Group Six Blog Post Assignment

This Dolce and Gabbana advertisement consists of two people entangled within black satin sheets. This woman is holding the sheet to cover herself because it seems as though she doesn't have any clothes on. She has blonde curly hair and by most people, she would be considered attractive. She seems to be staring off into space. The man is laying next to her and holds his gaze on her. He has brown hair and is well dressed in a suit. He has his hand on his knee which is touching the woman's back. On the bottom of the advertisement, it has the brand's name, Dolce and Gabbana, and a picture for the product that is being advertised.

The man is wearing a black suit, suggesting that he is a business man and professional. That also implies that he has a decent amount of money because suits can be expensive. The woman appears not to be wearing any actual clothing but the middle part of her body is covered up by the sheet. The couple appears to be in a bed which could explain the woman’s lack of clothing and also how their bodies are closely positioned. The woman has one hand keeping the sheet up near her shoulders, while the other rests at the top of her head. She is facing upward, showing her whole face with her eyes unfocused on something above her. The man’s hand at first appears to be reaching out towards the woman, but really it’s just resting on his bent knee. The only contact between the couple is his knee against her lower back. The man appears to be propped up on his elbow, with his arm curled to his body, and looking down at the woman. The position of his body implies that he wants to get closer to the woman.

The back ground consists of black sheets on a bed. The color black is the color power in the color wheel. The black sheets compliment the man's black suit and tie as well as mix with the sheet that is covering Scarlett Johansson. This serves to blend the major portion of her body in as part of the background. The man's black suit and tie serve to blend him in as part of the background putting the focus on Scarlet Johanson. This suggests that he is in the background and the main focus is Scarlett Johanson as her body, from mid-thigh down and from chest up, are the only contrast to the background.

Does the easy focus on Scarlett Johansson and the black sheets as background symbolize that she is the center her environment? How does her wearing only sheets and him wearing actual clothing add to the sexual implicitly of this ad? What is the purpose behind her, naked under a sheet, on a bed, having her back to a man wearing a suit with his front to her, on the same bed?

Blog group 5: Eleni, Xintan, Yamen, & Yu

In the advertisement, there is a yellow baby car seat placed upon a plain baby blue background. Next to it is a price tag with the number $217. Below it is the word durex, a condom company with a price tag $2.50. The price tag for the car seat is much bigger than the price of the condom. The words durex are written in white but has darker blue surrounding it.

This ad is depicting, in a humorous way, the two sides of sex: one being unprotected sex and the expenses that follow. Those expenses are much greater than the one car seat shown. For example, you may have a child, which in the long run will cost you a hell of a lot more than a condom that only costs $2.50. This ad is playing upon the users emotions, showing them that by investing a little bit into the company durex they will save a good amount of money in the end. So why take the risk? The other side is using protection and paying the small fee that comes along with buying one condom, because all it takes is one time. Why is it even necessary for the company to go about advertising in this way? This is a form of shock advertisement, it literally puts into perspective the consequences that arise from unprotected sex. So next time the viewer thinks about having unprotected sex, this image will arise in their head.

The color baby-blue is associated with babies. The use of yellow in the ad really makes the car seat pop, so the eye goes there first.

What is the significance of the big baby seat, is the baby big? Why is the company logo so small? Why is the background blue?

This Film is not yet Rated

This Film is not yet Rated was an interesting and hilarious look at the film industry's rating system.  First off, the documentary itself was structured very explicitly.  There were uncensored looks at NC-17 films and use of explicit language.  The manner that this explicit content was shown in, however, was light-hearted and comical.  I felt that this was a tactic for holding the viewer's attention, and I feel that the writers pulled it off effectively.  Without the explicit content and languague the documentry may have been pretty dry.  Now, from a content standpoint, the documentary was interesting as well.  The whole "secret group" of raters was a new concept to me and the PI aspects were also interesting.  There were some dry spells through the middle of the movie but it picked back up at the end when the documentary was given to the raters for a rating request.  The fact that the movie recieved an NC-17 itself was a great way to end the film.

Cliff Brady This Film is Not Yet Rated

I found the film quite intellectually stimulating. I thought they took a lot of time and energy to expose a system that is not necessarily accepted by everyone. Most people look at the ratings of a movie and just accept it for what it is. Ive never really thought about who makes those decisions or how. This movie really brings to life the problems in the film industry and for that i thank them. I just wish the rating company would do something to change.

Gabe Baumgartner Movie

It was a very interesting movie on how the rating system works. I also thought it was very strange that the members of the group were secret. There were some parts I did not agree with completely, however. One part was that there were some directors who wanted to make movies about reality in the military such as the abuse of drugs or use of vulgar language but could not because the military reviewed each movie before it came out. I think that if these movies came out showing a negative perspective of the military, many people such as war veterans or the families of men and women in the military would be extremely offended. This would also discourage people from joining the military and cause a sense of disrespect towards our military. So I am in favor of the military reviewing each movie.

Yamen Diab This film is not yet rated

This film was very interesting, it brought up many things about the MPAA and government censorship that I had never heard of before. Although I feel as if this movie was somewhat slanted in a way, catering to the viewpoints of some people about censorship in the media. Also I found the part about the investigation into the actual names of the people hired by the MPAA biased. The documentary consistently brings about points of why the board members names should be revealed, but not once says anything about why they shouldn't. I believe that people working those jobs can be influenced both ways, from film makers, and from studios. Therefore I don't believe that the names of the members should have been made readily available to the public. This adds an extra factor to the influences behind movies being rated, and could possibly even in the future allow some movies to receive a rating that may not be appropriate. Although I found parts of this documentary to be true, I am not completely convinced on the whole point of it.

