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Analysis Of Gillette Social Media Campaign Communication Strategy Basing On Social Media Activism And Ethics

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

Introduction

The Best Men Can Be is a corporate social responsibility public relations campaign by the Gillette brand, a Procter & Gamble safety razor and personal care product whose goal was to address negative behaviour among men such as sexism, bullying, toxic masculinity and sexual misconduct. The campaign was launched on the 13th of January 2019. The social media campaign was targeted at men who are the target market for the personal care products sold under the Gillette brand (Gogarty, 2019). Procter & Gamble used multiple platforms to promote the campaign. Among the initiatives undertaken under the social media campaign is a commitment by Gillette to make donations for three years towards organisations which enable men to achieve their personal best. The social media campaign was channelled through different platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Evaluation of Communication Strategy used in the social media campaign

Gillette used an interactive communication strategy to reach to the target market. Social media activism is also suitable for public relations because of its ability to facilitate the development of dialogue as well as relationships between an organisation and stakeholders as well as members of the public. Social media platforms like twitter are interactive. This nature allows concerned organisations to create a dialogue with stakeholders who contribute to improvement in the relationship between the organisation and its stakeholders. Through its social media campaign, Gillette created a twitter hush tag dubbed the best men can be to encourage men to be the best that they can be (Gogarty, 2019). Through this twitter hashtag, Gillette has been able to drive change in society by encouraging men to be initiative and drive positive change in society. Likewise, through the best men can be a hashtag, Gillette was able to create a discourse on how men can be advocates, leaders, and mentors in different aspects of their communities. Gillette has promoted the discourse of the best men can through encouraging men to participate in the recovery of addicts, providing support groups for men struggling with abuse and suicide, promoting diversity in the society, and teaching art to underserved as well as incarcerated children. Through the interactive nature of twitter, among other social media platforms, Gillette has been able to interact with the participants as well as people who have been helped by the support groups established through the organisation’s social media campaign. The interactive nature of social media campaigns has therefore made it possible for the company to ensure that its campaign is effective and that a strong relationship is established between the organisation and men who include participants and beneficiaries from the organisation’s campaign (Kent, 2013). Gillette has used an interactive Facebook page resulting in almost 2000 reactions to this social media campaign 376 comments as illustrated below:

An effective targeting strategy is useful for ensuring that a communication strategy is delivers the targeted objectives for the organisation. An organisation also makes use of social media activism in its public relations exercise to increase its visibility and its image. Social media platforms reach a large number of people. Therefore, when an organisation makes use of social media in its public relations exercise, it can reach a large audience with its message, thereby increasing its visibility and image in public. Gillette’s social media campaign by which the organisation promotes seeks to bring out the best in men has served to increase the visibility and image of the brand (Edwards, 2012). Considering that the brand’s shaving products are mainly targeted at the male audience, this use of the best men can be a social media campaign that has played a significant role in increasing the visibility and image of the brand. The Gillette social media campaign has played a significant role in promoting the organisation’s image and enhancing its visibility in the marketplace. Owing to the organisation’s promotion of good values among men in its social media campaign, it has attained strong visibility and image among the members of the public (Gogarty, 2019). Social media activism also contributes to the influence of the customer’s opinion of the brand. Through social media public relations campaigns, organisations can create a discourse that promotes a positive perception of the brand in the eyes of other consumers. Gillette has made use of the best men can be a campaign to promote a positive image among customers. Through the best men can be a campaign, Gillette has been able to promote values of care, concern, leadership, and mentorship among men in the society, which has contributed towards the development of positive perception of employees among customers. Through the use of YouTube, Gillette was able to achieve increased visibility through targeting men with its social media campaign as illustrated below:

Increased development in information and communication technology has promoted social media as one of the leading mediums of information exchange. Information communication technologies have also made a significant contribution to the development of societies, particularly through dialogic and interactive nature. As a result, social media platforms have increasingly connected people and created an environment in which people can share ideas and promote new discourses. Social media is also considered to e cheap fast and an interactive channel which can be used to reach the targeted audience (Kim, 2016). In the public relations context, social media allows organisations to communicate directly with the targeted public groups circumventing filtering processes of gatekeepers such as journalists. Social media activism is, therefore, concerned with how organisations deliver messages to the public concerning their brands in a bid to promote a positive image and win more support and advocacy. Social media campaigns are used by organisations and brands to engage directly with the targeted audience to create a long-term relationship of trust with the audience (Kent, 2008). The dialogic and interactive nature of social media creates an environment in which organisations can engage in an exchange relationship with the brands leading to improved brand image and positive word of mouth. Gillette’s social media campaign has been designed based on the interactive and dialogic nature of social media to build a relationship of trust with customers.

Social media has become increasingly relevant in the public relations field as a new channel through which organisations can communicate the public and stakeholders as well as nourishing relationships with such stakeholders (Solis and Breakenridge, 2009). Social media has further served an important role in increasing the legitimacy of public relations, considering that an increasing number of public relations professionals are being given the responsibility of managing organisations’ digital platforms. Among the reasons for the increasing relevance of social media activism in public relations is the fact that social media allows public relations professionals to communicate directly with the target audience by bypassing the news media and its gatekeeping role. This direct communication with the target audience enhances the effectiveness of the message delivered to the audience. Gillette has made use of social media platforms to promote its brand through the best man can be campaign (Gillette, 2020). The use of social made it possible for Gillette to reach out directly to its target audience, thus bypassing the media and its gatekeeping role. The main benefit of using social media is the fact that it enables a brand to reach directly to its customers without being filtered by other players in the media industry. Gillette made use of twitter as one of the social media channels, thus reaching directly to the men who were the target audience. The use of social media campaigns using Twitter, among other social media platforms, made it possible for the brand to reach its customers with its message.

Analysis of activism and ethics based on the social media campaign’s communication strategy

Organisations that make use of social media for public relations campaigns face ethical questions that must be addressed to effectively serve the social media community. Considering that social media is concerned with the relationships that people build through technology, organisations need to maintain strong values and ensure that the entire platform is used for mutually beneficial purposes to guarantee the success of the relationship between members (Kim, 2016). Ethics refers to the process of determining what is considered to be right or wrong. In light of this, ethics is concerned with moral reasoning. In designing social media campaigns, an organisation needs to use the TARES Ethical Model to make sure that high ethical standards are upheld. According to the TARES Ethics Model, social media communications need to be conducted in line with five principles, namely truthfulness, authenticity, respect, equity, and social responsibility (Duffy and Thorson, 2015). The successful implementation of a social media campaign is based on the truthfulness of the message. The social media campaign should be designed in such a way that the message being presented to the audience is authentic. The information presented in a social media public relations campaign needs to be accurate. Such accurate contributes to the building of trust with stakeholders.

Authenticity in the communication process shows that there is a commitment to personal responsibility in delivering messages to the public and also ensuring that members of the organisation involved show deep concern for others. Members of the organisation in charge of communication are required to evaluate their intentions, motivations, and attitudes driving persuasive activities, ensuring that they act in a noble way (Wilkins and Christians, 2008). Members of the organisation also need to be genuine and sincere when delivering their messages to the public. Gillette ensured that its message within the best men could be social media campaign is truthful and seeks to promote positive values in the society. This has been witnessed in the organisation, ensuring that the brand can promote a positive image. Respect within social media communication is practised through ensuring that actions undertaken by the organisation demonstrate that each member of the organisation is viewed with dignity and that their rights and interests are not violated. This was implemented in Gillette’s social media campaign by ensuring that men who participate in the campaign take part voluntarily.

