Chapter 6 The Emergence of New Consumer Patterns (not covered in class)

A Case Study of the Cigarette

            In the 1920’s the United States became the first consumer society with the development of installment buying, the marketing of the automobile, and the start of national tastes through movies and radio. – And again in the 1950s with such things as rapid family income, two car ownership and the emergence of advertising on television.  There were more brands purchases, products became more standard when produced for mass audiences and they become more easy to use.

Moreover, in the 1920s was also known as the women and cigarette movement.  Women were the biggest consumers of not only cigarettes, but all products at the time. So whenever a company was advertising they were making sure to appeal towards women. Although, cigarette companies were advertising to appeal to women, advertising did not create smoking. Smoking got big so then they started advertising more. Even though, women were purchasing cigarettes in many cases during that time it was not socially acceptable for women to smoke. They were even being banned from smoking period at certain places such as college campuses and in railroad cars.  Eventually, that all passed by, but the popularity and selling of cigarettes never got old.  Cigarette companies continued to appeal towards women and use the sex appeal of women to appeal towards men. It was not until 1971 that cigarette ads were banned from television.

Ch.5 Uneasy Persuasion (not covered in class)

In chapter 5 the Historical Roots of Consumer Culture it deals with mainly the intro to manufacturing and the history of consumer goods. The main manufacturing company in the late 1800’s was the Quaker Oats company. They were the first huge business to start manufacturing, selling, distributing, and advertising their product. During this time agencies started buying up yearly advertising spaces in newspapers and would eventually sell these spaces to companies to advertise their product. Shortly after this time period is when fashion became more prominent and name brands became more important to the buying customers.

Furthermore, when first opening a business the chapter also discusses how it is more important to getting to know your customer rather than selling your products. The more you get to know your customer the more they will want to buy off of you in the future. It just so happened that during this time (early 1900’s) the main consumer of all products were females. For this reason the advertising industry started focusing their marketing schemes towards women.

Social Theories in Binge Drinking

1. Exposure- Providing information about health risks involved in alcohol abuse or binging; ie, DUI, STD’s, and fatalities.

2. Attention- Peer presenters provide a commonality with the student population, he/she is my age and can grasp that I am on their level.

3. Likeability- I do not want to face these negative consequences. I want to change my life.

4. Comprehension- Learn the difference between drinking socially and alcohol abuse.

5. Skill Acquisition- Learning new behaviors to help me change unhealthy drinking habits; ie- working out at the gym, attending non alcoholic social events such as the movies.

6. Yielding- accepting the message- If I continue to drink too much my life is going to be out of control. I need to change my drinking habits.

7. Memory- Keeping what I have learned fresh in my mind; example, picture on the fridge (DUI crash).

8. Information Search and Retrieval- Keep new information of topic coming in and revisit the program in the spring to make sure it is on track and working.

9. Decision- Take action, continue to make progress to achieve a healthier way of living. Offer students an alternative to drinking; ie, sports, hiking, school events, movie nights.

10. Performance- Adapting to behavior, hang out with people who drink responsible or leave if any situation starts getting out of control.

11. Reinforcement- Continue being positive. What advantages and rewards have you gaining from this experience; ie, calculate all the money you have been saving from drinking less.

12. Post Behavior Consolidation- Take in all the information you have learned and make it a part of your life. Reward yourself with all that money that you have saved.

Social Theories in Binge Drinking

1. Exposure- Providing information about health risks involved in alcohol abuse or binging; ie, DUI, STD’s, and fatalities.

2. Attention- Peer presenters provide a commonality with the student population, he/she is my age and can grasp that I am on their level.

3. Likeability- I do not want to face these negative consequences. I want to change my life.

4. Comprehension- Learn the difference between drinking socially and alcohol abuse.

5. Skill Acquisition- Learning new behaviors to help me change unhealthy drinking habits; ie- working out at the gym, attending non alcoholic social events such as the movies.

6. Yielding- accepting the message- If I continue to drink too much my life is going to be out of control. I need to change my drinking habits.

7. Memory- Keeping what I have learned fresh in my mind; example, picture on the fridge (DUI crash).

8. Information Search and Retrieval- Keep new information of topic coming in and revisit the program in the spring to make sure it is on track and working.

9. Decision- Take action, continue to make progress to achieve a healthier way of living. Offer students an alternative to drinking; ie, sports, hiking, school events, movie nights.

10. Performance- Adapting to behavior, hang out with people who drink responsible or leave if any situation starts getting out of control.

11. Reinforcement- Continue being positive. What advantages and rewards have you gaining from this experience; ie, calculate all the money you have been saving from drinking less.