Jiaqi Guo-Response to movie

This is really an interesting film telling us how American films are rated and how the filmmakers respond to the rating. There are a lot of element of sexuality and violence involved in all kinds of films. And absolutely, information in film will always has an impact on the audience, and then spreads to the whole public. Thus in my opinion, films should be carefully rated for public good, especially nowadays, young people have occupied a large part of audience. If the films are not rated, the sexual and violent scene in films may give the youth incorrect information that those things are cool to do and such thoughts will lead their action. And I think the film makers now do care too much about the profit brought by films, but ignore their social responsibility and the true impact that films will bring to the society. 

Movie (Eleni)

Everything I heard in the documentary surprised me; I had no idea that the film industry was so corrupted. I think the aspect that struck me the most was military movies and how our government deals with them. It's astounding (to me), that the government/military has so much control over movies that have war or the use of the U.S. military in the film. It makes me question if we ever really see the truth about wars in movies, especially because the military has the first view of the movie. Therefore, they can cut anything that depicts the U.S. military in bad way. Overall, I though everything in the movie was super industry and I feel like I won't be able to look at a movie the same. I will always be judging whether or not I think the movie should of been rated what it was rated.

Movie

What I found interesting about this movie was the the MPAA. This is so strange that there are only two completely confidential organizations out there, this and the CIA. THere is no reason why this organization has to be on the same level of secrecy as the CIA. THe CIA protect against terrorism, the MPAA protect against, ummm... sex, which everyone will be exposed to in their lives. I think that it is pointless to keep them confidential.

This video left me with more questions than areas of interest. It is definitely significant how a film rating scheme has almost greater confidentiality than a federal courtroom. They are just movies. We're not talking about the Sadam Hussein trial. It's funny that all these so called raters receive no training whatsoever on their duties. The fact that Jack Valenti worked in Washington alone says corruption. Why does Hollywood need secrets when it is an industry that is intended to express rather than compartmentalize? It appears that the rating board is not diversified. How messed up is it that American Psycho got an NC-17 rating yet the movie had a sequel? In the entire showing of the soldiers in Iraq, only one white soldier was shown. What does that say, exactly about how much this might be an just an attempt to win over viewers? Really? An episcopalian and a Catholic Priest? What does that say about how deep the Vatican is all things? Seriously what happened to the separation of church and state? On wait, it's not a federal court, yet it has more confidentiality. After all the appeals court is treated like a legal courtroom that takes full advantage of the fat that it is not. Seriously, they wouldn't even give the guy the names of his "jurors." Isn't that constitutional right? Violence(people dying and being slaughtered) is ok but sex(the act if giving life) is bad. What does that say about the separation of sub-cultures. It's easy, conflict brings commerce.

Yu Yoshizawa A rule makes thing interesting

Somebody (the president of MPAA? I don't remember) in the film mentioned that he wants film makers express their idea freely, but not too much freely. There should be some people or an organization in the society who consider the balance of figures of films and control the distribution of sexually and vocabulary intensive and aggressive expressions more or less as the effect of films to the public and society is tremendous. Hollywood is the one of the most representing culture of the US to the world and MPAA needs to consider its whole figure or image and value to other countries cinema. As my opinion, having a restriction is a good idea and in such a restriction or categories (NC-17, G, PG or whatever) film makers can express ideas better and better like as we enjoy watching boxing, karate, wrestling, sambo, judo and so on because they have their own specific rule.

GyoJin Kim - Film Response

I thought there is not a strict regulation in film in U.S.A. before watching the movie. In the movie, This Film is Not Yet Rated, There were many problem which is related to movie rating system and board called MPAA. In this movie, they mainly talked about NC-17. If a film is considered as NC-17 film, the movie cannot be shown in many movie theaters. It also means that filmmakers lose profit. The most controversial thing in the movie is decisions of MPAA are not fair. For example, MPAA rates the scene which is showed a woman masturbating as NC-17, but MPAA didn’t rate the scene which is showed a man masturbating by using a pie. Moreover, the movie could show a heterosexual sex, but could not show a homosexual sex. Today, many gay people marry each other also many lesbian people get married legally. I believe MPAA also should follow the world big flow.

Moose Mannarino - Film Response

I thought the film was thought provoking. I would have to side with the film makers on this argument though. By creating a rating system that tolerates violence over sex our society has shown skewed ideals. I do not think the rating system is necessary and the way it is run is sketchy to say the least. I think that creativity shouldn't be stifled and that even if a movie gets a rating of NC-17 it should still be allowed to show in theaters. I think rather than get a rating determined by an anonymous group of board members, parents should be in charge of allowing their kids to watch movies that they deem suitable. It is not a matter of what a small group of people think, people should be allowed to see what they would like to see. It is a shame that great movies get stifled and cut to appease a group of people who are only seeking monetary gain.

Xinyi Wang- Film response

After watching this film, I find that both the film maker and the rater have their thoughts and reasons to rate a film. I think that film maker should not only think about the profit of a film, but they also need to think about what effects this film will bring to all viewers including children. I believe that there should be a specific regulation of how to rate a film. The majority of the young people should be protected. It is like the limitation of drinking, we cannot sacrifice most young people and make the small group of people who want this kind of film happy.