Equity is also an important principle of ethics in social media communications. Under this principle, the organisation is required to treat all parties involved in social media communication fairly. In implementing this principle, the organisation’s management needs to ensure that no member of the public is coerced into participating in the social media campaign. Gillette’s best men can be campaign was implemented in a way that ensures that ensured members were treated fairly throughout the entire process. Additionally, there was equity in the process of treating participants such that the campaign did not take advantage of any beneficiaries (Kim, 2016). Instead, the campaign ensured that participants in the organisation were given an opportunity to improve the welfare of fellow men suffering from different struggles such as addiction and depression, among others. Social responsibility as one of the principles of ethics in social media communication relates to how organisations show duty to the entire society. In this case, the organisation cannot promote products, services, events, and causes that harm society.Gillette promotes corporate social responsibility in its campaigns by allowing men to encourage fellow men undergoing challenges like addiction, abuse, and depression (Gillette, 2020). Other activities included providing education to needy kids, which further led to the promotion of the welfare of members of the community. By promoting such positive causes, Gillette’s social media campaign contributed towards improvement in the welfare of the society, thus promoting social responsibility.

Conclusion

Social media activism is useful in public relations because of the nature of social media platforms, which allow for closer interaction between the organisation and stakeholders. Social media is interactive, allowing the organisation to interact closely with stakeholders promoting long term relationships. Gillette’s social media campaign was interactive, allowing the organisation to build strong relationships with stakeholders. Social media also promotes improved image and visibility of the organisation while also promoting the image of the brand in the eyes of customers. The ethical nature of Gillette’s social media campaigns was evaluated against the five principles of the TARES Ethics Model. Based on the ethics model, Gillette’s social media campaign was truthful, authentic, and the organisation demonstrated respect in the delivering of its message. Likewise, the organisation demonstrated equity through treating all participants fairly and also social responsibility by healing men undergoing different challenges such as depression and additions.

References

Duffy, M. & Thorson, E. (2015) Persuasion Ethics Today London: Routledge
Edwards, L. (2012) ‘Defining the ‘object’ of public relations research: A new starting point’, Public Relations Inquiry, 1(1), pp.7–30
Gillette (2019) Gillette: The best men can be. Available at: https://web.facebook.com/gillette/posts/the-best-men-can-be-recovering-addicts-who-turn-their-lives-around-and-then-help/10157469689669750/?_rdc=1&_rdr (Accessed 12th April 2020).
Gillette (2019a) We Believe: The Best Men Can Be. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0 (Accessed 12th April 2020).
Gillette (2020) The best men can be. Available at:https://gillette.com/en-us/about/the-best-men-can-be (Accessed 7th April 2020).
Gogarty, S. (2019) Thereal impact and effectiveness of Gillette’s ‘#metoo’ ad. Available at:https://www.marketingweek.com/the-real-impact-and-effectiveness-of-gillettes-metoo-ad/ (Accessed 7th April 2020).
Kent, M. L. (2008) ‘Critical analysis of blogging in public relations’, Public Relations Review, 34(1), pp. 32–40
Kent, M. L. (2013) ‘Using social media dialogically: Public relations role in reviving democracy’, Public Relations Review, 39(4), pp. 337–345
Kim, C.M. (2016) Social media campaigns London: Routledge
Solis, B., & Breakenridge, D. K. (2009) Putting the public back in public relations Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education
Swann, P. (2014) Cases in Public Relations Management: The Rise of Social Media and Activism London: Routledge
Wilkins, L. & Christians, C.G. (2008) The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics London: Routledge

Analysis of the Strength of Visual Media Imagery: Analytical Essay

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

Media has such a prominent effect on today’s society. With how large media has grown, more recent studies involve the effectiveness of different imagery on media. And consistently studies have shown that visual content resonates the information much more effectively. These studies are investigating how and why imagery is effective in getting the point across to the viewers; this was prominent in the past through propaganda, but with how easily accessible media has become to us these reasons are changing. Just as how our perception changes in alignment with the changes in the world around us. It has an influence on marketing, education, and social norms.

Visuals are what control our world in the current day. With how many stimuli we have on social media, visuals are the biggest attention grabbers because they are the easiest to comprehend. “We’re in a golden age of visuals, and content is king, 2017 is all about images that are bold, impactful, and evocative” (Dyakovskaya). Images have a certain standard in modern day to be effective with viewers. The images used in social media are more likely to evoke emotional reactions in viewers and can portray information more efficiently than text. There are many strategies in which this is applied, a large contributor is color. More recent imagery is becoming experimental with undaunted colors. The goal is to make the image the most unique in how it ‘pops’ out to the viewer. There is also an uprise in the branding of colors for certain companies. An example is given in Balm’s article: “RE/MAX recently released series of light-hearted ads that feature quite the colorful cast of characters. The campaign’s blend of bright backdrops and entertaining dialogue certainly leaves an impression”. The campaign of RE/MAX features bright colors and backdrops to draw the viewer in based upon the feelings the colors bring out, along with how bright colors often emanate an uplifted mood.

Virtual reality is one of the industries of visual technology expanding at an alarming rate. The ways we define ourselves as human is consistently being altered, and the new ‘virtual world’ being created revolves around just that. When it comes to technology, like all innovation, we always want more. Now, we can not only look at visuals, but practically step inside them. “One of the latest efforts comes from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which unveiled four 360-videos giving viewers a taste of what it would be like to visit and explore the Southeast Asian country” (Dyakovskaya). Newer technology is not only creating visual worlds, but letting us step into the virtual makeup of places around the globe with great precision. These are examples of how we are becoming more and more attracted to tidbits of information in the form of visuals. We are being bombarded by stimuli and often seek the easiest and most familiar way of learning information. Reading can be a time-consuming activity. It takes a lot longer to read a long sentence than to analyze a visual scene.

Visuals are also being integrated into the media of business. Images that are posted on social media can help to share a message and tell a bit of a story about the business itself. Imagery can impose a sense of personality for a business, and it can be focused upon the types of people they’re trying to attract through their media. People often engage more with a business that seems more like a friend, even more so on social media. Modern business imagery is moving towards the genuine aspects of media, being more candid or ‘normal’ in contrast to media that can be a bit more extreme in its work. Imagery for business is very useful in social media because business focuses on getting more total viewers for the company. A Huffington Post article, focusing on why images are so important to business, states: “Images have become ever increasingly popular with the ability for people to take photos and videos with their camera on their smartphone. If you haven’t already, now is the time to start incorporating images into your social media strategy”. Images are always being shared around social media and it is important for business to get their foot in the door for that part of media. One way this is done to increase branding is how bigger businesses often create hashtags so that people who use their brand in whatever shape or form, capture it in an image, and share it worldwide. The more people to click on the hashtag or search up the brand tagged, the better for the company, because modern business is all about promotion and consistency of a brand.

On top of all of it all, science has proven how we learn most effectively through imagery. As stated earlier, words are often rather difficult for the brain to retain, whereas visuals are concrete and, as such, more easily remembered. Ph.D Kouyoumdjian illustrates this in great precision: “Think about your past school days of having to learn a set of new vocabulary words each week. Now, think back to the first kiss you had or your high school prom date. Most probably, you had to put forth great effort to remember the vocabulary words. In contrast, when you were actually having your first kiss or your prom date, I bet you weren’t trying to commit them to memory. Yet, you can quickly and effortlessly visualize these experiences”. The human brain has an amazing knack for processing visual information and your ability to easily remember life experiences. Our brains can memorize events that have occurred in front of our eyes without us even attempting to. One study asked students to remember many groups of three words each, such as dog, bike, and street. Students who tried to remember the words through repetition did not do well on recall. On the other end, students who made the effort to make visual associations with the three words, for example, imagining a dog riding a bike down the street, had much better recall.

