swag

Snapchat has always been one of the most popular social medias I know of. So has instagram. A while ago Snapchat created an update for their app making it so you can post something on your "Snapchat story" that allows everyone in your contacts to see it and it stays up for 24 hours. This became a huge thing, and some people hated it passionately, while others loved it, but ultimately it was a huge hit. A short time after Snapchat introduced this new update, instagram came up with something extremely similar. They created a new update called Instagram stories, that appear at the top of your feed from different accounts where you can post something for any of your followers to see, that will disappear after 24 hours. This reminds me of Merchants of Cool, as it was talked about that when some type of trend takes off within the teen community, almost instantly other companies and producers will pounce on that idea so they can keep up with the cool. But "cool" is evercha...

What I have come to realize recently as 0 period has continued is the different ways celebrities use media to their advantage. I have began to notice this especially with Instagram. Many celebrities use it more to promote everything they have been doing rather than update people on their lives, which was what social media was originally intended for, to keep up with friends. Now it has become one of the main marketplaces for producers to advertise their products. You see models, promoting their hair and makeup team, actors promoting their new movies, and singers promoting their new albums. What I have come to notice recently especially with singers is that they use their instagrams almost as a teaser. Many of my friends like the artist Ugly God, who has become pretty popular over this past year. He has had a new album ready to release for a couple months now, but instead of releasing the full album or even one full song, he has resorted to posting short videos with his music playing in...

the video we watched in class, Missrepresentation,  showed how women and girls are portrayed in the media. it talked about how they are sexualized and seen as objects, and even with news reporters, if they are female, the things that are being focused on is what they wear, or what they look like. I see tings like this everywhere on media. On snapchat, there are little newsfeeds that people can look at, and all they focus on are female celebrities including the kardashians, Ariel Winters, or Emily Ratajkowski and all that is talked about is how much of their boobs are showing or if they break the fashion rules". Ive noticed things like this much more recently, that are much closer to home. This portrayal that women should look a certain way and act a certain way has come to be something very prominent in my life. My sister has been a model since her sophomore year, and she has been enjoying it. Ive recently been thinking about going into the industry but something came up that has ...

Music is something that is very present in my life. I listen to it everyday, during showers, in between classes at school, during classes while i do individual work, at home when i do homework, when i clean, when i exercise. It has always been abig part of my life, as my dad is a jazz musician. Me and my sister used to make up dances to go with some of his music when we were smaller. But in these past couple of years it has become very present in my life. It has become such a norm that it even feels weird to not be liestening to music when it is quiet around. the type of music i listen to is definitely influenced by media. If there is a video with a song as a background that i like sometimes i begin to listen to that song, then more songs like it by that artist. My friends have a huge huge influence on me with what i listen to. I am not very picky with the songs i like, most of what they enjoy, i like too, and so i listen. I don't know what types of music i would listen to without ...

In the Merchants of Cool video we watched in class, pop was described as a type of "wow" factor having to do with sex and violence, meant to entice the teen audience. In my mind, the wanted reaction from these advertisers would be something along the lines of "oh my gosh i cannot believe they did that" "thats so crazy" giving them a surprise factor that these teens would have to keep watching to see what more surprises they have in store. In class we had a conversation about how pop kept increasing the keep that surprise factor present in the TV shows. We discussed Pretty Little Liars, which has been a popular show for a while now, but they are still coming out with more episodes. It started out with the 4 main characters being cyber bullied, in a way, and the show has escalated to murders happening almost every other episode, to kidnappings, and remote controlled exploding apartments. Another show that has become very popular among many of my friends late...

i had never really thought it completely through before but advertising takes an entirely different turn when it is someone's face you recognize. For example, my sister Aine has been modeling since she was 16, (she is now 19) and throughout her career she has been in quite a few magazines, even on the covers, and all over different makeup artists, and photographers, and stylists media accounts. It gives everything such a different feel, like you know the brand better because you have seen something you recognize. This is probable why people use the same people in their advertisements as like a symbol of that brand. For example, Progressive uses Flo, a upbeat, redheaded white woman with trademark red lipstick as their "brand representative" for lack of a better word. It makes the brand much more familiar than it would if you use a different person overtime. it makes it more likely that people will come back because they recognize it and it is in their comfort zone because ...