immensely by popular culture in a self-image aspect. It is in songs, magazines, television shows, movies, etc. In our society we have different body types, which is fine, but it isn't what is seen on the media. You either have to be model skinny, athletic and you also can't have cellulite or stretch marks. You can research things such as, what is the ideal body type? or the ideal women/men? Then, you can compare to the actual society around us.
ReplyDeleteYou said the age of 18 as in young college students but will you also focus on the 18 year olds in highschool. They focus more on image and many things of their looks which I find a good focus to go on as well or a little side note. Also you should write your own definitionssniff thoughts on self-image.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of negative views on self image & society is made to believe that you have to be a certain way to fit in. I think you should also focus on the positive & show which companies are trying to step away from the negativity. I believe its Lane Bryant who have plus size models & are trying to focus on women of all sizes are beautiful. You could talk about that.
ReplyDeleteIt might be easier to narrow your research topic not by age group but maybe by the component of pop culture instead, like television or the internet. I think a lot of people whose self-image is impacted might be over 30, like a lot of moms. Especially since there are people like Jennifer Aniston who has looked 25 for the last 30 years.
ReplyDelete