The visual graphics in logos are often considered the most memorable part of a brand. A brand can be recognized brand by seeing the visual graphic, before even seeing the name of the brand. This type of visual can be very effective. For example, earlier this year Starbucks simplified their logo by dropping their written name and keeping only their logo of the mermaid. The advertisement front of Starbucks Corporation has shown that they are keenly aware of how our brains have automatically and effortlessly committed their graphics to memory. Visual learning is very powerful in teaching. Newer textbooks are focusing much more on the visuals of the text rather than the paragraphs of information. Therefore, the information is being presented in a way to make the most of visual learning. The right visuals can help make difficult concepts more understandable to viewers, as well as make the information more effective. Even articles online can often be seen paired with visual content in a clear, meaningful manner. Research outcomes suggest that the effective use of visuals can decrease learning time, improve comprehension, better retrieval, and increase retention.

Imagery has such a large influence on modern society. Media is one of the most prominent things in our modern lives. Visual images are proven to be the most effective way to grab a person’s attention, as well as have the information presented retained. It is often impossible to read everything that grabs your attention, and images help make our lives simpler to some extent. And modern times are obsessed with simplicity. Media is a continuously growing aspect of modern-day life, and the use of imagery in modern day information is growing with it alongside.

Bibliography

Balm, James. “The Power of Pictures. How We Can Use Images to Promote and Communicate Science”. Research in Progress Blog, 8 Dec. 2014, https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcblog/2014/08/11/the-power-of-pictures-how-we-can-use-images-to-promote-and-communicate-science/

Media and Cultural Analysis of the TV Show ‘Fresh Off the Boat’: Critical Essay

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

We can’t be a part of the present society without being influenced by the steady stream of intervened culture: digital news, TV, social media, out-of-home experience, different cultural policies to high design, fashion and lifestyle. It basically explores the connections between culture, media and society. The remarkable TV show ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ exhibits critical media and cultural differences with the incorporation of the non-Western world. It acquaints the watchers with the key contemporary issues talked about through the use of media. This TV show thinks about basic issues in media and social examinations in their full worldwide intricacy, with an attention on the way of life and social orders of Asia and America.

The issue of ideology is a vital proposition in Marxist theory, as well as in the TV series ‘Fresh Off the Boat’. By adhering to the essential scholarly rule that man’s social being decides his social cognizance, they characterized ideology as a receptive instrument and social capacity as far as the interrelationship of financial, political and mental life; characterized its emotional component and class traits as far as the commonly generative and prescriptive relations between social awareness and social elements. One of the clearest, most essential topics in the TV show is the ruling and sorting out job of whoever controls the plot, from whom streams all thoughts of significant worth and request. This is in tandem of the Karl Marx’s theory and hypothesis: the base is the methods and relations of generation, though the superstructure involves the thoughts that rise up out of the idea of the base and that shape and look after it, including the ruling class ideology. As Marx composes, the thoughts of the ruling class are in each age the ruling thoughts, similarly in the TV show ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ this is very well depicted initially in the small scene in Season 1 Episode 1 (17:16-17:30), where a Taiwanese origin boy (Eddie) is called a chink (Chinese racial slur) because of his face recognition. They are 11 years old, and according to the 1965 Immigration Act that had already passed but still racism existed. The irony in the scene is that a black ethnicity boy called him that while the black ethnic people were ones to bring the Immigration Act. This belief system turns into the just a single group of onlookers who truly feel pervades the show, for example in the same episode there is a short scene in the starting (3:45- 4:00) where there is a white ethnic group with the leader named Deidre which seemed really nice giving the introduction turned out to make fun of the name Jessica, who was Eddie’s mom and one of the main characters of the show. She bluntly told her that she was expecting something more exotic making the sense that she (Jessica) is not here from America, which is true, but also portraying that there is a kind of country copyright on the name Jessica, which is basically limited to white ethnic groups. One can argue that there is also little bit of irony in this, since Deidre is not such a common name so in order to protect herself from getting name shamed. Deidre sarcastically also makes fun of Eddie’s English accent by telling him that his English is very good while making a weird noise. Hence, Marxist theory about the economic base as the driving force of society is especially interesting in clarifying how the ruling class thoughts work. It likewise underscores the significance of thinking about popular culture in connection to its specific situation. The superstructure is made by the people who assume themselves as superior and tend to downgrade the other by whatever means possible.

According to Said, ‘Orientalism’ is the term created to describe the study of the dynamics between the two different cultures. Orientalism communicates and represents to that part socially and even ideologically as a method of talk with supporting establishments, vocabulary, grant, symbolism, teachings, even pilgrim organizations. It will be obvious to any person that by Orientalism Said fundamentally implies a wide range of things, and as needs be they are associated, among them ‘readily accepted designation’ for Orientalism is an academic one. One function of present-day prejudice is that at whatever point Asian Americans are considered by dominant groups, their societies are sifted through the viewpoint of orientalism — East Asians are othered and exotified for strange cooking, shy personages, particular traditions and antiquated insider facts. However, ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ discovers its novelty in turning around the predominant, top-down account encompassing Asian America, rather setting the group of onlookers in the shoes of the Huang family. Hence, as of late, movies, TV, music, and even online networking outlets have additionally fortified the generalizations of the ‘orients’. For instance, the ABC satire ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ as of late got heaps of criticism for making its Asian characters appear to be confused, excessively conventional, and inconsiderate, which many thought were stereotypes as well as excessively connected to Asian individuals. Clearly, these stereotypes haven’t left, and the extraordinary power of the media is making them considerably more grounded. Eddie explores his new social condition with equivalent amounts of perplexity and undaunted certainty. He stares at his colleagues’ responses to a sharp home-arranged lunch, asks his mom to get him ‘white people food’; he focuses on basketball and hip-hop music, an ‘anthem’ for ‘outsiders’ like him and his proclivity for dark culture marks him as considerably all the more extraordinary and odd among the Caucasian understudies at his private Christian school. While it might appear that it’s superfluous for Asian Americans to battle for acknowledgment these days, uncontrolled whitewashing, yellowface and Orientalism still plague the society. The community is still subject to pretentious types of prejudice.

According to a study the model minority stereotype entered the talk on Asian Americans through predominant press’ justification of Asian Americans’ monetary accomplishment in 1960s, denoting a noteworthy change in social view of Asian Americans. While utilizing the model minority stereotype, ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ is respected as an enchanting and interesting family sitcom. It offers a rich site that would enable us to stay in contact with contemporary exhibitions of Asian American personalities in the media. The model minority talk would not be conceivable without anecdotes about Asian Americans and their prosperity. There is harmoniousness between what is considered as verifiable records of Asian Americans and the substance of the model minority generalization. Asian Americans are an ethnically different gathering who have landed in the United States in tremendously extraordinary conditions. There is actually an Season 1 Episode 2 of ‘Fresh Off the Boat’, depicting how the myth works and how it has reached the masses of people. At the start of the episode (0:00-0:39), when the American people are worried about whether their child would get addicted to drugs, the immigrant people for Asia are shown to be only skeptical about reports card and grades. Later, as the episode streams, it also depicts that how the Asian American people are cheap (1:30-1:32), which also became the content of many stand-up comedians like Russell Peters, thus taking the model minority myth forward and reaching out to people who are not even aware of it. Depiction of it also creates havoc among the people, which in turn creates publicity for the show, but creates differences and tend to lead people towards wrong direction.

