Blog #6- Sitcom: "That 70's Show" Product Placement

One of my favorite shows to watch is That 70s Show re-runs on Netflix. With Stars like Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Topher Grace, the show features the lives of a group of adolescent friends living in the 1970s. This American sitcom originally aired in 1998, but is set in the suburbs of 1970s Wisconsin, where episodes develop comical struggles of early adulthood. Having watched this sitcom before, I was aware that there are some products that are mentioned throughout episodes that are clear and obvious to the audience. Other products, however, are visible in background scenes, or are a general part of the environment, but are not as noticeably obvious to attract a viewer's attention. The episode I chose to watch was from season 6, episode 20, called "Squeezebox." This sitcom is always entertaining, but I always found this episode to be one of the more comical and relatable ones.

The most obvious product placement that I first recognized was for Budweiser beer. It is first evident on Hyde's (a main character's) shirt. He is visibly wearing it in at least two different scenes, each for about 2-3 minutes in length. The Budweiser logo re-surfaces when another main character, Red, is visibly holding a can in his hand while he is sitting at the kitchen table. There are no other cans or bottles with visible labels surrounding it, which makes the Budweiser label stand out. He also holds it so that "Budweiser" is clearly facing the audience at all times during the scene. I have also noticed that Budweiser receives a lot of screen-time during almost every That 70s Show episode. This leads me to believe that because of its prominent exposure, Budweiser more than likely endorses or sponsors the show, and requires that they receive so much air-time per episode.

The next product to be featured was a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and poster. Hyde is one of the most featured characters during the show, so once again he is the one wearing the t-shirt. He wears it for the remainder of the episode, so the Led Zeppelin logo is obvious in multiple scenes. It is also found in a poster in Donna's (another main character's) bedroom. The poster is in the background, but it is not blurred or out of focus like the posters usually are. It is clearly visible and is actually kind of distracting when Donna is standing in front of it in the scene. The band, which formed in 1968, was popular in the 1970's rock genre. I believe that this placement of a group, rather than a product, is to not only help establish the 1970's setting, but to also encourage viewer's to revive Led Zeppelin's music.

In a side story in the episode, Eric (another main character) works diligently on a Star Wars X Wing Fighter model, and even brings out his Star Wars action figures. Not only is the merchandise for the movie being exposed as products, but Eric, along with other characters, verbally mention Star Wars multiple times throughout the show. I think the producers used this exposure with the same intention as the Led Zeppelin products. The first Star Wars movie was released in 1977, so Eric's obsession with the movie reflects the popularity of it at that time. The intentional verbal and visual product exposure of the movie helps reiterate the setting of the 1970s along with the clothing style, hairstyles, room decor, and cars, to a targeted audience of young adults in the late 90s.

While Budweiser, Led Zeppelin, and Star Wars products were noticeably placed and discussed for a purpose in the show, there were some products that can arguably be determined as visible products that were not strategically incorporated for the audience's attention. Products that I noticed were as follows: a Candyland box, Cosmopolitan magazine, Kahlua bottle, and Forbes magazine. If I were not looking for these products for this assignment, I probably would not have noticed them while watching the episode. These products were either blurred and set in the background, or were only exposed clearly on camera for a brief moment in the scene. For these reasons, I believe that this was not intentional product placement like the others I had mentioned before. There was not enough emphasis on the products, and a lack of interaction with the characters made them seem less important. After completing this blog, I realized just how obvious producers and writers make advertising within television shows. The use of character interaction and setting help enhance the exposure of the products to sell the audience a product or in this case, a band or movie, without them even being aware.

