Why Mass Media Advertisements Are Successful

By: Emily

With the ongoing competition of websites such as Netflix and Hulu, the TV industry went through some major changes but there's one thing that stayed relatively constant; TV is by far the most effective advertising medium. “Just Do It”, “”They’re Gr-r-r-reat!”, and “I’m Lovin’ It!”; are all popular mainstream advertising slogans that stick in the consumer's mind due to their catchy and positive components surrounding the company's product. If you think you have a great product or service and you want people to know about it, advertising is essential. With today's very prevalent media industry, advertisements makeup an extraordinary amount of media, affecting our choices subconsciously on a daily basis.

Companies rely on advertisements to market their product and increase their sales. Although costly in most situations, advertisements are a successful way to market. For instance, in 2010 Ford spent $3.9 billion on advertisements. Although it seems like a very large amount to spend on a 30 second commercial, commercials are influential whether consumers want them to be or not. Successful advertisements create positive impressions that influence consumer behaviors to purchase something over time.

If I asked you to recall your favorite commercial it would probably be something that had a strong emotional impact on you. Whether it be something that made you laugh, smile, or something heartwarming, commercials are designed to be memorable. Advertising works on various levels, and companies will try everything and anything in order to subtly manipulate consumers, making it a very effective way to promote products.

Works Cited

"Advertising: The Basics | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov." Advertising: The Basics | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov. U.S. Small Business Administration, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

Thomaselli., Rich. "Marketer of the Year: Ford Motor Co." Advertising Age Special Report

Marketer of the Year 2010 RSS. N.p., 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

Linked BA - MA Program

By: Victoria 

Image Source

The department of Communication Arts and Sciences here at MSU offers high performing undergrads a remarkable opportunity – to complete both their Bachelors and Master’s degrees in just 5 years. This is how it works: undergrads get to transfer a total of 9 credits from their 400 level classes, and count those toward their Master’s degree. So instead of completing 30 credits for the Master’s degree, undergrads only have to complete 21, which is why it is possible to complete the degree in a year. 

On Monday, the Undergraduate Communication Association held an information session for students who were interested in the linked program.

Perhaps I was slightly overenthusiastic, but I attended anyway. I am considering going to graduate school, and I wanted to know what all of my options were. Plus, there was free pizza.

I was elated to found out that the Master’s degree had two tracks. One involves a final thesis (this is the pre PhD track). This is the one that I am the most familiar with. But the other is a career track, in which you take a final examination in place of the thesis. But the speaker emphasized that even if you didn’t take the pre PhD track, it doesn’t mean that you cannot apply for a PhD if you wish to do so in the future. This came with great relief to me as even though I do want to get my Master’s degree, I’m not entirely sure if I want to get my PhD - though that is not certainly out of the realm of possibilities. 

Another advantage of this linked program is that because of the transfer of credits, students save a ton of money. Graduate students may also apply for assistantships to help pay for tuition.

Overall I’m pretty glad that I went for the information session. While I still haven’t decided which course of action to take, I now know more about my post graduate options than I did before, and it will certainly help me make an informed decision in the future.

The only thing that’s gnawing at my brain is the two schools of thought when it comes to post graduate degrees - should I do my Master’s right after my Bachelors, or should I work for a couple of years first before applying for my post grad? Many people have given me advice across the spectrum from – “getting a Master’s makes you stand out to your future employers” to “but it means that you’ve got no work experience at all, and that’s what they’re looking out for.” No matter which way you look it at, it’s pretty much a double edged sword.

It looks like I’ve still got a lot more thinking to do.

For more information on the linked program, click here.

Prompt 7: Video Game Violence (II)

By: Curtis

There has been conflicting ideas of video games being the cause of the increased violence over the years. This debate over violent video games goes back to 1976 when the game Death Race was released. It was a game where the player controls the car to hit things that resembled a stick figure. Things really hit the fan after the massacre in Columbine High School where the two shooters were both active players of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. The critics who think that violent video games are the cause of violence believe that the violent games desensitize teenagers to violence and therefore become more violent.

The people who disagree say that the current research does not cover a long period of time. They argue that researching children playing games for a couple of hours or even minutes does not resemble how that carries through in the real life. They also talked about how Japan does not seem to have this problem with violence. People also argue violent video games takes stress away and allows children to relax. Another well stated point on how violent video games does not increase the violence in the real world is that people can identify what is reality and what is fantasy. Children at the age of seven are able to identify what is fake and what is real. Being able to distinguish what is reality and what is fantasy is part of their learning.

Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A., Nobuko Ihori, Brad J. Bushman, Hannah R. Rothstein, Akiko Shibuya, Edward L. Swing, Akira Sakamoto, and Muniba Saleem. "Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review." Psychological Bulletin 136.2 (2010): 151-73. Web. 29 Oct. 2016

"Background of the Issue - Violent Video Games - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 03 June 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Is TV a dying industry?