‘Fresh Off the Boat’ is elegantly composed, all the while engaging its audiences and reliably captivating, benefiting as much as possible from the Huang family’s solitary identities and the rural Orlando, Florida. The cast of the show played roles with their own personalities and professions. The behind the camera group of production, direction, cinematography, writing and others are all from various ethnic backgrounds, which makes it all the appealing to the viewers.

Moral and Cultural Messages Present in the Media: Analytical Essay

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

Mass media is the fasted growing resource of the twenty-first century. It is reported that the average American spends eleven hours per day consuming the media. The rapid rise of mass media consumption may seem harmless or as a necessary action by some people due to societal changes, however, mass media consumption could be seen as a negative due to the subliminal cultural and moral messages hidden or displayed openly by producers of the content that the viewer consuming the media may not be aware of it. Good and bad influences are everywhere in the world, and some can be avoided directly, for example, not hanging out with the friend that you always get in trouble, with in comparison to mass media, the content people watch can affect them indirectly and influence them depending on the media they consume.

Music has the ability to change one’s mood, express or relate to the producer’s feelings, or help time pass, so of course it’s no surprise that millions of people in different parts of the world listen to music consistently on a daily basis, including me. Music produced today is often met with criticism due to the messages that are promoted to the targeted audience that mostly includes young people. As a vivid music listener, I can testify to this there is a ton of moral messages present in the music I listen to. For example, in the song ‘FEFE’ by Sixnine and Nicki Minaj, Sixnine starts the song off by name dropping a gang that he’s affiliated with, and then they rap about sexual immorality, which consisted of them talking about highly provocative stuff such as sex acts they perform, their genitals, and so on. Another example would be in the song ‘SAD!’ by XXXTentacion. In one line he says “suicide if you ever try to let go”, which is basically him saying he would kill himself if the person he was in love with tried to break up with him, which could be classified as mental abuse because no one should feel like they have to stay in a relationship with someone due to the fact that their partner will try to kill themselves if they don’t.

Not only are their moral messages present in media content, but there are also cultural messages that exist within the media as well. For example, in the documentary ‘Skin Bleaching Scandal in South Africa’ produced by Unreported World. The documentary talks about the recent skin bleaching crises in South Africa, where South Africans are using skin bleaching cream that contains harmful substances that can damage their skin permanently. Skin bleaching in South Africa become mainstream after a famous rapper Mshoza bleached her skin and started endorsing skin bleaching products. As a result, skin bleaching has become a cultural issue with many South Africans believing that becoming lighter will make them look better, be more successful, and that’s a plus in the dating game. Another example is from the documentary ‘Honor Killings in Pakistan: The Kohistan Case’ by VICE Asia. This documentary talks about honor killings in Pakistan, where about a thousand women are killed every year in the name of honor when a male relative claims that a woman has brought dishonor on the family, and it shows the cultural messages that still exist within Pakistan.

The mass media I consume doesn’t necessarily reflect the values growing up I was instilled with. Certainly, if my parents heard the music I listen to, they without a doubt would be flabbergasted due to the provocative and tasteless manner of the lyrics incorporated into the song. However, I don’t necessarily see a conflict with my values and the media I consume. Mass media is something I listen to and watch purely just for my entertainment or knowledge, depending on what it is, for example, a documentary. Although there are negative messages in the media, I consume I am not by any means necessary influenced or persuaded by it. I would compare this to an incident where you’re hanging out with friends who use drugs. Of course, you probably shouldn’t be hanging out with them, but as long as you’re not actually participating in drug use with them, then you’re not influenced by them and you aren’t technically doing anything wrong.

I never feel self-conscious, embarrassed, or guilty about the media content I consume. As I previously stated, the mass media I consume is strictly just for entertainment purposes, incept for certain instances. The media a person consumes doesn’t make them a good or bad person, for example, a person could listen to music that promotes violence and yet be a peaceful person or vice versus. People need to learn to separate the media they consume from the actual person and how the person acts.

Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis and Human Interactions in Social Media: Critical Essay

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

It is undeniable that we portray ourselves differently amongst our peer groups, family and colleagues. Furthermore, individual present a contrived version of themselves which ultimately manifest disingenuous expectations toward others. This presupposition is based on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis on social interactions in terms of theatrical performance including, both a front and backstage element. Theatre in this instance represents a metaphor where we envision ourselves observing what goes on, theatre wise, of everyday life. This metaphor explains these performances that are derived from an individual’s need to create a specific impression in the minds of others. This is defined as the presentation of self and proposes the question of how presentation of self-change exists when it comes to social media. A byproduct through the usage of social media is the representation of true self being concealed online. Given this, people present themselves enough so that people can see who they are without delving into their true self. These concepts develop into idealization, in which Goffman proposes that we idealize our intentions. Individuals only engage and attempt to maintain an online scripted performance so others selectively see what they want them to see. The presentation of self varies drastically from Instagram to Snapchat, in which I will be examining how they affect our front stage and backstage self.

Self-presentation critically defines human behavior as it attempts to convey information about oneself or some sort of image of themselves to other people. Social media generate these incentives in order to write scripts to present ourselves a certain way. This is most evident on Instagram, where users present their most scripted self. Instagram functions as a mobile application enabling users to visually share personal information through photographs. Each post or picture is methodically thought out, edited, and strategically posted so that the individual would be able to reach a certain amount of likes. Instagram enables users to create a desired image through filters and various applications such as Facetune, so that one can alter an individual’s appearance online. This reaffirms Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis that we exhibit our behavior to maintain a certain image in front of others. Most often, these posts are a combination of vacation pictures, selfies, family, and peers that portray an identity. Furthermore, a person’s profile most often reveals a theme, in which the photos contain subjects unique to the individual. In this sense, Goffman’s concept is utilized in that we are watching a scripted theatrical performance through the lens of social media and interpret the performance with the limited depiction of what is presented to us.

Evidence of scripted self-presentation can also be identified within another popular social media application, Snapchat. Conversations and information are initiated through a quick picture or ‘snap’ in which people can engage in. However, the exchange of information is different, when sending a snap to a peer, than it would be putting it on our story in which everyone can see. We send people who we are comfortable with an effortless photo or allow them to see our backstage self. Yet, when posting something for a network of people that could include acquaintances or family members, we are careful in selecting the content we put out. This plays an important role in these cases as we create an interpretation of a situation that strengthen our front stage selves, so audiences can envision oneself how we want them to. Again, this motivates us to preserve our scripted self that we have determined.

Technological advances and social media harbor valuable concepts presented both in Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis and elicit his ideals on the presentation of self. The ways in how both the front stage and backstage presentation of self-function can clearly be found and analyzed through mobile applications such as Instagram and Snapchat. Ultimately, these applications portray only what oneself wants to be seen and interpreted to others to maintain their identity online.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay on ‘A Modest Proposal’

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

John Bohannon, an American scientist and journalist, used the 2011 TEDxBrussels platform to deliver a manifesto on communication tools used improperly. Bohannon alleges art is underutilized and PowerPoint is over-utilized, to the detriment of the economy and perhaps society. A multidimensional approach to the delivery of this message contributes to the effectiveness and is supported by further analysis of the author’s situation, purpose, claims, audience, and appeal strategies.

The situation precipitating Bohannon’s presentation is a conversation with a physicist friend describing an experiment in which the author struggles to understand the material being discussed. Bohannon states he realized “it seemed like the more he said, the less I understood”(Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon says, “If you’re trying to give someone the big picture of a complex idea, to really capture its essence, the fewer words you use, the better” (Bohannon, 2011). The communication tools available for the standard communication of scientific information are not sufficient in the author’s experience.

