Elli Arzbaecher’s Media Blog

         It came to my attention at the beginning of this school year just how big advertisement has become when it comes to social media. I'm not talking about ads for social media sites or ads on the sides of social media sites, but rather social media users being sponsored by companies to advertise their products to the person's audience. Scroll through Instagram and you'll see Karlie Kloss promoting L'Oreal, or go to YouTube and your favorite channels will have videos of people reviewing products that were sent to them by a clothing company. This is so fascinating to me because so many people still view it as entertainment and don't even acknowledge that it's another form of advertising. Beyond that, the people sharing these sponsored posts are getting paid large sums of money. According to Esquire, people with 3 to 7 million followers on Instagram can charge $75,000 for a single sponsored post, a disgusting amount of money for taking a picture, writi...

                  One of the main points addressed in the documentary " MissRepresentation" is the increase of violence against women because of our portrayal in media. While the negative representation of women in media uncovers even more issues about misogyny in society, what this correlation displays is just how big an impact entertainment has on people, particularly youth. The inescapable overload of media, amplified through ever-developing methods of consumption, explains where this influence stems from, but the effect of media's impact has been increased violence against women.          This is a reflection of how media is being used poorly, displaying women and girls as objects and spreading the message that sexual abuse against us is okay because we aren't even people anymore. Not only is explicit violence against women shown in entertainment, but women are made to seem shallow, moody, stupid, and only ...

            A topic discussed in the documentary "Merchants of Cool" by Frontline is the concept of the "mook," or a male entertainment figure who is crude, obnoxious, and disgusting. In class, we discussed briefly how Logan Paul and Jake Paul, the YouTube sensation brothers pictured above, are perfect examples of the "mook" character. However, there are definite differences between them and the mooks in the documentary, and that displays an evolution in what is focused on in male-targeted entertainment.            In "Merchants of Cool" there were clips from various television shows depicting the traditional "mook." In all of them, there was something inherently disgusting. One, in particular, displayed a man snorkeling in human excrement. This appeal to the average person's gag reflex is not something commonly found in today's media if we're using the Paul brothers' videos as a base. Do they follow the guidelines o...

          However embarrassing it may be to admit this, I am a huge fan of the game show Jeopardy, and any night I am available to watch it, you can catch me answering the questions right along with the contestants. But the more I watch Jeopardy the more I notice the sneaky ways that one advertiser specifically has wriggled its way into avid watchers' minds: mimicry. During the commercial breaks on the show, Jeopardy's partner, I'm assuming seeing they're their main advertiser, Geico will play ads perfectly based on the game show, as linked below. Throughout the breaks, there will be about 5-second shots of the contestants thrown in amongst the commercials, there to grab the watchers attention to stay hooked on their screen and keep viewing. While this is a sneaky way on Jeopardy's behalf to get viewers to watch all advertisements, Geico uses a similar tactic by disguising their advertisements like the show is back on, grabbing viewers' attention and theref...

                The thing that bothers, confuses, and impresses me all at the same time about the tool of the Internet is peoples' abilities to make a living purely through posting content online. It was something I had never really thought of until I started watching people on YouTube with massive followings and fanbases, and realizing that their entire career is purely posting videos on the platform and making money, some making insane amounts of money. This concept of not having to get an education, but rather just be entertaining and well-liked in order to support yourself and in some cases even become very successful financially makes a lot of sense but is still very hard to wrap your mind around.          On one hand getting fame and creating a career for yourself online is not that different than most other entertainment professions. You're still providing comedy and something people want to view, but it is bein...

                   Just give me a break. At what point does advertising become too much? In my opinion, it already has. Ads on the videos I watch, the music I listen to, the filled pages on the back of the comics section in the newspaper, even the door of the bathroom stalls. Yeah, some of the creative ways companies have found to push their product make me laugh or think a little deeper, but the overwhelming majority of advertising techniques just seem like a way to severely annoy me. Our lives have become a pit of companies hurling ads at each other, seeming more like a way to compete than to actually attract consumers. I feel like I'm caught in the middle of a tornado of commercials and billboards that I never agreed to be in. Living in an age of such overwhelming advertising everywhere I go makes me feel like a celebrity never able to escape the paparazzi or live a life without outside influence. It was already too much and now wi...