Theory of Planned Behavior
In considering the various social theories, I found it difficult thinking of any changes I’ve made in my life. I then considered the changes I’ve made with my involvement in my academic career in relation to the Theory of Planned Behavior. I was always an excellent student, but it seemed to others as well as myself that I was becoming too engulfed in school work for my own good. In terms of my attitude toward behavior, I believed that my study and work habits did not have that big of an impact on my life. My point of view was just that I had to get an A no matter how much school become a major aspect of my life and no matter how many hours a day I spent studying.
In terms of subjective norms, my parents and friends believed that I was making school too large a part of my life. My friends realized that I would hide myself away doing school work at the start of the semester and not come out again until it was over. My parents believed that putting all of my efforts into school was not healthy, staying up till all hours of the night doing work, making sure it was absolutely perfect. They had also told me that being sociable was important as well. In terms of perceived behavioral control, I believed that this would be an impossible task for me. I believed that if I had become more lax with my school work, my grades would fall behind. If I received a B in anything, I couldn’t handle it.
With all of this in consideration, my behavioral intention was to cut back my efforts slightly, taking it one step at a time in order to see how it would effect my grade. Once I realized that I did not need to be fanatical about my GPA, I realized that I could have a life outside of school. My behavior changed in that about two semesters ago, I got a job and joined the college newspaper to take my mind off school. I can honestly say that my previous behavior was a hindrance to my life. My perception of those around me was a largely factored into making the ultimate decision to change my study habits.
Dry CSI
Due to the fact that CSI is a dry campus and is a commuter school, drinking on campus is not much of an issue. However, it is a bigger issue than I suspected on other campuses around the country. When one attends the
College of
Staten Island, it’s easy to succumb to the bubble disease; or when one thinks that nothing exists outside the campus. It was quite interesting to hear about what other college campuses were doing about this issue, such as the campaign “Party Smart” in Boston and “Dirk” in
Ohio.
I also found interesting the fact that most college students overestimate the number of other students who drink heavily. In an attempt to conform to these believed norms, students will stabilize the high-risk drinking rate or increase it. Incoming freshman are particularly vulnerable in conforming to this believed norm. However, commuter schools such as CSI do not really have this problem as I believe that dorm schools have more of an on-campus drinking issue. I did not expect this fact as I would have assumed that students at dorm schools would know the drinking habits of their peers as opposed to a commuter school where drinking habits are displayed off campus.
In one instance in the article, DeJong and his colleague note the fact that college students tend to take their health for granted. I wholeheartedly agree with this as most college age students believe themselves to be invincible, with the mentality of…”that can’t happen to me.”
Additionally, the website “hadenough.org” was an interesting concept. In my opinion, websites are the best way to reach college students in combination with the clever ads that posed a multiple choice question that focused on drinking.
In reference to maximizing media exposure, repetition is a smart choice in getting the word out. It is through repetition that most people learn new things and it is also the way in which a marketer would sell a new product. Once college students see clever ads more than a few times, it increases curiosity to find out more about what the ad is actually trying to tell them.
Last semester, CSI held an alcohol awareness week. The
Health
Center handed out surveys to students questioning them on what they knew about the effects and secondary effects of high-risk drinking as well as the habits of their peers. Surprisingly enough, most of the students that were questioned knew more than expected. As far as I know, the rest of the week fizzled out due to lack of participation.
How very “Fight Club” of you Ms. Constantino
Nicola Constantino is the Argentinian artist responsible for Savon de corps (or Body Soap for those non-French speakers). Quite literally, it is Body Soap, as the bar of soap consists of 3% of her very own fat, obtained through liposuction. Very clever, turning something seen as ugly in certain societies into something beautiful, as it is carved in the shape of a woman’s torso. Moreover, the concept was displayed in such a manner as to be misconstrued as a marketing campaign. A large photograph of the semi-nude artist slipping into a bath emphasizes the element of beauty that traditionally is the crux of a soap advertisement accompanied by a small soap dish containing the luxury item in question.