Film Response- Jessica Cole

Something very interesting that I found from the film was how conservative the members of the ratings board are. This seems really interesting due to the fact that the entertainment industry tends to lean toward the liberal side. The fact that all the members were older and most of their children were older than the age that was told to the public is also interesting. This seems to explain why the ratings board seems to be more harsh than some would expect, and it explains why they are more concerned with some topics being in movies over others. The idea that the members are older than the public is told and that the members are more conservative than expected seem like they could be related. This is because that as people get older, it is usually true that they find more things offensive.

Rebecca Kohlruss Film Response

Before watching the movie "This Film is Not Yet Rated" I didn’t realize how much control the rating of a movie had over its success in theaters. I had never thought about how this could create a kind of monopoly of businesses in the film industry. It is pointed out in the movie how extreme amounts of violence can be shown, but outside of simple heterosexual sex is labeled NC 17. This offers a likely contributing factor as to why our culture is becoming much more violent. It seems to me that the mpaa possibly started out with good intentions, but turned out being a way to control what companies and types of movies will succeed.

Xintan Yang Film Response

The film that we watched in class, This Film is not yet Rated, is talking about disclosure of how MAPP rate a movie. Since MPAA is so mysterious that only can private detectives get information from spy ways. The board don't talk to the public any their data and criteria. Filmmakers said that if their movie was rated in the level, like NC-17, they will lost many audience even much earnings. This rate system is not fair, because filmmakers use their own way to present what they think is beautiful to audience by filming. But the board of MPAA ignore these filmmakers' rights, they only count how many times sexual plots come out rather than really understand the whole movie. At the end of this movie, there is a comparison between the rate of the movies that includes violence plots and that includes sextual plots. And the result is, many violence movies were overrated compared to the sexual movie.

Dong Kwon Yoo This Film is Not Yet Rated

The most interesting thing in this film was to compare the view of gay sex scene and straight sex scene in the movies. The Motion Picture Association of America, MPAA, classifies the movies rates in NC, R, PG, and etc. The problem occurring in the movie describes the unfairness of rating system that MPAA has. This clip shows that MPAA rates the movie about gay sex scene movie as NC (No Children)-17, but the straight movie which has almost same sex scene gets R(Restricted). With several comparing scenes of gay sex and straight sex, I, as a viewer, think that director intentionally criticizes the MPAA’s tyranny.

jingwei zhou this film is not rated yet

Even it is a documentary film, it is still impressive because it shows how different people view the movie culture in different perspectives.

People might just focus on enjoy how those movies are, but never consider about what does movie mean to others, especially for producers. the word "movies" is becoming more and more similar to the noun "money", because typical hollywood movie gains lots of money by just adding impressive special effects and fighting clips, rather than real lives or deeper ideas and thoughts.

Movie actually is not only a way to pleasure watchers, but also express producer's inspiration and enthusiasm to show their own worldview or ideas and human experiences. The MPAA can decide which film is acceptable by their own thoughts or standards, which is more or less comprised with personal attitudes or prejudice. in the documentary, some producers got shocked, knowing his(her) movie rated NC-17. especially in america, a country that mostly encourages free thinking and respects, this sort of unreasonable system seems like so unfair because members in MPAA make their own decisions in "black boxes". NC-17 means blasphemy to intellectual producers, who devote themselves to movie career to create real films but with bloody or sexual views, because MPAA member make judgements in their own perspectives. It, NC-17, could mean a disaster to a good movie, because many viewers won't choose to take time to watch them just because of the rate.

for instance, people would love wars because of seeing hollywood war movies which are not real things. however, people can't understand what war is, since those real war documentary will be rated as NC-17 and most people won't care that any more.

Anyway, the rate system for movies give much less chances for those creative and real movies.

Kelsey Warner Film Response

After watching the documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated" I felt very enlightened. I was not aware that the people that decided film ratings were just average people. I also found it interesting that many of them were parents and even a couple were clergy men. The people that decide ratings should be move diverse, instead of very conservative people. It's not really fair to the creators of the movies. In the end, the parent's should be the ones that control what their children watch. I do think that the MPAA is ultimately a good thing because it helps to control what people watch but I think parts of it need to be changed.

Jason Na Film Response

Before watching the documentary “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” in our class, I was not aware of the fact that rating a movie was this difficult, and that it took so much work to produce it. I never knew that the movie rating NC-17 existed, which is “No Children Allowed.” Private investigator MPAA tried so hard and took humiliation from the raters on the phone to expose Hollywood’s best-kept secret. To me, the board seems to treat homosexual material much more harshly than heterosexual material. The board’s raters lacked of expertise in media literacy and child development and had no training. As a result, they lost credibility from the movie directors and got sued. MPAA contributed to the movie viewers especially to parents so that they can decide which movies or films to let their children watch.

Angela Beebe Film Response

I found it enlightening to see the behind-the-scene aspect of the rating system for films in the movie “This Film is Not Yet Rated”. The “rules” that the MPAA have put in place that of there own idea limits the film makers in what they can do with movies. By doing this that restricts the film maker to what kind of movie they can make, what can be said, and what can be visually communicated. While I do believe there should be restriction on what is shown to children. It is ultimately up to the parent to decide what their child views, and I think that the MPAA started out with the right intention to help educate parents on what is filmed. The MPAA obviously doesn’t hold the same views as all Americans and I think that other review boards should be made to rate movies. This would allow film makers to get a fair chance at a rating.