The author’s purpose is to promote dance as a more effective communication tool than PowerPoint. Faced with confusion when talking to a friend, Bohannon states “I remember thinking, my friend could have explained that entire experiment with a dance” (Bohannon, 2011). When discussing “technology of persuasion” the author describes PowerPoint with the “illusion of competence, the illusion of simplicity, and most destructively, the illusion of understanding” and describes dancers as “sure to help” (Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon (2011) posits that there are already instances in the professional world of dance meeting work, describing an example of “efficient brainstorming” through dance at the University of Minnesota.

Bohannon’s main claim is that poor communication is a “serious threat to the global economy” specifically evidenced by PowerPoint presentations (Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon states “We face difficult economic times” with an economic drain of an estimated “250 million dollars per day” but adds that this is not the only cost of overused PowerPoint presentations (Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon does advocate a solution to “financial calamity” (Bohannon, 2011). The argument can be made that changing the major communication “tool of rhetoric” from PowerPoint to dance will lead to some “drawbacks,” as phrased by Bohannon (2011). However, poor communication adds up to an “annual waste of 100 billion dollars”, “one certainly can’t argue with those numbers” (Bohannon, 2011).

Bohannon delivered his modest proposal to a TEDx audience in 2011 Brussels. Attendees to TED events contribute financially and intellectually through a rigorous ticketing application process. An absence of explanation around PowerPoint as a tool suggests Bohannon expects that his audience is relatively familiar with technology in the workplace. However, Bohannon’s language indicates he does not expect his audience to be familiar with science, taking great pains to explain in detail scientific references. Bohannon uses descriptors such as “a special bottle”, “spooky properties”, and “chaos” to avoid scientific terminology (Bohannon, 2011). After all, the author holds a PhD and readily admits he can “barely understand what most scientists are talking about” (Bohannon, 2011)

In his presentation about tools of rhetorical communication, Bohannon uses logos, ethos, and pathos to his advantage. Bohannon’s words use a strong logical bent to connect with his audience and convince them his modest proposal should not “be liable to the least objection” (Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon’s logos appeal includes economic statistics, instances of dance succeeding as a tool, and a personal anecdote in which his understanding was enhanced. The author does work to establish a sense of ethos both by stating his credentials and humanizing his experience understanding complex scientific information. Finally, Bohannon uses a live dance performance concurrently with his proposal as a demonstrative tool to emphasize complicated and powerful points. This fosters a deeper connection with his audience.

The TEDx platform is an opportunity for big, bold ideas, and John Bohannon in his “Dance vs. Powerpoint, a Modest Proposal” did not disappoint. Multiple approaches to the author’s theory that we should try something new and “use dance to explain all of our complex problems” lead to an effective conveyance of his thoughts (Bohannon, 2011). Bohannon expresses his concern that unproductive communication is not only “a complete waste of time” but a “serious threat” and provides his solution of dance as a powerful tool (Bohannon, 2011). The conclusions drawn by Bohannon are strong and convincing to the point of warranting further investigation. How we learn and what we are able to understand is important far beyond any economic implications. Dance may well have a place in academia or the workplace, and is as Bohannon feels, “not as crazy as it sounds” (Bohannon, 2011).

Essay on Social Media Marketing Analysis

Posted on December 16, 2024 | by Laureen

Introduction to the topic

With the internet, as our prime means to promote business and capture a wider market base, using social media to influence the audience is the quickest and the most holistic way to expand our business presence. Today, more and more businesses are considering it as a big deal and customers also expect to be able to connect with various brands that they are interested in. Those who can do well in social media can enjoy the benefits of it. But, few industries seem to take advantage of social media better than other industries. For some, it is simply a natural outgrowth of an established marketing strategy, and others have done a great job by harnessing the power of social media.

Why this Topic?

The topic of social media marketing is interesting and has a lot of potential research to be done. Being one of the rapidly growing forms of marketing, it has had a significant impact on the company and customer relationship. The industry that is being focused on is the Sportswear industry. It is one of the top industries where the potential of social media marketing has been maximized. The scope of this topic is to have a better understanding of the effectiveness of social media marketing in the sportswear industry and the social media activity and strategy adopted by sportswear brands.

Objective

To analyze the impact of social media marketing focusing on the sportswear industry.
To study how sporting goods brands, implement their social media marketing strategy.
To analyze the customer’s perception and preference on the social media activity of top sportswear brands.

Industry Analysis

The sportswear industry is one of the most relevant industries impacted by social media. Market leaders like Nike, Puma, and Adidas have adopted social media marketing to reach the target market, which mainly consists of millennials.

The global sports industry is huge, estimated to be around $1.3 trillion. Within sports, the sportswear market is a great place for investors looking at strong brands in a large and growing market.

Major companies in the Sportswear Industry:

Nike
Adidas
Puma
Reebok
Under Armor

Literature Review

The growth of Internet technology has modernized the sport sector via the development of plentiful sport-related websites and applications (Wang & Qualls, 2007).

The most important feature of Facebook is that compared with other social media networks it increases the loyalty of customers, rather than brand awareness via “dynamic interaction with its fans on Facebook” which enables to the brand improve the satisfaction of customers and client relations (Gamboa & Gonçalves, 2014).

The rapid growth of Internet-based activities has modified the nature of human activities to the extent, that firms must rethink their marketing strategies (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014).

Social media and peer-to-peer content overall have changed the purchasing process significantly. Not only the pre-purchasing phase but also the behavior the decision-making during the purchase (Cao, Meister & Klante, 2014).

As stated by Gamboa & Gonçalves (2014), settling only for enhanced brand awareness without simultaneously further engaging their potential customers with the brand and creating customer loyalty, the brand is missing the potential “golden grail” for their social media interactions.

According to Budden, Anthony, Budden & Jones, (as cited in Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014) the possibility of co-creation of content allows to participants “to share knowledge, entertain one another, and promote dialogues among different cultures.”

Distinguishing the right tools is essential, and those that are successfully implemented by Nike, Inc. might not be helping Puma accomplish their goals. The motto of Nike, Inc. is “If you have a body, you are an athlete” (Sanussi, Lazarev, Jorgensen, Latsanych, Badtiev, 2014).

Data Collection

Type of Research

The research available is descriptive. Descriptive research is a study designed to depict the participants accurately.

Three ways of descriptive research used in this report:

Observational, is defined as a method of viewing and recording the participants. The interaction and views of the customers on the social media pages of sportswear brands are observed.
A case study is defined as an in-depth study of an individual or group of individuals.
A survey is defined as a brief interview or discussion with an individual about a specific topic. Google Forms is used to collect the responses to the survey.

Type of Data

Both primary and secondary data are collected.

Primary data is collected by customer surveys about their view and awareness of the social media activity of the top sportswear brands.

Secondary data is collected from newspapers, magazines, articles, the internet, etc. about social media marketing in the sportswear industry.

Data Editing

When collecting data from secondary sources, the content with digital marketing was limited to the social media portion. Thus, excluding the rest of the digital marketing.
Collecting the results from the survey, the unclear or confused responses were excluded.

Why is the data being discarded?

The data that is being discarded is because it is unclear or irrelevant to the research that is focusing on the impact of social media marketing in the sports industry.

Techniques

1. Google Trends

One of the most used tools for research purposes. The search mechanic is relatively easier and gives a clear answer as Google is the most used web searching browser. Since social media has been an ever-growing part of the internet, getting the idea of what people are looking for accomplishes the research of the impact a social media campaign has on the consumer’s response.

2. Facebook Audience insight

One of the recent features added by Facebook. It gives the concerned party an idea of how the consumers react to a product or a brand. Sportswear brands have a great amount of followers on Facebook. The firms and the concerned party alike can get a view of how the consumer is responding to the brand’s social media activity.