Apart from this project completed in 2004, she has an affinity for casting molds of actual body parts, not solely extracted tissue. Her favorites distastefully range from the nipple to the navel and even where the “sun don’t shine.” To add to this vulgarity, she is her own interior decorator as well. Her large sofa, covered in anuses is placed in front of her wall of animal fetuses. A tube like section of the wall that spanned from the ceiling to the floor was removed and in it’s place were carcasses of animals. When going out, she carries with her a purse made of the very same material as her sofa. She makes other bags such as these for purchase.
I just hope I can get a hold of her business card. I know when I move out of my parents house and I’m looking for an interior decorator, I’ll have no one else. I think all of this insanity speaks for itself. If her goal was tacky and obscene, she’d certainly break the mold.
- Courtesy of The Chelsea Art Museum.
Riders on the Storm
This is a rather difficult article to comment on. On some level I agree and yet I disagree at the same time. I agree with the fact that Densmore does not want to sell his art for the sake of selling a product. I can understand that. On the other hand I can also disagree because, after all he is a member of The Doors, meaning at one point or another he was trying to sell himself to a record producer, etc. When you’re famous, it’s no longer art; you’re a product whether you like or not. Also, if memory serves me right, I believe the remaining three members of The Doors continued to tour after Jim Morrison’s death. How’s that for loyalty?
Expression of Individuality in Ads
In terms of individuality, print ads and commercials have come a long way. I didn’t think I’d be able to find this commercial, I just sort of stumbled upon it. While it might be slightly on the radical side, I think it was a fantastic idea:
I thought this was a perfect example in that it markets Macintosh by saying that it’s a new innovation in technology and if you own it you won’t be controlled by a sort of Big Brother. It also sends the message that having the freedom of self-expression is a commodity that one should not live without. As Macintosh was released in 1984, (ie: George Orwell’s novel) their strategy for marketing was already created for them. All they had to do was to realize it and take advantage of it to create an extremely clever ad campaign.
In a side by side comparison of Macintosh 1984 to Apple 2007, they have also come a long way in their advertising. Apple’s current campaign features a middle-aged man, who represents PC, and a young guy, who represents Mac. It tells the viewer that no matter what their age, Mac users are not accepting of the norm, are trendsetters and free-thinkers. By saying this, it’s implying that PC’s are old and stodgy.
In comparing the two ads, Apple has obviously lightened their campaign by interjecting humor. The message of not conforming is still there it’s just demonstrated in a more subtle manner.
Edited version of Messages to the World
I left messages in Barnes and Noble. I only put it off because I was nervous about being spotted. I wanted to leave them where I would be inconspicuous but at the same time, in a fairly public place. I chose Barnes and Noble because no one really watches you. In a clothing store, for example, a security guard is always standing by the door. I wandered through Barnes and Nobles pretending to flip through books and magazines, carelessly slipping my messages behind the front cover while looking over my shoulder. I felt a little odd doing this but after the fourth one, I felt more comfortable. I tried to be specific about where I left my messages. In an effort to do it quickly to avoid being noticed, I slipped “Aren’t those ‘truth’ messages effective enough? Don’t support the tobacco industry,” into Cigar Aficionado. I also found it hard to photograph where I placed them in that situation. Alacrity and picture taking don’t really go hand in hand. At least I gave it a valiant effort.
_______________________________________________________________
I was able to cut about 20% of the original post which was 225 words. I cut it down to 177 words.
Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes Notes Chapter 1
Chapter 1 1492-1880 – The Beginning
A. Advertising in the
Old World
1. For thousands of years trades people use public cries and pictorial signs to attract attention b/c few people could read.
2. The impact of the Printing Press
a. Printing provided a way to record facts and important information on documents so that ppl no longer had to rely on their memories; things traveled by word of mouth.
b. The new technology also enabled the development of the first forms of advertising – printed handbills, posters, and trade cards – and the first mass medium – newspapers.
c. With printed advertising tradesppl and merchants could now reach thousands of potential customers far beyond their immediate neighborhoods.