Allison Bankieris Film Response

The movie our class watched, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, explored deep inside the movie rating system and board, the NPAA, and discussed how movies get their ratings focusing mainly on the rating of NC-17. If a film receives an NC-17 rating, it cannot be shown in many theaters and loses a wide audience of viewers. Many filmmakers who received NC-17's on the films were interviewed and I found it so interesting how differently the raters viewed their films than how the movie makers intended them to be viewed. What the raters found "disgusting", the filmmakers found beautiful and passionate, such as many homosexual scenes that were in their movies. Several false claims were made by the NPAA as shown in this film. The board has a very unfair representation of people that rate the movies. For example, a former board member disclosed that when he was a rater, he never knew of any homosexual people who were on the board. It seems that the NPAA is comprised mostly of caucasian, straight, older parents. The NPAA tries to keep so many secrets as well. This is unfair to the American public who view these movies, and especially unfair to the filmmakers her put years of time and effort into these films, then receive an NC-17 rating sometimes completely without reason. The board needs some serious reconstruction and their secrets need to be let out.

Alex Sofranko, Film Response

In the documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated, there were many issues caused by the assigning of an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for both directors and actors alike. When a film receives an NC-17 it loses its ability to advertise in many places, causing it to lose profit. What was most controversial though was how the MPAA made decisions on what the rating for a film was. They found that when there is heterosexuality in a film, it is likely to receive a lower rating than if a film contained homosexuality. I personally agree with the points that were made in the documentary. The board’s decision to rate certain films as NC-17 rather than R is entirely unfair. Since the members of the board do not view homosexuality the same as some people, they feel turned off and are much more likely to give a film an NC-17 rating. There is a terrible lack of representation on the board of homosexuals as well as people with under aged children. The MPAA claims to be comprised of average every day parents but the truth is the board is formed by only a portion of what are considered to be average people today. If there were a greater representation of normal citizens such as younger parents and homosexual parents, films would have a much better chance of receiving a fair rating and in turn producing the maximum amount of profit possible.

Blog Group #4

Blog Group #4 Angela Beebe, Alex Sofranko, Kelsey Warner, Jiaqi Guo

This is a 2007 advertisement for Budweiser. There is a white, blond-haired woman laying on top of a Budweiser beer bottle. She is wearing a low-cut bathing suit that is made out of the label for the bottle. She is pulling her bathing suit strap off of her chest with her left hand while gazing at the viewer with a seductive smile. Her right hand is behind her head allowing her body to be in an open position. Her left leg is wrapped around the bottle. She has bright red lips and the background is bright red as well. Her skin is shiny as if she is lathered up with oil and at the beach. The bottle is her towel that she is laying on. The background and the bottle have water droplets on them like they are sweating.

The woman's positioning on the bottle is very seductive. Her eyes are looking at the viewer, which seems like she is saying “come and get me”. With her legs spread and her hand behind her back she is making so the viewer can have a full look at her. This implies that she isn't shy and is ready for suggestions. The fact that she is on the bottle, which is held in a person's hand, encourages the viewer to reach out and grab her.

The background appears to be sweating which implies that the attractive woman is making this happen. Her appearance and dress is something that typically drives a heterosexual male to perspire when he is faced with his innermost sexual desires. When a man is faced with sexual fantasies he typically sweats. Like men in this situation, the background drips in perspiration.

The colors used in this ad are all-American red, white, and blue. These colors were chosen to appeal to the hardworking American male that wants to come home after a long day of labor and enjoy a beer. The wording is placed in a suggestive manner across the woman so that while looking at her the brand is imprinted in the viewers mind. This allows the viewer to recall the woman when he is deciding what beer to buy. His mind will instantly make the association that to buy this beer would allow him to have a woman like the one used in the ad.

Why is the beer bottle so much bigger than the woman in this ad? Why does the ad use a Caucasian woman instead of a woman of another race? What is the significance of using an all red background? What are the other reasons for having the woman positioned on top of the beer bottle?

Movie Day

Here are the four options for the Movie Day on Monday. Please comment on this post with your vote by Saturday at noon. Each title is linked to information at imdb.com

1) This Film is Not Yet Rated
2) Something New
3) The Business of Fancydancing
4) Shortbus

Blog group #3 Allison Bankieris, Gyojin Kim, Dong Kwon Yoo, Greg Shupe

This is a 2011 advertisement for Abercrombie and Fitch. It features a buff man in the middle of two thin, tan women with long, flowing hair. All three people are shirtless. The picture is black and white. The guy is smiling and looks overall pretty happy. The women are kissing his cheeks with their eyes closed and one is stroking his shoulder. One of the women is wearing a black bra, while the other is wearing white.

This ad implies that people are happier when they are not wearing much clothing. It is interesting that they are almost naked because the advertisement is for a clothing company. This is also suggesting that men are happy when girls are close and kissing them.

The picture could be interpreted in different ways. This man could be gay, with the women just being his two best female friends or sisters kissing him. He could also be straight and flirting with these two women. Or, he could be in a polygamist relationship and these could be his two girlfriends or wives.

The two different bra colors could be representative of the man's "dark" and "bright" side. Sometimes, he likes "good" women and other times he likes to be with more scandalous types of women.

This advertisement implies with the lack of clothing that Abercrombie and Fitch's clothes feel like you are not wearing anything at all. The clothes are have a very natural and sexy feel to them.

Why exactly does the picture show two different colored bras? Is it simply for the balance of the picture, or does it have a deeper meaning? What is the effect of having two women and one man rather than two men and one woman? What is the effect of using Caucasian models in the advertisement instead of a different race?

