Extra Credit Blog

I had never used a blog before attending RTF 305. I found that the blog helped me to better understand the concepts discussed in the book and in class. I didn’t find any problems with the blogs technically, but I did sometimes have a hard time understanding specifically what the blog prompts were asking for. I was able to overcome these problems by referring back to the book and to my lecture notes in order to understand what exactly the concepts being asked to discuss were. I liked the prompts that asked us to refer to a specific movie, TV show or advertisement of our own choice. I felt like this allowed me to apply the concepts to things that interested me. I don’t know if I would recommend using blogs in future courses simply because I found them somewhat tedious and difficult to understand. I think that while they did help me in some aspects of understanding the course they also constrained me in others. In changing the blogging experience I would suggest making the prompts more specific and providing greater feedback as to what could be changed in order to improve future blogs.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Japan and America: Most Extreme Challenge- Globalization

Globalization is an increased connection and fusion among people, ideas, cultures and communities. It describes the constant exchange of ideas and materials that come together to create a world in which everyone’s cultures are continually shared.

Hybridization is the relation of ideas from one area of part of the world to another. Glocalization is when an idea that is successful in one place is adopted in another. Hybridization is an increasing phenomenon along with increasing media connectivity among countries and cultures.

One example of hybridization and glocalization is the show Most Extreme Challenge. It is an American show on Spike TV that is a re-edit of the Japanese game show “Takeshi's Castle.” This television show presented the Japanese idea of a comedy television show with an American mix to it. It became dubbed in English and a new storyline was created. The idea of the show which was very highly successful in Japan from 1986-1989 and played in America from 2003-2007. The show displays glocalization and hybridization because it takes a successful game show idea from Japan and re-develops it into an American show. Ideas are also transmitted from Japanese  culture to American culture such as the comedic relief received from watching everyday people try and accomplish ridiculous and completely useless tasks that usually result in painful and humorous disaster.

Old Spice: Smell like a Man, Man.

Recent advertisements that have struck me are the Old Spice ads. There are quite a few reasons why the Old Spice ads strike me. First of all, the man in the commercials is physically attractive with a deep voice. He immediately strikes you as confident and interesting. He speaks directly at you, and keeps you constantly engaged the whole commercial. While the commercial is for men’s body wash, the commercial is primarily aimed at women, trying to persuade them to buy Old Spice body wash for their boyfriends or husbands. The commercial is also visually engaging as it jumps from one set to the other. It seems almost absurdist and while it doesn’t even make much sense it appeals to a simplistic approach of simply telling women that while they can’t make their man look like the man in the commercial, they can make their man smell like him. I think that one reason that this commercial is so successful is that unlike many recent commercials it doesn’t attempt to make a bunch of ridiculous claims to the audience. It tells you that “anything is possible when your man smells like old spice and not a lady.” While this claim is completely ridiculous, it is just ridiculous enough that you know that this is not the actual argument the ad is trying to make. Simply enough the ad just tells you that if you want your man to smell good, you should buy him Old Spice body wash.

OLD SPICE COMMERCIAL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

One appeal that Professor Straubhaar talked about was the appeal of how advertising displays an escape from ordinary life. Advertising that takes people out of their element makes them believe that the product being advertised will take them to a new and exciting place. While the appeal is not often this simple and is usually not as successful as intended, it often at the very least catches peoples eyes. People are often expecting mundane advertisements that simply show the product advertised in the atmosphere in which it would be used. However, commercials that are able to convincing display their product in a way that makes the consumer believe they have “escaped” ordinary life are often successful.

The Old Spice commercials provide changing scenery multiple times in the commercial to more fantastical places each time the scene changes. The commercials display the “Old Spice Man” moving from a bathroom to a boat and then finally to the back of a horse on a beach. The commercial is very simple and shows very interesting transitions from one scene to the other, never actually changing scenes but just shifting the “Old Spice Man” without actually cutting. The ad, along with other Old Spice ads creates a kind of fantasy world along with a fantasy man that you wish you could escape to. While the ad makes no claims that your man will look like the man in the commercial nor will where you magically shift to the place shown, it simply tells you the closest you will get to the surreal universe displayed is by smelling like it. While this may sound absurd it is actually quite addicting and convincing. I watched the commercial quite a few times and never actually grew tired of seeing it. It is funny and it’s blatantly sarcastic attempts to brainwash you make you feel like you can watch it at ease without pressure.