3. From news-letters to newspapers
a. The first newspapers in the world appeared during the 16th century; professional writers penned handwritten manuscripts, or “newsletters,” for sale to noblemen or other exalted personages requiring news of the day.
B. Selling the
New World
1. Throughout the 17th and 18th century, enterprising Englishmen printed a variety of books, brochures, and posters to promote American to their countrymen.
a. they lured potential colonists to the
New World with promises of the good life: gold and silver, fountains of youth, abundant fish and game, productive land.
C. From Colony to Nation
1. once in the new world, the colonists struggled to survive in an environment that, while rich in natural resources, hardly lived up to its glossy billing.
2. Colonial Advertising
a. Colonists simply had little need to advertise their goods and services for sale over a wide area; printing equipment and supplies were scarce and expensive in the
New World.
3. The effect of paper shortages
a. the demand for news about the American revolution enlarged newspaper circulation, which made the chronic paper shortage even more acute.
b. Since ppl made paper from rags and despite editorial pleas for ppl to save their rags to make newsprint, the paper shortage often limited many major city newspapers to a mere 300-400 copied per day; others were forced to suspend publishing; to save space they crammed the pg, restricted advertising.
D. The Impact of the Industrial revolution
1. For the first time it cost less to buy a product than to make it and customer demand was increasing.
2. Advertising provided American manufacturers with a way to stimulate demand for their output, and retailing provided new outlets for the ever increasing flow of goods.
3. Mass Production Spurs Economic growth
a. by 1850 the economy was booming; but the swelling flood of immigrants did not begin to fill the need for workers; labor shortage drew women and children into factories.
E. The Civil War Fuels a consumer economy
1. the fed govt launched the 1st national advertising campaign when it enlisted an advertising agents to help sell war bonds and promoted the issue in more than 5 thousand publications; posters also recruited army volunteers.
2. Demand for news spurred innovations in publishing; new methods of illustration, improved printing techniques and advances in papermaking technology.
F. Urbanization changes the face of retailing
1. General stores sprang up as communities grew and the demand for goods increased.
2. Increasing numbers of city dwellers created a constant demand for fresh food and other necessities that they no longer made or grew themselves.
G. General Merchandisers pass on economies of scale
1. F.W. Woolworth’s five and dime went up across the country.
2. in rural American mounting dissatisfaction with high prices and limited choices, coupled with the introduction of free delivery service, eventually led to the idea of shopping by mail.
H. The Communications revolution
1. the invention of photography in 1839 and the ability to print detailed illustrations gave advertisers a new way of showcasing their products.
I. Go West, Young Man
1. The rails made is possible to more raw material from coast to coast swiftly and cheaply, thereby reducing manufacturing costs; the savings in turn enabled manufacturers to deliver lower-priced goods to distinct markets; ppl could travel more quickly and easily, too.
J. Extra, Extra, read all about it!
1. At the same time, the country’s burgeoning population, booming economy, and western expansion created a demand for news about business, travel, entertainment, and the availability of goods and services.
2. this led many newspapers publishers to consider advertisements as a vital source of revenue.
K. Advertising Gets Creative
1. Creative display advertising appeared in the form of posters, handbills, trade cards pamphlets, and outdoor signs.
2. it was the advertising industry’s commercial application, more than anything else that pushed printers to use chromolithography to print striking designs, bright colors and innovative forms.
L. The Modern Magazine Debuts
1. These publishers depended on their subscribers who, being refined or aspiring to be so, regarded publicity as vulgar and dismissed most product advertising as a sham. And for the most part it was.
2. A few quality monthly magazines enjoyed moderate success without advertising.
3. Patent medicine manufacturers looked greedily on the magazines’ national audience, but the better publications turned up their noses at the advertising revenue.
4. In the following decades magazines enabled manufacturers to sell their products nationwide; other popular periodicals also started as advertising vehicles to subsidize subscription revenues.
II. The Advertising Agent: A New Occupation
A. With improved methods of transportation, manufacturers distribute their goods over wider areas and thus required sales promotions that reached beyond their local region.
- Advertisers often found that arrangements to print their announcements involved many details and time-consuming tasks so newspapers began paying agents to sell space to advertisers and thereby gave birth to the advertising agency.