Group 2 Blog Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6rAQHa1gmc

Jason Na, Cliff Brady, Xinyi Wang

The commercial above is an Axe body spray. It ran approximately in the year of 2007. It is a European commercial that took place in a factory. A white muscular man sprayed two bottles of axe across his whole body. Then he put on the shirt that says “Axe” and took it off constantly on the conveyor belt. The girls next to him in a line, who were waiting for the shirts, took a sniff of the shirt and the first one fainted. The commercial pans to the lady packaging the deodorant, who was wearing a nose clip, so she can’t smell the deodorant in order to work. The commercial then switched back to the testers and the next two preceded a fight for the shirt. It was a long and fierce fight where they pulled each other’s hair, punched in the face, and pushed them around just to smell more. The girls who were the next to smell just stood there and watched them fight. At the end, the two girls who were fighting appeared to kill each other. At the last scene of the advertisement, the narrator said “The Axe effect” and some other lines in other language. Also, they put the price tag up next to the Axe package.

The good looking guy in the beginning appeared to be an athletic, muscular, clean, short cut, and wearing soccer jersey. They chose a man like this so the viewers would see him and want to be like him. Also, the attractive man like this associates more with the people. The fact that he puts on a sport jersey is important because it associates the product with sports. People who play sports generally use deodorant more so it appeals to a larger audience. When the viewer sees this men using Axe’s product, they see that people like him use it and more inclined to do so in an effort to be like him.

The next thing we see is the lady packaging the product. She was wearing a nose clip so she couldn’t smell the deodorant. This implies that even if she wanted to ignore the smell, she wouldn’t be able to so she had to force it to block the scent. The reason she did this is to be able to work and not act the same girls in the video. Another interesting point is that her distance from the actual smell. She is quite far away which implies that the smell is strong and long-lasting. When the viewer sees this, they see that girls can’t resist the smell even if they want to.

The last thing that we saw that was interesting was that a long line of girls were waiting to smell the shirt. They were dressed in a white, fit, and low cut uniform that showed a lot of cleavage. This is an odd uniform for a factory worker. The first girl that smelled it fainted by the strong smell. When the next two women smelled the shirt, they go crazy for it and proceeded to fight over the shirt, just like drugs. They weren’t able to control themselves and were almost like animals. The fact that they were stereotypical sexy and attractive women implies that when the viewers see this ad, it urges them to buy the product so that those kinds of women go crazy for them.

Is there a reason that the color scheme make the viewers feel cold? All the colors are white, blue, and dark. There weren’t many bright colors. Is there a reason that the product is overwhelmingly strong? The man sprays himself once and puts on many shirts. It seemed to last forever when he kept putting and taking the different shirts on and off. Why didn’t anyone seemed to be surprised or concerned by the fight that was happening right in front of them? Both the man and women packaging the product just watched unaffected by the fight. Even though the two women fought until death, nobody appeared concerned.

Group 1 Blog Post

Oli Mason, Gabe Baumgartner, Jing Wei Zhou, Moose Mannarino

Blog Group 1

Old Spice Ad

This is a picture from one of the Old Spice ad’s produced by the Shulton Company in early 2008. It showcases a fit African American man with a shaved head and a goatee. He is standing in a white tile bathroom with his shirt off in only a white towel. A bottle of Old Spice is tucked into his towel. He is wearing dozens of gold metals around his neck, and he is holding a chainsaw which is resting on his shoulder in his right hand. Lit candlesticks can be found all over the shot, and he is standing directly in front of the shower. The background is fairly plain as the bathroom isn’t anything extraordinary.

The ad aims to say that Old Spice can turn any regular schmuck into a real man. This is represented by the chainsaw and the extremely fit man. The chainsaw is typically used for work that would be considered masculine. This includes such jobs as being a lumberjack, yard work, and as a power tool considered a symbol of his own power. The chainsaw is also one of the most dangerous tools commonly found in a household. The relaxed manner in which he holds the chainsaw shows that he is even manlier because he isn’t afraid of the danger that the power tool holds. His athletic build is also a trade mark characteristic of the manliest of men. He represents what all men should aspire to generally look like.

Old Spice claims to be able to help you achieve almost impossible odds such as winning a plethora of gold medals. The importance of the gold medals in this case is saying that not only is the man obviously better than anyone else, but that the product as well is better than anything else on the market. The medals also representing how much achievement the man has gotten over his life time. This makes him more attractive and displays his level of confidence to the world. By using Old Spice the ad claims that one can become more confident and soar to greater heights than he could without the product.

The candlesticks in the ad represent how Old Spice can turn the user into a real gentleman. Traditionally candlesticks are found at classy dinners or when a man is trying to woo a partner. Most young men traditionally aspire to be gentleman like, and get what they desire in a physical sense. This part of the ad basically insinuates that by wearing the product one will get laid. Overall Old Spice is using the image of this man to play off of what most of the male population aspires to be like.

What does the fact that the man is an African American have to do with the ad? In traditional advertising campaigns women are used to market a product; what is the advantage of exclusively having a man, and pretending that he is only talking to women? What does the man’s facial expression have to do with the way the ad is presented?