Blog # 5- Daily Show With Jon Stewart- WACK FLAG

On June 22, 2015, the Daily Show with John Stewart aired "Wack Flag," an episode focused on the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina. In the beginning of the episode, Stewart introduces the topic by showing a controversial picture of the shooter, Dylann Roof, holding a confederate flag, and explaining how his white power manifesto and hate photos have surfaced since the attack. He attempts to answer why the young white male shooter chose to massacre nine black churchgoers in a Charleston church. Stewart's sarcastic response that racism may be the cause blatantly pokes fun at Fox News, as well as other news shows that seem to avoid the most logical explanation for the cause of the shooting. He then moves to clips of Fox News reporting on the shooting to not only give more insight on the shooting story itself, but to continue his satirical judgement of Fox. The clips involve news reporters expressing their disscontempt with how the media is obsessing over a tragedy to advance a narrative story. He provides more evidence of the same type of behavior by showing clips of Fox's reaction to the two cops shot in Ferguson, Missouri, in May, 2015. By showing these clips, Stewart concludes his point that Fox is doing exactly what they say disgusts them by, "using a tragedy to advance their liberal narrative." This conclusion transitions into Stewart exposing how obviously racist South Carolina is by providing the fact that the Confederate flag (a symbol for the confederate south that supported slavery and opposed emancipation) is prominently valued throughout the state. While there were states that were planning to ban the flag, South Carolina declared that they had to have 2/3 of the state vote to remove it before any immediate action could be taken. Stewart refers to South Carolina as "the Confederate Epcott" to humorously summarize his views on how ridiculous he thinks South Carolina is reacting to the controversy. To further his satirical rant, he introduces his correspondents Jessica Williams, a black female anchor, and Jordan Klepper, a white male anchor, to role-play typical racist American stereotypes. Williams argues that the flag is racially discriminating towards black Americans because of what it stands for, but Klepper purposely argues with everything she says. When Stewart repeats the argument that Williams made,  Klepper agrees, which angers Williams. This interaction shows the audience a sarcastic interaction of how rude and ignorant racist people can be.

Personally, I believe the Daily Show, or a type of comedic news, is beneficial to society because it reaches a rising american audience of sarcastic and opinionated people. When it comes to watching/listening to news, I believe that there are three main types of audiences. The first would be the news-buffs, or the people that watch news broadcasts from Fox, CNN, NBC, etc. These are the people that sit in front of their televisions every night at the same time to listen to the news of the day, that rely on the newspaper for information, and take the issues in the world as they come, and for what they are. On the opposite end, there are people that take the news with a more satirical approach, or have to take the news in a light-hearted way in order to retain the change that is going on around them. Finally, there are those that do not listen to the news at all, and avoid being informed of the issues and changes that happen everyday in our society. Disregarding the people that choose to not be informed, I think it is important that the other two audiences have their need for news met accordingly. The main news broadcasters cover the serious audience, and have done so for years by televising newscasts and simply stating the information or news of the day. However, I have noticed that these newscasts have become more dramatized, and most of the news involves tragic stories that leave me feeling disappointed in society, or saddened by other people's circumstances. For the sarcastic audience, or people like myself, in order to get the most out of the news we need comic relief to process news happening in the world. Jon Stewart has touched on major issues, that is evident if you scroll through a list of the Daily Show's episodes. He covers the same material as major news broadcasters, but without the drama. Instead, comedic news takes on a different kind of personality, and humanizes real issues by making them more relatable. In my opinion, the news that we see on tv everyday is almost never positive, so it is difficult to watch serious issues broadcasted by serious people, and not feel disheartened by the end of it all. By allowing satire and comedy to intersect serious news, news shows like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report not only discuss the irony and obvious issues with world news stories, but they point out the flaws in society and human nature.  This is something people with comical personalities can filter through and understand. I do not think that people are getting inaccurate news by choosing to watch one news station over another. People have to watch, read, or listen to news in a way that translates well for them, and for many people in this country, comedic news is a valued option.

Blog #3: Magazine Article- "Finding My Way Home"

Smith, L. (March 2, 2016). Finding My Way Home. Garden & Gun, 5(1), p. 88-93

Garden & Gun magazine is a well-known publication in the south for its useful tips on southern music, outdoor life, food, and all around southern culture. I personally enjoy this magazine because I am originally from the south, and also because in every issue, they include a feature piece on an aspiring or famous artist from the region. The February/March issue showcased Lee Smith, an author from Grundy, Virginia who chose to focus on her roots in order to write stories she was most passionate about. The article begins with Smith discussing how she could not wait to leave her backwoods home in Virginia and become a famous writer. It was not until she entered Hollins College and heard an excerpt read by southern author Eudora Welty that she decided to write about what she knew best––home. The article explains how Smith seemed to find herself by channeling people like herself, and trusting her own instincts. Smith has since written thirteen novels and multiple short stories that pay tribute to her hometown in Grundy, and her Appalachian life. 

