BP6: R&R

I found this blog to be very eventful and eye opening.  I never realized how much and how many times we are exposed to so many different kinds of advertisements. I am now more aware of all the different advertisements that we come into contact with since doing this blog post.

When I first started doing research for this blog post I was on campus. I never realized how full of advertisements campus was filled with until I actually started looking for them. There are so many advertisements all over campus whether they are in the SUB building or posted on poles outside on your way to the different buildings. Some of these advertisements I found to be pretty useless because they did not have enough information on them to make you want to be interested in the club or event. When posting an advertisement I think it is important that you put enough information on the poster so that whoever is reading it will want to partake in the event or join the club. The whole point of advertisements is for us to become interested in the product. Another form of advertising that I saw on campus was with what people were wearing. There were so many different logos on shirts that really no two shirts were similar. Brands want to make their logos distinct and unique so that people will want to wear the brand. The cooler the brand and the more people know about it the more profit the company will make.  

While watching television I felt that I was seeing the same advertisements over and over again. Proactiv was one of the most common advertisements and was played about three times every time the show went to a commercial break. No matter what time of day I was watching television I always saw this ad being played. Some of the advertisements were really clever and funny and actually made me want to go out and buy the product. For me if the ad is funny and catchy then I become interested in the product. Some of the advertisements were straight informational and made me want to change the channel because they were so boring.

I learned a lot from this blog post and I realized how many advertisements we are shown everyday. I think that advertisements do what they are put out for and get people interested. 

I also think that advertisements affect us wether we want them too or not. Advertisements have a control over everything that we do from what we eat and buy to what we wear. They let us think that we are making our own decisions on what we purchase when in reality we are not because the advertisements have molded our minds in thinking about what we should and should not buy. In a perfect world, I think advertisements should not play such a huge role in our everyday lives.

Blog Post 5

When it comes down to downloading music, everyone does it and most of the time it is done illegally. When it comes down to it we just download the music and don’t think twice on whether it is right or wrong. For Sissela Bok in order to find out if something is right or wrong you must break it down into a three-step system. The first step would be to consult your conscience. In order words, listen to the little voice in the back of your head telling you that it is probably not a good music to download music illegally since it is illegal and you can get in trouble for it. The next step would be to seek alternatives. When it comes to getting music there is always a legal way you can get it. You can first go out and actually buy the cd from the store because this way you are helping the economy because you are spending money. Another option would be to buy the song from a sponsored website or program such as Itunes. Sissela Bok’s final step it to hold an imaginary ethical dialogue with everyone involved. In the case of downloading music, you would have a conversation with a police officer (if you got caught), the artist who you are stealing the song from and probably parents because you would have to explain to them why you are getting arrested. When you take the time and think of it this way, downloading music is not the smartest thing to do when you think of all the consequences and people that would be involved if you were to get in trouble. This goes hand in hand with John Stuart Mill’s theory, The Principle of Utility. He believes that when it comes to media ethics you have to think about the greatest good for the greatest number. You have to think about if it is really worth getting caught and loosing everything in your life that you have worked so hard for to pay for lawyer fees and anything else, all because you did not feel like spending a dollar on a song.