Jiaqi Guo (Kelly), Primary Source Summary, Group #4

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/wZD5fzzc_9U/
This is an advertisement of McDonald, the well know fast food all over the world.
The ad begins with a coke cup with an identifiable M and the word FUN on it, which indicates this is an ad of McDonald and it is a place full of happiness. Then the camera focuses on a group of men who are, depends on their uniforms, poor workers, and a gentleman in tidy business suit. This comparison shows that people in different social status come to McDonald. Then we can see teenagers, old, lonely man, busy woman with cell phone and French fries on each hand, children’s happy faces with balloons in hand, young girls walking into the restaurant for party with crazy move, and peaceful old people, which means McDonald is the right place for everyone, from child to the old. A few-second ad clip that a cleaning woman is walking by the tables indicates that McDonald is a clean restaurant. People sharing coffee in the car, reading newspaper, doing computer work with food in mouth, show that you can enjoy McDonald’s food anytime anywhere. And four men, a laughing woman and a family at the end are the signal saying that it is a place not only for individuals, but also for groups and family. All the black and white men shows McDonald welcomes people from all over the world without racism.



http://www.bobd.cn/design/UploadFiles1008/201109/20110927081612649.jpg

This is a Chines public service advertisement that wishes us to go home and see our parents more frequently. On the pictures, there are an old house and narrow flagstones pavements in the dusk. In Chinese traditional culture, the scene of old, small town and flagstones road in the ad represent hometown where you are brought up. The dusk means the twilight years of a person. The first picture is the entrance of the long pavement, which gives you a feeling that you will walk on it. The second picture is the big door of an old, traditional house that indicates your parents’ house, and makes you want to go into the house, which means go home. The last picture was the scene of a lonely old man, facing the lake, sitting on the bench, and the shadow of tree is long. Facing the big lake means your parents is longing for you, lonely and sadly. Also in China, dusk is always the best time when families get together for dinner, so the lonely man beside the lake in dusk is a sorrow picture in Chinese culture. The ad’s purpose is to spread the idea of filial piety. (The words on these tree pictures are: if you go home once a rear, how many times can you still see you parents in your rest life? Parents used to play hide and seek with us, but now we are doing it to them. We were like glue sticking on our parents, but years is the lytic agent.)

Greg Shupe, Blog Group #3, Primary Source Summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gas1KaOAnss&feature=related

The first source I chose is a music video, "My Band" by D12.  The video starts off with Eminem talking about how much everybody loves him because he is the lead singer of his band.  It then shows him getting massaged by scantily clad women in a dim room.  It continues and shows Eminem singing on stage getting hit in the face with an unreal amount of girls' underwear.  Next, Eminem encounters girls backstage begging for a hook up.  It continues showing all of the fans that D12 has, most of them girls, when the mic gets stolen by the other members of the group who proceed to gossip about how much they hate Eminem.  The videos continues cutting to the same scenes of underwear throwing and clubbing.  The remainder of the video is more about the band than how much the girls love Eminem, but the fact the girls "love" D12 is still made clear.  Basically, the main idea of the video is that since Eminem is the lead singer of the band, every girl that sees him wants him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Wc9JQysOM

This source is a foreign commercial for a drink called Active.  The scene starts off with a girl bending over to tie her shoe.  A man walks by and stops when he see that her sweatshirt reads "Only want Sex" on the back.  The man starts to follow her as she starts running.  Eventually there is a huge group of men following this woman as she sprints throughout the city.  She sees the men following her and runs into an open field.  She then jumps onto a boat and takes a sip of the drink being advertised.  The men stop and continue to look at her as she pulls up her hood on the sweatshirt, revealing that the sentence actually reads "Men only want Sex".  The men look very disappointed and the commercial ends.  This source supports the stereotype that men only care about sex.

Gabe Baumgartner Group 1 Primary Sources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1bENfBEYIE&feature=related
This is a cialis comercial that depicts a man doing a hands on job out of the house. He is married and goes back to a nice suburban home where his wife stays at home when he is at work. It is very stereotypical as the man is the one who works and the woman stays at home in a nice suburban home doing work around the house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvxDzS7B774
This is a Mitt Romney ad that depicts him with his very "normal" and traditional family life. He is married and has kids. He shows many images of him and his family doing many things one would often see in a family setting, such as dinner with other relatives or playing with his kids. He is using these images of a good, "normal" family life to help his campaign.

Xintan Yang Blog Group 5, Primary Source Summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvrUCWLgTSc

Aat the beginnin of the commercial, we see a hand active like using the key to start a car, then his feet is imitating start it. The next image that present that actually there is a father is imitating driving a car for his families, his daughter and his wife. Big smile on all of their faces, and everything looks filled with happiness. His family are sitting on his left side, and he's looking at them all the time. But suddenly, his face turn to scared, it seems that he just find something in front of him. He turn his steering wheel in a hurry. Then everything is in a slow motion. His daughter and his wife come and hold him tightly, and their hands and arms consist like a seat belt. Then the car accident happened, the plate, acted like the wind shield, is broken to pieces. But the man is safe and sound because the seat belt that his families made. And smile on their face again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZAAZ7iXN-o

This is a commercial of Bust Buy's buy back program. At the beginning, comperes are introduce the new products in the media. Then there is a news conference of a new product coming out, and one of the audiences complain that she just buy the last generation. The next image is about a man is drinking his coffee and using his new laptop, but when he turn his head left, he saw a huge commercail about a newer laptop on the back of the newspaper that another costomer hold, as a result, he feel so shock that he spit his coffee on his laptop in accident. Then a woman hold her new cell phone, just cime out the shop, she saw a huge commercial of a new cell phone, she feel so angry. The best thing is the subtitle, which says, we feel your pain. Then a father bought a new 3D TV, and the new TV just be sended, he saw a commercial that painted on the truck, then he blame himself stupid. At the same time, his daughter is laughting at him buying a wrong TV.