This helps in segmenting the information based on demographics, behavior, region, age, etc. The Facebook Audience insight tool is a target-oriented tool that helps marketers in segmenting their products to cater to different target markets.

3. Google forms

It is a survey tool that collects information in the form of a poll or survey. All responses are automatically added and organized into a spreadsheet which you can view at any time.

It is a great tool to obtain customer insight as well as act as a suggestion box to understand the response of loyal customers.

4. Instagram Audience Insight

Instagram Insights is a native analytics tool that provides data on follower demographics and actions, as well as your content. This information makes it easy to compare content, measure campaigns, and see how individual posts are performing. To access Instagram Insights, you need a business account.

Since Instagram is currently the most popular social networking site, many brands have shifted their focus to Instagram marketing.

5. Survey Tandem

Survey Tandem allows you to share a link to your online survey with members of the community who will gladly fill it out in exchange for tandem miles. To earn tandem miles, you simply have to fill out other members’ surveys. Once you have collected enough tandem miles for at least one response to your survey, your survey becomes visible to the community. When members take your survey, your amount of tandem miles will reduce accordingly. As soon as you do not have enough tandem miles anymore, your survey will be invisible again until you collect enough tandem miles again.

Results by inferences drawn

The research led to the following results as per the analysis

Instagram and YouTube are the top social media marketing sites for sportswear brands, dethroning the previously top-ranked Facebook.
Athletes are the preferred brand ambassadors for sportswear products
Advertisements that are grounded and less flashy draw viewer’s attention.
Footwear products are the most searched sportswear.
Brands’ social media activity is higher than other sites.
YouTube has been the most consistent platform for social media marketing for sportswear brands.
An attractive advertisement or article encourages people to research about the product.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is very effective for sportswear brands as internet users are more attracted to sports/fitness lifestyles and the advertisement along with the encouragement from celebrities from the sports industries, who have some of the biggest social media presence.

Social media marketing is one of the fastest-growing methods of marketing with the ever-rising usage of the internet.
The young generation is more attracted to sportswear advertisements they see on their newsfeeds or their social media handle.
Creates significant demand and awareness about the products
Forms a positive perception of the image of the brand

Essay on Social Media Analysis

Posted on December 15, 2024 | by Laureen

It has been broadly said that the meaning of an artwork is only complete when someone appreciates it and has an interpretation of it. On the other end of art lies the receptor, the audience, and the public; who are in charge of providing value and signification. Keeping the audience engaged is fundamental in diverse art organizations, and it becomes the first step to increasing attendance and developing new audiences. Within the performing arts sector, different factors are at stake in terms of audience attendance, such as access, motivation and ticket price. The National Arts Participation Survey developed in 2016, has impressive figures; for instance, the fact that 43% of Australians think that the arts are still high-priced (Australian Council for the Arts 2017). Notably, in the State of Victoria out of the 95% of people who have declared to be an active participant in the arts, only 40% attended dance or theatre performances, once a year (Creative Victoria 2014). In the encounter, the audience, aspects like art marketing, and the popularity of the organization play an important role. Creative Victoria published the Audience Atlas and demonstrate that in the theatre market, The Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) is the most popular organization with 74% of awareness. Followed by the Malthouse Theatre with 52%, and Theatre Works with 28%. La Mama Theatre is the next one with 27% of consciousness. (Creative Victoria 2014). Being part of the top five is an excellent achievement for an independent theatre like La Mama. This fact embodies an immense opportunity to enhance its fame and connect with more audiences.

This research project aims to analyze the La Mama Theatre’s audience, taking as a starting point the question Who is the La Mama’s audience? It seeks to unravel the connection established between the organization and its public to understand them to create a long-lasting relationship. This research proposal will first present an overview of the organization, followed by a list of the literature that will be revised in the final research document regarding i) State policies and Audience Behaviours, ii) Arts Marketing, and iii) Audience Development. It will also address the core research question and research aims, the methodology proposed, along with drawbacks and limitations, as well as a projected timeline of this research project. The scope includes eight performances in total from the main season’s shows; four from the Summer-Autumn 2019 program and four parts of the Winter-Spring 2019 program. The data will be collected from the information already gathered by the organization in the digital platforms used by La Mama to book tickets and interact with its audience. Additionally, an online survey is proposed to obtain insights on more specific topics.

La Mama is a not-for-profit theatre organization located in Carlton, Victoria. La Mama defines itself as ‘Melbourne’s home for independent theatre’ (La Mama 2019). It was founded in 1967 by Betty Burstall, as an inspiration of the Off-Off-Broadway trend observed in New York. Currently, La Mama has more than fifty years in the Australian avant-garde theatre scene, and it has presented more than 2,500 productions. La Mama is an intimate theatre, which embodies a Melbourne icon. This institution has always been distinguished by celebrating artistic risk and cutting the edge, embracing experimental works, and going beyond the mainstream. La Mama is an accessible, inclusive, developmental, alternative, and diverse theatre.

Along with its main season programs, La Mama also showcases all ranges of performing arts: music, playreadings, spoken words and poetry, puppetry, and cabaret. La Mama champions accessibility and invites a diverse community of artists and audiences. Furthermore, La Mama ensures artist remuneration with a unique model in Australia by giving 80% of the box office to the artists. Together with a venue at no cost, ticketing, front-of-house, marketing, and technical support, allow artists to only focus on the execution of their work.

In 2018 a fire devastated one of the venues of the institution, the one located on Faraday Street. During this year, La Mama launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild the facilities; therefore, it has been a busy time. Operating in a different office, with half of the program, the staff has not had enough time to act proactively in terms of audience development, and the main focus has been to survive, trying their best with the available resources. La Mama has not reached the target for the campaign yet, but the organization is optimistic and thanks to the support of the community and federal and local government, La Mama feels confident, and soon they will announce the commencement date of the construction. Coincidentally, this year, La Mama has to apply for the four-year funding granted by the Australia Council for the Arts. In preparing this application, the audience has been a fundamental topic within the marketing and communications department.

One of La Mama’s main goals is to increase and develop audience engagement in both the theatre itself and online. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand who the current audience is. In La Mama’s strategic plan for 2021-2024, four primary areas of support are required to accomplish this aim:

Early communication with artists to access their communities
Building on existing relationships and introduction to other art marketing personnel
Advice on building and utilizing our social media data collection
Producing other events around the main theatre season programming.

The strategies required to be in place to achieve these goals are:

Working with artists to access their communities
Generate monthly social media reports
Obtain feedback from the audience, artists, and theatre companies. For instance, through surveys with incentives.
Undertake audience research every one or two years to ensure our marketing strategies stay relevant to our audience. These should include
Data collection
Analysis
Interpretation
Action planning
Implementation
An outcome to build evidence around our audience trends to market correctly to them.

Taking into consideration all these factors previously mentioned, the present research project results are essential to work towards the new strategic plan of the organization, in dealing with the complex topic of audience engagement and development.

Does La Mama have an audience?
Who is La Mama’s audience?
Do the shows mainly drive the audience?
Is there any difference between La Mama’s offline and online audience?
Why do they come to see the performances?
What communicational channels work better for this audience?

The purpose of this study is to understand La Mama’s current attendees. To engage better with them, increase and develop audience engagement. It will also help to maintain, improve, or modify the current marketing plan that the organization uses to connect with its public. The present research needs to be done because there are abundant data and insights available regarding La Mama’s audience, but the organization has not had time to analyze and document the information. Furthermore, audience engagement is a central objective of the development of the strategic plan for the coming four-year

To answer the research questions, a mixed-method approach has been selected. The use of two or more methods of research will help to obtain a better comprehension of the analyzed case study. Complementing different approaches is often referred to as triangulation (Veal and Burton 2014, p. 128). The collection of both quantitative and qualitative data is fundamental to getting a full appreciation of the context. The methods selected are three: i) Analysis of secondary data, ii) Social media analysis, and iii) Self-reported questionnaire-based surveys. By choosing three different research methods, they can complement each other to balance their advantages and deficiencies, helping the project to obtain better and more accurate results.