By: Gigi

Image Source: Business Insider

From the 11 of September 1928, when the Queen's Messenger, a one-act play marked a new era as the first live drama broadcast on television. It marked an era where 87 years later Big Bang Theory a show produced by media giants CBS would have a total viewership of over a twenty million, as reported by The Wrap a digital news organization. The high ratings that were recorded last year would make it seem obvious that the TV business still has a lot of people wanting to interact with it and thus, it has room for growth. However, as reported by business insider three years ago “Nearly 5 million cable TV subscribers have gone elsewhere in the last five years. The number of cable TV-only subscribers remaining could sink below 40 million later this year, according to this data from ISI Group, an equity research firm.” These stats show that viewers are no longer tuning into the conventional Cable TV to get their daily dose of entertainment. These stats lead to the assessment that the TV industry for producers and directors is not declining however the environment in which viewers are consuming TV shows, is rapidly evolving.

Einav Gali and John Carey capture the notion of the shift of Television watching perfectly in their paper “Is TV Dead” in the paper they state “Television viewing is breaking out of the conventional box that marked our expectations for how people utilize TV. New viewing platforms and behaviors such as time shifting with the help of a DVR, streaming online via broadband and watching TV over bigger and smaller screens are all legitimate forms of viewing television content.” Here they clarify the point that the TV industry is bustling with viewers and content its just not on a conventional box set instead its on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, on laptops and cellphones. Hence a company like Netflix boasts of 83,278 paid membership subscription as of their 2016 Third Quarter Financials Statements (October 17, 2016).

Overall, the change in the TV environment has been marked by the birth of new spaces that are easy to access and thus, more convenient to watch your favorite show. It has allowed for more content to be released meaning people such as myself who dare to venture into the Television space are given more opportunities and different spaces to exhibit our work.

Works Cited

Einav, Gali, and John Carey. "Is TV Dead?." Television Quarterly 38.2 (2008): 19-24. Readers'      Guide Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Edwards, Jim. "TV Is Dying, And Here Are The Stats That Prove It." Business Insider. Business              Insider, Inc, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

"Quarterly Earnings." Netflix :. Netflix, 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

Video Reviewing on YouTube

By: Johnny

Since the fields that my group and I chose for this blog are media and communication, let's talk about one of the unique ways media can be written about and discussed. Video reviewing on YouTube is one of those technology that has gained immense popularity over the past 5 or so years, and I believe that this popularity and attention is completely well deserved.

A thumbnail of Chris's for one of his videos 
Image Source

I was introduced to video reviewing roughly 4 years ago when I came across a guy named Chris Stuckmann who posted videos onto his YouTube channel that were reviews of movies and movie trailers and pretty much all things in the entertainment industry. His videos were quite short, usually always under ten minutes, and his personality and sense of humor towards the movies and/or other topics at hand were the things that kept me coming back to his channel, to stay up to date with his videos. Chris simply talks to his camera, in front of his background that displays his hundreds of Blu-ray movies, about his thoughts and opinions regarding many different things in the entertainment industry. But mostly, his videos are just straight forward reviews of the new release movies that come out.

I feel that video reviewing on YouTube is something that is generally a new and refreshing way for the fans in the entertainment industry to communicate with one another, and to connect and relate with how they feel about a new something-or-other having to do with topics in this realm of media and technology. Chris, along with many other YouTube channels and personalities, allow us fans to all come together on a specific thing in entertainment and relate with and discuss how we all feel about this particular thing. These YouTube channels (and I'm assuming other video based website accounts) provide us common people on the internet, a place to gather and discuss the current and not so current things in the entertainment industry and how we feel towards these things, and I believe this is one of the first steps towards the future and communication online. Tubular Insights article, "5 Tips for Producing Product Review Videos That Wow" talks about the important things to consider when making video reviews.

I'd like to personally thank all of the brave people out there who take the time to make these videos and post them on the internet; because without them, people like me wouldn't have a place to go to, to relate with other people out in the world, and a place to gather all the other people’s differing opinions on these same topics. So, thank you guys!

Check out Chris's YouTube channel here!

Works Cited

Licino, Hal. "5 Tips for Producing Product Review Videos That Wow." Tubular Insights. Web. 5 Apr 2011.

My Time at a Film/Media School

By: Victoria

Before coming to MSU, I went to renowned film and media school back in my country. I won’t name it here, in an effort to protect my privacy, but the school has produced a ton of famous alumni and even a Cannes prize winner. Basically, if you lived in Singapore and wanted to work in the media industry – you’d want to go to this school.

I majored in Mass Communication and my school exposed me to all the various forms of media as much as possible. I did radio interviews, made and wrote magazines, newspapers, filmed television shows, short films, and I also tried my hand at acting. In my final year, I even got work with a real life client to come up with a marketing campaign. Not only was I exposed to the creative side of the industry, my school also made sure that we all had the academic side down pat too. I wrote a research paper (SPSS still scares me), studied media law and learnt about the business side of the media – yes, that includes cost-benefit analyses, budgeting and scheduling.

I am extremely grateful to my school for giving me such a well-rounded, and hands-on education. Looking back, they were definitely the best three years of my life (so far!), and I would never trade it for the world. Despite the many hardships I faced, I came out of it a much stronger and confident person. I went in with an idealized image of the media industry, and it definitely hit me hard when I realized it wasn’t exactly how I expected it to be. For instance, the long hours (getting up at 4a.m. in the morning to go to work, or coming home at 1a.m. from work) or the sacrifices made on my social life, was something I did not expect at age 17. But to me, the benefits totally outweigh the costs. I wholeheartedly believe in the saying that if you enjoy what you do, you don’t have to work a day in your life. 

After all, how many people can say that they have worked on a television show? 

Just a special select few.