David Divoky, Blog Group 2, Primary Source Summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow0JanWpG8M

The first primary source is the music video for T. Pain- "I'm in Love with a Stipper". I believe this music video fits in perfectly with our class theme of Sexuality. The basis of the song is that T. Pain is indeed infatuated with a  good looking female stripper, to keep it clean. He sees her at the club at then takes her home. The video consists of multiple good looking women all dancing and hanging out with T. Pain. He eventually takes her home to do "that night thing" as quoted from the song. This song fits in perfectly with the stereotype of sexuality and the norms of a younger generation that is becoming more and more promiscuous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB5e0zHRzHc

The second primary source I have chosen is Usher- "Love in this Club". The video starts off with Usher waking up in the middle of an empty club where he looks at his phone to see a bunch of missed calls from a woman. He seems to start going crazy because people start appearing and the club becomes alive again. One of the first people to appear is a woman who begins dancing and grinding on Usher. The whole idea of the song is that Usher wants to hook up with this woman while in the club. The video consists of his efforts trying to hook up with her. This music video is similar to my first video in which it fits in with today's perceived vision of sexuality.

Yamen Diab, BG5, Primary Source

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/viagra_see_the_world_differently_bench

The above ad is for the ED medication Viagra. The scene pictured is in a nice kitchen where everything looks modern, high class, and normal. There is one exception to this normal scene, if you pay close attention to the island counter top it looks as if there is a plush mattress there instead of granite. At the bottom of the advertisement there is a small blue pill with the caption next to it that says "see the world differently".

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/luxembourg_government_human_trading_1?size=_original

This next ad shows a woman wrapped in a tray that is usually used for meat/poultry. She is nude and presenting herself. At the bottom of the ad it says "If you pay a Prostitute you're financing Human trading". Also It says, "every year 2,500,000 people become victims of human trafficking. This ad is sponsored by a governmental body educating people about the injustices of prostitution.

Jessica Cole, Blog Group Six, Primary Source Summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEXZ2hfD3bU&feature=related

The first primary source is a commercial for E*TRADE. It begins with a view of a baby boy in a nursery. In the background of the shot, there is a crib with a blanket draped over the side, a dresser, and a large teddy bear on the floor. The main color scheme is a dull shade of blue. In the foreground, the baby sits in a wooden high chair, similar to one that could be found in most restaurants. The baby is wearing a simple white one piece. He is sitting in front of a white computer keyboard which implies that he is sitting in front of a computer that we cannot see because the camera angle comes from where the computer should be. The baby appears to be having a discussion with a baby girl through webcam. The baby on the other end of the discussion is cut to after the baby boy says, "So yeah, sorry about last night." When the baby girl appears, she is seen in a room with pink walls. The room also contains a chandelier, paintings on the walls, and a tidier looking crib with a Teddy Bear attached to the side. The baby girl is in the foreground also seeming to be at a computer. She is wearing a more feminine outfit, with a flowery green and white dress with a white collar and a matching bow in her hair. She holds a teddy bear. In response to the baby boy's apology, she says "I just don't understand why you didn't call." By the dialogue between the two babies, it becomes clear that they are most likely fighting because the baby boy did not do what he was supposed to the night before. To help his case, the baby boy begins discussing what he did the previous evening: diversified his stocks on E*TRADE. In this section of discussing his E*TRADE account, he describes diversifying his stocks with the term"wolf style" and begins to howl for a few seconds. When he has finished discussing his E*TRADE portfolio, the baby girl asks, "And that Milk-aholic, Lindsay, wasn't over?" To which, the baby boy responds, "Lindsay?" Then another baby girl comes into the camera's view from the side, that is implied to be Lindsay. She is wearing a black top with a white heart on it with black and gray polka dots on the inside. The collar has a similar pattern. The baby girl exclaims, "Milk-a-what?" The commercial then cuts to a white screen that says E*TRADE and discusses that E*TRADE makes it easy to build a diversified portfolio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsDFBgFiQs

This commercial is for a Nikon CoolPix camera. It begins with Ashton Kutcher in a dressing room deciding on which dress shirt to buy with the help of an attendant. The attendant is wearing all black in a manner that would imply that it is her dress code policy for her place of work. She is reasonably attractive and blonde. The camera then cuts to his white suit coat hanging behind him with a purple Nikon CoolPix camera sticking out of the pocket. The attendant notices the camera and sneakily grabs it while Ashton is still trying to decide on a shirt. The attendant than runs out into the main section of the clothing store. Here, there is another woman dressed in all black for her job that is reasonably attractive. She has brown hair. The attendant exclaims to her co-worker, "I got Ashton's camera!" She then takes a picture of the two of them. Then, another woman takes the camera from the attendant as she is walking out of the store. On the escalator going downward, this woman snaps a shot of herself. While still on the escalator, she passes the camera to a woman going up the other escalator. Now, a voice over begins discussing the new features of this new version of the Nikon CoolPix. The woman that was going up the escalator is trying on bridal gowns, and she and the two attendants are taking pictures. Then, one of the attendants walks by Ashton's dressing room with the camera while he is choosing a tie. Then, the commercial cuts to a picture of the new Nikon CoolPix camera in three different colors and explains some of the other new features that it has and begins to play music. The voice over continues as the commercial cuts to the original attendant sneaking the camera back into Ashton's suit pocket as he tries on another shirt. While Ashton is leaving, he is looking through the pictures on his camera and sees one of the attendants that took a picture of herself on the camera. He shows her the camera from a distance, and the word "Nice." is said by Ashton. The commercial then switches to a symbol for Nikon followed by another image of Nikon cameras.