While this article was an account of someone's personal path to success, I was able to gain new knowledge and gather opinions to apply to my own life. Relating back to Baran's chapter 1 and the Media History lecture, I can compare my thought process of writing to how people want to be viewed in the media. When writing a poem or short story or any piece of fiction, I always seem to want my story to be the hero, or the type of writing that everyone wants to read. This idea relates to how people want to be viewed as the hero through media by "being a certain way" to society. This article helped me understand that sometimes writing what you know is the most successful writing a person can do. A piece of advice that I seem to keep referring back to from this article is that more often than not, people are more interested in reading stories about things they are not accustomed to. The unfamiliarity is attractive because it allows people to feel, see, and experience a life outside of the routine they are living everyday. I read this article out of all the others because it was a personal and artistic piece. The other features appeal more to the masses: the best southern recipes by the best chefs in the south, how a family lives their Carolina lifestyle, a football coach taking a team from the bottom to the top, etc. These articles, to me, were typical hero stories that allowed me to predict the content and summarize without even having to read it. "Finding My Way Home" was much more intriguing because I needed to read the entire article to understand what finding her way home meant, and how she got there. I already owned Garden & Gun magazine, so it was convenient for me to examine each article and determine which one held my interest the most in order to write this post.

After reading the article, I was interested to see what kind of advertisements surrounded the piece. The magazine is 155 pages long with at least 47 advertisements, meaning that about 30.3% of the magazine is made up of ads. Since this magazine is considered a more up-scale magazine for the southern region, it is well-structured and the advertisements are (what artists would consider) well designed and expensive. For this reason, I think that there are just enough advertisements for the size of the magazine and the content that is involved. Most of the ads appear to fit the content included in the magazine– most are about vacationing in the south, southern-made liquor, southern cuisine, etc. I am pleasantly surprised that there are no fashion or beauty ads (which typically junk up regular grocery store magazines) to distract from the vibe of the magazine. Surrounding my article are mostly ads for vacationing down south, but one is for a book written by an author from West Virginia. I think this is not only clever advertising, but also clever media design. People that are interested in reading and writing are more than likely going to read "Finding My Way Home." By placing an ad about a book available by another southern author, the advertisers and designers of the magazine have created a call to action, and focused the audiences mindset on buying the book. 

Blog Post #1 (Intro and Reflection)

Hello! My name is Megan Witt and I am a senior at Kutztown University. I am majoring in Advertising and Graphic Design as well as minoring in Professional Writing. I am currently a design intern at Sahl Communications in Bethlehem handling all graphic design and advertising elements of the company. During the school year, I am the lead Graphic Designer for the Keystone Newspaper at Kutztown, along with a student worker for the Disability Services Office. On weekends and breaks, I work as a Sales Associate at Apricot Lane Boutique. I like to keep busy designing and working with new people all the time. In my free time (when I have it) I enjoy reading, going to see new movies, writing, and doing anything outside.

As I approach my last year of college, I look forward to graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and hopefully landing a job at a magazine or advertising agency. I strive to do something everyday that builds my skills or adds to my passion for art and design.

While I enjoy my major and being so involved, being a young adult in a connected world with constant communication can be overwhelming at times. After reading the "Shifts and Changes" post on ponderingprof.blogspot.com, I came to the conclusion that maybe I am not the only person that believes that media is slowly taking over the important aspects of life. Granted, my entire major and passion is guided around media. There are no forms of advertisement that are not in some form of media. However, from a personal standpoint, I do agree that people are using social outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. to fulfill their basic needs. Referring to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, after a person has their physiological needs, safety, and belonging needs satisfied, the last are esteem and self actualization. It seems to me that in this day and age, these last two needs are mainly achieved through communication behind a computer, phone, or television screen.

I wonder what life was like without the internet and constant communication. I would like to believe that rumors were less aggressive, that bullying was not as intense, that relationships lasted longer, and private information was kept...well...private. Technology continues to grow, and although I am grateful because it allows for advancement and change, I am equally disappointed at what it does to society as a whole. Maybe like all fads and phases, the technology age will die down in the next few years and we can get back to being more productive, more active, more creative, and more private.