Secondary data analysis will supply enough evidence to understand visitor variations and profiles of La Mama’s audience, and therefore its cultural participation. The study of secondary data will include web-based research of the available literature and journals concerning audience development in the performing art sector. Survey information, published by the Australia Council, and other national and local institutions in terms of arts, consumption, motivation, and behaviors will also be considered. Along with the last Annual report of La Mama and the information provided by the organization on its website.

Another fundamental resource in terms of secondary data analysis is the platform used by La Mama to purchase tickets, called TryBooking. This website provides quantitative and qualitative data about audience behaviors in purchasing tickets. In total, eight shows will be analyzed in terms of demographics, attendance, revenue generated, and any available information that will be accessed through this platform. Additionally, the information provided by the platform used for Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) in this case MailChimp, will be also considered, to evaluate the type of audience that La Mama is reaching through its newsletter which is sent out every Tuesday and which manner these audience is interacting with the organization.

To understand the digital audience of La Mama, the statistics obtained from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will be explored, specifically the ones available for 2019. As an administrator of the organization profile on these platforms, I have access to all the data provided by these networks. Social Media analysis represents a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, and in this case, the study of this data aims to answer the question: Who is La Mama’s digital audience? Is there any difference between La Mama’s offline and online audience?

A digital survey will be distributed to La Mama’s database, the survey will be created and distributed through the free online survey development cloud-based software called Survey Monkey. “Qualitative research is generally based on the belief that the people personally involved in a particular (cultural/event) situation are best placed to describe and explain their experiences, motivations and world view in their own words” (Veal and Burtin 2014, p. 218). The survey will be made of approximately 15 quantitative and qualitative questions, and the expected time of completion will be 10 minutes. It will consist of a self-reported online questionnaire-based survey, and the aim is to establish some demographic information regarding La Mama’s audience, as well as qualitative data. Hopefully, the target reached will be at least 100 responses. The people selected for this survey will be the attendants to the last shows performed at La Mama: Broken River (September 12th to 22nd) and Facing Medea (September 25th to October 6th). ‘The accuracy of what respondents say depends on their powers of recall, on their honesty and, fundamentally, on the format of the questions included in the questionnaire’ (Veal and Burtin 2014, p. 240).

The survey will be respondent-completion to optimize resources and time. For surveys, rewards are fundamental, and the respondents will be offered free double passes to the performances at La Mama, as well as tickets for the cinema to be agreed upon with our industry partners such as MadMan and Icon distribution films.

The main limitation of this research is the fact that La Mama programs several shows, and they are all significantly different between them. It is difficult to analyze every show and take a representative sample of La Mama’s audience. Another limitation is the fact that at the moment purchasing the ticket on Trybooking, the people do not always answer the questions, and also some of the tickets are purchased on different instances, such as phone bookings and box office sales, and there is no data available that has been collected from these channels.

Essay on Social Media Analysis

Posted on December 5, 2024 | by Laureen

Early communication with artists to access their communities
Building on existing relationships and introduction to other art marketing personnel
Advice on building and utilizing our social media data collection
Producing other events around the main theatre season programming.

The strategies required to be in place to achieve these goals are:

Working with artists to access their communities
Generate monthly social media reports
Obtain feedback from the audience, artists, and theatre companies. For instance, through surveys with incentives.
Undertake audience research every one or two years to ensure our marketing strategies stay relevant to our audience. These should include
Data collection
Analysis
Interpretation
Action planning
Implementation
An outcome to build evidence around our audience trends to market correctly to them.

Does La Mama have an audience?
Who is La Mama’s audience?
Do the shows mainly drive the audience?
Is there any difference between La Mama’s offline and online audience?
Why do they come to see the performances?
What communicational channels work better for this audience?

Media Analysis: Women and Men in Media

Posted on December 4, 2024 | by Laureen

Table of Contents

Introduction
Depiction of the third world by the U.S. press
International vs. local media
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

According to Falah (305), the U.S. media discourse about the Muslim and Arab people is majorly based on gender basis. Reports on current events from Palestine, Iraq, and other Arab countries show the ubiquity of female images in the Western media. The U.S. press has narrowly constructed and projected the Muslim women and their societal roles, for instance they have been portrayed as exotic, erotic and oppressed.

Several authors have examined the relentless demonization of Islam by the Western media, which is often likened to the Nazis during the pre Second World War period. Nevertheless, the same old question looms; what the Western media seeks to gain by portraying these people in the media in negativity? According to various media personalities, this act is fueled by the desire of Western audiences to be fed with negative news.

Western media changes the perceptions of their targeted audiences and this in turn results to stereotypes being formed, as is been the case among many Western citizens. Falah (302) looks at the headlines, photos, and captions, all which directly reflect editorial decisions. Against this background the paper attempts to probe the way in which the press and especially the print journalism help to produce and to reproduce specific ways of knowing the third world.

Depiction of the third world by the U.S. press

In today’s world a lot of what is in the media concerning third world countries and issues touching on women and men as a whole in these countries are more than often portrayed in negative light of what is really the case for them. The Westerners are constantly being fed with negative opinions and deep-seated perceptions about the lives of people in third world countries.

Consequently, it results to people forming their own perceptions even though they have very little, accurate and tangible information, this leads to stereotyping and prejudicing of women and men in third world countries. People’s perceptions and the resulting stereotyping are heavily hinged on the media role of shaping these opinions in today’s world.

Importance must be accorded and insisted on critically examining any information obtained on issues to do with third world countries. Mitchell (10) states that “outside the United States, everyone knows the U.S. is the most influential country in the world. Its economics, education, politics, technology, science, and culture, just to name a few areas, color the world’s every socio-economic fabric”.

One has to strive to answer a number of questions within their subconscious so as to try and desist from stereotyping. This includes issues such as: whether the west becomes more informed after being fed with this inconsequential information; or the consequences befalling the people being portrayed in this kind of information; and the roles local and national media should take up in countering this and shaping opinions.

The media paints a picture of women in third world countries for the U.S public, as one of oppressed, workers whose place is the kitchen, poor, submissive, not able to take up leadership roles, subservient and much more. Men are not left behind; they are being portrayed as wife batterers, impotent due to alcoholism, indolent, drunkards and good for nothing people who don’t care for their wives and children (Hicks np).

The big question here is; what led/leads to the portraying of the third world as is being done today and what picture is being portrayed to western audiences? A lot of these conclusions stem out of a misunderstanding of cultures of most third world people. There are no concrete reasons on why stereotyping and prejudicing of women and men in third world countries in western media sources is constantly being practiced (Zucchino 10-13).

Cultures and traditions such as those found in Africa and parts of Asia dictate the roles of women as that of housewives who take care of the home and grow crops with the help of their daughters. Education among girls is not a priority like that of boys in these types of cultures. Media coverage has and is always comparing women in third world countries to those of the western world.

The interest generated towards third world countries by western countries on the resource an untapped wealth is what drives media to pay negative attention towards the third world. Chavis (np) stated that the negative portrayal of the third world as seen today is as a result of “artificial territorial boundaries across communal lands, forced European acculturation, etc., were sanctioned by every institution in the societies (of Europe)”.