12. Post Behavior Consolidation- Take in all the information you have learned and make it a part of your life. Reward yourself with all that money that you have saved.

Social Theories in Behavioral Change in Life

When I was 21 years old I decided to move out to
California. By turning 21 and moving across the country for me meant to transform into complete party mode.  Due to the social variables which were made up of this party atmosphere and the friends that I hung out with, I started going out and drinking just about every night. Even though it was an extremely exciting two years of my life I started realizing that I was not getting much accomplished. I went from going to college full time and playing college basketball to moving out there and dropping out of college. I was not exercising as much and gained about 30 pounds from all the drinking. In addition I was always broke and knew in the back of my mind there needed to be a change. I believe that the reason why I was partying so much was because this was what all the friends that I met out there were doing.  After those two years I took myself away from those social variables which were such a major distraction to me and moving back home. I still love going out and having fun but make sure I have a more balance schedule with work and play. With less social distractions I have been able to accomplish what I set out to.

Introduction to Uneasy Persuasion

The intro to the book Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion starts off by mentioning how the majority of people who watch television do not actually watch the commercials or if they do pay attention to them. In fact, the intro states, “less than 25 percent of a television audience can remember an ad that they saw on television the day before.” Mostly television commercials are thought of as an interruption. I personally know people that mute all commercials do to this circumstance. In fact, the biggest watchers of commercials are the people who make them. In order to change this, advertisers need to get to know who they are advertising to. This is one reason that the book will discuss the role of advertising in shaping American values and patters of life and how promotional culture can be understood.

Video on Teen Image

The film shown today in class was very intriguing and really persuaded me to think that teenagers literally run today’s economy. In this day in age this world is all about marketing and a major part of marketing is the image that these companies put forth. This is a stubborn generation and image is everything. It is all about being “cool” and that is what teenagers today respond to. The video explained that sprite has obviously been an enormous company but has really blown up and continues to get bigger since they decided to market teenagers with a hip hop image. Corporations such as Sprite and MTV started realizing in order to market teenagers they really have to get to know them first. With hip hop and music in general being such a main focus of children it is no wonder there are so many commercials out there with this theme involved. MTV’s show Total Request Live or (TRL as many kids know it) has been one of the most popular teenybopper shows in the last few years. The reason for this is because it is on as soon as these kids are getting out of school and they get to vote themselves on which videos that they want on the top ten every week. This means that they hear what they want when they want. This show continued to grow since most teens are into to the same type of main street music, and still continues to grow until this day.

Furthermore, the reason kids are so stubborn in today’s world is because their parents let them get that way. If parents do not have enough time to spend with their children then they will feel guilty and give them money to spend on whatever they want. If these teens are simply getting money from their parents then it do not realize or care what it is worth. They see something and they want it no matter what it cost. This is exactly why large corporations want to target teenagers.

In addition to targeting teenagers companies are also targeting the sex of teenagers. With young teens it is all about SEX, looking sexy, acting sexy, just simply being sexy. This is what teenage girls want to be and who teenage boys want to be with. If you take a look around at teenagers in today’s age you will see it is undeniable true that sex sells. It is all over television, radio, internet, magazine ads, and is always getting not only teenagers attention but everyone’s attention.

In closing with teenagers being such an enormous part of today’s marketing helps beg the question; does media influence teens, or do teens influence the media? In either case the two are working together to consist of one hell of a marketing tool.

Article Related to Class “Shortened”

While discussing in class how women are more targeted then men reminded me of a magazine ad of the new Camel cigarette pack featuring a pink camel.  You can bet that this sexy new ad is targeted torwards femals.

Article related to class

While reading Emilios article in how men are also targeted it reminded me of an article i read in Muscle Fitness magazine. The article was about Cell Tech a lifting supplement which i have used before so I know a little about it. In the picture they showed a very muscular man and a shot of him before and after using Cell Tech.  The man in the before picture looked like a totally different person and unbeleivably more mucular.  This supplement did in fact work for me but it did not make me more tan with veins popping out of my head.  I was thinking the only way that a man can change is with a couple cycles of steriods not one jar of Cell Tech.

Article related to class

In class we were discussing how women are targeted in media advertisments more then males are.  This reminded me of an ad in a magizine that i saw on Camel cigerretts and how it was indeed targeted at females.  This new Camel cigerrett box is all black with the camel in the middle of the box being pink.  I know now a days some guys out there are starting to wear pink shirts, but i can bet that this new sexy Camel box is targeted with femals in mind.