- Advertising expanded when agencies started directing the artistic side of print advertising, specifying type styles and creating artwork for ads.
III. Puffery and Patent Medicines
-
A. Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century, advertisements for dubious health remedies, get rich-quick schemes, and other outrageous advertising fakes filled newspapers and magazines.
1. Patent medicine manufacturers pioneered new techniques for advertising brand-name, packaged goods.
2. Right before the Civil War, patent medicine advertisements accounted for more than half the advertising lineage in many papers, and annual sales totaled about $3.5 million; the remedies became popular after the Civil War; sales soared to $75 million annually by the turn of the century and accounted for one-third of American publishers’ revenues.
a. During the civil war army doctors routinely treated wounded soldiers with doses of highly addictive compounds; ie: roots, herbs, cocaine, opium, morphine; inadequate diets, high rates of disease, and hordes of new settlers who pushed westward into doctorless territories also fueled the demand for these medicines.
B. By the dawn of the 20th century, advertising had become a social and economic fixture in the
U.S., despite its negative reputation.
Ewen’s “Controlling Chaos”
At the start of this chapter, I found it difficult to find my footing in terms of where I stood on the case that Ewen was presenting. Upon reading about Tarde’s theory, I couldn’t help but to agree. “’The newspaper’ was completing ‘the age-old work that conversation began, that correspondence extended, but that always remained in a state of sparse and scattered outline – the fusion of personal opinions into local opinions, and this into national and world opinion, the grandiose unification of the public mind.’” However, with this quote, a few contradictions had come to mind.
Firstly, I thought wouldn’t it depend on the newspaper you read, especially today. Certainly what the editor of The New York Times sees as truth is not the same thing that the editor of The Post sees as truth (which came about in the form of Ivy Lee’s quote at the end of the chapter). Secondly, it is my thinking that those individuals who read newspapers, read them with their own opinion in mind; they simply read what is printed and interpret it according to their own values and understanding of the truth. The truth has many forms and it cannot only take one shape to create this “grandiose unification of the public mind.” Ultimately, I had to agree with Lee’s theory over Tarde’s.
Follow up: Self-Image Advertisements
I recently picked up this month’s Glamour and to my surprise found something very out of character for a fashion magazine. This was a photo spread for an article about how women see themselves. Women were asked to draw themselves and then stand against a wall so that someone could trace around their actual shape. The majority of them found that their shapes were smaller than they had thought:
Thin Photo Spread….
turning the page, you see this…
Voluptuous Photo Spread…
I say it’s about damn time we saw the end of this era….Thank you Glamour!
Ads for the week of 3/4
| Subj: | you could be in line for a $1 Million pay day |
This was an e-mail I received the other day. While I realize this isn’t an ad per-say, junk mail was something discussed in class in reference to the reading in The Copywrtier’s Handbook. The subject, as you can see above, is a lure to get me to open the e-mail. I honestly just opened it for the purpose of this assignment. I’ll occasionally get mail entitled something like “Where were you?” and it’s an offer for Xanax, the subject is something familiar, say, an e-mail that a friend would send me, to trick me into opening it.
| PRIZEAMERICA(TM) | ||||||
| GRAND PRIZE DRAWING Notification for MICHELE. |
||||||
 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
Name: MICHELE ROSE Date: 03/02/07 MICHELE, This is great news. You can win over $1,500,000. Just select here. Select here now and you can play 10 |
 |
||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
This is an ad was turned down last month by an Australian airport for it’s provocative nature and it’s not hard to see why. Auckland International Airport called it a “step too far.” This is Jennifer Hawkins, Australia’s former Miss Universe. This goes back to what we had discussed in class, the objectification of women in ads. It’s okay though, ads like this only set us back another 20 years.
It’s also an example of what Bernays had done with advertising, attracting the masses with their deepest desires. The lingerie ad tells women if they buy the product they can be sexy for their partners. It tells men “your partner can look like this if you buy her this lingerie.” It is quite offensive to say the very least.