The early media during “Darwinian era carriers on the tradition of stereotyping prejudicing, bias and disdain often are warp and woof of media coverage when Africa” and the third world “is the subject”(European Commission np). The third world is treated as full of hate and showing a desire to harm others rather than as a fundamental, universal part of the world. Western media goes ahead to show women and men in the third world as people who are valueless.

Falah (304) notes that the media’s role as a “corporate, social and cultural institution needs to be analyzed in relation to other institutions such as those of the polity and economy.” There exists according to the van Dijk, a more than direct link connecting “societal racism, elite ideology and production of news by journalists”.

The process of news processing and production is “informed by and to a certain extent is the manifestation of racism at the macro level of society and state” (Falah 305). Headline structures, leads, organization of stories, style of writing, and overall selection of topics deemed newsworthy are issues controlled in some way by “the societal context of power relations.”

More often than not powerful individuals and elites in the society, institutions and groups especially corporate giants in any given society touching on the economy, political and social aspects of life are able to influence and control media access which results to them being portrayed in the media. As a result “elite versions of the ‘facts’, their definitions of reality, will tend to prevail over those of other, non-dominant groups.”

A number of queries come to mind when looking at what the western media packages for their consumers: the way images of America, the West, the Third World the developing world, western culture, Asian culture, African culture, overpopulation, immigrants, and other historically marginalized people are portrayed; in what ways are gender, race, sexuality, and class set out in these depictions; the kinds of generalization being made about the object of a story; the stereotypes and negative or positive images of women in the Third World in discussions centering on “us”/”them,” “west/non-west,” and “self” (Falah 306).

Western media organizations usually make use of various ways and methods of operation to purposely unload negative news, images and information when “reporting, communicating, or disseminating anything pertaining to Africa and the third world” (Saroop, 2010). Africa’s multicultural polyethnic, polyreligious, multipolitical, and mega economic dynamics and its immeasurable natural wealth which make it very vulnerable to the west, have been reduced to naught by the stroke of a western journalist’s pen.

The lifestyles of Africans and the continent as a whole are constantly being painted as “a bastion of disease, savagery, animism, pestilence, war, famine, despotism, primitivism, poverty, and ubiquitous images of children, flies in their food and faces, their stomachs distended” (willenz 200). The question whether the western media paints women and men as independent and act on their own freewill or as helpless individuals relying on the west for aid and other handouts, does not clearly receive accurate information and facts to answer it.

“American communicators have a serious obligation to make the American public more aware of the rest of the world and the influence it has on it. Americans will never understand the negative criticism that comes more and more from around the world unless they begin to see how life is really lived on the other side of the fence” (Sserwanga 8) . This can be attributed to the constant negativity in western media for consumption of Americans.

It is not helped in any way by including local media, as they do not have that kind of influence to create an impression on audiences. This can be due to the fact that they too are being put in one category as the rest of the third world peoples. These messages and pictures of women and men in third world countries are overtly powerful and subconscious, are beamed globally to television audiences, through print media, by use of radio services and other modern technological advances being embraced today.

They give an impression to intended target audiences of something that is “not first-rate, perennially problematic unworthiness, deplorability, black, foreboding, loathing, sub humanity” (Sister Namibia 9). In contrast to this, very little is said about the positivity of Africa and other third world countries.

The Westerners are not aware of the third world’s importance to the rest of the world: its indispensability and significance to further development of the world; universal embracing of technology; “and the wealth of nations, derived from involuntary African largesse”. This is usually not commended or given the positive light it deserves in the media. Daily Observer (np) argues that “The amorphous news spin is America has to protect her strategic interests and national security”.

What drives the negativity towards the third world men and women and Muslim women in particular? This can be deduced out of the fact that journalists lay emphasis on bad news, either from direction from their editors or employers, media owners such as: National Public Radio (NPR), the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, New York Times, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 60 Minutes, Frontline, CNN, or the BBC who insist on this so as to make money.

The emphasis on bad news might also stem out of trying to satisfy their audiences’ desire for such kind of news (Business Wire 15; BBC np).

A case in point is that of the United States invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation by the U.S military. Western journalists did not focus on the positive gains the Iraqi leaders have achieved, but hide or downplay the truth and focus on the negatives. In some cases this does not work effectively for them as the public becomes discontent with the type of information being offered to them.

It is unethical and against the code of conduct for reporters and journalists to keep away the truth with other intentions in mind; of either elevating certain powers over others, making third world countries feel inferior, using the media to punish enemies and much more. The case of Iraq, the western media is not justifiable to overlook the positive gains in that country. It is their responsibility and duty to provide accurate, true, and reliable information to their target audiences (Smith-Spark 35; Gibbons np).

International vs. local media

Local media emphasizes on actual happenings and tries to portray the country they are in positively. Through the local media the locals are empowered to make their country a better place to live in and this is not only good for the media but also the local people. On the other hand, the international media tends to emphasize on the negative aspects of the country be it war, famine, civil wars, disease outbreaks, violence connected to elections just to mention but a few.

An example is the post election violence that took place in Kenya in 2008, the international media such as: CNN, the BBC, Aljazeera stressed on only the areas where the violence was at its peak capturing the graphic captions of the killings of people and replaying the scenes over and over yet there were places that violence did not take place (Gettleman np).

International media tries to get sympathy from the international community by over using the negative aspects of the country they are in. This in turn tends to make the locals lose their self-esteem due to the way they are portrayed internationally. International media also tends to focus on certain third world countries and ignore others.

Take for example the Rwanda 1994 genocide was not televised effectively to the western audiences that led to the international community to ignore the situation in Rwanda. If the international media had effectively portrayed the genocide the western audiences would have responded to the genocide and the causalities would not have been as high as they were.

Local media in the third world countries tend to look for inspiring stories to empower the third world men and women so as to develop the under developing countries further. Local media looks at the actual happenings that take place in the country; they tend to rely on factual information and emphasize on actual happenings in the third world countries.

Journalist have wholly embraced the obligation entrusted to them and tehy6 take their seriously do it zealously for example John Allan Namu 2009 CNN African journalist of the year and Mohammed Ali who teamed up to fight social injustices committed to the Kenyan people. Through coming up with factual stories containing investigated facts that are credible, true, and timely: in this way the credibility of local reporters and journalists to rise among their targeted audiences (Piansay np).

The role played by media organizations in shaping of opinions of their audience depends on the content the media is reporting on and how the message is perceived. The media tends to induce perceptions in their audience for example if a television station portrays an election candidate in a wrong way the audience is more than not to believe the perception. This shows the power the media wields over their audiences.

Conclusion

The role of the media in shaping perceptions and opinions of the people gives them an upper hand on determining what to write, the stories to run in their publications, and pictures to put in newspapers and much more. Stereotyping has been promoted towards the third world by the third world men and women through the constant production of information that is not true or factual and lacking credibility.

Reporters and journalists have an obligation and a duty to provide true information and not hold anything back to serve their own interests and those of the elite of the society. In order for the West to be able to understand the third world and the negativity that is portrayed by their media organization every day, they have to see how and possibly experience the lives of people in the third world.

Without this they will never truly get to understand and will only rely to the biased media to give them half truths and incomplete information. Local media should be given more emphasis as this is the only way the perceptions and opinions than are doing the round universally will be changed. The western media on the other hand should change their outlook on the third world and third world women and women.

They should also not focus on the negative aspects of the third world, this may help to create and generate more cooperation in terms of industrial technological advancements, funding and subsidies from western developed countries.

Third world countries would boost their confidence and be able to mingle with the developed countries. Big international media corporations should also have interactions with local media in third world countries where they can share experiences and ways on how to portray the third world and advocate against stereotyping third world men and women.

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