Eleni Rigsby, blog group 5, primary source summary

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://adland.tv/files/imagecache/postimage/duncan_quinn_ad_c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://adland.tv/content/sexist-ads-hot-cold-too-soon-or-too-late&h=897&w=700&sz=339&tbnid=lVLh7rgjLcTgWM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=73&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dduncan%2Bquinn%2Bad%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=duncan+quinn+ad&docid=dtz1R9wu0-qNXM&sa=X&ei=KbcNT6-iNKrr0gGcqKn0BQ&ved=0CEEQ9QEwAw&dur=207

This is an advertisement for Duncan Quinn, a designer suit company. In the ad there is a well dressed man in a plaid suit with a disturbing smile plastered on his face. As we can see, he is not wearing a tie, instead it is used as a makeshift noose to strangle the woman. The woman is clothed in only a bra and underware and she appears to be dead or unconscious. Her body is strewn across a car, which looks more sporty like. Nothing else can be seen in the background because it is black. There is also no bright color in the ad, it is all different colors of grey and white. The words duncan quinn are written in the bottom right hand corner, on top of the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf-8nrEdldg

Above is an advertisement for Belvedere vodka. The commercial begins with three males and one female walking towards the camera. The female has red hair which really makes her appearance pop. The four people enter some sort of party and kisses are exchanged with two people. One is an older woman and the other we don't know because her back is to the camera. There is a flash of a bottle of Belvedere vodka resting in a bucket of ice, under it the words indulge responsibly flash on the screen. A man holds a camera and snaps of picture towards the viewer of the commercial. The red headed women converses with a group of people and plays with another woman's hair. Martini's are seen being passed along a tray, a woman eats something, a man gets his tie pulled out from his neck, and someone touches another man's butt. One of the guys from the beginning of the commercial approaches an old looking painting. The commercial flashes to another scene of two women close to kissing and a picture is taken of them, then back to the man and the painting. He has taken out a sharpie and begun drawing on the painting. Another woman comes up behind him and says "It's fabulous darling." We flash back to the party and see a woman's high heel pull out an electric cord from it's socket and some, but not all, of the lights go out. The sprinkler overhead is set off and people react by screaming and running. The man who drew on the painting runs for cover under the piano, the red head joins him with the bottle of belvedere vodka in her hand. They exchange a kiss and another picture is taken. Suddenly, the screen goes black except for a bottle of Belvedere and a caption that says "Luxury reborn."

Rebecca Kohlruss, blog group 6, primary resource summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky5xmtWp1_U&feature=related

This commercial by Dolce and Gabbanna begins with on a boat with a very muscular man in a white swimsuit and an attractive woman wearing a white bikini. The man looks at the women who is lying across the boat and continues to dive out of the boat and swim towards the ladder on the dock. The woman follows and he helps her up the ladder and they begin to kiss and as soon as that happens, a guy in the background calls cut and a black and white sign comes up clearly showing that the scene is over. The commercial then continues to show the whole scene with the water and couple standing on the shore as a voice in the background talks about the product Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEpfTicDVUE

This commercial done by Axe starts out with a guy spraying himself with Axe body spray in front of the mirror, then it cuts away to the shelf, then back to the mirror but suddenly he is made of chocolate with a big smile on his face. He then is walking down the sidewalk with the same facial expression and he breaks off part of his chocolate nose and sprinkles it over two girls’ ice creams. Then he is in a movie theater with two girls on either side of him licking the side of his face with chocolate all over their faces. The next scene is of him in a hospital with a girl in a bed laughing at how he has his chocolate hand coming out from the middle of a box. The scene after that is him standing on a bus and the girl takes a bite of chocolate off him from behind. He then continues to walk down a sidewalk and goes past what seems to be a gym full of girls that run up to the window pressing their hands against the window. Then a car goes by and a girl rips his arm off and he continues to stand there with the same smiling expression since the beginning and waves toward the direction of the car. Then the words “as irresistible as chocolate, new axe dark temptation” as shown at the bottom right hand of the screen and it ends with Axe across the screen with the letters coming up out of a pool of chocolate.

Yu Yoshizawa Group 5, Primary source summary

http://www.loneleeplanet.com/2010/06/top-15-japanese-beer-girls/

The first source is from an advertize for Sapporo beer, well know Japanese beer. The link also shows different advertisement of the same kind.

A cute woman wearing white bikini holding a glass of beer on the beach under bright sunshine and sky blue. The only clear figures in the ad are that cute woman in bikini, beer in the glass with the symbol, “Star” of Sapporo beer and the companies name logo at the bottom of the ad in Japanese.

The add tells us the freshness of the beverage and attract consumers with sexuality. Those beverages are usually so well known that they don't need to put an implicit or strong message relating to their product, but show their company name with an attractive woman. They make use of sexuality to appeal their product to the fundamental aspect of human. I believe some other beverage companies use a similar type of advertisement featuring an attractive woman holding their beverage on a beautiful beach. I hope the woman comes with the product.

http://www.askstudent.com/videos/top-5-mozilla-firefox-ad-campaigns/

Second source is from picture “# 4 Protection through Firefox” of the link. There is a condom package with a logo of Firefox on slipped in the pocket of the back of man's denim pants. The advertisement simply says “Always use protection”.

The ad overlaps the safety of the usage of Firefox with the usage of condom. Firefox appeals a safe internet environment claiming that you can protect your privacy from infecting with viruses and spyware, or contacting unwelcome pop-ups. Using condoms are highly recommended and widely known in the society during the sex because of the safety and to avoid unwilling pregnancy. Firefox uses that concept pretty well to advertise their own product.